Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Bruce Arena says the San Jose Earthquakes’ goal this season was always to reach the playoffs, but he knows his team must overcome a “hectic” October to reach their target.
The Earthquakes signed off for the international break with a 3-1 win against the Portland Timbers at PayPal Park, with Preston Judd and Eduard Lowen both on target.
It was a result that extended their unbeaten run in the MLS to six games (W3 D3), leaving them fourth in the Western Conference and one point ahead of the Houston Dynamo.
San Jose take on the Colorado Rapids this weekend, which is the first of seven games to end their regular season, six of which come between now and October 31.
Their standout fixtures include clashes against Nashville SC and FC Dallas, and Arena believes the Earthquakes’ next few games will decide the outcome of their season.
“There are a lot of difficult games ahead. So hopefully we can win a few more and position ourselves to be in the playoffs,” Arena said.
“Our goal this year is to qualify for the playoffs. We’re not there yet. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a hectic month.
“Our goal all along was to be better and get better every year. We improved from 2024 to 2025. We’re making progress this year, and we’re continuing to grow.”
we didn’t come this far just to come this far the playoff picture is heating up https://t.co/sDsjsxGln7
— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) October 7, 2026
Colorado, meanwhile, saw their three-game unbeaten run in the league come to an end before the international break, as they went down 3-2 against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Donavan Phillip and Paxten Aaronson had given the Rapids a two-goal cushion heading into half-time, but Reggie Cannon’s own goal got the Galaxy back into it after the break.
From there, Colorado were unable to compete with their opponents, with two goals in eight minutes from Joao Klauss and Justin Haak completing the second-half turnaround.
Colorado boss Matt Wells conceded he had seen this script play out before, citing the goals his team conceded at Dignity Health Sports Park as “terrible”.
“This is probably the feeling right now,” Wells conceded. “It’s not the same movie, but it’s one of the most difficult movies. I thought we were very good during the first half.
“We had a lot of players missing, so I had to change things up a bit tactically, but on the whole I think it worked quite well. I really liked the personality we played with.
“It was our typical intensity, and we could have had a bigger lead at half-time. There is the temptation now when you lose 3-2 from 2-0 up at half-time to make the second half a bigger deal and a wider problem than it is, but we just gave three terrible goals away.”
Colorado Rapids – Paxten Aaronson
Aaronson (23) and Phillips (21) both scored in Colorado’s defeat to the LA Galaxy last time out.
Among the 36 goals scored by the Rapids this term, 28 of those have been scored by players aged 25 or younger (at time of game), and 19 of those by players 23 or younger.
Final. #LAvCOL https://t.co/ttmfQ7kU0m
— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) September 27, 2026
Judd recorded his third multi-goal game of the season in San Jose’s win over the Timbers.
The only players in Earthquakes’ history with more multi-goal matches in a single MLS regular season are Chris Wondolowski (six in 2012) and Jeremy Ebobisse (four in 2022).
MATCH PREDICTION: COLORADO RAPIDS WIN
In each of the last four regular-season matches between Colorado and San Jose, the road team has won. Prior to that, the visiting team had won just one of the previous 20 regular season meetings (D7) in the fixture.
The Rapids have six clean sheets in their last seven home matches after recording just one in their first six regular-season games at home in 2026. Colorado’s seven shutouts at home this season are one shy of matching the team’s total across the previous two seasons combined.
San Jose’s win over Portland before the international break was their ninth game this season with three or more goals, tied for the second-most games in a single regular season with 2019. The Earthquakes’ only regular season with more three-goal games was 2012 (11).
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