San Jose Earthquakes 2012 MLS regular season schedule announced, home opener against New England Revolution

Major League Soccer made public their 2012 regular season schedule today and the San Jose Earthquakes will open their season at home as hosts to the New England Revolution. The match at Buck Shaw Stadium will be on March 10^th and kicks off at 7:30 p.m. The season will consist of 17 games at home and 17 games away, though it will not be balanced among the other 18 teams in the league, as MLS elected to favor intraconference West opponents over those from the East.

The biggest news on the Earthquakes schedule is that the team has booked Stanford Stadium for the second straight year to host their Independence Day fireworks show. Making the news even more exciting for Quakes fans is that the opponent for that June 30^th game on the Stanford campus is none other than chief rival Los Angeles Galaxy. The 2011 MLS Champions make a second visit to the Bay Area in 2012, as the Earthquakes will play host to the Galaxy at Buck Shaw Stadium on October 21^st.

On the heels of hosting the Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, the Earthquakes head up the coast to face the Portland Timbers on July 3^rd in what must be considered the first-choice road trip of the 2012 season. The Rose City is already a fantastic destination, but throw in a match at Jeld-Wen Field to complete the visit and that week will be special.

Speaking of the Cascadia teams, the Earthquakes travel to each of the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and Vancouver Whitecaps twice this season. With the reversion of the MLS schedule to an unbalanced format, Western Conference opponents are faced three times each in 2012 — either once at home and twice on the road or twice at home and once on the road. The other double road opponent in 2012 is the Colorado Rapids.

In addition to the two trips to Vancouver, the San Jose Earthquakes will also go on the road to face Canadian and Eastern Conference foes Montreal Impact and Toronto FC. Players and fans better make sure to have their passports in order before heading north of the border.

Looking through the remainder of the schedule, the Earthquakes face a lengthy four match stretch away from the Bay Area starting with a trip to face the Galaxy at the Home Depot Center on May 23^rd and culminating with a visit to Real Salt Lake exactly a month later. However, with seven of their first twelve games at home, the Earthquakes will have a chance to stockpile some points ahead of the difficult road stretch. Four of their first seven home matches are against teams that did not qualify for the 2011 MLS postseason.

The 2012 San Jose Earthquakes regular season schedule is as follows:

March:

SJ Earthquakes v NE Revolution 10 Mar, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes v Houston Dynamo 18 Mar, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Toronto FC 24 Mar, 1:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Seattle Sounders 31 Mar, 10:00 PM

April:

SJ Earthquakes v Vancouver Whitecaps 7 Apr, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ NY Redbulls 14 Apr, 7:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes v Real Salt Lake 21 Apr, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Philadelphia Union 28 Apr, 7:00 PM

May:

SJ Earthquakes v DC United 2 May, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Vancouver Whitecaps 5 May, 7:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes v Chivas1 3 May, 7:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes v Columbus Crew 19 May, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ LA Galaxy 23 May, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Sporting Kansas City 27 May, 4:30 PM

June:

SJ Earthquakes @ Colorado Rapids 20 Jun, 9:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Real Salt Lake 23 Jun, 9:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes v LA Galaxy 30 Jun, 10:00 PM

July:

SJ Earthquakes @ Portland Timbers 3 Jul, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ FC Dallas 7 Jul, 9:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes v Real Salt Lake 14 Jul, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes v FC Dallas 18 Jul, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Vancouver Whitecaps 22 Jul, 7:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes v Chicago Fire 28 Jul, 10:30 PM

August:

SJ Earthquakes v Seattle Sounders 11 Aug, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Montreal Impact 18 Aug, 7:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes v Colorado Rapids 25 Aug, 10:30 PM

September:

SJ Earthquakes v Chivas 2 Sep, 9:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Chivas 15 Sep, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes v Portland Timbers 19 Sep, 10:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Seattle Sounders 23 Sep, 7:30 PM

SJ Earthquakes v FC Dallas 29 Sep, 10:30 PM

October:

SJ Earthquakes @ Colorado Rapids 6 Oct, 9:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes v LA Galaxy 21 Oct, 7:00 PM

SJ Earthquakes @ Portland Timbers 27 Oct, 6:30 PM

November:

Playoffs!?!