San Jose Earthquakes get a convincing win against the Portland Timbers

San Jose, California - The Portland Timbers fly over to San Jose to face the San Jose Earthquakes. The Timbers find themselves in 10th place in the western conference table. Winless in their last 3 matches, the Timbers are in need of a win if they hope to qualify for the playoffs. Quakes on the other side find themselves in 4th place. Having a rough start after World Cup break, Quakes are picking up form and are undefeated in their last 5 matches. With momentum being on Quakes side, coming from a thrilling match against LAFC, this would be no easy task for the visiting side. Quakes find the back of the net quickly in the first half, opening up the scoresheet in less than 5 minutes. A perfect cross from newly added Eduard Lowen finds Preston Judd. Preston Judd’s header was perfectly placed, leaving Timber’s keeper rooted to the ground. The Timbers get their best chance of the game in the 11th minute. Costa Rican player Ariel Lassiter gets past defender Reids and fires a shot on goal. The shot went directly to keeper Earl Edwards and was handled with no complication. It didn't take long for the Portland Timbers to create another goal scoring opportunity. A perfect ball is laid off to forward Vincent Janssen. Janssen loses Romney’s mark with no difficulty and fires a shot on Edwards’ goal. Edwards again, making a great save to keep the Quake’s 1-0 lead. At this point of the match, the Timbers are dominating the match, creating the better goal opportunities and look closer to getting their first goal of the night. In the 22nd minute, a backheel pass found midfielder Da Costa. Da Costa rips a near post shot, Edwards’ excellent positioning helps him make the save.

In the 24th minute, Eduard Lowen doubled the Quakes lead and netted his first goal for the San Jose side. Midfielder Beau Leroux’s through ball found Lowen, who fired a first time shot, perfectly placing it near post. Making it near impossible for the Timbers keeper to make the save. Judd strikes again shortly after the second goal, making it 3-0 and completing his first half brace. A trivela cross from Paul Marie finds Preston Judd, who volleys it past the Timbers keeper in the 29th minute. With excitement, Judd runs to the Quakes’ “Epicentro” supporter section and fires the siren. Despite being behind 3-0, the Portland Timbers refused to go out without a fight. In the 35th minute, Da Costa once again fires a shot on goal but is saved again by Edwards. Again in the 41st minute, Da Costa makes a run, losing his mark, receives a through ball and tries to lay it off to teammate Basset. The pass was saved by Edwards’, who at this point in the match has been a key figure. Nothing much changed in the start of the second half, Quakes looked to increase their lead while the Timbers tried to cut the lead and comeback. Quakes’ right back Kikanovic, makes a solo run in the 50th minute. Nearly getting past the whole Timber’s defense, Kikanovic’ shot lacked power and was saved by Pantemis. The shot landed perfectly to Judd after Pantemis saved it with his foot, Judd quickly fired a shot and was once again saved by the Portland keeper. After many great goal scoring opportunities, the Timbers finally got past keeper Edwards. In the 85th minute, Izoita’s pass finds Da Costa, perfectly controlling it, Da Costa fires a bullet on Edwards’ near post. Da Costa’s amazing goal was unfortunately not enough for the Timbers to at least rescue a point. San Jose Earthquakes’ first half goals were enough to secure the win against the Portland Timbers, and see themselves winning the match 3-1.

With this win, Quakes are now undefeated in their last 6 games and climb up to third place on the Western Conference table. There were 3 key players who helped secure the win for the home side. Those being Preston Judd, Eduard Lowen and last but not least, goalkeeper Earl Edwards. After being in a goal scoring drought, Judd’s brace gets him his 15th goal of the season. Putting him in the top six, tied with Nicolas Fernandez, goal scores in the current 2026 season. Eduard Lowen’s move to San Jose has been one of the best things to happen to the Quakes this season. Not only being involved in all 3 goals, the Quakes have not lost a match since Lowen’s move. Despite having very little playing time, Edwards’ was the starting keeper after Gunn was called up for the Scottish national team. Edwards’ finished the game with 4 saves that were key for the Quakes’ win. Quakes hope to keep their form and remain undefeated when they face Colorado Rapids away on October 10th. After this match, the Timbers are now winless in their last 4 matches. Timbers hope to secure a win as they face Kansas City on October 10th.