The Portland Timbers’ quest to extend their MLS franchise record winning streak to five games fell flat – in a big way.
And it resulted in five for the opposition, five goals that is, in a 5-0 rout Wednesday night at the hands of the streaking LA Galaxy at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. And as head coach Caleb Porter told the media after the game, “Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong” for the Timbers.
It was a shockingly one-sided result for a game that was billed as a showdown between two of the hotter teams in MLS. Portland came in riding their longest winning streak, five games across all competition, a stretch that saw them outscore their opposition 10-2.
The Galaxy, meanwhile, were coming off another five-goal performance in a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Union last week.
“They showed what they could do last week with Philly, and we were well aware of that,” Porter said. “They punished us for it seemed like every mistake we made, and we made some big ones.”
The wheels came off for Portland at the 13-minute mark with the opener from Sebastian Lletget. Five minutes later, he drew a penalty that led to a Robbie Keane goal from the spot that signaled the start to the blowout.
Robbie Rogers, Juninho and Jose Villarreal rounded out the scoring. To make matters even worse, Portland’s defensive leader Liam Ridgewell was sent off in the 78th minute for a challenge on LA’s Alan Gordon, meaning he’ll be suspended for Portland’s upcoming MLS Heineken Rivalry Week showdown Sunday against the Seattle Sounders (7 pm ET, FOX Sports 1).
Surprisingly, Portland came out as the aggressor over the first 10 minutes.
“We looked to be the team that was on their front foot to start the game, and in a five-minute span we’re down 2-0,” Porter said. “The first real look of the game they score, so they’re clinical there, and then they get the PK, and now we’re down 2-0 chasing the game on a big field on the road against a team that is very explosive and dangerous and talented going forward, so that’s a tall ask to be in that position.”
It’s the worst loss for Portland since Porter took over ahead of the 2013 season and the first time they’ve lost by five goals since a 5-0 defeat July 21, 2012 against FC Dallas. Porter said he hopes his players dwell on the defeat for a night and then wash it away to begin preparations for the Seattle match.
“I think that’s very important, you sit on it and think about it, and then tomorrow it’s over,” Porter said. “We’ll, as a staff, address some things in training video, but the biggest thing is we can’t let this hangover carry over into our preparation into the next game because we’ve been playing well. And tonight we didn’t play well.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
