It was a great day for soccer this past Sunday as Portland met the Galaxy in Carson, California for the first time since beating them handily during pre-season. This time was quite the different story, however. With four LA defenders on the MLS injury list and Oregon State standout, Danny Mwanga, making his debut for the Timbers, it was the perfect opportunity for the Rose City attack to boost its embarrassingly low record of 10 goals in 12 games. After Sunday’s match, the record is now 10 goals in 13 games since losing one-nil at the Home Depot Center. In terms of attack, Portland showed they can play with the star-studded Galaxy but time and time again lacked the finishing that has been absent from the club since entering Major League Soccer.
The highly anticipated Mwanga struggled to combine with Boyd and Darlington Nagbe. Mwanga’s most promising opportunity occurred during the 20th minute when he was brought down on a breakaway, inside the box, by two Galaxy players: Dunivant and goalkeeper, Josh Saunders. Unfortunately, Referee Geoff Gamble was staunch in his unwillingness to award a penalty to Portland. Such a decision is up for debate seeing as Saunders led with both cleats up and Dunivant did not win the ball. Nevertheless, Gamble was not convinced and neither was his assistant referee. The center official continued to show a consistent preference for the home side throughout the game.
The only other dangerous development from the newly joined duo was 14 minutes earlier when Alhassan’s service into the penalty area deflected off Mwanga to an offside Boyd. John Spencer subbed his countryman toward the latter part of the second half for young Mike Fucito. Boyd’s long-range effort in the 36th minute was blatant evidence that Timbers lacked penetration following the quarter hour mark. Although his shot made Josh Saunders make a diving save, attempts like Boyd’s from 30 plus yards are lofty in the least.
L.A. Galaxy, on the other hand, displayed a much more obvious tenacity for Troy Perkins’s goal. It began in the 4th minute when Franklin whipped a cross onto Marcello’s head that beat Chaballa and nearly Perkins as well. However, the Portland netminder did well to make himself big enough to deflect the header over the bar. Later, in the 15th minute, Galaxy winger Jordan, an ex-USL Timber and Oregon State grad, sent a service in which David Horst deflected to Landon Donovan. The Galaxy captain sent a screamer across the goal and rocked the far post, as Timbers escaped an early one-nil deficit. Donovan continued to go after Timbers Captain Jack Jewsbury for most of the game. In the 56th, Donovan did cut inside and after nutmegging Diego Chara, shot from 20 yards out. Chara received a yellow card later in the match, making him the league leader in yellow cards.
Five minutes after Donovan’s run inside, he was involved in the Galaxy goal. Beckham curled in a corner kick while Donovan arguably obstructed Perkins as the ball flew across the six-yard box. Dunivant found himself at the far post at the right time. Meanwhile, had Danny Mwanga made an effort to get Donovan out of the way, Galaxy’s skipper would not have picked Perkins. More importantly, Captain Jack’s ball watching at the back post left Dunivant with a free header to win the game.
There was much hope for the Timbers in their trip to L.A. Even a draw would have been relatively pleasing. Perhaps if the match took place at Jeld-Wen, the result would have been a different story. Yet with all this in mind, what Timbers really need are goals. Whether they come from set pieces, LRB’s (long range bombs), services from widemen, or anything really, at this point, Timbers are in desperate need of some. In every game, the first is always the toughest to score and hopefully, if Portland can get one, they can get three. But someone – and most people are expecting it to be Mwanga – needs to show the drive that it takes to put the ball in the back of the net. Not only will goals give Timbers a good dose of confidence but they also relieve some pressure from Perkins and his back four who are putting forth a stalwart effort and mostly solid performance game in and game out. The next step for the defense is staying switched on at all times to eliminate goals like L.A.’s. If they can do this, the Portland attack has no excuse but to step up its game. It has the talent – Nagbe, Alhassan, Songo’o, Zizzo, Mwanga – but they need to produce. In all leagues, including the MLS, finishing separates the top from the bottom and that is exactly where Timbers find themselves right now…bottom of the table.
(image courtesy of Craig Mitchelldyer)
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