San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Niko Taskiris dribbles the ball between two Real Salt Lake defenders in the attacking zone during his team’s 2-1 victory at PayPal Park in the team’s regular season home finale on Saturday OCT 31, 2026. (San Jose Earthquakes)
by Marko Ukalovic
SAN JOSE — The San Jose Earthquakes defeated Real Salt Lake 2-1 on Saturday afternoon at PayPal Park in their final regular-season home game to rise to third in the Western Conference with just one match left to play before the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The Quakes rose to third in the Western Conference (14-9-10-52 points), while RSL moved to 10th (12-15-6-42 points). The win clinched no lower than sixth for San Jose. A win combined with an LAFC draw/loss would clinch no lower than fifth. The top-four regular-season finishers in each conference will get home-field advantage in the Round One Best-of-3 Series starting the week of Nov. 20.
“First of all, playing at altitude is always difficult, and that was certainly a factor,” said Quakes head coach Bruce Arena. “But give Salt Lake credit; they played really well today. They needed a result given their position in the standings, and they put a lot of pressure on us. We were fortunate to get those two early goals, but we had to battle throughout the game. I give our opponent a lot of credit. Playing at home helps, but if you look at the statistics, it was a pretty even game. This wasn’t one of our better performances, and we played better at home in our last game. Ultimately, I’m pleased with the three points.”
In the first minute of the game, RSL defender Dominik Marczuk fouled Jamar Ricketts at the left edge of the 18-yard-box near the goal line. One minute later, Ousseni Bouda buried the ensuing free kick from close range for the near post past goalkeeper Rafael Cabral to make it 1-0. The Quakes doubled their advantage in minute 17 when Niko Tsakiris charged down the left wing and left flicked a cross in the box for Preston Judd, who deflected it to a streaking Jamar Ricketts near the same spot on the edge where Bouda scored. Ricketts crossed it back into the box for a slidiing Benji Kikanović who poked it into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
“I think we have to stay in the moment and take it one game at a time. We’ve tried to do that all season, and there have been a lot of ups and downs. But to be in this position at this time of year is great. We have to stay focused, go to Minnesota, give them a fight and try to get another three points to position ourselves as high as possible in the standings. Right now, we just have to stay in the moment and build some momentum that we can carry into the playoffs. That’s the goal,” Bouda said.
Real Salt Lake pulled one back in minute 23 when Sam Junqua sent in a cross from the left wing and Juanma Sanabria headed it past Quakes goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. for the far post to make it 2-1. After intermission, both sides had their opportunities in front of net, but the final score held and the Quakes made their ascent to third place by afternoon’s end—noteworthy because the top-four finishers in each conference will enjoy home-field advantage in Round One of the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs. San Jose has now captured 52 points—surpassing the team’s highest total since 2013 (51).
Aside from a 1-0 hiccup in 2024 at PayPal Park, San Jose has now earned points in four of their last five meetings at home against RSL dating back to 2022 (3-1-1), including a 4-0 shutout of the Claret-and-Cobalt in the 2025 season opener—Arena’s very first league game in charge of the Black and Blue.
Arena has now guided an astounding fifth MLS club to the playoffs in his second season (D.C. United, Red Bull NY LA Galaxy, New England Revolution) after clinching a postseason berth with San Jose on Oct. 17. He has also guided the Quakes to 52 points—surpassing the team’s highest total since 2013 (51).
Arena said he’s going to reward his players with a couple of days off before they prepare for their season finale against Minnesota next Saturday November 7th at 4pm at Allianz Field.
“I think we’re going to give the players two days off and then gradually build toward the end of the week. We want to carry some momentum into Minnesota and play well, although I know that will be challenging. Who knows what the weather will be like there this time of year? We could be playing in a snowstorm. It’s another tough game, and we’ve played a lot of road games in October, which has been challenging. It’ll be good to have a couple of days off to refresh mentally and physically and hopefully put us in a good position to play well against Minnesota,” Arena said.
