First-place Galaxy falls in Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Galaxy sits atop the Western Conference standings, but the team left the door ajar on Wednesday night and allowed its closest pursuers to gain some ground.
Evander scored a pair of goals and the Portland Timbers kept their own postseason hopes alive with a 4-2 victory over the Galaxy.
Jonathan Rodriguez and Felipe Mora also scored for the Timbers (12-10-7, 43 points), who are currently in eighth place in the conference with five games remaining.
The Galaxy (16-7-7, 55 points), which clinched a playoff spot with its 4-2 “El Trafico” victory over LAFC last weekend, can ill afford many pointless nights with its closest pursuers holding games in hand. Second-place Real Salt Lake (14-7-8, 50 points), which defeated FC Dallas on Wednesday, has a game in hand on the Galaxy, and third-place LAFC (14-7-7, 49 points), which tied Austin FC, has two games in hand on the leaders and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.
“Obviously you know the standings and stuff like that,” Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy said. “We knew where we were before the game and we knew where we were after the game. The only thing that matters is us. We can’t control how other teams play or how other teams win or lose. We got to go out and perform and give it our best and win every game. That’s the only thing we can control. It’s on us. We can’t worry about anything else.”
“You never want to give up a goal, let alone four. It’s something we have to learn and grow from and get better. We have to quickly forget about this one and bounce back for a home game against Vancouver (on Saturday night). Definitely frustrating, but sleep on it, get over it, and move on.”
The Galaxy never led in its match Wednesday, as Portland’s Rodriguez scored in the 18th minute on a header off a cross from Evander to give the Timbers an early lead.
Evander nearly added another goal in the 33rd minute but his shot went just wide. He was just a step too slow on another chance in the 37th before finally breaking through two minutes later to put the Timbers ahead 2-0.
“Their greatest danger is in the transition,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “They have some very athletic players, some quality in the attack, obviously guys that can finish. We were just incredibly impatient with the ball. … It’s very hard to control transitions when you lose the ball in the middle of the field because they can go left, they can go right. That set the tone for the game. ”
Gabriel Pec scored for the Galaxy in fist-half stoppage time to cut the margin in half, but Evander scored again in the 51st minute for a 3-1 lead. He leads MLS with 32 goal contributions.
The Galaxy closed within one again when Joseph Paintsil scored in the 59th minute – a goal that was originally ruled offside but awarded after a video review.
Mora pulled down a ball from Antony with his chest at the far post and scored to make it 4-2 for Portland in the 80th. It was the Timbers’ conference-leading 60th goal of the season.
“The goal right at the end of the half was really good for us just to come into the locker room feeling a little bit closer,” Vanney said. “We were there and had the momentum to get ourselves back in the game, but every time we felt like the momentum was there, we would concede a goal. We didn’t deal with some transitions well. We didn’t box defend well at times. … Got to organize our marking a little bit clearer and earlier. We conceded four goals, which is far too many.”
Vanney dismissed any concern that his team’s loss was a reality check.
“I don’t know if it’s a reality check. Everybody understands the challenges of this league and competing on the road and they’re a good team,” Vanney said. “We create our problems with how we lose the ball, in rushing and forcing attacks and things that need to be allowed. We need to allow ourselves to develop. We did such a good job of that the other night (vs. LAFC), specifically in the second half. We were able to take what was arguably one of the best transition teams in the league and really eliminate the transition. It’s because we took care of the ball and because we gave our guys behind the ball chances to get tight to the players they need to mark. We did those things. Tonight, for sure through the first half of the game and some stretches in the second half when we were chasing the game, the impatience is really sometimes our biggest enemy. That’s ourselves undoing ourselves.”
The match also served as a reminder of the value of home-field advantage.
“In this league, you want to play at home,” Vanney said. “The conditions here, you come here, play on turf. It’s a little slower, a little different. Around our league there are so many different types of conditions you deal with. Could be altitude, turf. It is so important for us to be mindful of the last four games to put ourselves in a position to be playing at home. There is nothing else that we’re playing for right now, to make sure we play as many of these games at home in the playoffs as we can. Tonight is a great example of why and the other night (vs. LAFC) was a great example of why the other way. It’s absolutely the point.”