LA Galaxy vs. Portland Timbers | 2020 MLS Match Preview

2020 MLS Regular Season – Week 16
LA Galaxy vs. Portland Timbers
Dignity Heath Sports Park – Carson
October 7 – 10:30 PM ET

STREAMING: MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US; MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada

LOCAL TV:Spectrum SportsNet, ROOT Sports NW

The LA Galaxy look to snap a lengthy losing streak, while the Portland Timbers will attempt to keep pace with the rival Sounders atop the Western Conference when the teams meet Wednesday night at Dignity Health Sports Park.

The Galaxy (4W-7L-3D) have lost three games in a row, and are winless in four, after a Cali Clasico defeat to the San Jose Earthquakes that dropped them to last in the West, while the Timbers (7W-4L-3D) had their match against Colorado postponed, and rescheduled, after additional COVID-19 positive tests for a Rapids player and staff.

This is the third meeting this season with the teams splitting the first two encounters. Portland claimed a 2-1 victory at the MLS is Back Tournament, while the Galaxy won 3-2 at Providence Park on Sept. 2.

LA Galaxy

The Galaxy got off to a positive start, with Sebastian Lletget banging in the rebound of a shot off the post by Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and David Bingham saved a Chris Wondolowski penalty attempt. But the Quakes struck late in each half with Andy Rios burying his PK in the 82nd minute to break the deadlock.

"He hasn’t played a lot of games with us," dos Santos said. "But we know that Chicharito will be a very important player. I know him and I know that he will score goals, 100 percent. But we need to have patience with him. He’s just recovering from his injury, he was out for 2-3 months. But he’s good, he’s happy to be here, he’s in shape. We just have to have patience with him because I know that he’s going to score goals and he’s going to be the most important player for us."

"Anytime you give a PK late in the game it's tough, it's never easy," Bingham said after the game. "But that one incident isn't what lost us the game, the 80 minutes that we played like crap that lost us the game so it's not important or fair to put it down to that play when the other 80 minutes we were all crap."

Further complicating things, the Galaxy will be without Jona dos Santos (Mexico) and Rolf Feltscher (Venezuela), who will join their national teams during the October FIFA window.

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- QUESTIONABLE: Danilo Acosta (M) - ACL injury
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: Perry Kitchen (M)
International duty: Jonathan Dos Santos (M), Rolf Feltscher (D)

Portland Timbers

The Timbers got an unexpected break during a busy stretch of games because their match against the Colorado Rapids scheduled for Saturday was postponed and rescheduled for Nov. 4 at 10 pm ET.

There was no break, though, for the scouting department as the Timbers reportedly are close to signing Argentine left back Claudio Nicolas Bravo from Banfield, according to a report from journalist Leonel Cerrudo. Bravo, 23, would reportedly join in January and the deal could be for upwards of 75% of the player’s rights

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Dairon Asprilla (M) - left knee injury
- OUT: Blake Bodily (M) - right thigh injury
- OUT: Sebastian Blanco (M) - right ACL injury
- QUESTIONABLE: Chris Duvall (D) - right lower leg injury
- QUESTIONABLE: Bill Tuiloma (D) - left thigh injury
- QUESTIONABLE: Tomas Conechny (M) - right shoulder injury
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: Eryk Williamson (M), Cristhian Paredes (M)
International duty: Andy Polo (M)