BEAVERTON, Ore. – The last time the Portland Timbers faced the San Jose Earthquakes, the Timbers defeated the visitors 1-0 behind a late goal from Jack Jewsbury.
But the Earthquakes lineup that the Timbers faced that evening will look very different on Sunday when the Timbers travel to Avaya Stadium in San Jose (2pm PT, ESPN2). The attacking duo of DPs Matias Perez Garcia and Chris Wondolowski are back from injury and Gold Cup duty respectively.
“I think it will be a different game,” Timbers head coach Caleb Porter said after training this week. “[The Earthquakes] are a team that looks to attack at home. They didn't really do that against us in the last game. They had a few players out so that was probably the right approach; it almost got them a point.
“But now at home they've got pretty much their full group, all their attackers back and they're at home, so we definitely expect them to attack more and open [up] more.”
- QUICK STRIKES: Five numbers to know for #SJvPOR
In last weekend's 3-1 loss on the road to Vancouver, the Earthquakes trotted out a lineup featuring four significant changes from the one the Timbers faced at home earlier in July.
Not only did Wondolowski and Garcia both partner with one another in central midfield, but midseason acquisition Quincy Amarikwa got the start up top and Trinidad and Tobago international Cordell Cato slotted out wide on the right wing.
Porter says that he and his team are ready for the challenge that this very different Earthquakes lineup will pose.
“They're a mature team. They're organized. They're athletic. They're good on set pieces. They defend well,” Porter said.
“They've got athleticism on the flanks with [Sanna] Nyassi and Cato and [Shea] Salinas. They've got a playmaker in Perez Garcia. They've got a goalscorer in Wondo,” he added. “They've got a mature back line – guys that fight, guys that have been in the league.”
The Earthquakes will also look to stop a four-game winless skid that has left them floundering in ninth place in the Western Conference with 25 points, seven points out of the sixth and final playoff spot currently held by the Timbers.
The possibility of facing a focused, determined Earthquakes squad is not lost on Porter.
“They haven't won the last four [games], so these are all the things you talk about, you think about,” he said. “Then you've got to come up with a plan and you have to execute.”
Porter believes that if the Timbers players can draw on what they did well in their previous road wins, they will have a good shot at three points in San Jose.
And, with only five points separating the tied-for-fifth place Timbers from first place FC Dallas, the Western Conference race remains wide open. Moreover, the Timbers have only lost once to San Jose in 12 league meetings.
“In the Montreal and New York games we were compact. We were patient. We didn't concede in the first half and we found the first goal in all three of those games, Porter said. “In Colorado, we were a little more aggressive and found the first goal in the first half.”
