Earthquakes-Timbers Preview

While the Portland Timbers improved their playoff chances by defeating a team ahead of them last time out, the San Jose Earthquakes have been unable to take advantage of similar opportunities.

San Jose is riding a five-game winless streak overall and on the road but is heading to an environment that has provided the Timbers with little home-field advantage.

Portland (8-8-10) returns to Providence Park on Sunday in high spirits after getting second-half goals from Alvas Powell, Maximiliano Urruti and Rodney Wallace in a 3-0 win at Vancouver last Saturday. The Timbers and Whitecaps are in a tight battle for the fifth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"Maybe the most complete performance since I've been here, against a very good team on the road," coach Caleb Porter told the Timbers' official website. "... A lot of teams would have quit, a lot of teams would have unraveled, this team hasn't. We kept fighting and we kept pushing."

The trick now will be following it up with a home victory, which has been difficult to come by for the Timbers. They're 3-3-7 at home with a flat goal differential and 25 goals conceded, tied with Chivas USA for the highest total in MLS.

That could be overshadowed by a strong run offensively with 18 goals scored over an eight-match stretch across all competitions. Powell has scored in consecutive matches, Urruti has nine goals in a 15-match stretch despite starting just seven times, and Fanendo Adi has three goals in three matches with only one start.

Matchups with San Jose have rarely produced such offense, with neither team ever scoring more than two goals against the other in a series which Portland leads 2-1-5. The Timbers suffered that lone loss in the last meeting, 2-1 in San Jose on July 27, 2013.

The Earthquakes (6-10-8) are 0-2-2 all-time in Oregon and just 1-5-4 on the road this year as they enter a crucial four-day stretch through Portland and Vancouver. They're 0-2-3 in league road games since winning in Dallas on May 31.

They have the same record in their past five games overall after a 1-1 home draw with Real Salt Lake on Aug. 30. That did little to improve their playoff chances, and they enter the weekend in eighth place ahead of only Chivas.

Midfielder Sam Cronin scored in a second straight game, but the team allowed an early lead to slip away and has conceded 13 goals on the winless streak.

"At this point in the season, especially at home, we need to get a win," Cronin told the club's official website. "I saw the fight in us and the comeback spirit. Whenever you give up five goals in one game and then four in another, it's easy to lose that spirit. We need to improve our quality on the ball. It was a positive start to score the first goal, but we have to start holding on and not surrendering back-breaking goals."

A six-match winless stretch would match their longest in the last two seasons.

International duty will leave Portland without Wallace while San Jose will be without Atiba Harris.