Lineups:

Matias Almeyda makes four changes from the midweek lineup, bringing in Andy Rios, Paul Marie, Oswaldo Alanís and Luciano Abecasis.

Portland bring in Logan Ketterer in goal for his debut, after joining on loan just this week.

The San Jose Earthquakes are in the midst of their first busy week of the 2021 season, when they host the Portland Timbers for the teams’ first meeting of the year on Saturday at PayPal Park.

The Quakes are coming off a narrow 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders, which snapped a three-game winning streak but was celebrated as a promising performance nonetheless, with San Jose holding the potent Sounders to a single shot on goal. They’ll hope to move on quickly and keep their level up against the Timbers, who have also been a tough opponent for them in the Matias Almeyda era.

The Timbers did not play midweek, but that may not help a lot as they are dealing with a slew of injuries. Goalkeeper Jeff Attinella is out for the season, joining the already-hurt GKs, so the club opted to bring in Logan Ketterer on loan from El Paso Locomotive this week, and I bet he features against the Quakes. I think he’s good so he may be up for it.

In addition, Diego Chara (thigh), Larrys Mabiala (thigh), Sebastian Blanco (thigh), Ish Jome (Achilles), Jaroslaw Niezgoda (ACL) and Cristhian Paredes (thigh) are all listed out. Chara’s absence is particularly notable, as the tenacious defensive midfielder is usually a bellwether for the Timbers and when he misses games, Portland tends to struggle historically.

The injury report remains the same for San Jose, with Jacob Akinyirige remaining out and Oswaldo Alanís questionable. On Wednesday Almeyda said Alanís’ status was not at that point decided for the Timbers match, so we’ll see.

But we’ll see! The Quakes have been playing well but take this Portland side lightly at your peril. I think San Jose can be confident heading into the game, but they’ll need to take care of business until the final whistle if they want a result, and if they get back in the win column here, it should be a good night indeed for the Quakes.

Odds:

Our partners at DraftKings Sportsbook as of Friday evening have San Jose at (+118), Portland at (+205) and a draw at (+245). The Quakes have a slight edge but the bookmaker is keeping it close.

How to Watch:

Saturday’s match between the Quakes and Timbers will be televised locally on NBC Sports California and in the rest of the United States on ESPN+. The broadcast is scheduled to start at 7:00 pm PT with kickoff to follow at 7:08.

Come chat about the game with us in the comment section below!

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