Portland Timbers vs. San Jose Earthquakes | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Portland Timbers vs. San Jose Earthquakes
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 19
Providence Park — Portland
July 7 — 11 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

The Portland Timbers remain the hottest team in Major League Soccer, stretching an unbeaten streak to 10 consecutive games following an emotional 3-2 victory over Seattle Sounders FC, their first ever MLS regular season win at CenturyLink Field.

The San Jose Earthquakes head to Providence Park off an emotional result of their own — rallying from two goals down to tie the LA Galaxy, 3-3, in another wild California Clasico at Stanford Stadium.

Portland Timbers

After losing three of their first five games without a win, the Timbers (7-3-5) head into July on a 10-match unbeaten streak after defeating Seattle on Saturday.

Defender Larrys Mabiala struck for a brace with bookend goals, including the 74th-minute winner, Samuel Armenteros added one and Diego Valeri had three assists in a big Cascadia victory.

This is the third matchup this season between Portland and San Jose, with Valeri scoring the lone goal in a 1-0 league win at Avaya Stadium on May 5, while Jeremy Ebobisse and Dairon Asprilla scored a goal in each half in a 2-0 U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round victory at Providence Park on June 6.

“We need to make sure we’re ready for San Jose and be ready to give another good performance,” Giovanni Savarese said. “It’s going to be another battle, another tough game. They’ve been getting some better results in the past few games they’ve played so we need to be prepared because every game, even if you play the same team, is different.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: QUESTIONABLE: D - Roy Miller (left Achilles tendon injury), D - Liam Ridgewell (right quad injury), GK - Kendall McIntosh (left thigh injury), F - Fanendo Adi (left thigh injury), M - Sebastian Blanco (right thigh injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-2-1, right to left)
GK: Jeff Attinella — Alvas Powell, Larrys Mabiala, Julio Cascante, Zarek Valentin — Cristhian Paredes, Diego Chara, Andy Polo — Diego Valeri, Sebastian Blanco — Samuel Armenteros

San Jose Earthquakes

When Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his second goal of the game, the LA Galaxy had a 3-1 lead just 25 minutes into the latest California Clasico and it appeared the visitors would cruise to an easy victory.

But a 39th-minute goal from Vako injected some life into San Jose (2-9-6), so too did Mikael Stahre's halftime team talk, and then Chris Wondolowski leveled in the 69th minute from the penalty spot. It was Wondo’s second PK of the game. His first was saved by David Bingham, but he knocked in the rebound in the 15th minute.

“We were lucky that we made it 1-1 before they got their second goal so it was kind of a restart, but then we made mistakes again,” Mikael Stahre said. “Of course they had two nice free kicks, but ultimately we conceded them too easily. It was a wakeup call for the second half. I was quite direct in my instructions at halftime if I’m frank. We came out much better in the second half. More aggressive, more compact.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: M - Anibal Godoy
International duty: None
Injury Report: None

Projected Starting XI
(4-4-2, right to left)
GK: Andrew Tarbell — Nick Lima, Jimmy Ockford, Yeferson Quintana, Kevin Partida — Magnus Eriksson, Fatai Alashe, Florian Jungwirth, Vako — Danny Hoesen, Chris Wondolowski

All-Time Series

Overall: Portland Timbers 9 wins, 28 goals … San Jose Earthquakes 4 wins, 21 goals … 7 draws
At Portland: Timbers 7 wins, 18 goals … Earthquakes 0 wins, 7 goals … 3 draws
Last meeting at Portland: Portland Timbers 2, San Jose Earthquakes 0 (June 2, 2017)