Victories continue to elude the Earthquakes, who haven’t won since May, but they used a revitalized defense to snap a four-game losing streak with a 0-0 tie in Houston on Saturday night.
The draw against the second-place Dynamo (12-7-3) enabled San Jose (10-8-4) to maintain fourth place in the Western Conference, despite its last victory coming May 23 against Portland.
Coach Bruce Arena sounded comfortable with where things stand for his team in the MLS table, despite the Quakes going 0-6-1 since the post-World Cup break in late May.
“Our team played well. We’re right in the thick of things at this point. It’s all part of an MLS season,” Arena said. “There’s no teams in this league that are superior to anybody. The teams that people envision are at the bottom can beat anybody. That’s MLS.”
HOUSTON, TEXAS – AUGUST 29: Guilherme #20 of the Houston Dynamo FC and Daniel Munie #5 of the San Jose Earthquakes battle for ball possession during the first half of their match at Shell Energy Stadium on August 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Maria Lysaker/Getty Images)
After allowing 13 goals in their last four matches, San Jose played with a three-man backline for the first time this season. The new formation, and a renewed focus on goal prevention, worked as planned as Quakes goalkeeper Angus Gunn earned his first-ever clean sheet with San Jose.
Gunn’s shutout was notable in that he didn’t have to record a single save because the Dynamo didn’t have a single shot on goal.
“We had a very good week of training this week, I felt like everybody was prepared coming into this game,” said San Jose midfielder and captain Ronaldo Vieira. “As you saw, we didn’t give up a shot on goal, and I think that’s also because our defense was very compact and organized tonight.”
Offensively, the Quakes kept pressure on Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, who responded with four big saves while posting his sixth clean sheet in his last seven starts.
Newly acquired Quakes midfielder Eduard Löwen uncorked a shot from the edge of the box that forced Bond to make a diving save in the 57th minute. Ousseni Bouda and Niko Tsakiris almost connected moments later but the shot sailed over the crossbar. In the 77th minute, the ball ricocheted to Nick Fernandez in the box but his right-footed attempt was batted away by Bond.
San Jose will have another road match next Saturday at Austin FC at 7:30 p.m. PT.