2020 MLS Regular Season – Week 9
Portland Timbers vs. LA Galaxy
Providence Park – Portland
September 2 – 7:30 PM PT
LOCAL TV: Spectrum SportsNet
Two Western Conference teams streaking in different directions square off at Providence Park Wednesday night as the Portland Timbers meet the LA Galaxy.
The Timbers are looking to rebound from back-to-back negative results in which they. conceded five times in the last 20 minutes in a loss to the Seattle Sounders and a draw against Real Salt Lake. The Galaxy, meanwhile, are enjoying their best stretch in a while with derby wins over LAFC and the San Jose Earthquakes.
The Timbers won the last two meetings, including a 2-1 victory at the MLS is Back Tournament. A year ago at Providence Park, Portland cruised to a 4-0 win.
Portland Timbers
There were so many positives through 85 minutes, but that was all but forgotten by a seething Giovanni Savarese in his post-match press conference after the Timbers conceded twice at the death to settle for a 4-4 draw with Real Salt Lake.
“Today we did a lot of great things — we were winning, 4-2. Especially in the second half we were very good, we created chances and we even had chances to be able to go 5-2,” he said. “But then you cannot go and give up two goals in the last four minutes. There are mental lapses and it needs to be much better.
“When you score four goals at home, it’s a win. It cannot be a tie. You cannot lose. We tied 4-4 today and its very disappointing.”
LA Galaxy
Have the Galaxy turned the corner? After a first-ever win over LAFC at Banc of California Stadium, they followed up with a come-from-behind Cali Clasico victory over the San Jose Earthquakes with Sebastian Lletget scoring the late winner.
"I think we’ve fixed a lot of the errors that we did in Orlando, and we really put our head down and worked on things like that," the midfielder said after Saturday's win. "And I think the mental aspect kind of was all we had left, to be honest. And I think it’s showing now. Just going a goal down, responding right away.
"I think normally last year we would’ve put our head down and probably just accepted that it wasn’t, we weren’t going to come back. I mean, polar opposites. More than anything, I’m happy about that."
Series Matchup at Timbers
- Timbers: 5 wins, 21 goals
- Galaxy: 2 wins, 13 goals
- 3 draws
