Minnesota hosts San Jose in key Western Conference showdown

Two teams coming off grueling midweek U.S. Open Cup matches face off Saturday when the San Jose Earthquakes travel to Saint Paul, Minn., to face Minnesota United.

Both teams had to play 120 minutes in their Tuesday night matches. San Jose (7-7-7, 28 points), despite taking a 2-1 lead in the 99th minute on a Benji Kikanovic goal, yielded a tying goal in the 115th to Austin FC's Myrto Uzuni on a penalty kick and then lost in a penalty shootout, 4-2.

Minnesota United (10-4-7, 37 points), meanwhile, got a pair of goals by Kelvin Yeboah in extra time to knock off the Chicago Fire, 3-1.

Now the teams will turn around and refocus on the stretch drive of MLS play. The Loons head into the contest in third place in the Western Conference, two points behind first-place San Diego FC, while San Jose, which is 1-0-3 in its last four matches, is seventh.

Despite the disappointing home loss to Austin, Earthquakes defender Jamar Ricketts said his team, which finished last in the Western Conference last season with just 21 points, is confident moving forward.

"We definitely have high aspirations," Ricketts said. "In our heads, we're playing playoffs no matter what."

San Jose will likely be without star midfielder Cristian Espinoza, who needed 10 stitches to close a gash on his knee suffered late in regulation stoppage time on a foul by defender Mikkel Desler. Desler picked up a yellow card on the play.

"That foul on (Espinoza) is a straight red card," San Jose coach Bruce Arena said. "The officiating was comical."

Espinoza has been a key reason the Quakes rank third in the MLS with 41 goals scored. He is second in the league in assists with 11 to go along with four goals.

Minnesota United coach Eric Ramsay said he isn't worried about his team being fatigued heading into Saturday's contest following Tuesday's long and emotional win.

"Momentum helps," Ramsay said. "Energy helps. Winning games helps. It's a far easier game on Saturday having won the game than it would have been having played a sloppy 120 minutes and then lost. So I think there's more good than bad there for sure."

The Loons won the first meeting between the two teams in San Jose, 1-0, on March 8 on a Yeboah goal in the 32nd minute to improve to 8-1-4 in the last 13 meetings in all competitions with the Earthquakes.

--Field Level Media