San Jose's second-half road comeback propels team to fifth in West standings

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MLS San Jose Earthquakes

San Jose's second-half road comeback propels team to fifth in West standings

June 26, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
San Jose Earthquakes News Release


San Jose Earthquakes react after a goal against FC Dallas
San Jose Earthquakes react after a goal against FC Dallas
(San Jose Earthquakes)

FRISCO, Texas - The San Jose Earthquakes defeated FC Dallas 4-2 on Wednesday night in Major League Soccer regular-season play at Toyota Stadium in front of a sellout crowd of 11,004 fans.

A 90-minute weather delay postponed the kickoff, but the ensuing action was worth the wait. Despite San Jose outshooting FC Dallas 10-4 in the first half, the hosts struck first in the 30th minute when Lucho Acosta split the San Jose midfield and found Petar Musa for the left-footed finish to give FC Dallas a 1-0 lead.

The Earthquakes equalized early in the second half when Chicho Arango rose above the back line to head home Cristian Espinoza's corner kick past FC Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes in the 50th minute. Seven minutes later, the Black and Blue Espinoza collected his second assist of the match, feeding Josef Martínez for the slick back heel and a 2-1 San Jose lead.

FC Dallas answered in the 68th minute when a Musa shot was deflected toward Shaq Moore, whose left-footed blast found paydirt to tie it 2-2. However, the Quakes recaptured the lead in the 76th minute when Beau Leroux stole the ball from center back Alvaro Augusto in the box and slotted the ball past Paes.

Three minutes later, FC Dallas midfielder Kaick made contact with Arango from behind after a dead ball and was immediately sent off by referee Timothy Ford. Now with a man advantage, the Quakes amped up the aggression and drew a second red card in the 86th minute when Toros defender Sebastien Ibeagha dragged Preston Judd down just outside the box.

Down to nine men but armed with 11 minutes of stoppage time, the hosts labored to knot the match at the death. But the Earthquakes put the contest to rest in the 99th minute when Espinoza amassed his third assist of the night; he combined for the helper with DeJuan Jones, whose low cross found Mark-Anthony Kaye for the goal and a 4-2 final score as San Jose escaped Texas with all three points.

With their seventh victory of the MLS season, the Quakes-now fifth in the Western Conference and in playoff position under first-year Head Coach and Sporting Director Bruce Arena-have now surpassed last year's win total.

The Black and Blue will now travel home for the California Clasico at Stanford on Saturday, June 28. Kickoff from Stanford Stadium will take place at 7:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast globally via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV (English/Spanish), as well as via local radio KSFO 810 AM (English) and 1370 AM La Kaliente (Spanish).

GAME NOTES

San Jose moved to 30-22-22 (116 GF, 93 GA) against FC Dallas in MLS play overall, and 12-14-10 (51 GF, 49 GA) on the road.

In the current MLS Western Conference table, the Earthquakes rose to 7-7-5 (26 points, 5th); FC Dallas dropped to 5-7-6 (21 points, 10th).

Bruce Arena won his 270th MLS regular-season game, a league record for head coaches. The late great Sigi Schmid is second with 240.

With their seventh victory of the MLS season, the Quakes-now fifth in the Western Conference and in playoff position under first-year Head Coach and Sporting Director Bruce Arena-have already surpassed last year's win total.

Cristian "Chicho" Arango's 50th-minute goal was his ninth of the MLS season and 63rd of his career. He has now scored seven goals in just six matches against the Toros.

Chicho Arango's 57th-minute assist was his third of the MLS season and 24th of his career.

Cristian Espinoza notched his ninth, 10th and 11th assists in the 50th, 57th and 99th minutes, respectively, to stay just one behind league leader Anders Dreyer of San Diego FC. They were his 80th through 82nd career helpers to extend his club record. Espinoza remains first in key passes (61).

Cristian Espinoza has now notched double-digit assists in four consecutive MLS seasons (2022: 14; 2023: 13; 2024: 14; 2025: 11 to date). Only six players have accomplished this feat in the last 20 years:

Carles Gil (2021-24), Hany Mukhtar (2021-24), Lucho Acosta (2021-24), Nico Lodeiro (2017-20) and Brad Davis (2009-12).

Cristian Espinoza also had a fifth double-digit assist season in 2019, which now makes him one of 13 players all-time to have 10 or more assists in at least five or more different MLS campaigns, joining Preki (8), Brad Davis (7), Landon Donovan (7), Nico Lodeiro (6), Lucho Acosta (6), Carlos Valderrama (5), ‚¬â€šRobert Warzycha (5), Marco Etcheverry (5), Jaime Moreno (5), Carles Gil (5), Diego Valeri (5) and current Earthquakes assistant coach Steve Ralston (5).

Josef Martínez's 57th-minute goal was his eighth of the MLS season and 124th of his career, good for sixth all-time. He has now found the back of the net six times in as many meetings against FC Dallas.

First-year player Beau Leroux's 76th-minute goal was his third of the MLS season.

Mark-Anthony Kaye's 99th-minute goal was his first of the MLS season and 15th of his career.

DeJuan Jones's 99th-minute assist was his 5th of the MLS season and 27th of his career.

The Quakes scored four goals to recapture the league lead with 39, one more than second-place San Diego FC. The Black and Blue continue to lead MLS in expected goals with 41.35, ahead of Vancouver Whitecaps FC (39.89).

FC Dallas 2 - 4 San Jose Earthquakes

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - Toyota Stadium; Frisco, Texas

Weather: 83°F Mostly Cloudy

Attendance: 11,004 (sellout)

*all stats unofficial

Match Officials:

Referee: Timothy Ford

AR1: Andrew Bigelow

AR2: Jeffrey Swartzel

VAR: Shawn Tehini

AVAR: Joshua Patlak

4th Official: Rosendo Mendoza

Scoring Summary:

DAL (1-0) - Petar Musa (unassisted) 30'

SJ (1-1) - Cristian "Chicho" Arango (Cristian Espinoza) 50'

SJ (1-2) - Josef Martínez (Cristian Espinoza, Chicho Arango) 57'

DAL (2-2) - Shaq Moore (unassisted) 68'

SJ (2-3) - Beau Leroux (unassisted) 76'

SJ (2-4) - Mark-Anthony Kaye (DeJuan Jones, Cristian Espinoza) 90+9'

Misconduct Summary:

SJ - Daniel Munie (caution) 45+6'

DAL - Kaick (ejection) 79'

SJ - Chicho Arango (caution) 80'

DAL - Sebastien Ibeagha (ejection) 85'

SJ - Mark-Anthony Kaye (caution) 90+1'

FC DALLAS: Maarten Paes (GK); Marco Farfan (Lalas Abubakar 86'), Anderson Julio (Bernard Kamungo 45+5'), Shaq Moore, Alvaro Augusto, Sebastien Ibeagha; Sebastian Lletget (Kaick 61'), Pedrinho (Logan Farrington 61') ; Petar Musa, Lucho Acosta.

Substitutes not used: Michael Collodi (GK), Leo Chu, Nolan Norris, Katlego Ntsabeleng.

POSS.: 39.2%; SHOTS: 10; SOG: 8; CORNERS: 0; OFFSIDES: 2; SAVES: 7; FOULS: 13; xG: 1

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Daniel (GK); Rodrigues (Max Floriani 76'), Daniel Munie, Dave Romney; DeJuan Jones, Ian Harkes (Mark-Anthony Kaye 76'), Beau Leroux, Vítor Costa, Cristian Espinoza (C); Cristian "Chicho" Arango (Ousseni Bouda 87'), Josef Martínez (Preston Judd 82').

Substitutes not used: Earl Edwards Jr. (GK), Nick Fernandez, Benji Kikanović, Amahl Pellegrino, Reid Roberts.

POSS.: 60,8%; SHOTS: 23; SOG: 11; CORNERS: 9; OFFSIDES: 1; SAVES: 6; FOULS: 11; xG: 2.9

EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA

On overall impressions of the match, a 4-2 comeback road win over FC Dallas that was delayed by 90 minutes due to lightning strikes:

"I think a sloppy first half. We had a lot of the ball and were really very inefficient in the attacking third of the field, and our response coming out of halftime was outstanding. Getting two goals in the first 12 minutes ... and then I think we fell asleep and conceded that tying goal to make it 2-2, and then obviously Beau [Leroux] made a great play for the third goal. I think the last 10 minutes of the game, we could've been a little bit better in just keeping the ball, but we got the fourth goal to end it all. This time of year playing in Dallas is very difficult with the heat and humidity, and we started the game an hour and a half late because of the lightning, so it was a really challenging game for us. To walk away with three points is terrific, and we're looking forward to recovering and giving a good effort Saturday against the [LA] Galaxy."

On dealing with the weather delay:

"There's no recipe for that. We went out and had our warmup, and we were ready to go at a certain time, and then it kept getting delayed with the lightning. ... We were well aware of the fact that we were going to be delayed a bit, and I think the guys had a good mentality getting back out on the field and getting ready to play."

On coming out strong after trailing 1-0 at halftime:

"We knew we'd get chances as we discussed this at halftime. We had to be solid coming out. Don't concede a goal. We'd be happy at 1-0 after 60 minutes. Instead it was 2-1 in our favor, so the guys did an outstanding job."

On Cristian Espinoza being snubbed from this year's MLS All-Star Game:

"I'll start with Cristian first. He's an outstanding person on the field and off the field. He's the hardest worker every day in training. He's an outstanding leader and player. I kind of giggled when I saw the All-Star Game [selections] today and he wasn't part of the roster. Not only him. It's difficult. A lot of good players in the league. Carles Gil from New England is another example of a player that I was surprised [didn't get picked]. But he's been real good, and I think his leadership has really helped embrace the newcomers we have this year."

On enjoying coaching this group of players his first season in San Jose:

"I think [Chicho] Arango and [Josef] Martínez have been great additions, and they're really good people in the locker room. All the players. This is very enjoyable for me. I've been coaching a long time, and these guys make it easy for me every day. They really respond well, so we get into these situations like tonight where we're trailing at halftime, and the spirit is right. Their mentality is right, and they executed in the second half, and we're going home with three points. So a lot of credit to the players and my coaching staff."

EARTHQUAKES TEAM CAPTAIN/FORWARD CRISTIAN ESPINOZA

On his message to the team when trailing at the half:

"My message was that we need to keep going. We need to keep pushing, because we had them right there. I knew the goals would come. The message was that everyone has to stay calm because our chances will come, and that happened in the second half."

On not being selected for the MLS All-Star Game despite leading the league in several offensive categories (translated from Spanish):

"With respect to the MLS All-Star Game, obviously, a part of me hurts that I won't be able to be there. I was really hoping to be there. But hey, this is soccer. It's a selection, too. I think the players who were chosen also deserve it, to be part of it, and I hope in the future, I'm selected."

On the team leading the league in total goals and the success so far in attack:

"It's really important. I think Josef [Martínez], Chicho [Arango], all the guys are doing a really good job with how we finish every single ball that we try to put inside of the 18[-yard box]. But we need to improve a lot defensively. We're conceding a lot of goals and that's something that we really need to improve from now through the rest of the season."

On surpassing last year's win total tonight:

"I think it's no comparison between this year and last year. I don't like to do that. ... It's too easy to say this year we're so much better than last year. We just moved on. In the beginning of the season, we knew the club was making a huge effort to bring good players to the team, and the guys are responding in the field, so I'm really glad for that. I'm really happy for the team because this year is going well, and now we need to keep going in the same way."

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San Jose Earthquakes react after a goal against FC Dallas
San Jose Earthquakes react after a goal against FC Dallas
   



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