Tag: mls

San Jose Earthquakes defender Daniel Munie battles for the ball against San Diego FC’s Jeppe Tverskov during San Diego’s 2-1 win over San Jose at PayPal Park on Sunday AUG 17, 2025. (Brandon Vallance-Getty Images)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — You can’t let a sleeping dog lie around too long.

Anders Dreyer scored the game winning goal in the 84th minute as San Diego FC delivered a 2-1 comeback win over the San Jose Earthquakes in the first ever matchup between the two squads on Sunday afternoon at PayPal Park.

San Jose has lost three out its last four matches and remained in 9th place and the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 32 points. San Diego has won three league matches in a row and five overall including Leagues Cup play as they remained atop of the Western Conference standings with 52 points.

San Jose (8-11-9-32 points) dominated the first half play with nine total shots compared to just two for San Diego. The Earthquakes had three quality chances in the final five minutes of the half. Cristian Espinoza had two chances in the 42nd and 45th minutes with two shots inside the box. Espinoza’s first attempt sailed just wide left of the net. Then his second attempt was stopped by San Diego goalkeeper CJ dos Santos.

San Diego (16-7-5-52 points) came into the match with injuries to their back line with three of their starting defenders out. Leading MVP candidate Dreyer was relatively quiet for the MLS all-star and Jeppe Tverskov who is second on the team with nine assists.

The Quakes broke through on the scoreboard in the 72nd minute thanks to an embarrassing blunder by dos Santos inside his own box. dos Santos nonchalantly tried to kick the ball out of the zone but Noel Buck, who came in as a substitute a minute before, pressured dos Santos and the ball deflected off his body. Josef Martinez collected the ball, made a move around dos Santos and delivered the ball into the back of the net off of the head of Manu Duah for his team leading 12th goal of the season and 128th of his MLS career.

The expansion club struck back to even the match in the 81st minute. Franco Negri crossed the ball into the middle of the box from just outside the 18 on the left side. An unmarked Marcus Ingvartsen buried the ball into the back of the net with a header for his second goal of the season.

Then three minutes later San Diego gained its first lead on a counterattack play. Christopher McVey sent the ball up Ingvarsten inside their defensive zone. Ingvarsten quickly sent a long pass out to Dreyer for a breakaway attempt. Dreyer got Quakes goalkeeper Daniel to go down before gliding the ball into the far corner of the net for his team leading 13th goal of the season.

dos Santos finished the match with four saves on five shots to earn the victory. Daniel made one save on three shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished with three corner kicks. San Diego had six.

The Earthquakes celebrated Autism Awareness Night, where the first 200 fans who bought a special-event ticket benefiting autism organizations received a limited-edition poster illustrated by artist Shane Tarkington, who was diagnosed with autism at age 2. Quakes Sporting Director/Head Coach Bruce Arena joined his grandson Holden, who was diagnosed with autism at an early age, in the ceremonial First Kick with his mother Jenny and father Kenny, who is currently an FC Cincinnati assistant coach. Comedian Ron Funches, whose son was also diagnosed with autism, fired the ceremonial pregame siren.

DeJuan Jones is the only Quakes player who had previously faced San Diego FC. The defender tallied an assist against San Diego with former club Columbus Crew on March 15, 2025. 

Espinoza had three key passes to run his league-leading total to 89. His 12 assists are still good for fourth in MLS (tied).

After scoring once today, the Quakes are now tied for fourth in the league for team goals (50), behind Orlando City SC and Inter Miami CF (53) and San Diego FC (52). 

The Earthquakes continue to lead MLS in expected goals (55.73).

UP NEXT: San Jose begins a two-match road trip on Saturday August 23rd when they play the Houston Dynamo at 5:30pm at Shell Energy Stadium.

San Jose Earthquakes forward Preston Judd celebrates his game winning goal in a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps with his teammates and fans at PayPal Park on Saturday AUG 9, 2025. (San Jose Earthquakes)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Preston Judd has made the most of his opportunities when his number is called.

Judd scored the game winning goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time in the second half as the San Jose Earthquakes pulled out a 2-1 upset victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday evening at PayPal Park.

Jamal Ricketts, who came into the match as a sub in the third minute of stoppage time, set up Judd’s late match magic when he went around a defender and crossed the ball over the middle from left to right. DeJuan Jones, one touched it back into the middle of the box before Judd blasted it in from point-blank range for his fifth goal of the season.

“I’ve been saying it all year. Whenever I get in, I want to make a difference. We were winning 1-0, but even then, I wanted to get the second goal to hopefully help the team win. I got in a position where I helped the team win in the 94th minute,” Judd said.

San Jose snapped a six-match league winless streak and seventh overall as well as moved up to the eighth spot in the Western Conference. Vancouver had its three-match point streak snapped and remained in second place, four points behind San Diego.

Vancouver (13-6-6-45 points) put themselves behind the eight ball early in the match as they went down a player in the 27th minute when Édier Ocampo picked up his second yellow card of the match after knocking down Vitor Costa just outside the box resulting in a red card and an automatic ejection. Ocampo recorded his first yellow card in the 20th minute with a hard foul.

San Jose (8-10-8-32 points) were left wondering in the 30th minute on an apparent foul inside the box by Vancouver’s Andres Cubas after making contact with Chico Arango causing Arango to fall to the turf. Referee Timothy Ford let the play go as no penalty was called on the play.

The Whitecaps got caught with their hand in the cookie jar one too many times in the 50th minute. Triston Blackmon tripped up Costa inside the box resulting in a penalty. After a short video review that confirmed the penalty on Blackmon, Josef Martinez scored his co team-leading 11th goal of the season after converting the penalty kick with a right footed shot off of the left post and into the back of the net past Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka.

Martinez has scored five goals in four career games against Vancouver.

A minute later Quakes goalkeeper Daniel made a point-blank save with his right leg when he challenged an unmarked Daniel Rios who was left wide open inside the middle of the box after Vancouver quickly attacked on the ensuing kickoff.

Daniel kept his bid for a clean sheet with a timely diving save off of a Jayden Nelson right-footed shot from the left side of the box in the 71st minute.

Vancouver scored the equalizer in the 88th minute thanks to a lucky break. Blackmon lofted a ball out to Brian White who was able to volley the ball to himself. On the same play Quakes defender Bruno Wilson slipped and fell that led to a breakaway for White. The Whitecaps leading scorer chipped the ball past Daniel for his team leading 12th goal of the season.

“Giving up a goal, up a man, that late, it’s frustrating. We never got out of the game. Right away we started attacking. We were pushing for that goal. We know we needed the goal. Our attitude on the field showed that we were going to score a goal. I felt it. I believed in it. I think a lot of the players believed that we were going to score a goal to win that game. It showed and it worked out,” Judd reiterated.

Daniell finished with two saves on three shots to earn his eighth win of the season. Takaoka made three saves on five shots on target in the losing effort.

“A tough game, but we’ve been in a lot of those games this year and been on the other side of it as well,” said San Jose Earthquakes head coach Bruce Arena. “I’m pleased with the win. If we’re a team that has any interest in being in the playoffs, we have to win these home games, so this is critically important.”

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished the match with five corner kicks. Vancouver had three.

The Earthquakes improved their record against the Vancouver Whitecaps to 11-12-12 all-time in MLS regular season play with an 8-2-8 (26 GF, 16 GA) record at home.

The Quakes moved up to eighth in the MLS Western Conference standings with 32 points (8-10-8). Vancouver Whitecaps FC remained second in the West with 45 points (13-6-6).

Bruce Arena won his 270th regular-season game, extending his MLS record among head coaches. The late great Sigi Schmid is second with 240.

The Quakes earned their first home victory in league play since May 3, a 4-1 win over Portland.

The team celebrated Portuguese Heritage Night at PayPal Park, with Lisbon native Bruno Wilson starting at center back for the Quakes. Wilson played his youth football at Oeiras and Sporting Clube de Portugal before playing as a professional with SC Braga, CD Tondela and FC Vizela.

Cristian Espinoza made four key passes tonight to extend his MLS lead (86). He remains tied for second in the league in assists (12).

Daniel’s two saves ran his total to 82, good for sixth in MLS.

With 48 goals in 26 matches, San Jose is currently third in MLS in total goals. Only San Diego FC (50) and Inter Miami CF (49) have outscored the Quakes in 2025.

The Earthquakes’ attack is back up to first in the league in expected goals (53.92). The Philadelphia Union is second (52.23).

Whitecaps newly acquired midfielder Thomas Müller will be introduced at a press conference on Thursday by the Whitecaps as he hopes to make his Vancouver debut in their next match against the Houston Dynamo on August 17th.

UP NEXT: San Jose plays its inaugural match against San Diego FC on Sunday August 17th at 4:00pm at PayPal Park.

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.

The San Jose Earthquakes Starting XI posed for a group shot just before kickoff in their match against the Houston Dynamo at PayPal Park on Saturday MAY 24, 2025. (San Jose Earthquakes)

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — In a match that saw fireworks in the second half in terms of goals scored, the San Jose Earthquakes drew 3-3 with the Houston Dynamo on Saturday evening at PayPal Park.

San Jose is unbeaten in its past seven overall matches (4-0-3), including five in MLS play. Houston is winless in their past three matches but earned a point after two straight defeats.

San Jose (5-6-5) had two quality chances early in the first half by Josef Martinez. First in the seventh minute, Martinez’s attempt from 10 yards out was stopped by Dynamo goalkeeper Jonanthan Bond. Then in the 20th minute, Martinez’s point-blank chance from inside the box was knocked away with a two-handed save by Bond.

Houston (4-6-6) drew first blood in the 31st minute. Ondřej Lingr’s counterattack found Griffin Dorsey down the right wing. Dorsey crossed the ball in the box where Ezequiel Ponce headed the ball into the far corner of the net past Quakes goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. for his team’s leading fourth goal of the season.

The Dynamo doubled its lead seconds after a corner kick in the 50th minute. Lingr centered the ball from the right wing over to the back post. An unmarked Felipe Andrade tapped home the ball into an open net for his second goal of the season.

The game seemed to have been judged one-sided to the benefit of the Dynamo from referee Sergii Demianchuk who missed some obvious fouls committed by the Dynamo throughout the match.

“I give our players a lot of credit for coming back down from two goals and basically have the game won at the end,” said Quakes head coach Bruce Arena. “We didn’t manage the game very well at the end….I think we could have done better on all the goals. We could have scored more goals. We should have come in at halftime ahead. We had some very good chances. We just have to be a little bit cleaner.”

San Jose cut the deficit in half in the 66th minute. Beau Leroux got the ball down low to DeJuan Jones near the right goal line. Jones centered the ball to Preston Judd who one-timed the ball past Bond with a right-footed shot for his first goal of the season.

Judd recorded his brace in the 72nd minute. Fullback Ian Harkes centered the ball squarely into the box where Judd got behind two Dynamo defenders and headed the ball over Bond into the upper left corner of the net for the equalizer and second goal of the season.

“Josef (Martínez) helped me out there because they paid a lot of attention to him, so I was able to get on their back shoulders, and they didn’t know where I was at, so I took advantage of that and finished those chances when I got them,” Judd said.

The Earthquakes gained its first lead of the match four minutes later. Once again it was Harkes setting up the goal. After a Cristian Espinoza corner kick, Harkes gathered the ball along the left side line. The Quakes fullback deked out a Houston defender before centering the ball into the middle of the box. An unmarked Daniel Munie made a diving header into the far corner of the net for his first career MLS goal in the 76th minute.

Houston scored the equalizer in the first minute of stoppage time on a fluke goal. Jack McGlynn had the ball just outside the box. McGlynn found Franco Escobar along the right wing. Escobar made a quick back pass to Dorsey whose right-footed shot deflected off of Dave Romey and into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.

Bond finished the match with five saves on eight shots on target and was mainly responsible for Houston earning a point in the contest. Edwards Jr. did not record a save on the three shots on target.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished the match with 11 corner kicks. Houston had seven.

The Earthquakes are currently 10-19-5 all-time vs. Houston Dynamo FC with an 8-6-4 home record.

Heading into tonight, the Quakes’ attack led all MLS with 29 goals. To celebrate, the club gave away 2,900 hot dogs to fans before the match. With another three goals tonight, the Quakes stayed atop the league leaderboard with 32 goals and 34.13 expected goals. 

Judd scored his fifth and sixth goals of his career. Combined with his goal and assist in Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup play, he’s up to four goal contributions in all competitions (2g/2a).

DeJuan Jones, recently called up to the U.S. Men’s National Team for June training camp ahead of the Concacaf Gold Cup, amassed his fourth assist of the season and 26th of his MLS career.

The Quakes stayed unbeaten (3-0-3) in all games started by recent acquisition DeJuan Jones, who joined the team via trade with the Columbus Crew last month.

Ian Harkes had his first two assists of the MLS season tonight, running his career total to eight. He also had a goal vs. Inter Miami in his last league outing, giving him three goal contributions in his last two matches.

Edwards Jr.’s shutout streak in all competitions ended at 197 minutes after conceding Ezequiel Ponce’s 31st-minute goal.

Luca Ulrich, acquired via short-term loan earlier today from the Quakes’ MLS NEXT Pro team, The Town FC, was an unused substitute backing up Earl Edwards Jr. at goalkeeper.

UP NEXT: San Jose travels down south to take on their SoCal rival Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday May 28th at 7:00pm at Dignity Health Sports Park

Cristian Espinoza and Cristian Arango of the San Jose Earthquakes celebrate Espinoza’s first goal of his brace against the Portland Timbers at Pay Pal Park on Saturday MAY 3, 2025. (San Jose Earthquakes)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Cristian Espinoza scored two goals and DeJuan Jones had two assists in his first start of the season as the San Jose Earthquakes blasted past the Portland Timbers in 4-1 victory on Saturday evening at Pay Pal Park.

San Jose snapped its three-match losing streak and has won two of its past three at home. Portland had its seven-match unbeaten streak snapped as it suffered its first loss since March 8th against Nashville 2-0.

The Earthquakes (4-6-1) drew first blood 16th minute. Cristian Arango sent a long ball out to the right wing. Dejuan Jones, who made his first start in a Quakes kit and in his second game since being acquired from the Columbus Crew, centered the ball into the box over to Cristian Espinoza and the Argentine hit a low shot into the left corner of the net for his third goal of the season.

“It was really important to start the game that way. We knew that we needed this victory. We need the three points tonight. We were preparing ourselves the whole week for this moment. We know when we stay together, we keep the compactness inside the field, the result will come. Tonight was a great answer,” Espinoza said.

Jones first point as an Earthquake was the assist that gave Espinoza third place on the franchise’s all-time career club scoring list as he passed Jeremy Ebobisse with his 35th (and later his 36th) for the Black and Blue.

Espinoza recorded his brace in the 24th minute. Espinoza had a nice give and go with Ousseni Bouda as the Quakes captain got behind the Timbers defense and dribbled in all alone before firing a right footed shot past Timber’s goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau for his fourth goal of the season.

San Jose scored its third unanswered goal of the first half on a counterattack. Chico Arango fed a pass up the right sideline to Jones who quickly returned it back to Arango with a nice touch pass. Arango raced down the right wing before rifling in a right footed strike for his team leading seventh goal of the season in the 27th minute.

“Whenever you can get to a new club and make an impact with the scoring right away, that’s helpful. And I’m building chemistry quickly with my teammates. They make it really easy. It’s fun playing with them, so to get the 4-1 win is good. We use the momentum to keep getting more wins,” Jones said.

Portland (5-3-3) broke through with its only goal just before halftime in the 42nd minute. Anthony Santos made a drop pass over to David De Costa just outside the box. De Costa centered the ball over to Felipe Mora who beat Quakes goalkeeper Daniel with a chip shot for his team leading sixth goal of the season.

In the second half VAR played a pivotal role in taking away two potential goals for San Jose. In the 58th minute, Arango thought he had his own brace when his one-timer off of a Vitor Costa centering pass was kicked into the back of the net. However, after a VAR review, Arango was ruled offside.

Crepeau stoned Arango’s second chance at a brace when stopped a point-blank chance after Espinoza centered the ball into the box.

A minute later Beau Leroux made a move around David Ayala inside the box. Ayala apparently tripped Leroux with his leg that resulted in referee Fortis Bazakos ruling it a penalty. Once again VAR called down for a review and the penalty was overturned frustrating the Quakes faithful.

Third time was the charm for San Jose as they finally earned its fourth goal of the match in the 88th minute. Arango crossed the ball into the middle from the left wing over Bouda who finished off the pass with a one-timer into the right corner of the net for his 2nd goal of the season. Espinoza, who had the secondary assist on the goal, recaptured the league lead with his seventh helper on the season and 78th in MLS play, extending his club record.

“It’s a good win against a very good team. I thought Portland was dangerous throughout the game. Our guys responded. The three goals in the first half are huge. We knew they would come at us real strong to start the second half and we weathered the storm. In the last 15 to 20 minutes of the game, we settled in the right way to try to just protect our lead and get out of here with three points. We did a good job with that. They’re a very good team, so we’re pleased with the win,” Quakes head coach Bruce Arena said after the match.

Daniel finished with four saves on five shots to earn his fourth victory of the season. Crepeau made four saves on eight shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished with two corner kicks. Portland had six.

Earthquakes move to 7-19-10 all-time vs. Portland, with a 7-5-6 record at home. 

Espinoza became the 21st player in MLS history with 15 career game-winning goals and 15 career game-winning assists. He also extended his consecutive games streak—a club record and the longest active run in MLS—to 120, good for third all-time and second among field players.

Pay Pal Park celebrated Colombian Heritage Night with food stands and vendors that featured items and food from the Colombian culture.

UP NEXT: San Jose takes on Sacramento Republic FC in the Round of 32 of the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday May 7th at 7:30pm at Pay Pal Park.