Hanyer Mosquera and Robbie Keane battle for the ball at the HDC (Getty Images)
It's the Battle of the Bad, the toilet bowl, if you will. Even though you would never had predicted it, this match featured the two teams on the bottom of the Western Conference table. Of course, I'm not sure anybody really expects them to stay there, but that will play out over the rest of the season. For now, this match offered one of these teams a chance to get a leg up and win their second of the season.
Early on, and in fact through most of the first half, it looked like the Portland Timbers were going to be the team to take advantage of that opportunity. Similar to their last match against Chivas USA, the Timbers controlled a good chunk of the possession and carved out the best chances. They took the lead in the 23rd off the foot of Kris Boyd. The Scottsman tore through the horrible Galaxy back line (which really wasn't any better in this one) and slotted by Josh Saunders to make it 0-1 to the Timbers. He about scored again a few minutes later, but Saunders made the save. Finally, Boyd took a pass and expertly controlled it, then smacked it into the net. However, he was ruled offside. Replays showed he was level, and the Timbers would end up ruing that chance.
They fell asleep right when it looked like they were going to make it into the half with the lead. In the 44th minute Robbie Keane torched the Timbers defense (which also wasn't any better in this one) and centered to Landon Donovan just outside the area. Donovan drilled the shot into the net and equalized 1-1 heading into the halftime interval.
The second half was pretty much all Galaxy as they smelled blood. Portland has just totally bled goals in the second half this year, particularly late in matches, and it came back to haunt them again against the Galaxy. Juninho blasted a low shot in from outside the top of the area in the 83rd minute to make it 2-1 Galaxy. That set up David Beckham, who sent another rocket in from distance in stoppage time to make it 3-1 at full time.
The Galaxy get the much needed 3 points and climb off the bottom of the table with 6. It drops Portland into last in the Conference with 4. The Timbers just seem to be incapable of playing with the lead. Again, it's nice that they spent money on Kris Boyd, but they need to sure up the defense. Hopefully when Futty Danso returns he'll help them out with that. From a lot of the comments I've been reading on various stories, some folks in Portland are starting to get a little nervous.
I wouldn't say the Galaxy are quite out of the woods yet. Their defense still needs help, although it must be nice for them to see the goals. Yes Beckham's strike was pretty, but as various tweets from around the MLS community have pointed out, if you can't hit the target from there with acres of space, you probably shouldn't be on a top flight pitch. All in all though, a nice win for the Galaxy. Now we'll find out if they can build on it.
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