Timbers fall short on the road against Galaxy in final game before Leagues Cup

The Timbers made the trip down to Carson, California to take on the LA Galaxy. Portland was looking to make a statement against the top team in the Western Conference table who hadn’t lost at home all season.

Both teams had won their previous matches entering this one. The Timbers were coming off back-to-back convincing home wins, a 4-1 win over Nashville SC and a 3-0 win over Real Salt Lake, one of the top teams in the Western Conference. The Galaxy won their previous match 3-2 over the Colorado Rapids, a wild game in which all the goals were scored in the first half.

The Timbers were 7th in the West entering this match and they were hoping to keep pace in their quest for the Playoffs and stay in contention for a possible top-four spot in the Conference which would get them home field advantage in the first round. Ultimately, Portland was unable to get it done on the road, losing a 3-2 thriller.

First half:

LA clearly looked like the better team in the first 10 minutes of the match, getting a few decent chances in the early going and forcing some goalkeeping action from James Pantemis. The Timbers started creating some more attacking chances as the game went along.

Gabriel Pec had a decent shot from distance for the Galaxy in the 23rd minute but Pantemis made a good save to keep the match scoreless. The Timbers had a few decent chances after that, with Santiago Moreno firing a long range blast just wide of the target and Evander had a chance in the 37th minute but had his shot blocked. 

Just a minute after Evander’s blocked shot, the Galaxy found themselves on the break after a brilliant through ball from Riqui Puig, who found Joseph Paintsil in behind the Portland defense. With Pantemis coming out of his goal, Paintsil passed the ball across to Gabriel Pec, who tapped the ball into the open net, giving LA the 1-0 lead.

In the first minute of first-half stoppage time, the Galaxy gave the ball away in the defensive third and Santiago Moreno made a good pass in the box to Evander for a close range chance, but he couldn’t hit the target and the Galaxy took a 1-0 lead into the break.

Second half:

The second half was a lot more action-packed than the first half, with three goals being scored within 15 minutes of the second half kickoff. The Galaxy quickly doubled their lead as Riqui Puig blasted a long range shot into the bottom left corner in the 48th minute. The Timbers defended this sequence very poorly and allowed Puig way too much room to take a shot and he made Portland pay for it. 

The Timbers pulled one back a few minutes later as Evander made a nifty pass in the box to Jonathan Rodriguez who fired it past John McCarthy into the bottom right corner to make it a 2-1 LA lead in the 52nd minute. With this goal, Rodriguez has now scored in 5 out of the last 7 games. However, LA restored their two-goal cushion just six minutes later. Diego Fagundez made a long pass to Joseph Paintsil who calmly worked his way around Portland defenders and went far post on Pantemis to give the Galaxy a 3-1 lead.

Despite being down 3-1, Portland kept fighting and they created some chances to make it 3-2, and they took one of those chances in the 73rd minute after Santiago Moreno made a brilliant solo effort, dribbling the ball from midfield, working his way into the box, and struck a powerful shot into the center of the goal that McCarthy couldn’t do anything about. LA nearly scored just a few minutes later as Paintsill put the ball in the net but he was called offside by the assistant referee. Other than allowing the Galaxy that dangerous chance, the Timbers seemed to get a jolt of confidence after Moreno’s goal and they were determined to get the equalizer.

Rodriguez had a good opportunity to tie the game in the 85th minute but McCarthy was up to the task to deny Rodriguez what would have been the equalizer while also denying Rodriguez what would have been his second brace in the last three games. In the 4th minute of stoppage time, Portland had a great opportunity to level the match but Miguel Araujo, who was on as a substitute, put his header attempt over the goal after a great cross from Rodriguez.

The Timbers got a corner in right at the end of the 8 minutes of added time but they were unable to do anything with it. Portland came up just short in the end, losing on the road 3-2 to the top team in the Western Conference.

Major League Soccer will now take a month-long break as its teams will participate in the Leagues Cup, a World Cup style tournament involving all MLS teams as well as all teams from Liga MX, the top league in Mexico. The Timbers are in a group with the Colorado Rapids and Club Leon from Mexico. The top two teams from the group will advance to the knockout stage of the tournament. Portland’s next match will be their Leagues Cup opener at Providence Park against Leon on July 28.

As for the MLS, the Timbers dropped from 7th place to 8th place after tonight’s loss to the LA Galaxy. If the season ended today, they would be in the MLS Cup Playoffs and they would play at home against 9th place Minnesota United in the play-in round. Portland has yet to return to the Playoffs since that heartbreaking loss to NYCFC in the 2021 MLS Cup and they will be hoping to get back on track and get back to the Playoffs.