By: Joe Lami

The San Jose Earthquakes were shutout by the Portland Timbers on Wednesday evening by the final score of 3-0. The Earthquakes were only able to dress 16 men due to injuries, suspensions and players loaned to their international squad, leaving them very short-handed. Earthquakes’ striker, Adam Jahn, was called up from Sacramento Republic FC to get his first MLS start of the season in the match, as well.

The Timbers got on the board first, in the 41^st minute of play, when Rodney Wallace was able to beat Quakes’ goalie, Jon Busch, on a tight angled shot. It would be the only goal of the first half.

Diego Valeri, of the Portland Timbers, who added their two other goals, owned the Second Half. The first one, came off of penalty kick in the 51^st minute. The penalty was set up when San Jose defender, Jason Hernandez, fouled inside his own box. Valeri added his second goal of the half just 20 minutes later, when he tapped in a rebound past Busch. Busch made the initial save on a shot from Wallace, but it left Valeri wide open for the easy tally.

San Jose’s best chance came late in the game, when Jahn found the crossbar on a beautiful feed from Sam Cronin. The second year striker added, “I hit it hard and high. A few inches lower would have been nice, but that’s how it goes sometimes”.

Busch is coming close to a record he does not want to see, as his seven saves on Wednesday bring him within ten of the season-high save record that Joe Cannon set in 2000. Busch commented on the style of play he saw from Portland, “They possess the ball. They create opportunities. They’re a very dynamic team going forward offensively. We knew we would have our hands full and they’ve got some attacking weapons, and they looked good tonight”.

Of course, Quakes’ head coach, Mark Waston, was not pleased with being shutout 3-0 on Wednesday night, but brought some positive out of the game, “Our guys kept fighting until the end. It’s a tough spot to be in.   They didn’t stop fighting and that’s a good quality.”