The San Jose Earthquakes will aim for some badly needed goals and points when they host Nashville SC’s sturdy defense on Saturday.

Both Nashville (12-9-7, 43 points) and San Jose (10-10-10, 40 points) are in seventh place in their respective conferences, though Nashville has a bit more breathing room in its push for the Eastern Conference playoffs. Only eight points separate second place from 10th in the compact Western Conference, so a loss Saturday and some unfavorable results in other matches could put the Earthquakes below the playoff line entirely.

San Jose is 1-3-2 in its last six matches, including Wednesday’s 2-1 road loss to the Portland Timbers. Portland is now one point behind the Earthquakes in the West standings, as San Jose missed a chance to create separation in the playoff race.

“We need to have a short memory and move on quickly,” Earthquakes coach Luchi Gonzalez said after Wednesday’s match. “I thought we could be better in the attacking third … We need more (goals) and a little bit more determination and final action that I know we have in us.”

Finding that offense could be difficult against Nashville SC, whose 27 goals allowed are the fewest in MLS. Nashville earned its ninth clean sheet of the season in Wednesday’s 3-0 road shutout of Sporting Kansas City.

The victory ended a six-match winless drought (0-4-2) for Nashville SC. Head coach Gary Smith felt the respite and training time provided by the 18-day break in their schedule was critical to his team’s improved form.

“A bit of rest and recovery, or some possessional work and some structure in the team, that was there to see (against Kansas City),” Smith said.

2022 MLS Golden Boot winner Hany Mukhtar is again battling for the award. The Nashville forward has 15 goals this season to lead the league and has scored in each of his last two matches.

San Jose defender Rodrigues is questionable to face Nashville after leaving Wednesday’s match with an undisclosed injury.

–Field Level Media

If it’s September, then it must be time for a late-season run by the Portland Timbers.

The Timbers (10-11-9, 39 points), who will play host to the Colorado Rapids (4-14-10, 22 points) on Saturday night, have won three straight games and are 4-1-1 under interim coach Miles Joseph. They sit in eighth place in MLS’ Western Conference, just above the nine-team cutoff line.

“I think we’ve shown more heart than before,” Timbers defender Dario Zuparic said. “Every time when a team changes the coach, something happens. We are the same team, but I think we changed the mentality.”

The Timbers are coming off a 2-1 victory Wednesday against the San Jose Earthquakes, with Cristhian Paredes and Evander scored.

Evander has scored in seven of his last 11 matches across all competitions. Only Miami’s Lionel Messi (eight) has scored more during that stretch.

Paredes, who was wearing the captain’s armband in place of veteran Diego Chara, who underwent an emergency appendectomy last week, was booked for time-wasting and will miss Saturday’s match because of yellow-card accumulation.

“Probably our best performance so far, front to back,” Joseph said. “First half, I felt like we controlled a lot of the game, especially with our ability to step into the front half of the field, press them, and cause them to make some turnovers. We would gain possession out of that in the front half of the field, which was great. Created a lot of chances off that.”

The Rapids dropped a 2-1 decision to visiting Seattle on Wednesday despite Cole Bassett scoring for the second consecutive match. Colorado is 1-4-0 since the resumption of MLS play after the Leagues Cup and is tied with Toronto with a league-low 22 points.

The Rapids had gone five league matches without a goal before Bassett began scoring.

“I hope that for the coaching staff, I hope it brought them belief,” Bassett said. “And you could tell on the field as well, even for myself, I thought I played a pretty bad first half, so I had to come out second half and kind of change that, and I started hot, and (the goal) just got my confidence going. Then for the rest of the half, it was good.”

The Timbers and Rapids played to a scoreless draw July 12 in Commerce City, Colo., in the resumption of a game suspended by weather.

–Field Level Media

St. Louis City became the first team in the Western Conference to clinch a playoff berth with a 0-0 draw against defending MLS Cup champion Los Angeles Football Club on Wednesday. But there’s still plenty to play for during the regular season for the expansion team as it heads into Saturday night’s match with Minnesota United in Saint Paul, Minn.

With four games and a possible 12 points remaining, St. Louis (15-10-5, 50 points) can still break the expansion-season points record 57 set by LAFC. A top-four finish would guarantee home-field for the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs. And St. Louis City also holds a five-point lead over the second-place Seattle Sounders (12-9-9, 45 points) in the race for the Western Conference title.

“From day one we spoke about being competitive and I think we’ve proved that,” St. Louis coach Bradley Carnell told mlssoccer.com. “We checked that box (for making the playoffs). Now what’s next for us? Can we get a top-four finish? Once we get that box checked, then can we win the Western Conference? So it’s all things in baby steps and stages.”

Another box that could be checked is revenge for a 1-0 home loss to Minnesota United (9-10-10, 37 points) earlier this season.

The Loons handed a then 5-0-0 St. Louis City team the first loss in team history on April 1. Luis Amarillo scored on a penalty shot in the 78th minute, and Dayne St. Clair made three saves while picking up a clean sheet.

Minnesota United enters the contest in 10th place in the West and off a bitter 4-3 loss to the LA Galaxy on Wednesday. The Loons led that one 3-1 in the second half before imploding. Defender Ethan Bristow got sent off in the 74th minute after picking up his second yellow card, and Diego Fagundez then scored the game-winner eight minutes later for the Galaxy.

“We managed to throw a game away that we should have won,” Minnesota United coach Adrian Heath told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “Moving forward, we can’t keep doing this. We can’t keep putting ourselves in great position and come away with nothing.”

The Loons enter Saturday’s contest just one point behind FC Dallas for the final playoff spot.

“It’s still in our hands,” Heath said. “There are enough points to play for, but we can’t keep doing the same stiff and expect different results.”

Bristow is suspended for Saturday’s match, and midfielder Joseph Rosales will also miss the contest with a hamstring injury. The Loons are holding their breath that star midfielder Emanuel Reynoso, who left Wednesday’s loss at halftime with a thigh injury, can play Saturday. Heath listed Reynoso as day-to-day.

–Field Level Media

The pressure is increasing for Real Salt Lake and their playoff push as the club hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday in Sandy, Utah.

Salt Lake (11-11-7, 40 points) is desperate to pull out of a tailspin that is threatening its postseason chances. RSL have lost four of five matches since resuming MLS regular-season play in August. Salt Lake’s offense has faded, and the defense has become toothless during the stretch.

Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to FC Dallas was a microcosm of the Utah club’s problems during this late-season slide. RSL took a halftime lead on a goal from Chicho Arango but surrendered three goals over a 15-minute span early in the second half to lose a winnable match at home. It was the first time Salt Lake lost a match this season when scoring first.

Arango has tallied at least one goal in four consecutive matches. He isn’t getting much help from his teammates on either end of the pitch.

“What we need at this moment is guys to step up and guys to really show the character, and guys who really put the team on their back,” Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni said.

Vancouver (11-9-8, 41 points) historically hasn’t had much success in Utah. The Whitecaps have beaten RSL in Sandy just twice in 14 matches all-time.

Breaking through again on the road seems doable for Vancouver this time around. The Whitecaps were unbeaten in four straight road matches before falling 4-1 to Houston on Wednesday.

“It’s a good wake-up call,” Vancouver coach Vanni Sartini said of the loss to the Dynamo. “We’ve been in a kind of heaven from the last few weeks … It’s good to understand if we’re not the best version of ourselves, it’s hard to make points.”

Potent offense has spurred Vancouver’s climb up the Western Conference standings. The Whitecaps have scored eight goals in their last five road matches.

Brian White and Ryan Gauld have been an especially potent offensive duo. White has tallied 11 goals and four assists for the Whitecaps. Ryan Gauld has chipped in six goals and five assists over the past 10 matches.

RSL prevailed 2-1 over Vancouver in the most recent meeting between the clubs in February.

–Field Level Media