The Portland Timbers grabbed their fifth win in a row on Sunday night, taking down the San Jose Earthquakes 3-0 at Providence Park. Snapping the Quakes’ three-game winning streak was enough for the Timbers to maintain control of second place in the West and move even on points with the Seattle Sounders once again—after their Cascadian rivals stumbled against LAFC earlier in the night.
Despite undergoing an utter collapse in their last match against the Timbers, San Jose came out looking energized and ready to rumble. Barring some early attacking moves, the Timbers were smothered by the Quakes in the first half.
As they made things hard for the Timbers, the Quakes forged chances for themselves, coming close to opening the scoring in the sixth minute. A corner kick into the Timbers box from Cristian Espinoza found the head of rookie Tanner Beason for a powerful header on goal. Beason’s close-in header was on target, but Steve Clark reacted quickly, getting his hands up and pushing the ball up into the air for his defenders to eventually clear.
After a tough first half, the Timbers came out firing in the second.
In the 46th minute, moments after the whistle, the Timbers opened the scoring. Pushing down the right flank with the ball at his feet, Diego Chará played a lofted diagonal ball into the San Jose box, perfectly picking out the head of Jarek Niezgoda as he drifted off the back shoulder of his marker. Niezgoda hit a looping header back across the face of goal that left Quakes keeper James Marcinkowski stranded as it dropped over the line and into the net.
Six minutes later, with the Quakes still reeling, the Timbers struck again. Another diagonal ball into the San Jose box from Chará looked likely to be collected by Marcinkowski, but the keeper could not maintain control of the ball in the wet conditions at Providence Park. Beason was the first to the ball, poking it away under pressure from Diego Valeri, but Niezgoda was there to corral the attempted clearance. In space, Niezgoda was able to thread the needle with his shot, picking out the open net through the legs of the scrambling San Jose defense and giving the Timbers a 2-0 lead.
The Quakes did not quit after going down by two, throwing men forward and finding their chances on set-pieces.
It looked like San Jose might have pulled one back in the 71st minute, only for a raised flag to call it back. After a free-kick into the Timbers box was spilled on the goal-line, Beason emerged from the crowd to smash it home. After conferring with his assistant, however, referee Guido Gonzales Jr. judged that the goal was offside.
In the 86th minute, the Timbers finished the game off. Another move down the right saw Marvin Loria play Chará to the end line. Receiving the ball, Chará turned and played a chipped pass to the back post where Felipe Mora had drifted into space. As Chará’s pass fell to him, Mora rose up and headed it past Marcinkowski to slam the door closed on any chance of a San Jose comeback.