Thirty-five wild minutes, then the wobble
It took San Jose just three minutes to do what it had failed to manage in eight matches.
Beau Leroux goes long, Niko Tsakiris collects just ahead of the center circle. Two against two. He drives inside and curls a left-footer into the near post. 1-0.
12th minute: Tsakiris picks out Preston Judd, boxed in between two defenders. The striker kills it, draws CJ dos Santos out, then nudges the ball between two bodies. His 12th goal of the season, the team high.
35th minute: another Tsakiris assist, this time for Ousseni Bouda’s header. 3-0 to the Earthquakes in San Diego tonight.
Three goals, two assists. And a missed penalty in the eighth minute, saved by dos Santos, who was first shown a red card for his foul on Judd before the call was downgraded to yellow.
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San Diego fight back, then end with nine
In the 42nd, Elias Achouri bursts down the flank and whips a cross into traffic. Onni Valakari flicks it on with his heel for Anders Dreyer, whose shot kisses the post on its way in. 3-1.
The night really starts to unravel after the hour. Dos Santos clatters into Bouda well outside the box in the 80th minute. Second yellow, off he goes. San Diego down to 10.
In stoppage time, Max Floriani also picks up a second yellow for a foul in the box. Nine against 11. Penalty.
Cedric Bakambu buries it in the fourth minute of added time. 3-2. A few seconds left, nothing more.
A turning point for the Quakes
Angus Gunn made the last big save, tipping away an Achouri cross-shot with a firm fist over the crowd. The England keeper hangs on to the three points.
San Jose (11-8-5, 38 points) end a nine-game winless run. The pressure had been building fast in the Western Conference playoff race.
San Diego (8-10-6, 30 points) let a messy night slip away after just 20 minutes. Two red cards, a keeper who played a part in both early blows, and a comeback that came far too late to matter. The club moves on with a suspended goalkeeper and plenty of questions.
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