San Jose Earthquakes head coach Bruce Arena hailed his side's "fight and determination" after winning their first two matches, with Minnesota United next up in MLS.

The 'Quakes are among the early leaders in the Western Conference as one of three teams to have won both of their matches so far this season.

After a comfortable 4-0 victory over Real Salt Lake, San Jose had to hold on with 10 men to get a 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City last weekend, starting the season in complete contrast to the 2024 campaign.

Arena noted the difficulties his side faced against Sporting KC but is hopeful San Jose can show that same grit against Minnesota on Saturday.

"The story of our team is the fight and determination of our players," Arena said. "In the last game, they played for 30 minutes with a man less and they did an outstanding job.

"The determination and the defensive mentality was outstanding. But we have to get better. We made a lot of mistakes, and in another week, we'll look to eliminate those."

Minnesota, meanwhile, got off the mark for the season last time out, earning their first win in 2025 by beating CF Montreal 1-0.

They suffered a 1-0 defeat to Los Angeles FC in their opener, and head coach Eric Ramsay was quick to praise Minnesota's defensive stability so far.

"We had a solid base last year," he said. "I think if you look at us post-Leagues Cup, we were for sure one of the strongest teams defensively last year.

"I think we've continued that vein so far, and you're seeing those two performances, it's difficult for teams to get chances away.

"We're very comfortable defending in a certain way but can also create, and I think we've proven that."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

San Jose Earthquakes – Josef Martinez

Josef Martinez has scored five goals in three career matches against Minnesota, averaging 1.72 goals per 90 minutes against them, the seventh highest per-90 scoring rate by a player against any MLS team he has played at least 250 minutes against.

Minnesota United – Kelvin Yeboah

Kelvin Yeboah, who scored Minnesota's lone goal on Saturday, has attempted a league-high 14 shots in two matches this season.

That ties Cucho Hernandez's 14 shots through two games last season as the most through a team's first two games of a season in the last 15 MLS seasons.

MATCH PREDICTION: MINNESOTA UNITED WIN

Minnesota have lost only one of their last 12 matches against San Jose in all competitions (W7 D4) dating back to the start of the 2019 season. The Earthquakes won all four meetings with Minnesota in the Loons' first two MLS seasons (2017 and 2018).

Minnesota earned their first points of the season with a 1-0 home win over Montreal on Saturday. The Loons have kept clean sheets in five of their last seven regular-season matches, allowing only two total goals over that time.

They face a San Jose side who have won their first two matches of a season for the first time since 2017 and are looking to open a season with three straight wins for the first time ever. In fact, the Earthquakes have not won three straight regular-season matches since April-May 2021.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

San Jose Earthquakes – 31.9%

Draw – 25.4%

Minnesota United – 42.7%