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| Ooh, better than my metaphor... |
That was weird, right? Fun, for sure…but weird.
No question surrounds the game’s decisive factor: the Los Angeles Galaxy’s defense, which fucking s-s-s-s-s-sucked tonight. I’m going to check something, but I swear I’m not peaking. How many shots on goal did the Portland Timbers post tonight?
Ah, off by one. I was almost certain the Timbers had as many shots on goal and they had goals tonight, but that still makes the same point: Portland put just 10 shots on LA’s goal tonight, and that’s a rarefied strike-rate, six to ten. Or the indication of a defense - and a back-line, in particular - at odds with itself. When Portland broke down the Galaxy’s defense tonight, I damn near shattered - see here and definitely here. How many things had to go wrong, all the way down to LA’s defense almost miraculously keeping Jorge Villafana onside for the knock-back to Eryk Williamson (right?) - and, like most miracles, you don’t want to look too closely (fuck off, VAR!) - for that goal to come together? And yet, the Galaxy still had a couple more fuck-ups in ‘em, and on that one play, God bless ‘em.
That takes nothing away from Jeremy Ebobisse’s hammer of a short-range free-kick (and I’m always shocked when they go in clean from that close), or Diego Valeri’s cross-body, seeing-eye lob over LA ‘keeper, David Bingham, who probably didn’t even know he was exposed until he watched the ball sail over his head. In true Timbers fashion, they gave fans reason to doubt they’d hold a succession of leads, but they held on for what, when you add it all up, was a solid 6-3 win. And, for those not keeping track, Portland has built an impressive road record since coming back from Orlando. That kind of resilience serves a team well in playoff systems.
LA fought sporadically but fought hard when they did. For stretches of the game, they pushed the ball back into Portland’s half as if sending wave after wave of fresh players at them (it’s good; it was just the same eleven dudes). And congrats to Julian Araujo on his first MLS goal, because breaking your duck that hard sticks nicely in the memory, but it captured the essence of LA’s attack tonight: if you take away Christian Pavon’s final attempt to throw his team a life-line, something about the Galaxy attack felt over-improvised. I held out Pavon’s goal because, going from memory and broadcast-booth chatter, he tries that same move all the time. At times, LA took a basketball-style approach to Pavon - e.g., give him the rock and let him loose.
No question surrounds the game’s decisive factor: the Los Angeles Galaxy’s defense, which fucking s-s-s-s-s-sucked tonight. I’m going to check something, but I swear I’m not peaking. How many shots on goal did the Portland Timbers post tonight?
Ah, off by one. I was almost certain the Timbers had as many shots on goal and they had goals tonight, but that still makes the same point: Portland put just 10 shots on LA’s goal tonight, and that’s a rarefied strike-rate, six to ten. Or the indication of a defense - and a back-line, in particular - at odds with itself. When Portland broke down the Galaxy’s defense tonight, I damn near shattered - see here and definitely here. How many things had to go wrong, all the way down to LA’s defense almost miraculously keeping Jorge Villafana onside for the knock-back to Eryk Williamson (right?) - and, like most miracles, you don’t want to look too closely (fuck off, VAR!) - for that goal to come together? And yet, the Galaxy still had a couple more fuck-ups in ‘em, and on that one play, God bless ‘em.
That takes nothing away from Jeremy Ebobisse’s hammer of a short-range free-kick (and I’m always shocked when they go in clean from that close), or Diego Valeri’s cross-body, seeing-eye lob over LA ‘keeper, David Bingham, who probably didn’t even know he was exposed until he watched the ball sail over his head. In true Timbers fashion, they gave fans reason to doubt they’d hold a succession of leads, but they held on for what, when you add it all up, was a solid 6-3 win. And, for those not keeping track, Portland has built an impressive road record since coming back from Orlando. That kind of resilience serves a team well in playoff systems.
LA fought sporadically but fought hard when they did. For stretches of the game, they pushed the ball back into Portland’s half as if sending wave after wave of fresh players at them (it’s good; it was just the same eleven dudes). And congrats to Julian Araujo on his first MLS goal, because breaking your duck that hard sticks nicely in the memory, but it captured the essence of LA’s attack tonight: if you take away Christian Pavon’s final attempt to throw his team a life-line, something about the Galaxy attack felt over-improvised. I held out Pavon’s goal because, going from memory and broadcast-booth chatter, he tries that same move all the time. At times, LA took a basketball-style approach to Pavon - e.g., give him the rock and let him loose.
