The Portland Timbers Diego Chara (21) gets away from a San Jose Earthquakes defender at Providence Park in Portland on Wed Aug 4, 2021 (photo from oregonlive.com)

by Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Earthquakes battled to a 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers on Wednesday evening at Providence Park.

San Jose has a six-game point streak (1-0-5) and have 18 points in the Western Conference. Portland snapped its two-game losing streak and sit in eighth place in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Quakes.

San Jose (4-7-6) drew first blood in midway through the first half. Cristian Espinoza received a long ball along the right side. He serviced the ball into the middle of the box where Timbers goalie Steve Clark made a diving attempt but wasn’t able to corral the ball and the rebound leaked out to the left where Chofis buried the ball into an open net for his fourth goal of the season, tying him with Cade Cowell for the team lead, in the 24th minute.

Portland 6-8-2) scored the equalizer in the final minute of stoppage in the first half. A corner kick floated into the box where Bill Tuiloma headed towards the right corner and Felipe Mora was able to deflect it into the net past Quakes goalie JT Marcinkowski for his team leading fifth goal of the season.

Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda made his first substitute change right after halftime and brought in midfielder Jackson Yueill, who played in his first Quakes action since July 3rd when he left to join the US Men’s National Team for the Gold Cup.

“It’s been a while,” said Yueill. “It’s nice to be back with the team and with the group and it’s nice to be playing again with everyone. When I came in, [Matias] told me to do what I normally do, get comfortable again, get familiar with the team again and try to bring some energy and calmness to the game. Just go out there and play and get reacquainted with everyone. It’s fun to be back with everyone and I think the tie on the road is a good point.”

Almeyda put in three fresh legs in the final 10 minutes of the match with the intention of trying to score the go ahead goal when he inserted Chris Wondolowski. Andy Rios and Carlos Fierro.

San Jose had their best chances in stoppage time thanks to the second yellow card issued to Diego Chara in the third minute of stoppage time which resulted in a red card and automatic ejection. Chara stepped on the foot of Yueill when tried challenging for the ball near the D-line.

In the final minute, Fierro sent in a cross over to Yueill, whose shot was stoned away by Clark. The Quakes last chance came on a corner kick in the final seconds of the game but they weren’t able to convert having to settle for one point on the night instead of three.

“It makes me very happy for the players and for the whole team. Our intention is for everyone to run and play. That goal reflects our intentions. We want every player at San Jose to identify with the style. Those goals are always a prize. I think we’ve had similar instances in which we controlled the match but were just missing the finish that could have potentially won us the match tonight,” Almeyda said.

Marcinkowski finished the evening with three saves on four shot. Clark made seven saves on eight shots.

GAME NOTES: San Jose had four corner kicks. Portland had six.

Chara, with the red card, will be suspended for the next Timbers game.

San Jose is unbeaten in five consecutive road matches (1-0-4). It marks the team’s longest unbeaten run as visitors since the final four road matches of the 2012 season (3-0-1).

The Quakes earned their first point at Providence Park since Sept. 7, 2014, snapping an eight-game losing streak at the venue.

The Quakes are now 5-14-9 all-time vs. Portland, including a 0-10-4 record on the road.

UP NEXT: The Earthquakes return to San Jose to host LAFC on Saturday 8/8 at 4:00pm at Pay Pal Park.