Jamar Ricketts scored a goal in his first career MLS start and the San Jose Earthquakes poured it on by scoring three times in the second half to earn a 4-0 victory over visiting Real Salt Lake on Saturday in the season opener for both teams.
Rodrigues added a goal off a corner kick in the 70th minute and Ousseni Bouda added one four minutes later as the Earthquakes won their opener after finishing as the worst team in MLS in 2024. Vitor Costa piled on with a goal in the 83rd minute.
The victory came in the Earthquakes’ first game under new head coach Bruce Arena, a five-time MLS Cup champion coach who had previous stints with DC United, the New York Red Bulls, Los Angeles Galaxy and New England Revolution.
San Jose goalkeeper Daniel made seven saves while Rafael Cabral made four saves for Real Salt Lake.
After finishing third in the Western Conference last season, only to be ousted in Round One of the playoffs, Real Salt Lake failed to score after they were tied for second in the conference with 65 goals in 2024. RSL had a plus-17 goal differential last season.
Ricketts, a defender who was playing in USL League Two just two seasons ago and was a first-round draft pick by the Earthquakes in 2024, scored on a centering pass through traffic from Beau Leroux in the 28th minute. Ricketts has just one other MLS appearance, coming off the bench in a game last season.
San Jose began to pull away in the 70th minute when Rodrigues scored on a header off a corner kick from Cristian Espinoza. Bouda scored in the 74th minute off another assist from Espinoza.
Costa scored a goal in the 83rd minute off an assist from Mark-Anthony Kaye, who was making his San Jose debut. Also making his debut for the Earthquakes was Chicho Arango, who was acquired in an offseason trade from RSL.
–Field Level Media
