Daniel made four saves to continue an impressive run of form and help the San Jose Earthquakes grind out a 0-0 draw against the visiting Portland Timbers on Saturday night.
The performance by the Brazilian marked his third shutout this season, all coming in his last four starts, to match teammate JT Marcinkowski’s total in 11 appearances while Daniel recovered from an injury.
And it helped the Quakes (7-5-6, 27 points) remain unbeaten at home at 6-0-3, despite an evening when the Timbers (5-7-6, 21 points) created more dangerous chances overall.
Portland led 16-12 in overall shots and had a 4-2 edge in efforts on target, but that wasn’t quite reflective of the more threatening nature of the Timbers’ attacks.
Former San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham made two saves for Portland, which has kept opponents scoreless for three consecutive matches (1-0-2).
Bingham was in goal for the last two of those while regular Timbers starter Aljaz Ivacic dealt first with an injury and then an international call-up.
Daniel not only had more saves than Bingham, but his stops were of higher quality.
He denied Franck Boli at the near post in the 27th minute, and while he wasn’t credited with a save, replays showed he pushed Evander’s shot from distance wide of the left post in the 43rd.
Daniel’s best denial came early in the second half on a scrambling stop of Evander’s header in the 47th minute. And he smothered another dipping long-range effort from Evander in the 58th.
San Jose’s best sequence came midway through the second half. Tommy Thompson redirected Paul Marie’s cross off the right post, and as the play was recycled, Tanner Beason’s header of Cristian Espinoza’s cross forced Bingham into a sprawling stop.
Daniel survived a scare when he collided with his own defender and was required to pass several concussion tests before remaining in the game.
That halted play for several minutes and influenced referee Alex Chilowicz to add a few minutes of second-half stoppage time.
Portland’s Dairon Asprilla struck the right upright with his effort in the third minute of second-half stoppage time, but a breakthrough wasn’t to come.
–Field Level Media
