Unbeaten September
San Jose Earthquakes beat Portland Timbers 3:1, extending to a 6 game unbeaten run.
San Jose, California, 09/26/2026 - Alfred Chu
The international break is kicking off worldwide for national teams, and Major League Soccer is continuing. San Jose Earthquakes are playing against Portland Timbers back at PayPal Park after a late equalizer at Levi’s Stadium last week.
San Jose Earthquakes entered the game with 5 games unbeaten. Angus Gunn (Scotland), Ronaldo Vieira (Guinea-Bissau), and Ousseni Bouda (Burkina Faso) were called up to their national teams during the international break, and they will miss tonight’s game. San Jose Earthquakes kept the same formation with 3 in the back and made a minor adjustment with 2 strikers, putting Timo Werner and Preston Judd up front with Ousseni Bouda’s absence.
San Jose Earthquakes’ starting 11 playing against Portland Timbers
San Jose Earthquakes, with a great start, scored just 4 minutes into the game. Eduard Löwen crossed the ball from the right wing into the box, Preston Judd found the ball in front of Portland Timbers defender Ronald Hernández and lobbed it over Portland Timbers goalkeeper James Pantemis to give San Jose Earthquakes a 1-0 lead.
Portland Timbers tried to answer with Ariel Lassiter, David Da Costa, and Vincent Janssen, but all attempts were saved by Earl Edwards Jr., who replaced Angus Gunn as starting goalkeeper for San Jose Earthquakes and made 5 saves with a solid performance in goal.
While Portland Timbers didn’t find the net, San Jose Earthquakes found the net and extended their lead. In the 24th minute, Beau Leroux dribbled in the center from the left wing, played a one-two with Timo Werner, then Beau Leroux played a through ball to Eduard Löwen. Eduard Löwen took a left-footed first-time shot from the left edge of the 6-yard box and scored 2-0 for San Jose Earthquakes.
San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Eduard Löwen celebration for his first goal with San Jose Earthquakes
Goals didn’t stop there for San Jose Earthquakes. Paul Marie received a through ball inside the box on the right side from Eduard Löwen, Paul Marie then delivered a cross for Preston Judd to volley and score again in the 29th minute.
Portland Timbers took away a clean sheet from San Jose Earthquakes before the final whistle. David Da Costa scored inside the box in the 86th minute, assisted by Eric Izoita after receiving a short pass from Gage Guerra.
Preston Judd scored twice in today’s match and marked his 15th goal of the season for San Jose Earthquakes. After scoring his second goal, he jumped into the fan section behind the Portland Timbers goal, firing the siren to celebrate his second goal. “I wasn’t planning that (the celebration) at all, I just knew my first celebration wasn’t to my standard, so I had to match it with my second. It worked out. I mean, I got a yellow card for it, that kinda suck, but it’s a pretty cool celebration.” Preston Judd spoke on playoffs possibility for San Jose Earthquakes, “The goal is to get to playoffs right now. We gotta do whatever we can do to get to playoffs, and once we get there we need to make a statement. Hopefully we do that when we get there.”
When asked about what message and how head coach Bruce Arena is communicating with the players, “If you look at our season, we’ve had a lot of good moments, and recently we’ve had a lot of bad ones, and we’re starting to flip around. I think the important message is that none of that matters, what matters is the next game. Everything we’ve done this season is great, but it’s always about the next game and each game going forward, like I keep saying, getting into the playoffs. Like I said, none of this really matters, of course it’s great to win tonight, but we gotta keep on winning and keep building our strategy for the playoffs. ”
San Jose Earthquakes forward Preston Judd celebrating his second goal in the fan section.