PORTLAND, Ore – A Jose Villarreal freekick (watch above) was enough to give the LA Galaxy their second Reserve League win of the season, defeating the Portland Timbers 1-0 at JELD-WEN Field. Goalkeepers Brian Perk and Brian Rowe combined for the clean sheet, which was the first of the season for LA, who are now unbeaten in their last three Reserve League games.
WATCH: Villarreal postgame reaction
Villarreal gave the Galaxy a lead just 11 minutes into the game with the first shot for either side, curling a freekick past Portland goalkeeper Milos Kocic. Pablo Mastroeni, who was wearing the captain’s armband for LA earned a freekick 22 yards from goal when he was fouled by Anthony Hobbs, who plays for the Timbers’ U-23 side. Villarreal struck the freekick with his left foot, curling a shot over the wall and into the top left corner of Kocic’s goal for his first Reserve League goal of the year, making the score 1-0.
READ: With Saturday’s late game collapse in mind, LA Galaxy reserves hold on to 1-0 win over Portland
In the 24th minute, Brian Perk was called into serious action for the first time when he raced off his line, beating Portland’s Jose Valencia to the ball 30 yards from goal and clearing it away to maintain LA’s 1-0 advantage.
It was not until nine minutes later that Perk was called upon to make his first save of the game, easily stopping a low Sebastian Rincon shot from the edge of the penalty area. However, the Timbers continued to push for an equalizer an nearly got just that in the 45th minute, only for Perk to produce a fantastic double save, the first off Sal Zizzo while the second saw him dive at the feet of Valencia to make the save, making the save while colliding with the Colombian forward, leading the Galaxy goalkeeper to receive treatment, but sending his team into the halftime break with a 1-0 advantage.
WATCH: Mastroeni postgame reaction
The Galaxy made two changes at the half with Brian Rowe coming on for Perk and former Chivas USA midfielder Laurent Courtois entering for Colin Clark. Just minutes after the restart, Courtois collected a loose ball inside the center of box and fired a shot on goal, only to see it blocked on the line by Portland’s Ryan Miller, keeping the Galaxy lead at 1-0.
Just after the hour mark, the Timbers had their best chance to equalize when Steven Evans collected a Valencia header and fired a low, right-footed shot that beat the dive of Rowe but struck the post, keeping the score 1-0 in favor of the Galaxy.
In the 79th minute, Rowe was called upon for a final time, racing off his line to save at the feet of Valencia, and seal LA’s second Reserve League win of the season.
The Galaxy are now 2-1-2 for eight points on the season. They return to Reserve League action at 11 a.m. on Monday, July 22 when they take on Chivas USA at StubHub Center.
LA Galaxy 1, Portland Timbers 0
Sunday, July 14, 2013
JELD-WEN Field – Portland, Ore.
Scoring Summary:
LA – Jose Villarreal 1 (Unassisted) 11’
Misconduct Summary:
POR – Sebastian Rincon (Yellow Card) 59’
LA – Tommy Meyer (Yellow Card) 84’
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Brian Perk (Brian Rowe 46’); Oscar Sorto (Kofi Opare 69’), Leonardo, Tommy Meyer, Greg Cochrane; Michael Stephens, Pablo Mastroeni©, Rafael Garcia, Colin Clark (Laurent Courtois^ 46’); Jose Villarreal (Chandler Hoffman 69’), Jack McBean (Drew Murphy* 82’).
Substitutes Not Used: Raul Mendiola.
LA Galaxy Academy player ^ Guest player
Shots: 7 (3); Shots on Goal: 2 (1); Saves: 6 (4); Fouls: 11 (7)
Portland Timbers: Milos Kocic; Ryan Miller, Alvas Powell (Jacob Kempf* 99’), Rauwshan McKenzie, Anthony Hobbs^; Steven Evans, Foster Langsdorf, Anthony Macchione; Sal Zizzo©, Jose Valencia (Jesse Garcia* 86’), Sebastian Rincon.
Substitutes Not Used: Jake Gleeson.
* Portland Timbers Academy player ^ Portland Timbers U-23’s player
Shots: 12 (6); Shots on Goal: 6 (4); Saves: 1 (0); Fouls: 9 (7)
Referee: Scott Conner
