Portland Timbers 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1 | 2018 MLS Match Recap

Jose Romero

The Portland Timbers will enter their next match having gone more than three months without a loss.

The Timbers ran their unbeaten streak to 11 league matches with Saturday night's 2-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes at Providence Park. Samuel Armenteros starred with his second brace of the season.

Armenteros had goals on both side of halftime, his fifth and sixth of the season. Jeff Attinella made a sprawling save of a Quincy Amarikwa blast in the 60th minute and Diego Valeri assisted on both goals.

Florian Jungwirth made it interesting with an 87th-minute goal but the Timbers held on. San Jose are winless in nine straight league matches.

The Earthquakes had to make two early substitutes when they lost leading scorer Danny Hoesen to injury in the 33rd minute, and earlier replaced injured defender Kevin Partida.

Goals

14’ — POR — Samuel Armenteros | WATCH
53’ — POR — Samuel Armenteros | WATCH
87' — SJ — Florian Jungwirth | WATCH

Three Things

THE BIG PICTURE: No MLS club is hotter than the Timbers, who have gone 13 matches across all competitions without a loss. And things would seem to look even better going forward, especially if the U.S. Open Cup run continues. Vytas returned to the pitch from injury, Andy Polo and David Guzman are back from the World Cup and available and Giovanni Savarese has the depth for plenty of lineup options from game to game. As for San Jose, the chances were there and they made it very close at the end, which is a positive, but a win is still elusive.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Armenteros' two goals were nice, but this effort was indicative of the kind of confidence with which he is playing, even if it didn't result in a goal.

A little halftime treat... 😳 #PORvSJ #RCTID pic.twitter.com/a3vBsEiT7n
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) July 8, 2018

MAN OF THE MATCH: Armenteros was more than a handful to mark for the Earthquakes throughout his 77 minutes of action. He came close to a first-half brace, even a third goal. He had a good chance blocked by Quakes goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell in the 24th minute, then later caught everyone by surprise with his bicycle kick that went just wide. The second half was more of the same. The Swedish international continues to flourish in the Rose City.