Portland Timbers vs San Jose Earthquakes Match Preview

Another game with only 2 days of rest approaches. On Saturday night the Timbers will host the San Jose Earthquakes at Providence Park. Both teams played on Wednesday evening, the hosts to a 3-1 loss vs FC Dallas and the visitors to a 2-0 home win over the New York Red Bulls.

But San Jose is coming in strong with Wondolowski in form and Amarikwa dangerous and Bernardez continuing to anchor their backline. The Timbers continue to struggle as injuries and poor form are hurting and significantly affecting the defending champions. Darlington Nagbe has proven he is anything but human with a return to training today but is guaranteed not to be available for the match. Alvas Powell now also joins the injury bench with an expected 6-8 week absence due to needing wrist surgery after Wednesday night's loss.

Ned Grabavoy also avoided retroactive disciplinary action from Wednesday so he will be available for selection. But after a poor performance and getting pulled at half time, his inclusion in the starting XI is not guaranteed. After the match on Wednesday Porter hinted that changes would likely need to be made as he tried to make sense of the horrid 1st half performance that lost them the match.

With the home team struggling and the visitors entering in form, it appears the momentum may be with San Jose. But the Timbers have shown resilience to being punched in the gut like they were on Wednesday. So it'll be a matter of bouncing back for the Timbers against an in form San Jose in an MLS match that means anything can happen.

Match Information

Watch it on: ROOT Sports NW

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. PT at Providence Park in Portland, OR

Portland Timbers: 1-3-2, 9th place in the Western Conference

San Jose Earthquakes: 3-1-2, 4th place in the Western Conference