Cristian Espinoza scored his third and fourth goals of the season for his first brace in nearly two years, and the San Jose Earthquakes defeated the visiting Portland Timbers 4-1 on Saturday night.
Espinoza also had an assist, while Cristian Arango scored his seventh goal, tied atop MLS, and assisted two more as the Earthquakes (4-6-1, 13 points) snapped a three-match losing streak.
Ousseni Bouda added a late insurance tally for San Jose on a night they were out attacker Josef Martinez to a lower body injury. Martinez is second on the team with six goals. DeJuan Jones had his first two assists since joining the Earthquakes from the Columbus Crew.
Daniel made four stops for the Earthquakes.
Felipe Mora scored his team-leading fifth goal for Portland (5-3-3, 18 points), which had been unbeaten in its last seven matches.
San Jose has proven a capable attacking team in their first year under MLS all-time wins leader Bruce Arena, but their opening half-hour might be the best they’ve played this season.
Espinoza had completed his first two-goal performance in MLS since May 6, 2023, by the 24th minute.
Arango was at the root of Espinoza’s opening goal in the 16th minute, playing a give-and-go through midfield before spraying the ball to Jones striding down the right.
Jones dragged a low cross back into the top of the penalty area, where Espinoza met it for a first-time finish inside the bottom left corner.
Eight minutes later, Espinoza played the give-and-go, receiving the return pass and then dribbling into the penalty area before curling his effort past stranded goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau (four saves).
Arango finished the ambush in the 27th minute, playing a give-and-go with Jones down the right before driving a low finish through the charging Crepeau.
Mora got a goal back just before halftime with his one-time finish of David Da Costa’s cross to the near post. But Portland rarely looked threatening after halftime and were probably fortunate to concede only once more before the night ended.
–Field Level Media
