Galaxy continue home game win streak with a victory over Timbers
The Los Angeles Galaxy returned to action after the international break, hosting the Portland Timbers at home. Also back for the Angelinos was Romain Alessandrini and the Lion, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, both players having missed the last two games due to injury.
Things started off better for the visiting team, with the Timbers knocking at Angelino goalkeeper, David Bingham’s door early on. At the third minute, Diego Valeri fired off a shot that Bingham would block, followed by another shot at the seventh minute, this time by midfielder Sebastian Blanco, that would also be blocked by Bingham.
Zlatan had his first chance at the 13th minute, when with his back to the goal, he flicked a shot backwards and past Timbers goalie, Jeff Attinella, only for the ball to then bounce off the left post. However Zlatan would get a second chance at goal, when at the 31st minute he was taken down inside the box by Portland defender, Claude Dielna.
The Lion would not let this opportunity slip by and put his Galaxy squad up 1-0. After mostly LA Galaxy dominance would come a flash of brilliance from the Rose City squad. After a series of beautiful short passes down the right sideline, going from David Guzman, to Diego Charra, back to Guzman who would then center the ball past Bingham to forward Jeremy Ebobisse for the easy goal. With this 44th minute goal, the game would go to the half in a 1-1 tie.
For the second half, both squads jumped out with the same players from the first h lf in search for the win. Zlatan came close at the 53rd minute with a header towards goal, but it was to no avail. He would have a chance again however when he would draw a second penalty.
After taking the ball just outside the large box and making his way inside, sliding past a few Portland defenders, Zlatan was brought down by the PDX goalie. For this penalty kick that Zlatan would take, the Lion showed out and scored it a la panenka. Even though Attinella managed to get up after his initial dive, it was too late to save himself from starring in another Zlatan highlight reel goal.
After the goal, the Galaxy’s dominance would continue and they would mostly cruise their way to a 2-1 win. Towards the end of the game, the men from Portland had one last chance to score, when on a miscommunication, defenders Diego Polenta and Daniel Steres collided, leaving a Portland player one-on-one with Bingham.
Fortunately for Galaxy fans, Jorgen Skjelvik, arguably having played his best game for the Angelinos this season, came in from behind to strip the ball from the opposition and allowing it to bounce towards Bingham’s awaiting hands.The Mexican players on the squad had a rather quiet night. Jonathan Dos Santos was solid in the midfield as expected and helped move the game along.
Uriel Antuna on his end had an usually quiet game, speeding up and down the field but without many chances created. He would eventually be subbed out at the 77th minute for fan favorite, Emmanuel Boateng.
With the final score of 2-1, the Los Angeles squad improves their record to 3-0-1, bumping them into 5th place of the Western Conference, just below FC Dallas. This win also means the Galaxy have won all three home games so far this season, something that Coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto later during the press conference qualified as very important for the fans and important in giving the team confidence moving forward.
The team from the City of Roses for their end finish the week in 11th place in the standings, only above San Jose Earthquakes, who also has yet to win a game. The Angelino squad will head out to Vancouver for a road game against the 10th place Whitecaps on Friday April 5th, while the Timbers travel north to pay last place San Jose and Coach Matias Almeyda a visit.
