Why Galaxy-Quakes marks return of MLS' best duel

Landon Donovan (left) has been a member of both teams, but his Galaxy boast 29-15-6 all-time mark vs. the rival Earthquakes. Kyle Ryan/Icon SMI

FREEDMAN: The return of MLS' best-ever rivalry BECHTEL: Becks provides hype, Blanco the flash BALLARD: Beane bringing Moneyball to San Jose LALAS: Defending champ Houston has work to do FREEDMAN: Galindo greatest-ever success story GALLERY: 14 new faces, new places around MLS BUENO: Designated-player rule has changed MLS SOCCER AMERICA: MLS alumni take over league

When it comes to the world's nastiest rivalries, David Beckham could write a book. He's been front and center for two of the most extreme bad-blood derbies.

"I've played for Manchester United against Manchester City and also Real Madrid against Barcelona," he says with his trademarked grin. "They don't come much bigger than that."

On Thursday night, Becks gets his first taste of arguably the ugliest rivalry in the history of Major League Soccer: the Los Angeles Galaxy vs. the San Jose Earthquakes (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

Now, no one's suggesting the so-called "California Clasico" is anywhere even close to Man. United-Man. City or Real-Barça. Those duels have histories that go back more than 100 years and dredge up issues of class, totalitarian politics, socioeconomics, regionalism and nationalism.

But when the Galaxy and Quakes kick off at the Home Depot Center, it marks the return of one of the more intriguing face-offs MLS has ever seen. For a five-year period, contests between the two teams reached a fever pitch that included championships, cheap shots, late-game heroics, gloating players and frenzied fans -- all the things we expect out of the best American sports rivalries.

From 2001 to '05, the Galaxy and Quakes were perhaps the two best teams in MLS, each winning the MLS Cup twice and clashing with each other in the playoffs three times. The clubs boasted a 140-98-72 combined regular-season record over that stretch and alternately put on some of the best soccer in the league.

This season, it's a slightly different story: The Galaxy are, in a word, awful, and the Quakes are back as an expansion team, two years after the original franchise moved to Houston and became the two-time defending champion Dynamo.

"But that's the reason it was good," recalls Quakes coach Frank Yallop. "Both teams were good. The games were high-quality and the rivalry was the one people talked about. We have to rekindle it."

There are so many intriguing angles to the intra-California rivalry -- including Yallop himself -- that it's nearly impossible to list every single aspect. But good rivalries are the key ingredient to any successful league, so here are the top reasons to pay attention to Galaxy vs. Earthquakes, who will clash three times during the '08 regular season.

Rich vs. poor

It's no secret the Galaxy are paying Beckham a boatload of money to make the team the international face of MLS. Phil Anschutz, the principal owner of the team, is a deep-pocketed billionaire who is the most powerful figure in American soccer.

And no team is outlaying more of its payroll to so few players: The majority of the Galaxy's salary cap is being eaten up by Beckham, Landon Donovan and Carlos Ruiz. League owners even passed a special exemption to allow most of those players' salaries to not count against the cap. That among other reasons is why people have whispered for years that the Galaxy get special treatment from the league.

Meanwhile, the Quakes are an expansion franchise trying to build from scratch. The team has no clear star (except for maybe keeper Joe Cannon), is lacking for depth and is outlaying its payroll very slowly. Even baseball's thrift-economics specialist, the Oakland A's Billy Beane, has a small roll in building the roster by translating some of his famed Moneyball strategies. Haves vs. have-nots?

"That's a load of crap," argues Galaxy president and GM Alexi Lalas. "We structure expansion in this league so that we give incredible opportunities for expansion teams. Frank will cry poverty, but the reality is that he has incredible assets at his advantage."

Ouch. No one likes a gloater. And everyone loves the underdog. You have the floor, Yallop & Co.

Edge: Earthquakes.

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