The San Jose Earthquakes got goals from three different players to earn a 3-0 win against a 10-man Portland Timbers of the A-League in the round-of-16 of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night at PGE Park in Portland.
Just after the Timbers were left a man down, Ronnie Ekelund netted a first-half penalty kick, and Ramiro Corrales and Dwayne De Rosario added second half goals to give the Quakes the win. The Earthquakes advance to the quarterfinals, where they will play the winner of the Los Angeles Galaxy - Minnesota Thunder match.
After some early pressure by the Timbers, the Quakes began to attack when Corrales provided San Jose with a good opportunity in the 15th minute with a long drive from 28 yards out.
The Quakes jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute behind the Ekelund penalty kick. Brian Mullan sent a cross in from the right wing to Ching, who headed it down to Donovan, and he quickly found Ching with a return pass inside the box to leave the striker in alone on goalkeeper Josh Saunders.
Timbers defender Gavin Wilkinson then pulled Ching down from behind to earn a red card as the Earthquakes were awarded the penalty kick. Ekelund slid his shot to the lower left corner to give San Jose the 1-0 lead.
Donovan created a chance of his own in the 29th minute after beating two Timbers defenders with a quick move to his left at the top of the box. The U.S. international found himself in alone on Saunders, but at a difficult angle. He faked a shot and then tried to blast the ball past the goalkeeper, but Saunders slid to his right to make the save.
Corrales put the Quakes up 2-0 in the 55th minute with a strong individual play. Ching pushed a pass out wide to Corrales at the edge of the box and Corrales then beat his defender on the dribble before firing a near post shot past Saunders for his first career Open Cup goal with San Jose.
Jon Conway came up with a big save right in the 67th minute after a quick counterattack by the Timbers. Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar sent a diagonal ball to Jake Sagare on the left edge of the penalty box. Sagare brought the ball down and beat a defender before sending a blast to the far post, but Conway leaped and parried the shot wide.
Conway made another save 13 minutes later to preserve his shutout. Timbers forward Alan Gordon crossed to the back post to Alcaraz-Cuellar, who cut a quick pass back to Alvarez, but his one-time shot hit Conway right in the chest.
A minute later, the Quakes pushed the lead to 3-0 with a great finish by De Rosario. Mullan beat his man on the wing and whipped a left-footed cross in to De Rosario at the back post and he powered a near-post header past Saunders.
The Quakes return to San Jose this weekend for a match against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT at Spartan Stadium. The match will be televised on ESPN2.
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round
San Jose Earthquakes 3, Portland Timbers 0
PGE Park; Portland, Ore.
San Jose Earthquakes - Jon Conway; Wes Hart, Ryan Cochrane (Tighe Dombrowski 70), Craig Waibel, Todd Dunivant; Brian Mullan, Richard Mulrooney, Ronnie Ekelund, Ramiro Corrales (Jamil Walker 71); Landon Donovan (Dwayne De Rosario 46), Brian Ching (Chris Brown 80)
SHOTS 9; SAVES 3; FOULS 13; OFFSIDE 4; CORNER KICKS 4
Portland Timbers - Josh Saunders; Shawn Saunders, Gavin Wilkinson, Lee Morrison, Hugo Alcaraz; Alex Bengard (Edwin Miranda 76), Andrew Gregor, Brian Winters (Scot Thompson 60), Jake Sagare; Alan Gordon (Dan Antoniuk 84), Byron Alvarez
SHOTS 5; SAVES 2; FOULS 12; OFFSIDE 3; CORNER KICKS 4
Scoring Summary
SJ - Ekelund (penalty kick) 18
SJ - Corrales (Ching) 55
SJ - De Rosario (Mullan) 80
Cautions/Ejections
POR - Wilkinson (ejection) 17
Attendance: 10,622
