San Jose Earthquakes vs. Portland Timbers: Preview and How to Watch

The San Jose Earthquakes return home for the last game in one of the most grueling legs of their season to face the Portland Timbers.

The Earthquakes will be happy to get this stretch of games behind them. After facing the Seattle Sounders and FC Dallas at home, they went on a three-game road trip against the New England Revolution, Houston Dynamo, and Minnesota United. Having picked up only 6 points from their last 5 games, San Jose will want to grab another 3 against the Timbers.

Portland has looked pretty strong in their last five, however, and boast the league’s most prolific attack. With the probable return of at least one key player, along with the new additions from this offseason settling into the team nicely, this Portland team are capable of wreaking havoc on anyone and everyone in the league. With San Jose returning home with a new formation and Portland looking to reclaim the top spot in the west, we could see some exciting, attack-minded soccer this weekend.

San Jose Earthquakes

• Current Record: 3-3-3
• Last Time Out: 1-0 Win at Minnesota United
• Player to Watch For: Chris Wondolowski is and has been the main man for the Quakes for several seasons now. Despite being a potent finisher in the past, most of the offense this year has gone through him, and he’s actually played the role of provider more than the finisher. With 2 goals and 4 assists so far, he’s been involved in two-thirds of the team’s goals.
• Why They Win: The fact that the Timbers are still in the market for an additional center back, despite picking up MLS veterans Lawrence Olum and Roy Miller in the offseason, indicates that the back line still isn’t to Head Coach Caleb Porter’s liking. With some defensive lapses so far this year, making a mistake around a forward Wondolowski’s caliber could prove incredibly costly.
• Why They Won’t: Probably the biggest concern to San Jose and its supporters is their creative output—or lack thereof. The Quakes have only managed 9 goals in 9 games, and in this league, that’s just not good enough. Perhaps what is most telling about San Jose’s goal woes is that a defender, Florian Jungwirth, is the joint top scorer with Chris Wondolowski and Anibal Godoy.
  
• Predicted XI:

Portland Timbers

• Current Record: 5-2-2
• Last Time Out: 2-2 Draw at FC Dallas
• Player to Watch For: Fanendo Adi has been on an early tear this year, and the 6’ 4” Nigerian has one of the most potent attacks feeding him left, right, and center for the first time since he arrived in 2014. Big, physical, and surprisingly talented with both his hold up play and his feet, Adi forces defenses to pay attention to him, which allow the likes Darlington Nagbe, Sebastian Blanco, Diego Valeri, and even Diego Chara to get into dangerous positions and overwhelm teams on defense.

• Why They Win: Simply put? Goals. The two teams have relatively comparable defensive records, with Portland allowing 12 goals to San Jose’s 10, but there’s no denying that Portland has the more dynamic and creative attack. Not only do the Timbers lead the league with 20 goals, they have converted those from 39 shots on target. That means their conversion rate of attempts on target is a league-leading and ridiculous 51%. For context, all other teams in MLS have rates of between 20% and 40%, with exception to Vancouver and Atlanta, who boast 41% and 45%, respectively.

• Why They Don’t: The Timbers have had a rough patch with the Avaya recently. They’ve failed to win in San Jose since 2014, and have only picked up a single point in their time since then. Further, the Quakes are still undefeated at home with two wins and two draws, despite already welcoming FC Dallas, who are largely considered one of the top teams in the league this year.
• Predicted XI:
  

Score Prediction:

Next: Minnesota United: 3 things to watch for vs. Sporting Kansas City

How to Watch:

Where: Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California
When: Saturday, May 6th — 10:30 PM (EST)
Channel: Fox 12 Oregon, CSN California, MLS LIVE