Timbers look to extend unbeaten streak against Earthquakes (Jul 06, 2018)
The Portland Timbers' MLS unbeaten streak is now at 10.
The Timbers remained the hottest team in the league with a 3-2 win over their Cascadia Cup rival Seattle Sounders in the first-ever regular-season MLS game at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.
The Timbers face another team coming off an emotional result on Saturday when they host the San Jose Earthquakes at Providence Park in Portland.
Portland (7-3-5) has rebounded from its slow start to 2018, when it lost three of its first five games, but still sits in fifth place in the Western Conference, nine points behind first-place Dallas FC.
"We need to make sure we're ready for San Jose and be ready to give another good performance," Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said, according to the MLS website. "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."
San Jose (2-9-6) got one of those better results in the latest California Clasico at Stanford Stadium on Saturday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic put the Los Angeles Galaxy up 3-1 with a goal in the 25th minute, and it appeared the Quakes were doomed.
But San Jose scored twice, including a 64th-minute penalty kick by captain Chris Wondolowski, and the Earthquakes earned a 3-3 tie.
"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," San Jose coach Mikael Stahre told MLSsoccer.com. "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."
Wondolowski's equalizer was his second penalty kick of the game. His first, in the game's 15th minute, was saved by Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham, but Wondolowski knocked in the rebound.
"He's an excellent penalty taker," Quakes forward Danny Hoesen said of the San Jose captain, according to the (San Jose) Mercury News. "He does it in training all the time. He's the penalty taker of this team, so there's no question he should take it."
Wondolowski, who narrowly missed a potential game-winner in the 90th minute, now has 140 career goals, just five short of Landon Donovan's MLS record.
