LA Galaxy 5, Portland Timbers 3
Saturday, July 14, 2012
JELD-WEN Field – Portland, Ore.
Scoring Summary:
POR – Kris Boyd 6 (Kalif Alhassan 2) 3’
LA – David Beckham 4 (Robbie Keane 4) 19’
LA – David Beckham 5 (Unassisted) 24’
LA – Landon Donovan 7 (Penalty Kick) 27’
LA – Robbie Keane 7 (Landon Donovan 6) 28’
POR – Kosuke Kimura 2 (Unassisted) 34’
LA – Robbie Keane 8 (Sean Franklin 1, David Beckham 6) 64’
POR – Kris Boyd 7 (Unassisted) 70’
Misconduct Summary:
POR – Eric Alexander (Yellow Card) 72’
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders; Sean Franklin, A.J. DeLaGarza, David Junior Lopes, Todd Dunivant; Hector Jimenez (Bryan Jordan 63’), David Beckham (Bryan Gaul 82’), Marcelo Sarvas, Michael Stephens; Landon Donovan©, Robbie Keane (Jose Villarreal 93+).
Subs Not Used: Brian Perk, Tommy Meyer, Rafael Garcia, Jack McBean.
Portland Timbers: Troy Perkins; Kosuke Kimura, Hayner Mosquera, David Horst, Steven Smith; Lovel Palmer (Brent Richards 46’), Jack Jewsbury, Darlington Nagbe (Sal Zizzo 90’); Kalif Alhassan (Danny Mwanga 69’), Eric Alexander, Kris Boyd.
Subs Not Used: Joseph Bendik, Mike Chabala, Mamadou Danso, Mike Fucito.
Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Referee’s Assistants: Frank Anderson and Kermit Quisenberry
4th Official: Tyler Ploeger
NOTES:
- With the win, the Galaxy are now 8-10-2 on the season for 26 points. They remain in fifth place in the Western Conference and are now four points behind Seattle and Vancouver, who are tied for third place with 30 points each.
- This was the Galaxy’s first-ever win at JELD-WEN Field, having lost to the Timbers 3-0 there last season.
- The five goals scored for LA were their most in an MLS regular season game since the scored five in a 5-2 home win over D.C. United on September 20, 2008. On that night, the Galaxy fell behind 1-0 in the second minute before claiming the win while tonight they fell behind 1-0 in the third minute before coming back to win.
- The combined eight goals scored were the most scored in a Galaxy game since LA lost 6-3 at home to FC Dallas on September 12, 2009.
- This was the first time that the Galaxy won a game in which they conceded three goals or more since May 30, 2001 when they won 4-3 at Chicago.
- The Galaxy have now won two straight games and five of their last seven. They have taken 15 points in those seven games after taking just 11 points from their first 13 games of the season.
- Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made two changes to the team that won 2-0 over Chicago at Toyota Park on July 8. David Beckham returned after missing the last two games because of suspension while Landon Donovan returned as the Galaxy captain after starting the win over Chicago on the bench. They replaced Juninho, who was suspended for yellow card accumulation and Chad Barrett, who did not dress for the game.
- Jose Villarreal was in the 18-man squad for the first time in his career after being added to the club’s active roster earlier in the day.
- While Juninho was suspended, Andrew Boyens, Edson Buddle, Omar Gonzalez, Dan Keat, Leonardo, Mike Magee, Kyle Nakazawa and Pat Noonan, all missed the game because of injuries.
- The Galaxy fell behind 1-0 in the 3rd minute behind a goal from Kris Boyd.
- That goal was the fastest allowed by LA this season and the fifth goal that they have allowed in the opening 10 minutes this season.
- David Beckham equalized in the 19th minute, curling a shot past Troy Perkins from more than 30 yards out. That was his second goal from open play this season with each coming against the Timbers.
- Robbie Keane was credited with the assist on that goal, giving him four on the season.
- Beckham added a second goal in the 24th minute, beating Perkins with a freekick from 25 yards out.
- That was Beckham’s fifth goal of the season, tying his MLS career-high, and third against the Timbers.
- In addition to beating Perkins three times this season, he also scored his first-ever goal for the Galaxy against Perkins, beating him with a freekick in the semifinals of the 2007 SuperLiga when Perkins played for D.C. United.
- The Galaxy got their third goal three minutes later when Landon Donovan converted a penalty kick after Kosuke Kimura had fouled Michael Stephens in the box. The goal was Donovan’s seventh of the season and his second from the penalty spot.
- LA are now 3-for-4 from the penalty spot this season and have converted each of their last three dating back to June 23.
- It was 4-1 a minute later when Robbie Keane scored his first goal of the game and his seventh of the season.
- Donovan was credited with the assist on that goal, giving him 100 for his MLS career.
- He now joins Jaime Moreno as the only two players in MLS history with 100 or more goals and assists all-time in the MLS regular season.
- This was the first time the Galaxy scored four goals in a half since tallying four times in the 4-0 win at Vancouver on July 30, 2011. They had not scored four times in the first half of a game since May 18, 2008 in a 5-1 win at FC Dallas.
- LA’s four goals from the 19th to the 28th minutes tied the MLS record for the four fastest goals by a single team. The four goals, which were nine minutes apart, equal the record that the Galaxy set on May 19, 2004 when they scored four times in nine minutes of a 4-2 win at D.C. United.
- Donovan now has five goals and four assists in the last seven games, recording a goal or an assist in five of those contests.
- Kosuke Kimura pulled a goal back for the Timbers in converting the rebound of a Kris Boyd freekick.
- Robbie Keane made the score 5-2 in the 64th minute with his second goal of the game. Keane now has four goals in his last two games and five goals and two assists in five games since returning from the European Championships.
- Prior to Keane, Edson Buddle was the last Galaxy player to score multiple goals in consecutive games, scoring twice in three straight games from April 1 until April 17 in 2010.
- Sean Franklin collected his first assist of the season on that goal, while Beckham now has six.
- Beckham’s six assists leave him tied with Landon Donovan for the team lead.
- Keane’s eight goals are the most on the Galaxy this season while Donovan is second with seven and Beckham is third with five. The rest of the squad has 11 goals combined with only Edson Buddle and Mike Magee scoring more than once this year.
- Keane now has three multi-goal games this season, scoring twice in each of the last two games as well as the 3-1 home win over D.C. United on March 18. The Galaxy are 3-0-0 this season when Keane scores multiple goals.
- He has scored a goal or assisted on one in eight of the 14 games that he has played in this season.
- Beckham now has three goals and three assists in five games against Portland during his Galaxy career. The three goals are more than he has scored against any other MLS team.
- Kris Boyd added a goal in the 70th minute, scoring from long range with a freekick.
- He is the first player to record a multi-goal game against the Galaxy this season and has three goals in three games against LA this season.
- Josh Saunders set an MLS career-high with seven saves in the game.
- No Galaxy players were booked in the game. This was the first time that they did not have any players booked since the 3-2 win at Real Salt Lake on June 20.
- In three games between the Galaxy and Timbers this season, LA were only shown one yellow card. The Timbers were shown six cautions in those games.
- The Galaxy have now swept the season series from Portland, outscoring them 9-4.
- This was the first time that they Galaxy had beaten the same team three times in the regular season since they went 4-0-0 against Chivas USA in 2005.
- Both teams finished the game with 10 shots on goal. This was the first time this season that both LA and their opponent had 10 or more shots on goal.
- The attendance for today’s game was a sellout 20,438. The Galaxy have now played in front of a sellout crowd for all 10 of their away games this season, while also seeing capacity crowds in their road games at Toronto FC in the CONCACAF Champions League and against the Carolina RailHawks in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
- The Galaxy will be back in action on Wednesday, July 18 when they head north to Canada to face Vancouver Whitecaps FC at BC Place. That game will kick off at 7 p.m. and can be seen live on KDOC and KWHY.
LA Galaxy Quotes
Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena
Thoughts on the match:
“It was a good three points on the road, a little hectic, a little sloppy, but a good three points. We played very well in spurts. Showed a lot of resolve coming back after giving up a goal in the first minutes of the game, but on the whole it was a good performance by our team.”
On Beckham:
“Spectacular two goals. Thought Robbie [Kean] and Landon [Donovan] were dangerous. We gave up three goals on set pieces nothing out of run of play, so that’s somewhat encouraging, yet discouraging, and we’ll get that corrected.”
On the atmosphere:
“It’s always nice. I think the support behind the team in this city is fabulous and it’s perhaps the best venue in the league to play in in terms of the atmosphere. I’m still not sold on the field, but for this kind of field it’s a good field.”
On coming back into the game after conceding first:
“Giving up an early goal isn’t easy, but I thought as we got into the game in the first 15 minutes we could sense that we could create chances. We were moving the ball well and obviously Beckham’s first goal was big and we did quite well after that. Disappointed we gave up the second goal around the 35th minute or so. I was disappointed because that could have been a game where we easily could have had control not that we didn’t, but I think we can do better.”
Galaxy midfielder David Beckham
Thoughts on the game:
“I thought the team did really well tonight. Even going down 1-0, we were still playing good soccer. I think we continued to play our own game and we kept our heads up. Once we got that first goal the confidence came, and we continued to play well.”
On his first goal:
“I got the ball from Keane, he won the ball back and laid it back to me. They stepped off of me and so I thought ‘why not.’ The last time I scored a goal like that was for Manchester United against Deportivo [La Caruna], it was very similar to that. I was happy with it, but I’m more happy with the team’s performance tonight because I think we showed our character. I think we showed that when we pass the ball around we can go through teams.”
On the atmosphere:
“It’s always fun coming here. It wasn’t that much fun last year because we got beat, but coming here with the crowd, with the atmosphere, with the way people are about their team it’s refreshing, it’s great to see and you know those fans out there support their team all the way through the game whether they’re winning or losing and that’s a great sign for a club. It’s a great set-up here, a great stadium and it’s always nice coming here, but it’s even nicer when you win.”
Portland Timbers Quotes
Timbers general manager/interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson
General thoughts on the result:
“I suppose every game presents a new learning opportunity. I didn’t learn anything about the club as such. It was about just individuals and moments within the game … And there’s no way that we should be walking out of here having given up five goals at home. It’s just not right. We scored three goals, three decent goals, and I think we’ve had some key players not play as well as they could. Individual errors, we got stretched, the lines between the back line and the midfield allowed Donovan and Keane to drop off and pick up the ball and cause us tremendous problems. It’s something that we covered, but again, I’ll take the blame for this one. There’s been a lot happening within the last week. I think at times we kept the ball well, I think we moved the ball well, I think we had individuals that had amazing games. But key lapses cost us the game.”
On the stretch where LA scored four goals:
“I would say we didn’t pick our heads up quick enough. Even the first goal, we should’ve been able to apply pressure. He’s [David Beckham] one of the best strikers of the ball in the world, and we’re not applying pressure. We outnumbered them in the middle of the park, to try and keep pressure on him, and deny service into the front two. I think it was a lapse of concentration, maybe. And we got punished. From there, I think we regrouped. I think we did okay in the next passage of play, and the situations that occurred after that we’re a bit blurry, to be fair. Possibly one of the goals that they scored, there was a foul on one of our players that was brought down, and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way; it’s not an excuse, it’s just the nature of the game.”
More general thoughts:
“I think defensively we’ve got some very, very good players. I think we got stretched at the wrong times within the game. But I also think they had some players tonight that were on form. I think Keane and Donovan had fantastic games. Their movement off one another was tremendous, and they took their chances. They could’ve had another couple, so could’ve we, but I think that when you have a couple of players in key positions have poor performances and the players that they’re playing against have great performances, it makes the gap a little bit bigger, and we were punished because of it.”
Timbers defender Kosuke Kimura
On the feeling of the locker room:
“It’s been really crazy, crazy last week. I got here, and the next day I’m in Salt Lake and playing with the boys, and I didn’t know some of my teammate’s names, even. And then we came back, and John Spencer got let go, and everything happened so quick. But at the same time, it’s a professional business. It happens. You have to know that it could happen to anyone … We need to regroup as soon as possible, like right now and tomorrow morning, and then we’ll head down to Chivas [USA].”
Timbers forward Kris Boyd
Thoughts on the match:
“We’re disappointed to have scored three goals at home and lose the game. But that’s what happens when you give players like that caliber too much time on the ball. They can punish you any given moment. We need to defend better as a team and stop them having the attempts that they had. We probably, overall, we had a few chances. But as I said, to score three goals at home and lose the game, we’re disappointed.”
On his first goal:
“I had just seen the ball come around, and got across the front of the defender and managed to get it in the net. It got us off to a great start, but we soon found ourselves 4-1 down and in a hole. And we struggled to come back after that.”
On positives to take from the game:
“We scored three goals at home. I think that’s a positive. But when you do score three goals at home, we should be winning the game.”
