Seattle Sounders vs. San Jose Earthquakes | 2020 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

2020 MLS Regular Season – Week 11
Seattle Sounders FC vs. San Jose Earthquakes
CenturyLink Field – Seattle
September 10 – 10:00 PM ET

STREAMING: MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US, on DAZN in Canada

LOCAL TV: NBC Sports California, JOEtv

The Seattle Sounders are looking to bounce back from a rivalry loss to the Portland Timbers Thursday at CenturyLink Field when they host a San Jose Earthquakes side that are still winless in their return from the MLS is Back Tournament.

The Quakes (2W-3L-3D) earned their first point of the restart, playing the Colorado Rapids to a 1-1 draw. The Sounders (4W-2L-3D) suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Timbers after winning in Portland 3-0 on August 23.

The teams played to a 0-0 draw in Orlando on July 10. They were also level 2-2 in the last meeting in Seattle last April with Kelvin Leerdam and Harry Shipp scoring two minutes apart in the second half to cancel out Shea Salinas' brace.

Seattle Sounders

The Sounders conceded the decisive goal seven minutes from full time to fall to the Timbers for a second straight time at CenturyLink Field in the regular season. In both goals conceded, Seattle were caught flat-footed, head coach Brian Schmetzer said. But the blame isn't exclusively on the back four.

"Games like this are challenging to write about, to think about, to assess because when you look at the two goals [conceded], I might say those were goals that are uncharacteristic of a good Sounders defensive team," Schmetzer said. "But the other half of the equation, and the thing we have to also discuss is did we do enough in the attacking half of the field? Because look, sometimes your defense is not going to have a good night and so you have to have the other guys that are playing in front of them do the job in the attacking half of the field."

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Danny Leyva (M) - left foot fracture
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None

San Jose Earthquakes

Goal No. 162 for Chris Wondolowski, the league's all-time leader in that category, came on a cheeky penalty kick to give the Quakes the lead, but another prolific scorer, Kei Kamara, leveled for the Rapids as the teams shared the points at Earthquakes Stadium Saturday night.

“We prepared differently because we had little time to train. Little by little, the team is picking up the rhythm again," Matias Almeyda said. "We started training as a team where everyone has the opportunity to play. Today we saw a different team compared to the other games. Where we have to improve ourselves is set pieces, but when you have a player like Kamara who jumps more than two meters, it may be that he beats you.”