On a march toward the glory days of their past, the Los Angeles Galaxy will be out to pad their lead atop the Western Conference standings on Saturday in a matchup with the visiting Portland Timbers in Carson, Calif.
With Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rapids, the Galaxy (13-5-7, 46 points) broke from a three-way tie for the top spot in the conference to have it all for themselves.
Key to Los Angeles’ run to the top spot has been an unbeaten record in its home venue, where the club is 8-0-3. The Galaxy’s only “home” loss came in a matchup against crosstown rival LAFC at the Rose Bowl on July 4.
The trio of Riqui Puig, Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec put a charge into the Galaxy. Puig and Paintsil each scored a goal against the Rapids, in addition to a score from Diego Fagundez. Pec had two assists.
“The guys are fighting for everything and we keep going,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said. “We have one more this week that’s really important. If we can get the job done on Saturday we go into the (All-Star) break on top of the West. That’s the goal for this week.”
Dejan Joveljic leads the Galaxy with 12 goals but missed his team’s last two games with a hamstring injury and is not expected back Saturday. Pec has nine goals with 10 assists and Puig has seven goals with 10 assists.
The Timbers (10-8-6, 36 points) know all about scoring goals with 48 on the season, second in the Western Conference — one behind Real Salt Lake and one more than the Galaxy. But Portland is seventh in the West and clinging to the final guaranteed playoff spot.
More recently, however, the Timbers are on a roll with seven goals and a pair of victories over their past two games. They also are well-rested as the only MLS team that did not have to play Wednesday.
Last weekend, the Timbers pulled off a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake (allowing Portland to close in on the goal-scoring lead). The complete performance gave Portland a 7-1-2 record going back to May 25, with 22 goals scored in the 10-game stretch.
Felipe Mora, Santiago Moreno and Evander all scored goals for the Timbers against RSL. Mora, Evander and Jonathan Rodriguez are tied for the Portland lead with 11 goals each. Evander has 12 assists.
“We’ve got to keep our feet on the ground,” Timbers head coach Phil Neville said. “… I think what you see at this moment and time is a Western Conference that looks incredibly exciting. There is no stand-out team that is running away with it.”
–Field Level Media