Niko Tsakiris Leads Earthquakes Past San Diego FC 3-2 to Snap San Jose's Winless Run

Niko Tsakiris spent much of the summer recovering from a groin injury. On Wednesday night at Snapdragon Stadium he spent 35 minutes rebuilding San Jose's season. One goal, two assists, a saved penalty and a shot off the post later, the Earthquakes had a 3-0 lead, and they survived a messy, card-strewn finish to beat San Diego FC 3-2.

It was San Jose's first league win since May 23, ending an eight-game winless run, and it came against a San Diego side the Quakes' own notes say had won five straight home games across all competitions. Anders Dreyer and Cédric Bakambu scored for the hosts, but the hole was too deep.

Thirty-Five Minutes of Tsakiris

The opener took three minutes. Beau Leroux sprung Tsakiris on a fast break, and the 21-year-old curled a left-footed shot from just outside the box into the bottom left corner past CJ dos Santos.

Three minutes later, Preston Judd was taken down in the box by dos Santos. Referee Alexis Da Silva pointed to the spot, VAR confirmed the penalty and also checked for a possible red card before dos Santos got away with a yellow. He then made the most of his reprieve, stopping Tsakiris' left-footed penalty low in the corner in the eighth minute.

Tsakiris shrugged it off almost immediately. In the 12th minute he threaded a through ball to Judd, who beat dos Santos to the bottom right corner from the right side of the box. MLSsoccer.com described the pass as a trivela, which is a fancy way of saying he did it with the outside of his boot because he could. Judd was booked a minute later for excessive celebration, a small price for the club's leading scorer, whose 12th league goal it was per the Quakes.

The chaos kept coming. Tsakiris hit the left post in the 27th, Judd went off injured three minutes later for Ousseni Bouda, and Dreyer clattered the crossbar from distance for San Diego in the 33rd. Two minutes after that, Tsakiris slid another through ball into Bouda, who headed into the top right corner. VAR checked and confirmed it: 3-0 in the 35th minute.

San Diego Claws Back

Dreyer finally broke through in the 42nd minute, finishing left-footed into the top left corner from the middle of the box after Onni Valakari's assist. Nine minutes of first-half stoppage time gave the hosts more runway, and Elias Achouri forced a save from Angus Gunn deep into it.

San Diego owned the early second half. Achouri tested Gunn again in the 55th minute and headed wide in the 59th, and substitute Amahl Pellegrino forced Gunn into saves in the 59th and 71st. Gunn finished with four saves, and Bruce Arena singled him out afterward.

"Angus' last three games are beginning to show the goalkeeper he can be," the San Jose head coach said.

Then the cards took over. Dos Santos picked up a second yellow in the 80th minute, and the Quakes' recap says it came after he came off his line and collided with Bouda. Duran Ferree, listed as a goalkeeper in San Jose's lineup notes, came on two minutes later and stopped an Eduard Löwen shot in the 86th, three minutes after Löwen had hit the right post with a free kick. In the 88th, Max Floriani conceded a penalty on Bakambu, confirmed by VAR, and Floriani was then sent off with his own second yellow in the 92nd minute. Bakambu converted from the spot in the 94th. San Jose held on through the final four minutes.

The Tsakiris Effect

ESPN credits him with one goal, two assists and three shots, two of them on target. The Quakes say his two assists were his ninth and 10th of the league season, and MLSsoccer.com notes it was his first goal since a groin injury suffered May 2 against Toronto.

"I think it was just a matter of time. Obviously, I was out for a little bit, and coming back into the team, I knew it was going to take some time to build up that chemistry," Tsakiris said, according to the club.

Bouda stepped in for the injured Judd and scored with his only shot. For San Diego, Dreyer had a goal and the woodwork, and Achouri was the most active attacker with four shots, two on target. Dos Santos saved a penalty and still ended the night in the locker room early.

The Turning Point

The penalty save in the eighth minute should have been San Diego's turning point. Instead, it lasted four minutes. Tsakiris responded to the miss by creating Judd's goal, and that response, more than the opener, set the tone. A player who has just missed from the spot either shrinks or goes hunting, and Tsakiris went hunting.

Stats That Matter

• Shots on target: 6 apiece, with San Jose scoring on three of its six.
• Possession: San Diego 53.3 percent, San Jose 46.7 percent.
• Saves: Gunn made 4; dos Santos and Ferree combined for 3.
• Discipline: One red card each, both on second yellows, plus a penalty for each side.
• Clearances: San Jose 21, San Diego 11.

The Quakes Wake Up

San Jose moved to 11-5-8 with 38 points, and both the club and MLSsoccer.com had the Quakes fifth in the Western Conference afterward. The ESPN sheets show how badly they needed it: after the World Cup break, San Jose had collected three draws and five losses in eight league matches before this one. Arena, per the club, extended his MLS record among head coaches to 284 regular-season wins, and the Quakes have now matched their 2025 league win total. San Jose also beat San Diego 3-0 in April, so the club takes home the El Camino Rivalry Trophy for sweeping the season series.

San Diego fell to 8-6-10 with 30 points, and San Jose's recap listed the hosts ninth in the West. It was a second straight league loss after a 1-0 defeat at Orlando City on Saturday.

Tsakiris kept the big picture simple. "Our goal is to make the playoffs and have a home playoff match," he said.

Patience Has a Payoff

Arena called his team "very close to really turning the corner." On this evidence, the corner is shaped like a 21-year-old who can score, assist and shake off a missed penalty in a single half. The Quakes have their creator back, and the West just got a little more crowded.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes, club notes and standings as reported by the San Jose Earthquakes (sjearthquakes.com) and MLSsoccer.com.