The Portland Timbers have done what no other MLS team has been able to in the past three months: beat the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Portland defeated Los Angeles at JELD-WEN Field on Wednesday night, cruising to a 3-0 victory that snapped the Galaxy's 14-game unbeaten run. The win also gave the Timbers, who had won just once in their last 10 games, their first home triumph since May.
Mike Chabala scored to give Portland the lead in the 26th minute, and Jorge Perlaza doubled the scoreline before halftime. Eric Brunner rounded out the scoring with a header in the second half of a game that saw Portland outshoot the Galaxy 15-7.
What did you think of Portland's 3-0 win over Los Angeles? Surprised?
Share your thoughts below.
Another thing: I don’t know much about grass vs. turf and all the related technology. But i would think grass in Portland would often be mud pretty quickly in rainy Portland.
I don’t know the specifics on the pitch dimensions in Portland. I do know that it was a small baseball (and soccer, football) stadium that was recently converted to soccer only. They were really pressed for space. (If you look on Google Earth you can see the old baseball stadium). They needed to add SOME seats on the east and south.
Do you really think 5 yards makes a big difference? How does it, or should it, affect tactics?
Another thing to consider, Vancouver got spanked, then LA laid an egg in Portland. Was it the turf? These two data points disagree.
Arena also said they didn’t adjust to the turf. Which is really funny because they spanked Vancouver just days earlier on the same turf! Same tech and FIFA two star rating. That is hilarious work there Arena.
The Rose City kit is the best one in MLS. What a great job by Adidas/Timbers on that one.
Supposedly the water table at the stadium prevents the field from being grass. Most fans in Portland would love to see a grass field, but this is how it has always been explained to me. I was at the game, raucous crowd (as is usual) and the Timbers just showed up where LA did not. Hopefully the boys can carry that momentum down to San Jose.
I think you can look across the league and see that most teams don’t play as well away from home as they do at home. Turf has nothing to do with it. Seattle plays on turf and they have more road wins then 13 other teams in the league.
While grass would be preferable, I like the fact that Portland plays on a small turf field. They will be more familiar with it and how it plays. Thus giving them more of a home field advantage.
Thanks for the good word… Hopefully you get a chance to experience it first hand. Learn some chants and have an IPA from Fort George brew.
I was expecting a lot from Juninho last night, but saw nothing. Same for Donovan. Becks had some great possession touches, but couldn’t help his team with a “well weighted cross with english”. Sorry Becks not enough.
LA was off their game. Timbers army were very loud
I watch all the timbers games either in person or on the tube.
Coop is a fish, he plays like luis figo without the pedigree. I was honestly shocked that spencer started him after the unbelievable performance eddie johnson had against TFC. Johnson’s work rate was huge and he held the ball / distributed perfectly up top from the lone striker position. Inches from a great goal.
Interesting thing is eddie warmed up with the team but wasn’t even on the bench for the LA game. I haven’t figured out why yet, maybe concussion?
Great win fir the timbers (yes aweful pun). Cooper played a small roll. He did help set up the perlazza goal, but i give all credit to perlazza on that one.
The red is their alternate and not necessarily their away kit. Sometimes they just wanna rep the rose city.
I know you are being a troll, but seriously, Home Depot field dimensions 120 yds long x 75 yds wide versus Jeld-Wen field dimensions 110 yds long x 70 yds wide (these numbers come from Wikipedia, sorry I didn’t go out and measure myself).
Why were the Timbers wearing their aways? If their homes clash with LA’s aways LA should just wear their white home’s. Nothin wrong with that…
Play on what you got. We got a field in the city that has to be shared. So we would either play on dirt or grass. Would rather have turf in the city than grass in the burbs in an empty stadium.
I would rather have grass to, but we don’t and we are not getting it.
What if I said Home Depot was too big they can’t play away on tiny fields cause the are so used to having a huge stadium and don’t know who to make space on a small field.
He is not alone. I was just talking to friends and we named 5 players who ran to Spencer after scoring.
The Timbers won last night because they were prepared and hungry for a win.
But their stadium had a lot to do with it as well. Of course, I’m not talking about the fans – who, honestly, impress me. I’m talking about the field.
Jeld-Wen, Seattle and, soon, Empire Field will be build with ground attacking speedster teams in mind. Portland has a team of fresh, young legs and their game sticks to the ground, where the ball rolls fast and cut hard.
Teams like Los Angeles are a bit slower… and a bit older. Taking aside the controversy regarding turf safety on (older) joints, the Galaxy play an air passing game… a game that dies when your foot has to adjust its approach and where the ball checks back upon every bounce. Not that it’s necessarily unpredictable (but it is less so), but that it’s foreign to teams who spend the great majority of their season playing on grass.
Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, on the other hand, spend over half of their season playing on turf. Easier to accommodate.
In short, get rid of the turf and we’ll see how these teams play. As it is, turf teams’ away records are atrocious… ever wonder why?
I never said the field wasn’t regulation, I said it sucked. It does. Field turf has no place in professional soccer. The field is too narrow. Not whining … just criticizing. Love Portland, love the energy of the fans, but they are getting an inferior product with the field conditions. They deserve better. In time, I’m sure they’ll find a way to improve the pitch.
stephens blows…
One thing that I found very interesting was that Charbala ran directly to Spencer to give him a hug after the first goal. How many players do that to their manager? It seems clear that Spencer has the respect of the entire team, even the ones who have had to ride pine sometimes.
Adding Charbala and Palmer and having Nagbe and Zizzo in the game at the same time has been a lot of fun to watch the last few games.
I’ve read somewhere about having space for an ambulance just in case on the West Sideline narrows the field a little and given the fact the North End curve is a physical limitation on the width as well.
Dont know which galaxy you are in, but one problem they dont have is attendance or support….but if Arena keeps with this boring, defensive style built for 1-0 games, the fans will leave.
still better than the awful dodgers…doesnt sound like you were aat the Man City or Red Bull games
Id rather watch a 50 year old JPA than losers like Barrett, Cristman, and that Lopez kid that run around like his head is cut off. Cardozo is suddenly missing again for LA. He could be a Plata-type impact player if Arena stopped plying 3 D-Mids in the midfield.
+1, the Attacking depth for LA is awful. Donovan is talented, but he is too bust covering for guys like Birchall and Barrettt….Then Lopex and Cristman as your offensive spark? Arena has no concept of offense.
Zero service from an impotent midfield with Birchall and Stephens…no width whatsoever. LA needs a couple of attackers fast…
It’s not good for Seattle, either. It’s better for the Sounders if the Timbers are good (but not as good).
^^^ that comment was meant in response to Dan the blue.
I’ve noticed the same thing, but when you have 10 quality beaches, Hollywood, an extremely vibrant and successful music scene, USC and UCLA sports, Orange County, Disneyland, Knotts, two baseball teams, two basketball teams, two hockey teams and two soccer teams and the commute from one section of the metro area to another is horrendous, it’s just easy not to show up, or find an easier/closer way to entertain yourself or your kids.
I lived in SoCal, I went to whatever Galaxy and Angels games I could, but it was hard. I imagine NY would have many of the same issues if the Yankees hadn’t built such a dynasty over the last century.
No true talent around him except for Beckham? Are you serious? LA wouldn’t compete in top flight leagues, but Donovan, Beckham, Stephens, and Juninho are GREAT supporting talent by MLS standards, plus Franklin does pretty well getting forward. I’ll concede that he doesn’t have a decent striker to partner with, but the rest of what you said is pretty far off the mark.
Chewy! Seems like former Dynamo players start scoring goals as soon as they leave Houston 🙁
Its a FIFA regulation field so stop whining. But I do have to agree that there is definitely the space to widen the field and I would not be against it if the FO decided to do that.
“play it like it should be.” LOL.
The one thing Spencer has created where there is competition for every spot. Don’t play well and there is a sub/replacement. And he has done it without hostility.
You have to say he’s done a decent job as most of our players are cast off’s from other MLS teams and USL players.
Every game the play has gotten better. We are passing out of the back more. We still are mostly a counter attacking team, but who isn’t?
We needed that win.
Big thanks to Portland for helping us out here in Seattle. Congrats and keep it up…hate to see an expansion side with such great support struggle so much. Ain’t good for the league.
agreed on this. It looks like they have room to widen it at least a couple of yards.. and even that would make a difference.
I have to give my apologies to my fellow Galaxy fans. I have not been able to watch nearly as much LAG as I would like this season, but if you want to know which games I have watched, look at the losses in their record. Apparently they only ever lose when I am watching. Clearly I was watching last night. And, as a longtime fan, I can’t promise I won’t watch them again.
JPA is well past it. He’s only good for an offsides call here and there. He doesn’t read defenses well enough/isn’t fast enough to be a consistent threat anymore. We realized this towards the end of last season and offered him a non-dp contract… he said “no thanks”
I hated spending my time watching my gaLAxy get their azz handed to them last night but I’m giving HUGE props to the timber fans. Even in losing efforts that crowd knows how to view a soccer match. Last night they were amazing and, frankly, the only reason I didn’t turn the game off. I dream of the day when hdc rocks like that for 90 minutes. But having been a lifelong LA sports fan… Unless it’s playoff time and u r in staples it isnt happening. Sad. We are knowledgable sports fans in socal but… Oh nevermind
Kudos to Portland, but games on small turf fields suck. Why is the field lined to be so narrow? It’s hardly soccer. It reminds me of when Yallop became coach of the Galaxy and relined the HDC to be a narrow field. BS. Let’s open up the game and play it like it should be.
I’ve been defending JPA all season long, but he was terrible last night. I dont mind having him on the roster, but no more dp money. We could use that slot for a striker or for some speed on the wings. Also adam christman is terrible, and i can not believe im saying this.. where is chad barrett?
You obviously haven’t studied the game enough.
JPA was easily the best player on the Galaxy last night. His off the ball movements were spot on but no one was reading him. It’s hard to be JPA when there’s no true talent around him except for Beckham.
I assume you are kidding…because as classy a guy as Angel is, he has fallen off the cliff. But I gotta say, service to him yesterday was terrible and Donovan was a no-show. Credit goes to Spencer for getting Timbers ready.
JPA is awful.
Anyways, it looked like the Galaxy were looking forward to Saturday’s match. they came in lazy, slow, overconfident, and completely unready to actually play a game.
This is the best he has looked all season. I think sitting on the bench for a few weeks was good for him. I doubt you will see him play for the USMNT.
I assume when you say “solid” you mean he was playing well. Because every time he plays he looks like a rag doll that would rather play crab soccer and flop all game long. He’s the biggest fish I’ve ever seen.
Kenny Cooper played really well, from what I saw.
Controlled the ball well, and played some very nice passes. I hadn’t been following Portland at all, when I looked up their previous games and saw Cooper hadn’t been playing, I was kind of surprised, given how solid he looked. If he can stay healthy, and play like he did last night (which, obviously, is no given) you have to think he’s on a list of winners for the USMNT coaching change as well.
sh*tty game. It was like watching raquet ball on that little field
Juan Pablo Angel was a beast last night, can’t blv #rbny didn’t re-sign him