Seattle Sounders storm past San Jose Earthquakes for 3-1 win

The Seattle Sounders defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1 on Wednesday night at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif.

Raúl Ruidíaz recorded his 11th brace of his Sounders career, including the fourth this season. He finished a clinical left-footed shot from just inside the top of the 18-yard box after a clever feed from Cristian Roldan in the 25th minute. Ruidíaz doubled the Sounders’ lead with his 16th goal of the season in the 42nd minute after Roldan drew a penalty when he was fouled by goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski.

Seattle took a 2-0 lead into halftime and immediately pushed the advantage to three in the 49th minute when Roldan finished a cross from Jimmy Medranda.

San Jose pulled one back two minutes later, though, when an unfortunate deflection from Shane O’Neill beat Stefan Frei for an own goal.

The Sounders won their ninth road match of the year, which ties a club record set in 2011. The Sounders will next host the Colorado Rapids in a massive six-pointer on Sunday at Lumen Field (7 p.m. PT; FOX 13+, Prime Video, 1090 KJR AM, El Rey 1360AM | TICKETS).

THREE TAKEAWAYS

Three in three for Roldan

Roldan, who was named to Gregg Berhalter’s United States camp on Wednesday for crucial 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying matches, scored his third goal in as many matches. He opened the scoring against Club Léon in the Leagues Cup Final last week, scored the opener against Sporting Kansas City over the weekend and then punished the Earthquakes for his second goal of the season at PayPal Park.

Chú’s MLS debut

Summer window signing Léo Chú made his MLS debut when he came on at halftime for Ruidíaz. The 21-year-old Brazilian attacker made his club debut with eight minutes off the bench in the Leagues Cup Semifinal against Santos Laguna and assisted Ruidíaz on the match-winner in stoppage time. He looked more than comfortable in the attacking third in his first appearance in earnest.

Back home

The Sounders will finally head back to Lumen Field after a four-match road swing over the past 12 days. The Sounders went 2-2-0 in that span and pushed their MLS-best away record to 9-2-2 on the year.