The San Jose Earthquakes took another tough defeat at Providence Park going undefeated in 13 visits there against the Portland Timbers and Sun Oct 11, 2020 was no different in another loss to the Timbers (photo from the Portland Timbers) 

by Marko Ukalovic

PORTLAND, Ore.- Jaroslaw Niezgoda scored two goals in a six-minute span in the second half as the Portland Timbers dominated the San Jose Earthquakes in a 3-0 shutout victory during a rainy Sunday evening at Providence Park.

Portland has won five matches in a row to tie the Seattle Sounders for atop of the Western Conference with 30 points. The loss snapped San Jose’s three match winning streak. However the Quakes did not lose any ground in the standings as they stayed at the seventh spot with 20 points, one ahead of both Colorado and Houston, with six matches left to play.

The Earthquakes are winless in 13 trips to Providence Park (0-10-3) dating back to 2011.

Oswaldo Alanís made his return to the starting lineup at centerback for Quakes head coach Matias Almedya, after missing the past five games with a lower body injury. It was his first action since September 16th.

San Jose (5-7-5) held their own in the first 45 minutes getting quality scoring chances only to be thwarted away by Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark when they put shots on goal.

Two of the Quakes best chances to get on the scoreboard in the first half came at the beginning and at the end. Chris Wondoloski’s header from a Cristian Espinoza cross in the sixth minute and Jackson Yueill’s point blank shot in the second minute of stoppage time were stoned away by Clark.

Portland (9-4-3) seized momentum and control of the match a minute into the second half. Diego Chará came streaking with the ball down the right sideline when his cross was headed in by Niezgoda into the upper right corner of the net for his first of two goals on the evening. His fourth goal of the season came at the 46th minute.

The Timbers continued to pressure the Quakes inside their zone led by Diego Valeri. The Argentinean midfielder hurried Tanner Beason into a turnover after a diving save by Quakes goalkeeper J.T. Marcinkowski. Beason’s clearing attempt went right to the foot of Niezgoda who fired the ball into an empty net for his fifth goal of the season. It was the first career multi-goal game for the 25 year-old striker from Poland.

San Jose had a golden opportunity to cut Portland’s lead in half in the 67th minute when Carlos Fierro was all alone after receiving the ball of the left side. Fierro was one-on-one with Clark when he punted the ball high and far over the net resulting in a goal kick for Portland.

The Quakes appeared to have scored in the 71st minute after a corner kick led to Beason kicking the ball in the net right on the goal line. However, VAR review determined he was offsides and the goal was erased off the board.

The MLS is Back Tournament champions sealed the game in the 86th minute when once again Chará creating the opportunity with a chip cross over two Quakes defenders that was headed in by Felipe Mora, normally a starter for head coach Giovanni Savarese, came in as a sub in the 61st minute, for his seventh goal the season. It was Chará’s second assist of the evening.

San Jose was left frustrated on what could have been had they been able to cash in on the earlier opportunities they had in the match.

This was also the first match where Almeyda only used one substitute during the match with Shea Salinas coming in for Tommy Thompson in the 65th minute.

Clark finished with seven saves for his fourth shutout of the season. Marcinkowski made five saves in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose had seven corner kicks. Portland had three.

Florian Jungwirth was suspended for the match for yellow card accumulation.

San Jose were also without Vako, Guram Kashia and Marco Lopez as they were out playing internationally.

Each team were issued two yellow cards.

UP NEXT: The Earthquakes conclude their two-game road trip when the travel to Los Angeles to take on the Galaxy on Wednesday 10/14 at 7:30pm at Dignity Health Sports Park.