After three rather craptacular performances on the road, your LA Galaxy gets to play its favorite role: villain. All of MLS loves the shiny new Timbers and their plucky bunch of underdogs who’ll shock the world with their fans singing all the way, blah blah blah…so we’re breaking some hearts tonight, and if we beat them badly or controversially, we couldn’t be any more hated if we came from northern Mexico. That said, we’ll need to bring a bit more craft to the field at home than we did recently on the road if we’re going to restore order in the Western conference.
How I’ll be watching: At home, on the La-Z-Boy, on Fox Soccer Channel. Just the way the Gods intended.
Who’s out: Landon Donovan is back to probable, which means he’ll probably start. Leonardo’s done for the season. Other than that, it’s business as usual, with David Beckham and Juninho off their suspensions.
What’s the opponent look like: Wow. Portland’s been on a bit of a roll, haven’t they? Two wins in their first two games at their new home (Chicago and Dallas), both times getting out to healthy leads before giving up late goals. Chicago was never really in that first match, but they did get those late goals. Dallas gave them a bit more of a challenge – perhaps Portland was a bit tired with their second match in four days, who knows – but Portland prevailed.
What do we look like: Oh dear. Our DPs have been injured (LD), reckless (Bex) and MIA (Juan Pablo Àngel). Thanks to Leonardo’s injury, we have no depth in our backline, and we’re certainly going to need a roster move to fix that. Plus, we’ve gotten no production whatsoever out of our forwards. Still, somehow or other we have 12 points from 7 games (3-1-3), and are riding a three game unbeaten streak. Given our roster, we should beat these guys. If we play the way we’ve played of late, it’ll probably be close.
What I’m expecting: LD’s coming back from an injury. He’s fired up. I’m expecting this to be one of his really, really good games, one where he lifts the whole team. 3-1 Gs.
(image courtesy of Robert Mora/LA Galaxy)
