August 2025 – jmjimage

San Jose Earthquakes vs. San Diego FC, August 17, 2025

San Diego FC Defender LUCA BOMBINO (27) dribbles away from pressure from San Jose Earthquakes Midfielder BEAU LEROUX (34) during the MLS match between the San Jose Earthquakes and San Diego FC at PayPal Park in San Jose, California

MEDIA RELEASE:

Aug. 17, 2025

MATCH RECAP: Earthquakes 1, San Diego FC 2

Josef Martínez goal puts San Jose ahead but visitors score twice late; Quakes go on the road next Saturday to face Houston Dynamo FC

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Earthquakes fell to San Diego FC 2-1 on Sunday at PayPal Park in front of 17,546 fans.

After a scoreless first half where San Jose outshot San Diego 9-2, the Earthquakes continued to apply pressure on the visitors. Finally, in minute 72, the Quakes broke the deadlock when SDFC goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos was about to clear the ball and second-half substitute Noel Buck charged him to cause a deflection. An opportunistic Josef Martínez pounced on the loose ball in the box, dribbled around a defender, and knocked it in to give San Jose a 1-0 lead.

However, SDFC would answer in the 81st minute, equalizing when a Franco Negri cross from the left wing was headed home by Marcus Ingvartsen. Three minutes later, the visitors caught the Quakes in transition and Anders Dreyer netted the decisive goal for the 2-1 final margin.

The Black and Blue travel to Houston next Saturday, Aug. 23, when they face Houston Dynamo FC. Kickoff from Shell Energy Stadium will take place at 5:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast globally via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV (English/Spanish), as well as via local radio on thesportsleader.com / KNBR’s YouTube channel (English) and KZSF 1370 AM La Kaliente (Spanish).

GAME NOTES

Today’s match marks the first meeting between the Quakes and MLS expansion club San Diego FC. San Jose is now ninth in the Western Conference with 32 points (8-11-8) while San Diego stays in first with 52 points (16-7-4).

It was also Autism Awareness Night, where the first 200 fans who bought a special-event ticket benefiting autism organizations received a limited-edition poster illustrated by artist Shane Tarkington, who was diagnosed with autism at age 2. Quakes Sporting Director/Head Coach Bruce Arena joined his grandson Holden, who was diagnosed with autism at an early age, in the ceremonial First Kick with his mother Jenny and father Kenny, who is currently an FC Cincinnati assistant coach. Comedian Ron Funches, whose son was also diagnosed with autism, fired the ceremonial pregame siren.

DeJuan Jones is the only Quakes player who had previously faced San Diego FC. The defender tallied an assist against San Diego with former club Columbus Crew on March 15, 2025.

Cristian Espinoza had three key passes to run his league-leading total to 89. His 12 assists are still good for fourth in MLS (tied).

Josef Martínez’s 72nd-minute goal was his 12th of the season and 128th of his MLS career, good for sixth on the all-time list.

Daniel had one save to increase his total to 82, good for seventh in the league.

After scoring once today, the Quakes are now tied for fourth in the league for team goals (50), behind Orlando City SC and Inter Miami CF (53) and San Diego FC (52).

The Earthquakes continue to lead MLS in expected goals (55.73).

Connections between the two rosters were plenty. Defender Oscar Verhoeven is currently on loan to San Diego FC from the Earthquakes. The Pleasant Hill, CA, native joined former Quakes midfielder Aníbal Godoy at the new SoCal side. Former Quakes assistant coach Luciano Fusco joined San Diego FC for the 2025 season. Fusco joined the Earthquakes in 2018 and held roles as Quakes Academy head coach, assistant coach of Quakes II (now The Town FC) in MLS NEXT Pro and Quakes first-team assistant coach from 2022-25.

San Jose Earthquakes 1 – 2 San Diego FC

Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025 — PayPal Park; San Jose, Calif.

Weather: 74°F Sunny

Attendance: 17,546

*all stats unofficial

Match Officials:

Referee: Joe Dickerson

AR1: Corey Rockwell

AR2: Jeffery Swartzel

4th Official: Ricardo Fierro

VAR: Edvin Jurisevic

AVAR: Tom Supple

Scoring Summary:

SJ (1-0) – Josef Martínez (unassisted) 72’

SDFC (1-1) – Marcus Ingvartsen (Franco Negri) 81’

SDFC (1-2) – Anders Dreyer (Marcus Ingvartsen, Christopher McVey) 84’

Misconduct Summary:

SJ – Daniel (caution) 80’

SDFC – Manu Duah (caution) 83’

SDFC – Anders Dreyer (caution) 84’

SDFC – Emmanuel Boateng (caution) 86’

SJ – Preston Judd (caution) 89’

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Daniel (GK); Bruno Wilson, Daniel Munie, Dave Romney; DeJuan Jones, Vítor Costa (Jamar Ricketts 87’), Beau Leroux (Noel Buck 71’), Mark-Anthony Kaye (Ian Harkes 71’); Cristian Espinoza, Cristian “Chicho” Arango (Ousseni Bouda 82’), Josef Martínez (Preston Judd 82’).

Substitutes not used: Earl Edwards Jr. (GK), Max Floriani, Nick Lima, Reid Roberts.

POSS.: 45%; SHOTS: 18; SOG: 5; CORNERS: 3; OFFSIDES: 2; SAVES: 5; FOULS: 11; xG: 1.8

SAN DIEGO FC: CJ Dos Santos (GK); Aiden Harangi (Franco Negri 38’), Manu Duah, Luca Bombino, Christopher McVey, Jeppe Tverskov, Onni Valakari (Pedro Soma 75’), Anibal Godoy (Marcus Ingvartsen 64’), Tomas Angel (Luca De La Torre 38’), David Vazquez (Emmanuel Boateng 75’), Anders Dreyer.

Substitutes not used: Duran Ferree (GK), Corey Baird, Paddy McNair, Ian Pilcher.

POSS.: 55%; SHOTS: 5; SOG: 3; CORNERS: 6; OFFSIDES: 4; SAVES: 1; FOULS: 14; xG: 0.6

EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA

On the team’s performance today:

“I think we had opportunities to get a second goal. We weren’t clean enough in and around the penalty area. Somebody told me we had 12 shots inside the penalty area. I think technically we didn’t play well inside the penalty area. Our touch, or getting a shot off quicker wasn’t there. We had too many shots blocked. We had chances to get the second goal as well.”

“We converted three points in our favor to no points in the closing minutes of the game. So there’s no excuses for that. I would say a poorly coached team, to be able to walk off the field with zero points after the 81st minute.”

On the late second-half substitutions, especially Noel:

“I thought we were a little fatigued at that point. It was a game that required a lot of energy, and I thought bringing in some fresh legs could help. Obviously, Buck helped us. I don’t think that’s why we lost the game by any means.”

On dealing with injuries throughout this season:

“If you look at the team tonight, [Josef] Martínez has missed games with injuries. [Chicho] Arango missed games. [Cristian] Espinosa has missed games. [Vítor] Costa missed games. [DeJuan] Jones has missed games. These are with injuries. [Bruno] Wilson missed games with injuries. [Daniel] Munie missed games with injuries. Daniel missed games with injuries. So it’s been throughout the year. I think [Beau] Leroux has not been injured, and maybe [Dave] Romney. That’s it out of our 11 players that started tonight. So we haven’t had established a great consistency. There’s no excuses. Everybody has injuries and suspensions.”

On the addition and potential of midfielder Ronaldo Vieira:

“We’ll see. Part of the reason why we got him here was to have an experienced player in the middle of the field. Hopefully he can be a leader. It’s going to take a little time. Obviously, he just received his work permit. He’s obviously not ready to play 90 minutes. He’ll be in full training next week, and we’ll see.”

EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER NOEL BUCK

On his key play that set up a goal:

“The goalkeeper took a step back, and I jumped on it. Obviously he didn’t expect it and it turned out well for us.”

On the defensive breakdown that led to two goals:

“I think it’s just a lack of concentration and commitment from all of us. It’s a team sport. Everybody has to be brought in, myself included. When we don’t play as a team, don’t keep working hard as a team, things like this can happen, especially if it’s a good team.”

On Head Coach Bruce Arena’s trust in him:

“It’s great for me to have someone have my back. I’m still a young player and to have a coach that sees something in me is really great.”

On building chemistry with the team:

“It really helped having a lot of guys I’ve played with before. At the beginning it was good to have people to talk to, to be able to get introduced to other people. Something about this group that’s great is we have a lot of really good people, which is important to have on this team. When you have people that are willing to work for each other and willing to back each other up, it’s really great to have, especially coming into a new group. It was really great to have lots of leaders help me out, help me get sorted. The environment is great here, and I really like everyone here.”

On the steps needed to make the playoffs:

“I think we have a really good team. The issue is getting over the line, keeping the winning lead. It’s unfortunate, but I know we will keep the belief of making playoffs and win our next games. With the quality we have, we should be able to do that.”

####

Earthquakes Communications Contacts:

Ryan Maquiñana – Director, Communications

rmaquinana@sjearthquakes.com

C: 650.243.8523

Jake Jansing – Coordinator, Communications

jjansing@sjearthquakes.com

C: 408.425.1329

San Jose Earthquakes vs. Vancouver Whitecaps, August 9, 2025

Vancouver Whitecaps Forward EMMANUEL SABBI (11) takes a shot during pregame of the MLS match between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Vancouver Whitecaps at PayPal Park in San Jose, California

MEDIA RELEASE:

Aug. 9, 2025

MATCH RECAP: Earthquakes 2, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1

Preston Judd’s stoppage-time goal propels Quakes to victory over second-place ‘Caps; Quakes continue homestand next Sunday in inaugural game vs. Western Conference leaders San Diego FC

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Earthquakes defeated Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2-1 in dramatic fashion Saturday night in front of 16,356 fans at PayPal Park to jump back into playoff position.

In the 27th minute, the Earthquakes would enjoy a man advantage for the rest of the match when Vancouver right back Edier Ocampo was booked for the second time in the early going, resulting in referee Timothy Ford sending him off. Though San Jose took nine shots to close the first half, the visitors kept the game scoreless.

Shortly after intermission, the Quakes achieved the breakthrough. Left wingback Vítor Costa was fouled in the box by Whitecaps FC center back Tristan Blackmon in the 50th minute and a penalty kick was awarded to San Jose. Josef Martínez subsequently converted from the spot for his 11th goal of the season to give the Quakes a 1-0 lead. However, the visitors would equalize in the 88th minute when Blackmon lofted a long ball from midfield for Brian White, who hauled it in and promptly scored.

But the Quakes would not be denied tonight, and in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Jamar Ricketts sped down the left wing and crossed the ball across the goal to the opposite wing. DeJuan Jones one-timed it back in front of goal and a streaking Preston Judd coolly slotted it home for the game-winner and all three points.

With the victory, San Jose leaped two spots into eighth place and Western Conference postseason contention, while Vancouver remained second in the table.

The Black and Blue continue their homestand next Sunday, Aug. 17, when they face first-place San Diego FC for the very first time. Kickoff from PayPal Park will take place at 4 p.m. PT and will be broadcast globally via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV (English/Spanish), as well as via local radio on KSFO 810 AM (English) and KZSF 1370 AM La Kaliente (Spanish).

GAME NOTES

The Earthquakes moved to 11-12-12 (46 GF, 48 GA) against Vancouver Whitecaps FC all-time in MLS regular-season play with a 8-2-8 (26 GF, 16 GA) record at home.

The Quakes moved up to eighth in the MLS Western Conference standings with 32 points (8-10-8). Vancouver Whitecaps FC remained second in the West with 45 points (13-6-6).

Bruce Arena won his 270th regular-season game, extending his MLS record among head coaches. The late great Sigi Schmid is second with 240.

With tonight’s result, the Quakes snapped a seven-match winless streak in all competitions and earned their first home victory in league play since May 3, a 4-1 win over Portland.

Tonight was Portuguese Heritage Night at PayPal Park, with Lisbon native Bruno Wilson starting at center back for the Quakes. Wilson played his youth football at Oeiras and Sporting Clube de Portugal before playing as a professional with SC Braga, CD Tondela and FC Vizela (2016-24). Brazilian left wingback Vítor Costa once played for CS Maritimo in Portugal (2021-24). In addition, recently signed defensive midfielder Ronaldo Vieira—who has yet to suit up for San Jose until his P-1 Visa and International Transfer Certificate (ITC) are received—came up in the SL Benfica academy (2010-11) before moving to Leeds to finish his youth football.

With his 54th-minute goal tonight, Josef Martínez has 11 on the season and 127 for his MLS career, good for sixth on the league’s all-time list. He also stayed hot against the ‘Caps, having now netted five times in just four career matches against Vancouver.

Cristian Espinoza made four key passes tonight to extend his MLS lead (86). He remains tied for second in the league in assists (12).

Daniel made two saves, running his total to 82, good for sixth in MLS.

With 48 goals in 26 matches, San Jose is currently third in MLS in total goals. Only San Diego FC (50) and Inter Miami CF (49) have outscored the Quakes in 2025.

The Earthquakes’ attack is back up to first in the league in expected goals (53.92). The Philadelphia Union trail San Jose (52.23).

Before the Earthquakes faced Vancouver Whitecaps FC, their MLS NEXT Pro affiliates met in the East Bay at St. Mary’s College in Moraga on Saturday afternoon. The Town FC came back to defeat Whitecaps FC 2 by a 2-1 margin. TTFC’s Alejandro Cano scored a first-half equalizer in stoppage time and Julian Donnery secured a late game-winner in the 93rd minute.

San Jose Earthquakes 2 – 1 Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025 — PayPal Park; San Jose, Calif.

Weather: 80°F Sunny

Attendance: 16,356

*all stats unofficial

Match Officials:

Referee: Timothy Ford

AR1: Chris Elliot

AR2: Nick Balcer

4th Official: Cristian Campo Hernandez

VAR: Jorge Gonzalez

AVAR: TJ Zablocki

Scoring Summary:

SJ (1-0) – Josef Martínez (penalty kick) 54’

VAN (1-1) – Brian White (Tristan Blackmon) 88’

SJ (2-1) – Preston Judd (DeJuan Jones, Jamar Ricketts) 90+4’

Misconduct Summary:

VAN – Edier Ocampo (caution) 19’

VAN – Edier Ocampo (caution, ejection) 27’

SJ – Daniel Munie (caution) 32’

SJ – Dave Romney (caution) 61’

VAN – Mathias Laborda (caution) 72’

SJ – Mark-Anthony Kaye (caution) 77’

SJ – Bruno Wilson (caution) 80’

SJ – Cristian Espinoza (caution) 90+10’

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Daniel (GK); Dave Romney, Bruno Wilson, Daniel Munie; Vítor Costa (Jamar Ricketts 90+3’), Mark-Anthony Kaye, Beau Leroux (Noel Buck 81’), DeJuan Jones, Cristian Espinoza (C); Cristian “Chicho” Arango (Ousseni Bouda 81’), Josef Martínez (Preston Judd 81’).

Substitutes not used: Earl Edwards Jr. (GK), Nick Fernandez, Max Floriani, Nick Lima, Rodrigues.

POSS.: 56.7%; SHOTS: 16; SOG: 5; CORNERS: 5; OFFSIDES: 2; SAVES: 2; FOULS: 10; xG: 3.4

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC: Yohei Takaoka (GK); Mathias Laborda (Belal Halbouni 86’), Bjø rn Utvik, Edier Ocampo, Tristan Blackmon; Sebastian Berhalter, Andres Cubas (Ralph Priso 75’), Jean-Claude Ngando (Tate Johnson 34’); Jayden Nelson (Jeevan Badwal 86’), Emmanuel Sabbi (Daniel Rios 46’), Brian White (C).

Substitutes not used: Isaac Boehmer (GK), Adrian Zendejas (GK); Giuseppe Bovalina, Nelson Pierre.

POSS.: 43.3%; SHOTS: 8; SOG: 3; CORNERS: 3; OFFSIDES: 3; SAVES: 3; FOULS: 11; xG: 1.2

EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA

On overall thoughts of the victory and Preston Judd’s game-winning goal:

“Preston’s done a great job for us this year, and obviously, it was a critically important goal. A difficult game against a good team. … A tough game, but we’ve been in a lot of those games this year and been on the other side of it as well. I’m pleased with the win. If we’re a team that has any interest in being in the playoffs, we have to win these home games, so this is critically important. We blew a game in Salt Lake a couple weeks ago, which was critical, so we don’t have much of a margin of error at this point. So every game at home is going to be important, and obviously, we need to get some results on the road. So typical of Major League Soccer, I think everything’s going down to the last day for a lot of teams in both conferences.”

On having to host the second- and first-place teams in the West in consecutive weeks:

“It was disappointing not to walk off the field with a clean sheet, but give Vancouver credit. You can see why they’re such a good team. They’re disciplined. They work hard for 90-plus minutes. They’re a good team and we have to face them again in Vancouver.”

“To collect the three points is critically important, and hopefully that gives us a little momentum going into the next game against San Diego. I think Vancouver and San Diego are [second] and [first]. I don’t look at those things that closely. The only thing I pay attention to is San Jose, so we have obviously two difficult home games. We’re through with one of them, and next week, San Diego.”

On Vítor Costa’s performance tonight:

“Costa played well. He’s had a good year for us. He’s been banged up a little bit. He suffered a little bit that play against [FC Dallas]. He suffered a really deep gash, took a number of stitches and he missed probably two games. … But he’s been good. I’ve been very impressed with him. Good teammate. Really good professional. So I’m happy to see he did well.”

On whether having two weeks off after a parade of games had a positive impact:

“Time off in our sport is never easy to try to figure out how to monitor days off and then train again. It’s been two weeks since our last game. We gave the players four or five days off and brought them back last Friday. We had that difficult game in Salt Lake, but the team all year has really been good mentally. I think they’ve done a good job. I think we moved them along pretty well this week to have them ready to play tonight. Mentally they’ve been good all year. I still say to date we’ve not been fair to ourselves in getting the kind of results we deserve. I think we should have had a couple more wins at this point in the season, and that’s disappointing. But the group has been fantastic to work with.”

On Josef Martínez taking a successful penalty to give San Jose a 1-0 lead:

“Josef takes a number of penalties during the week in training. I was saying we have three candidates to take a penalty: It’s Josef, it’s Chicho or Cristian. And when it happened, I said I want Josef to take it. He didn’t have much of a margin for error for that one, but it’s nice it went in the back of the net.”

On the second-half substitutions being the difference tonight:

“If it was 0-0 at the 60-minute mark, I would’ve made the subs sooner. We got the goal around the 54th minute. … You can be a genius or an idiot when you make changes, and you never know what makes sense at the right time. There’s no real art to it. It’s a little bit of touch and feel. I think we needed some freshness up front, and I thought at the end of the game just to have a little more speed on the other side of the field may help us. We’re fortunate that [Jamar] Ricketts did a good job to create that game-winning goal.”

“We thought at the end of the game we were a little fatigued. Give Vancouver a lot of credit. They didn’t make it easy on us, and I think bringing in some fresh players up top and our on the left, as well as centrally with [Noel] Buck helped us. Gave us a little energy at the end of the game.”

EARTHQUAKES FORWARD PRESTON JUDD

On scoring the game-winning goal after entering the match as a substitute:

“I’ve been saying it all year. Whenever I get in, I want to make a difference. We were winning 1-0, but even then, I wanted to get the second goal to hopefully help the team win. I got in a position where I helped the team win in the 94th minute. I think at this point the season, every point is important. We needed three [points] today; we didn’t need one. I just put in everything I could to get the win. I was in the right position, made the right play and I got the goal.”

On the team’s mentality after Vancouver scored the equalizer in the 88th minute:

“Giving up a goal, up a man, that late, it’s frustrating. We never got out of the game. Right away we started attacking. We were pushing for that goal. We know we needed the goal. Our attitude on the field showed that we were going to score a goal. I felt it. I believed in it. I think a lot of the players believed that we were going to score a goal to win that game. It showed and it worked out.”

On facing MLS Western Conference second-place Vancouver Whitecaps FC:

“I think we’ve gotten a little unlucky this season, but I think it’s a good steppingstone to build on. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do to end the season—get a lot more wins to hopefully make a playoff run.”

On earning playing time off the bench with Josef Martínez and Cristian “Chicho” Arango starting at forward:

“Every player always wants to be on the field. The minutes will come. Behind two great players like Josef and Chicho, it’s going to be hard to get minutes. So I know whenever I get a chance, I have to make it worth their while.”