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LA Galaxy beat the Portland Timbers 2-1, extending Portland’s winless 2019

The LA Galaxy make it three wins in four with a 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers. Meanwhile, Portland is left wanting their first win of the season.
Portland Timbers

Carson, California (April 1, 2019) — The LA Galaxy make it three wins in four with a 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers. Meanwhile, Portland is left wanting their first win of the season.

LA Galaxy beat the Portland Timbers 2-1, extending Portland’s winless 2019

In Sunday night’s Western Conference showdown, the Timbers traveled down the coast. The match started out strong by both sides. Both teams created solid opportunities, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic hitting an overhead shot off the post. However, the first breakthrough came when Claude Diela bodied Ibrahimovic from behind, giving the Galaxy a penalty — which Zlatan easily converted.

Though Portland equalized right before halftime through an impressive team goal, Zlatan earned another penalty after Timbers goalkeeper Jeff Antinella took him down in the box. He converted that one easily as well.

Three Takeaways

  1. Improvement of Portland: Yes, the Timbers lost. However, overall, their defense looked much better than they’ve looked all season. That is due mostly to head coach Giovani Savarese moving to a back five and staying compact defensively. Outside of a few individual errors that led to LA Galaxy chances, Portland looked like they solved their defensive woes — at least for now.
  2. A Game of Penalties: Outside of what was a gorgeous team goal scored by the Timbers, the game was written by two penalties. Both were earned by Ibrahimovic and scored Ibrahimovic. There might be some controversy depending on who you talk to, but it seemed like both these penalties were deservedly given.
  3. The Importance of Home Field Advantage: As we all know, the Timbers won’t play their first home game until June. It’s no secret that they haven’t done well on the road in their MLS history. Now, on this long road haul, they are now 0-3-1. The Galaxy, on the other hand, are 3-0-1, with their only loss happening away from Dignity Health Sports Park.

 

Embed from Getty Images

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