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San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Beau Leroux battles for possession of the ball with FC Dallas wingback John Todd at PayPal Park on Wednesday JUL 16, 2025. (San Jose Earthquakes)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — If you blinked for a second, you might have thought you traveled back to 1996.

The San Jose Earthquakes, who donned kits from 1996 when they were known as the Clash, came back after giving up the go-head go to settle for a 2-2 draw with FC Dallas on Wednesday evening at PayPal Park.

San Jose has earned a point in three of its last four matches and currently sit in ninth place in the Western Conference. FC Dallas is winless in its past five matches.

Earthquakes center fullback Bruno Wilson returned to the Starting XI after missing the majority of the first half of the season with a leg injury. Midfielder Niko Tsakiris was also added to the starting lineup by Quakes head coach Bruce Arena.

“It was a sloppy performance at the end of both halves,” said Arena. “The first goal they scored, we could have done better on that play. We give them credit. The second goal they scored, we have three guys that just fell asleep, did a really poor job. I give our guys a lot of credit getting a point out of this game. In a game where we’re a little bit better, maybe we win by a couple of goals. I’m disappointed in our inability to see out both halves. The first half, we should have gone in at 1-0. And I would have liked to have had the game at 1-1 in the final minutes and see if we could win. We put ourselves in a difficult position.”

San Jose (7-8-8-29 points) drew first blood in the 21st minute. A shot attempt by Rodrigues from 20 yards out deflected inside the box off of a FC Dallas defender. Chicho Arango touched the ball over to Joesef Martinez in the center of the box. Martinez sent a back pass out to an open Ian Harkes right at the D. The Quakes fullback buried a shot past FC Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes into the upper right corner for his second goal of the season.

Vitor Costa went down with an injury in the 30th minute when he committed a high foul against Shaq Moore just outside the box. Costa laid on the pitch for a few minutes until he was carted off of the field by the medical staff. To add insult to injury, Costa was issued a yellow card on the play by referee Ramy Touchan. Dave Romney came in as a sub to replace Costa in the 33rd minute.

“It’s two players going in for a ball, and I could be mistaken that the [FC Dallas] player probably got to the ball first and went through it and got to Vítor. It wasn’t a foul on Vítor. The injuries, unfortunate, but it’s certainly not a foul on Vítor. I think was almost like a 50/50 play. I haven’t seen it on film, so I can’t give more detail. He took about a dozen stitches,” Arena said.

On the ensuing free kick for Dallas (5-10-7-22-points), Patrickson Delgado crossed the ball into the center of the box where Sebastien Ibeahga’s left footed one-timer from point-blank range was saved Bernardo Kumango shot saved by Quakes goalkeeper Daniel.

FC Dallas scored the equalizer just before halftime in the third minute of stoppage time. Petar Musa started the counterattack when he threaded a pass between three Quakes defenders that sprung Delgado on a breakaway. Deglado’s chip shot hit off the crossbar, but the Croatian striker followed up the play by collecting the rebound and beat Daniel with a right-footed shot into the near corner for his team leading eighth goal of the season.

Musa recorded his brace in the 85th when he gave FC Dallas their first lead of the match. A give and go inside the box between Ramiro and Logan Farrington, with Farrington making a pretty back pass, led to Ramiro finding Musa all alone in front of the net for an easy tap in for his ninth goal of the season.

The lead didn’t last long for the visitors as the Earthquakes scored their equalizer a minute later. Romey sent a ball down the left wing to Jack Skahan, who remained onside, as he fought the ball away from Kaick Ferreira. Skahan crossed the ball into the middle from the endline to Josef Martinez who headed the ball into the net for his ninth goal of the season.

The officiating was suspect throughout the entire match as Touchan issued five yellow cards to San Jose but none to FC Dallas despite hard fouls taken on both sides of the ball.

Daniel finished three saves on five shots for his eighth draw of the season. Paes made one save on three shots.

“We wanted to win. I think was a very important game to win. We didn’t win. We are not happy about that, but we have to keep working. We have a big chance to go to the playoffs, and we want that a lot. So keep working. Tomorrow is another day. In three days, we have another game so we can improve and we have an opportunity to win,” Bruno said.

GAME NOTES: San Jose and FC Dallas both finished the match with four kicks.

San Jose Earthquakes is now 31-22-23 all-time against FC Dallas with a 18-8-13 home record.

On Tuesday, the Quakes announced team captain Cristian Espinoza was named to the 2025 Major League Soccer All-Star roster. The match will take place next Wednesday, July 23, at Austin FC’s Q2 Stadium.

Espinoza made two key passes, extending his league lead to 72. He also ranks second in MLS with 11 assists.

Martínez’s 21st-minute assist was his second in league play and the 22nd of his MLS career. His ninth in league play and the 125th of his MLS career, good for sixth in the all-time rankings.

With 43 goals in 22 matches, the Black and Blue are currently tied for third in Major League Soccer, three goals behind leaders San Diego FC and one behind Inter Miami CF. The Quakes are currently second in MLS in expected goals (46.7), trailing only Nashville SC (47).

Tonight’s attendance was 15,304.

UP NEXT: San Jose begin a two-game road trip when they travel up to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Sounders on Saturday July 19th at 5:30 pm at Lumen Field.