Still searching for the first victory of the 2025 MLS campaign, the Los Angeles Galaxy will travel to Providence Park on Sunday for a match against the Portland Timbers.
Last Saturday, the Timbers were beaten 2-0 at Nashville SC, while the reigning MLS Cup champions suffered a 3-0 defeat at home versus St Louis City.
Match preview
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Three matches into the new domestic season, we are seeing many similarities from Phil Neville's side so far that we witnessed in 2024.
Portland have allowed six goals in three games, the second-most in the Western Conference, looking particularly vulnerable in transition just like last year.
We have not seen the attacking quality that we witnessed throughout the 2024 regular season though, with the Timbers scoring just two goals in the competition so far after netting the joint second-most in the Western Conference last season (65).
Providence Park, though, is usually where they are at their best, winning nine MLS encounters there a year ago while posting a clean sheet in their previous home fixture against Austin FC (1-0 win).
In their last eight regular season encounters, this team have only scored once in the opening 45 minutes of play, collecting points in their last two domestic encounters when doing so.
The Timbers have picked up at least a point in four of their previous five meetings against the Galaxy, including a 4-2 triumph at Providence Park last year.
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Coming off an MLS Cup triumph and blowing away opposing defences along the way, few could have predicted the Galaxy would begin this season so poorly.
After three league fixtures in 2025, Greg Vanney's men are one of only three sides in the league without a single point, along with Sporting Kansas City and CF Montreal.
While the season is still early, perhaps the most surprising thing about their start is that they have the joint fewest goals in the Western Conference (one) after leading the West in that category a year ago (69 goals).
The Galaxy got a big confidence boost earlier this week, though, claiming a 4-1 win over Herediano in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, their first victory of the campaign, ending a four-match losing run across all competitions in the process.
Los Angeles have not lost four consecutive MLS contests since the 2020 campaign when they suffered six successive defeats between September and October of that year.
They have collected at least a point in two of their last three visits to Providence Park, with their previous triumph in Portland coming in 2022 (3-1).
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Team News
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At Nashville, Jonathan Rodriguez was sidelined for Portland with a knee injury, Juan David Mosquera sat out with a lower body issue, while Santiago Moreno made his season debut as a second half substitute.
Goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau should be available after being called up to the Canadian squad for next week's CONCACAF Nations League fixture versus Mexico.
James Pantemis might start in his place though, after his heroics last week, becoming the sixth goalkeeper in league history to save two penalties in one match, with the others being Jon Kempin, Bobby Shuttleworth, David Ousted, DJ Countess and Tony Meola.
LA were missing Miki Yamane against St Louis with a thigh issue, Lucas Sanabria sat out because of a collarbone problem and Riqui Puig was sidelined due to a knee injury.
They were without Joseph Paintsil who has a quad issue, Matheus Nascimento did not feature because of a sore groin and Mauricio Cuevas continues to recover from a hamstring strain.
Julian Aude, Miguel Berry, Gabriel Pec and Christian Ramirez all scored in their Champions Cup fixture against Herediano on Wednesday to send them into the quarter-finals of that tournament.
Portland Timbers possible starting lineup:
Pantemis; E. Miller, K. Miller, Smith, Bravo; Antony, Ortiz, Ayala, Chara; Mora, Kelsy
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Micovic; H. Miller, Garces, Yoshida, Aude; Parente, Cerrillo; Pec, Reus, Fagundez; Ramirez
We say: Portland Timbers 1-3 Los Angeles Galaxy
Playing an exceptionally soft and susceptible Timbers defensive unit is exactly what the Galaxy need to get their campaign back on track, and we expect they will gain a lot of confidence from their performance on Wednesday heading into this clash.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
