Seattle beats San Jose 3-2 to push Earthquakes’ winless streak to six games

SEATTLE The Earthquakes winless streak reached six games following a - loss to the Seattle Sounders Saturday night a defeat that knocks San Jose out of a playoff spot and into position for a play-in meeting The Quakes - - who haven t won an MLS encounter in nearly a month surrendered a breakaway goal by Seattle s Pedro de la Vega in the th minute that broke a - tie After a San Jose turnover de la Vega slipped a shot from outside the box inside the back post to cap the scoring De La Vega also assisted on one of teammate Danny Musovski s two goals Both of Musovski s goals came shortly after San Jose goals which was particularly frustrating for Quakes coach Bruce Arena We conceded goals after we scored the first goal in a short period of time and also after we scored the second goal That s a lack of discipline and concentration on our part Arena declared Then we lost the ball in the wrong place on the third goal and didn t foul or win the ball back At this point of the season we shouldn t be making several of the mistakes we made that resulted in goals mentioned Arena whose group sits in ninth place in the Western Conference with points and just regular-season games remaining The Quakes Preston Judd opened the scoring in the th minute but Musovski answered for the Sounders - - two minutes later to make it - Jamar Ricketts played a low cross from the left side to the near post where Judd put away a first-touch shot before Musovski beat defender Dave Romney and goalkeeper Daniel to an arcing ball played by Albert Rusn k and scored on a header into a wide-open net After Musovski made it - in the th minute when on the counter-attack he headed home an entry pass played in by de la Vega from the center of the area Cristian Arango responded for San Jose to tie it at - in the th minute Cristian Espinoza played a free kick to Judd in the center of the area for a header but goalkeeper Andrew Thomas made a diving one-hand parry before Arango slammed home the putback from point-blank range The Quakes twice had an opportunity for a game-tying goal in stoppage time Espinoza s curling free kick bounced off the crossbar Max Floriani then headed the rebound to Josef Mart nez whose bicycle kick was saved off the line by Thomas Shortly thereafter Arango lifted a cross from the left wing for an outstretched Paul Marie but Thomas once again turned San Jose away The Earthquakes had their seven-game - - unbeaten streak against Seattle snapped The Sounders and San Jose played to a - tie on March I thought we played well against a good opponent and in challenging conditions whenever you play here in Seattle Arena explained We certainly had chosen mental breakdowns overall I thought the unit played well San Jose has tied four matches and lost two of them since beating FC Dallas - on the road on June Espinoza will represent San Jose in the MLS All-Star Championship in Austin Texas on Wednesday Espinoza has scored four goals and is third in the league with assists He also tops the MLS with key passes nine more than St Louis Marcel Hartel Related Articles SJ Earthquakes points late to tie FC Dallas remain in play-in position as MLS All-Star break nears Quakes captain Cristian Espinoza named MLS All-Star for second time Tani Oluwaseyi helps Minnesota hand San Jose Earthquakes a - defeat San Jose Earthquakes fall in shootout fail to reach U S Open Cup semifinals Quakes loan out former record signee Hern n L pez in return to Argentina After the All-Star break San Jose will passage to Sandy Utah to face Real Salt Lake on Saturday July in a matchup with Western Conference playoff implications Salt Lake is in th place in the West one point behind the Quakes who sit just one point behind Austin and Colorado which are tied for seventh place Before losing - in Cincinnati on Saturday night Real Salt Lake hadn t lost an MLS match since May a span of five games four wins one draw It s a big ask in Salt Lake they re playing well reported Quakes forward Judd It s almost a must-win Wire provision reports contributed to this document