Portland Timbers vs San Jose Earthquakes

When San Jose Earthquakes starting goalkeeper Angus Gunn departed for international duty with Scotland this week, the prevailing assumption across the league was that a desperate Portland Timbers attack—boasting Vincent Janssen and Kristoffer Velde—would feast on backup Earl Edwards Jr. The evidence on Saturday night at PayPal Park dismantled that theory in under 30 minutes. Edwards Jr. delivered a career-high seven saves, while San Jose’s ruthless transition offense buried the Timbers 3-1, extending the Earthquakes' unbeaten run to six matches.[1][2][6]

The stakes for the September 26 clash could not have been starker. With the victory, San Jose (13-8-6) vaulted past Houston and St. Louis into third place in the Western Conference with 45 points. Portland (9-13-5), meanwhile, plunged to 10th place on 32 points, dropping below the playoff line after their third consecutive defeat.[2][4]

Preston Judd, who had been utilized primarily as a substitute in recent weeks, needed just four minutes to justify his return to manager Bruce Arena's starting XI. Center back Daniel Munie won possession 35 yards from the Portland goal and quickly fed Eduard Löwen. Löwen lofted a right-footed diagonal ball into the box, and Judd outmuscled his marker to loop a header over goalkeeper James Pantemis for a 1-0 lead.[2][4]

Portland's only genuine window of resistance came immediately after the opening goal. Between the 11th and 13th minutes, the Timbers generated three rapid-fire chances through Ariel Lassiter, Velde, and Janssen. Edwards Jr. denied all three efforts, slamming the door on Portland's attacking momentum before the game spiraled out of reach.[4]

San Jose delivered the knockout blows in quick succession. In the 24th minute, Löwen—acquired in an August 26 trade from St. Louis—scored his first goal in a Quakes kit, finishing a feed from Beau Leroux from a tight angle between Pantemis and the near post. Five minutes later, Paul Marie flicked a pass to Judd, who volleyed it home from the edge of the six-yard box to make it 3-0.[1][2][3]

The 27-year-old Judd now boasts a career-high 15 goals on the 2026 season, including three multi-goal games. Four of those goals have come against Portland alone, making him a specific nightmare for the Timbers' backline this year.[1][3]

With a commanding 3-0 cushion established by the 29th minute, Arena shifted his squad into preservation mode for the second half. Timo Werner, making his first start since August 22 after recovering from a lower-body injury, logged 67 highly effective minutes before being substituted as San Jose absorbed Portland's increasingly desperate pressure.[2]

The Timbers ultimately racked up 19 shots to San Jose's 14, but the bulk of that volume came against a set defense perfectly content to concede low-percentage looks. David Da Costa finally broke the shutout in the 86th minute, finishing a pass from Eric Izoita for his fourth goal of the season, but the strike was purely cosmetic.[2][4]

San Jose has completely reversed the midseason tailspin that saw them lose four straight in early August. “Through that bad stretch, it almost felt like we would've probably lost that game,” Judd noted regarding the team's earlier struggles. “But I think we've turned it around and we have that never-say-die attitude back. And we need every point we can get.”[2]

The Earthquakes now look to solidify home-field advantage heading into an October 10 road clash against the Colorado Rapids. For Portland, the alarm bells are deafening. Trailing Seattle on the total-wins tiebreaker for the final wild-card spot, the Timbers have two weeks to figure out how to stop the bleeding before a must-win trip to Sporting Kansas City.[1][2]