San Jose Earthquakes Edge Past San Diego in MLS Thriller
San Diego hosted San Jose Earthquakes at Snapdragon Stadium on Wednesday evening, and the visitors took all three points in a 3-2 victory that reshuffled the Western Conference picture. The match belonged to moments rather than dominance — San Diego controlled 53 per cent of possession but San Jose proved more ruthless in front of goal. By then, the result already felt inevitable after two red cards for the hosts in the dying minutes.
Nikolaos Tsakiris opened the scoring for San Diego in the third minute, only for Preston Judd to level from the penalty spot after a VAR intervention six minutes later. Tsakiris missed a crucial penalty himself in the eighth minute, and Judd then converted his second spot-kick after Ousseni Bouda had given the visitors the lead in the 35th. Anders Dreyer pulled one back for San Diego before the break, but the game had already tilted away.
The turning point came late when Carlos Joaquim dos Santos received a red card in the 80th minute, followed by Max Floriani's dismissal two minutes later. Cédric Bakambu stepped up to convert the resulting penalty in the 94th minute, and that sealed the victory for San Jose. The Earthquakes had been patient in their approach, creating just two big chances to San Diego's four but converting with clinical efficiency.
San Diego registered 17 shots against eight from the visitors, yet the expected goals tell a different story — 1.77 for the hosts versus 2.06 for San Jose. The visitors were more precise with six shots on target from eight attempts, while the home side managed only six from 17. San Diego created more opportunities but couldn't find the back of the net consistently, and those late dismissals proved decisive.
The result keeps San Jose fifth in the table with 38 points from 24 games, while San Diego drop further to ninth with 30 points. It was a disappointing evening for the hosts, who had won three of their last five matches before this defeat ended their recent momentum. Cup football has its own rules, but regular season matches like this one still matter when the table starts to separate itself.
We had backed San Diego with 51 per cent confidence before kick-off, but the match went another way entirely. The penalty misses and the red cards changed the complexion of the game beyond what the statistics predicted. There is unrest in the dressing room when results like this accumulate, and the table goes out of the window in these games.