Preston Judd’s early brace sends San Jose past Portland before Timbers can settle

A match decided before the half-hour

The opening goal arrived in the fourth minute and set the tone for the sharpest part of San Jose’s night. Judd met Löwen’s cross with a header from the centre of the box and beat James Pantemis high through the middle. The finish still had to survive a VAR review, but once it did, Portland was already playing from behind against a side that was far cleaner with its early chances.

San Jose’s second goal was the one that widened the game. In the 24th minute, Beau Leroux found Löwen, who scored with his left foot from a difficult angle on the left, driving the ball high into the middle of the net. Five minutes later, the Earthquakes struck again when Paul Marie set up Judd for a right-footed finish from the centre of the box into the top-right corner. Three goals by the 29th minute is not just a lead; it is a complete rewrite of the evening.

That early run also put the spotlight on San Jose’s most decisive players. Judd finished with two goals, three shots on target and four attempts overall. Löwen paired his goal with an assist and put two of his four shots on target. Marie and Leroux each supplied an assist. For a team that finished with 13 total shots, that level of production from its key attackers was the difference between pressure and punishment.

Portland had more of the ball, but not the better of the chances

The Timbers were not absent from the match. They finished with 54.1 per cent possession, 18 shots to San Jose’s 13, nine corners to San Jose’s five, and 476 accurate passes. On the surface, that is enough volume to suggest a side that spent long stretches working the game in the right direction. The problem was what happened at the sharp end. Portland put only six shots on target, while San Jose put eight on target from fewer attempts and had already built its entire winning margin before halftime was half an hour old.

One number tells a particularly tough story for Portland: 28 crosses, one accurate. A team can live with patient possession if it eventually turns into clean delivery or second-ball danger. It is much harder to live with if repeated service from wide areas fails to connect. The nine corners added to the pressure count, but they did not erase the inefficiency. San Jose, by contrast, completed four of 12 crosses, and its first goal came directly from that route when Löwen picked out Judd.

Portland did find a late goal in the 86th minute, when David da Costa scored from the centre of the box after an assist from substitute Eric Izoita. That trimmed the margin to 3-1 and ensured the Timbers had something tangible to show for their second-half push. But it came too late to alter the shape of the result. Earl Edwards still finished with five saves for San Jose, which underscores that Portland kept asking questions, yet the Earthquakes had already answered the biggest ones when the match was still young.

Our take: ruthless finishing masked a few warnings

San Jose deserves credit for the most important quality in this match: it was far more clinical. The Earthquakes scored three times on eight shots on target and took command with a sequence Portland never matched. When a team can turn an early cross, a difficult-angle strike and another central-box finish into a 3-0 lead in 29 minutes, it has earned the right to talk about efficiency rather than merely effort.

The caution for San Jose is in the workload behind the scoreline. A side protecting a lead can expect defending, but 37 clearances, 15 interceptions and five saves suggest the Earthquakes spent a lot of time preserving what their attack had built. Portland’s lesson runs the other way. The Timbers generated enough possession, shots and corners to keep the match alive, but the output was too blunt for too long. If there is a practical fix to pull from this one, it starts with turning that possession into cleaner final actions rather than simply more of them. Against San Jose, the count was respectable. The finish was not.

Scoring moments

1. Period 1 · 4'

   Preston Judd scored for San Jose Earthquakes in minute 4. The assist went to Eduard Löwen.

2. Period 1 · 24'

   Eduard Löwen scored for San Jose Earthquakes in minute 24. The assist went to Beau Leroux.

3. Period 1 · 29'

   Preston Judd scored for San Jose Earthquakes in minute 29. The assist went to Paul Marie.

4. Period 2 · 86'

   David da Costa scored for Portland Timbers in minute 86. The assist went to Eric Izoita.