The amazing thing was that the LA Galaxy only scored three goals.
They could have had five. Or eight. Or any number, really. They dominated the Portland Timbers in the first half in their NBC brunch-time class in a way that the Timbers were rarely even dominated in the dark days of 2012. For some odd reason, they refused to convert until the very end of the first 45. Then they turned the screws in the second half.
It’s pretty simple: Portland went to the hottest team in the league and lost. There’s not a whole lot more to say. Not any one person or two people to blame. Last season, the Timbers won two games against the Galaxy, finished above them in the table, and went further than them in the playoff.
In 2013, Portland was better than LA. In 2014, the tables have been turned. That’s the Timbers’ new reality. Not only are they an average to slightly-above-average MLS team now, they can rarely go to the best teams in the league and be competitive.
There were a few things to pick out in this one, like Diego Valeri’s first direct-kick goal out of the LA net, and Kalif Alhassan’s big opportunity to play his way back into Caleb Porter’s thinking five feet wide into the StubHub Center stands, but big picture, it’s already time to move onto Chivas USA at home next Saturday.
The Timbers were never going to win this one, and the success of their playoff chase won’t be decided in away games in which they are clearly overmatched.
The success of the Timbers’ playoff chase won’t be decided with Darlington Nagbe uninvolved, however worrying it is that the barrage of hard fouls he has suffered this season finally caught up to him with a sprained knee.
I think LA goes on and wins MLS Cup in November. Between Donovan, Keane, Zardes, Gonzalez, and somehow salvaging the Mike Magee trade by turning Robbie Rogers into a cheerfully flying left-back, you have to tip your cap to the Galaxy and Bruce Arena. That hasn’t happened for the Timbers, who had one DP in Liam Ridgewell fit right into the hapless defense, and the other DP Fanendo Adi continue to play his way into a backup role.
Problem is, the Timbers played like they knew how much better the Galaxy were than them. Their first half performance was timid and defeatist, and by the time they woke up in the second half – which often isn’t a good thing where Diego Chara is concerned – LA had zoned in.
You do just wonder if at any point Caleb Porter thought to himself, “when did we decide that we’re worse than these guys and where was I for that conversation?”
The absence of Nagbe, so vitally important and omnipresent in the team hurt, but it’s possible that the loss of Gaston Fernandez – who marches to his own drum, hence the will-I-or-won’t-I come out game he played with an exasperatedly glowering Porter and his penalty brouhaha with Will Johnson earlier in the year – hurt more.
Fernandez’s replacement was Alhassan, who hasn’t been heard from in meaningful minutes for months. Not running hard on defense and squandering your team’s best chances of the game will do nothing to get you back in the good graces of your coach. Perhaps that’s the path to yet another chance for Steve Zakuani, who hasn’t even traveled to the Timbers’ last two games. But if Fernandez and Nagbe can’t go next week, it could be Zakuani again.
Kalif maybe done for a while. Poor old Jack Jewsbury was crying out for help on the LA left where he was being tormented by Rogers and Donovan, but none was forthcoming. The Timbers may have been unwilling to go toe-to-toe with the Galaxy, or they may just have been unable. They were outclassed, from top to bottom.
How do we cure what ails the Timbers? Play Montreal every week. This Portland team just isn’t beating the class of MLS this year. At home, on the road, anywhere – so it’s vitally important that Portland take three points from the teams they are better than. It was the draws against the likes of Philadelphia, Columbus, Chicago, and Dallas that hurt them most early in the year.
This upcoming game against Chivas – at home – is an absolute must win. The margin for error gets thinner and thinner with each passing week.
LA is at the level the Timbers want to get to. For now, they can only watch wistfully and try to catch the fish they can swim with.
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