ATLANTA, Ga. - The San Jose Earthquakes fell to Atlanta United FC 3-1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
San Jose played two-thirds of the match with 10 men after midfielder Cristian Espinoza picked up his second yellow card in the 34th minute. Despite the man disadvantage, San Jose held Atlanta without a second goal until the 90th minute. United added a third goal two minutes later as the Quakes pushed for an equalizer.
The Quakes' defense held Atlanta forward Josef Martinez without a single shot in his 79 minutes, bringing an end to the Venezuelan's MLS-record 15 match scoring streak.
The Earthquakes now take on the Philadelphia Union in their penultimate home match of the season on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 7:45 p.m. PT (NBC Sports California, KNBR 1050, 1370 KZSF).
MATCH NOTES:
San Jose now holds a 13-13-5 record this season and are in sixth place in the Western Conference.
Forward Chris Wondolowski made his 300th MLS start. He has made 290 starts for the Earthquakes.
Midfielder Magnus Eriksson surpassed 5,000 career minutes in MLS (5,031). He has appeared in 61 of 65 matches since signing for San Jose ahead of the 2018 season.
MLS Regular Season
Atlanta United FC 3 - 1 San Jose Earthquakes
Sept. 21, 2019 - Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.
Attendance: 43,451
Scoring Summary: ATL - Justin Meram (Gonzalo Martinez) 4; SJ - Brad Guzan (own goal) 27; ATL - Emerson Hyndman (Darlington Nagbe) 90; ATL - Gonzalo Martinez (Brandon Vazquez, Hector Villalba) 90+2.
Misconduct Summary: ATL - Emerson Hyndman (caution) 14; SJ - Cristian Espinoza (caution) 16; ATL - Justin Meram (caution) 24; SJ - Cristian Espinoza (ejection) 34; SJ - SJ - Daniel Vega (caution) 48; SJ - Judson (caution) 62; SJ - Chris Wondolowski (ejection) 90+1.
ATLANTA UNITED FC: Brad Guzan; Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Miles Robinson, Franco Escobar, Julian Gressel; Emerson Hyndman, Eric Remedi (Brandon Vazquez 65), Darlington Nagbe; Justin Meram (Hector Villalba 60), Josef Martinez (Mo Adams 79), Gonzalo Martinez.
SHOTS: 18, SHOTS ON GOAL: 12; SAVES: 1; FOULS: 10; CORNER KICKS: 5,OFFSIDES: 0.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Daniel Vega; Nick Lima, Guram Kashia, Florian Jungwirth, Tommy Thompson (Shea Salinas 55); Judson (Andy Rios 82), Jackson Yueill; Vako, Magnus Eriksson, Cristian Espinoza; Chris Wondolowski (Danny Hoesen 61).
SHOTS: 2, SHOTS ON GOAL: 1; SAVES: 9; FOULS: 15; CORNER KICKS: 4,OFFSIDES: 0.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH MATIAS ALMEYDA
On changing the face of San Jose:
"I do my job with a lot of passion and love, and I'm very grateful to the owner of this organization who brought us here. The players are giving everything, but in this manner, it's difficult to fight. Everyone has come here because we believe the league is growing, and it's a nice league."
On how important it is for the club to have an identity:
"For me, it's something very nice, very valuable, to be able to compete against teams formed with other budgets. We believe in our budget and the players that we have, but you reach a moment where that puts a cap on things, and it's difficult. Today, we had the hope of playing a different kind of game, a great show, back and forth."
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER FLORIAN JUNGWIRTH
On the match:
"The game didn't start very well, conceding an early goal. But then we started to find our spots in the offense; we scored a beautiful goal, a great assist from [goalkeeper Daniel] Vega. Then, I think we had control, felt safe. But then we got a red card. In the second half, we fought like lions, which is something that makes me really proud. To lose in a way like the way we did tonight would make me cry. It really hurt. We have three games left, two at home and we need everyone. We need the whole city to stand behind us."
