San Jose Roars Back Behind Josef Martínez, Niko Tsakiris Goals To Erase Second-Half Deficit
MLS San Jose Earthquakes

San Jose Roars Back Behind Josef Martínez, Niko Tsakiris Goals To Erase Second-Half Deficit

Published on October 18, 2025 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
San Jose Earthquakes News Release


San Jose Earthquakes' Niko Tsakiris and Cristian Espinoza
San Jose Earthquakes' Niko Tsakiris and Cristian Espinoza
(San Jose Earthquakes)

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San Jose Earthquakes came back in the second half to defeat Austin FC 2-1 on Saturday at PayPal Park in their Major League Soccer regular-season finale in front of 17,033 fans.

The visitors opened the scoring on Decision Day in the 22nd minute from a long-range effort by Owen Wolff at the top of the box to make it 1-0. In the 31st minute, Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver's goal kick bounced off Earthquakes forward Chicho Arango's back and to the feet of teammate Josef Martínez, who promptly flicked the ball into the net. However, referee Filip Dujic ruled that Arango was deliberately in the path of the goal kick and waved it off. The half ended 1-0.

After intermission, the Quakes took the initiative. In minute 55, Beau Leroux's cross from the left wing was one-timed by Benji Kikanović off the post. In minute 70, three Quakes touched the ball off a corner at point-blank range but Martínez' eventual header ended up in Stuver's gloves. San Jose finally got the equalizer in the 74th minute when substitute Jack Skahan's cross from the left wing was headed home by Martínez to make it 1-1. Three minutes later, Niko Tsakiris curled a left-footed free kick from the right wing past Stuver to give the Quakes the lead and complete the 2-1 comeback.

Despite the victory pulling San Jose even with ninth-place Real Salt Lake for 41 points in the Western Conference table, the Earthquakes narrowly missed the 2025 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs due to the tiebreaker of total wins. Fans can watch the replay on KTVU Plus next Saturday, Oct. 25, at 10 a.m. PT.

GAME NOTES

With the result, San Jose finishes 10th in the MLS Western Conference with 41 points (11-15-8), nearly doubling last year's win total (6). Meanwhile Austin FC finishes sixth with 47 points (13-13-8).

San Jose is now 3-2-6 overall (23 GF, 20 GA) against Austin FC in the all-time MLS series and 2-0-3 (10 GF, 5 GA) at home.

Bruce Arena won his 273rd regular-season MLS game to extend his league record among head coaches. The late great Sigi Schmid is second with 240.

The first 5,000 fans through the doors received a Cristian Espinoza "La Máquina (The Machine)" action figure that commemorated his club-record consecutive games streak of 122.

Cristian Espinoza had eight key passes to finish as the league leader with 114. He also finished as the league leader in corner kicks (167), chances created (118) and chances created per 90 minutes (3.9) as well as second in MLS in crosses (81) and tied for eighth in assists (12). Espinoza led the Quakes in all of these categories this season.

Niko Tsakiris scored his first MLS goal in minute 77. He also accrued his second assist of the season and third of his MLS career in minute 74.

Josef Martínez finished as the team leader in goals with 14 with his 74th-minute goal, narrowly edging Chicho Arango's 13.

Jack Skahan amassed his second assist of the season and fourth of his MLS career in the 74th minute.

San Jose Earthquakes 2 - 1 Austin FC

Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025 - PayPal Park; San Jose, Calif.

Weather: 72°F Sunny

Attendance: 17,033

NorCal Honda Dealers Man of the Match: Niko Tsakiris

*all stats unofficial

Match Officials:

Referee: Filip Dujic

AR1: Jeremy Kieso

AR2: Gerard-Kader Lebuis

4th Official: Greg Dopka

VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero

AVAR: Fabio Tovar

Scoring Summary:

ATX (0-1) - Owen Wolff (Jader Obrian) 22'

SJ (1-1) - Josef Martínez (Jack Skahan, Niko Tsakiris) 74'

SJ (2-1) - Niko Tsakiris (unassisted) 77'

Misconduct Summary:

ATX - Nicolas Dubersarsky (caution) 52'

ATX - Zan Kolmanić (caution) 68'

ATX - Guilherme Biro (caution) 90+2'

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Earl Edwards Jr. (GK); Dave Romney, Daniel Munie, Jamar Ricketts (Preston Judd 62'), Benji Kikanović; Ousseni Bouda (Jack Skahan 73'), Ronaldo Vieira, Beau Leroux (Niko Tsakiris 73'), Cristian Espinoza; Josef Martínez (Vítor Costa 85'), Chicho Arango (Ian Harkes 85').

Substitutes not used: Francesco Montali (GK), Max Floriani, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Nick Lima.

POSS.: 60.9%; SHOTS: 26; SOG: 10; CORNERS: 15; OFFSIDES: 0; SAVES: 1; FOULS: 9; xG: 3.2

AUSTIN FC: Brad Stuver (GK); Brendan Hines-Ike (Oleksandr Svatok 63'), Guilherme Biro, Mateja Djordjević (Julio Cascante 64'); Mikkel Desler (Zan Kolmanić 46'), Dani Pereira (CJ Fodrey 72'), Jon Gallagher, Nicolas Dubersarsky; Robert Taylor, Owen Wolff (Besard Sabovic 47'), Jader Obrian.

Substitutes not used: Stefan Cleveland (GK), Ilie Sanchez, Riley Dean Thomas, Myrto Uzuni.

POSS.: 39.1%; SHOTS: 4; SOG: 2; CORNERS: 1; OFFSIDES: 3; SAVES: 8; FOULS: 12; xG: 0.3

EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA

On narrowly missing the playoffs:

"We blew too many games this year, wasted too many points and we put ourselves in a position that made it difficult. However, from 2024 we basically doubled our wins-six last year, 11 this year, 21 points last year, 41 this year. We scored 60 goals, 41 last year; we could see progress was made. That's all I can say. That part's good, but I can easily count the half a dozen games where we should have walked off with a win, so we put ourselves in this position."

On midfielder Niko Tsakiris' performance tonight:

"Niko did a real good job. I was on the side and was saying, 'Niko's got to take this free kick,' you know? And I saw the free kick he hit in the U-20 [World Cup] tournament. Give him credit. It's his first goal of his career. Good for Niko. Hopefully he can be competing to be a full-time player next year."

On team captain Cristian Espinoza's performance this season:

"He's a good player. He comes out every day, and he reminds me a little bit of Carles [Gil]. They're certainly not similar players, but Carles is the best player every day, and it's contagious. Doesn't talk a whole lot, but just lets his play do the talking, and Cristian's like that. He's had a solid year. ... He's been a pleasure to be around. He's very well-liked by his teammates, in the organization, in the community. San Jose's lucky to have him."

On his reflections from this season:

"The season was good in helping us understand our players. Now we know what we need to do next year. When I came in January, in all honesty, we didn't know our team. It took us a large part of the year to sort some of that out. I didn't know the organization, I didn't know San Jose, the culture of the sport here in this club, in this city, in this community. That's so important. We learned from that. So hopefully that makes us better next year, and I think it will."

On the improvements being made throughout the organization:

"We're trying to build this organization into a winning organization. We have a way to go. We've improved facilities here. We have a new training field now, just completed. We have a dining hall for the team. We have a team meeting room now. We're making progress. We're trying to catch up with everyone in the league. We've made progress this year."

On things to work on in the upcoming season:

"We have a lot of good players; we've just got to find the consistency. We scored goals, but defensively, we were not good. That's the easiest way to say things. We've got to improve ourselves defensively. That doesn't just mean defenders, it's our entire team and the mentality. We don't have the right makeup right now to consistently defend well as a team. We've got to get better at that."

EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER NIKO TSAKIRIS

On the team's performance tonight despite narrowly missing out on the playoffs:

"I think the group really showed who we are. Obviously, we fell short of what we wanted. I think you saw tonight, guys coming on, making a difference, and the guys who started and came out, putting the shift tonight to allow us to our job."

"With the result and everything. Obviously, bittersweet for the group. As an individual, happy to get my first goal."

On his personal growth this year, including representing the United States in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup:

"It was definitely a learning year for me. With injuries, my time on the field obviously wasn't as much as I would have liked. I think it just taught me to stay patient and be ready for my time-making sure that I'm sharp whenever that opportunity comes. I think the [U.S.] National Team allowed me to kind of stay fit and informed."

On his thoughts as the 2025 MLS regular season comes to an end:

"We want to continue to grow as a collective group. I think how we do that is just the environment that we create every day. Continuing to get better, continuing to just improve at the little things that help us get here. They're all important seasons and years and learning moments."

"We're obviously better than last year in terms of points and goalscoring. But I think the biggest one was the character of the team."

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San Jose Earthquakes' Niko Tsakiris and Cristian Espinoza
San Jose Earthquakes' Niko Tsakiris and Cristian Espinoza
   



Major League Soccer Stories from October 18, 2025


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