After Sunday’s events, there is one thing the Los Angeles Galaxy, Portland Timbers, and Jordan Speith all have in common; they all wish they had a mulligan.
A mulligan is a chance to do something over, more importantly to achieve different but better results. For Speith it was using his mulligan on the 12th hole at Augusta, Georgia in the final round of The Masters. For the Timbers it was telling Darlington Nagbe not to go into any challenges with Nigel de Jong. Not to mention, Nat Borchers scoring an own goal. For the Galaxy their mulligan would be having another shot at all of the missed opportunities that could have put the game away.
Nigel de Jong has done it again. Does this tackle deserve disciplinary action??https://t.co/JX6JkvTxkZ
— KICK (@KICK) April 11, 2016
In the end, the Galaxy and Timbers split the points in a 1-1 tie that could have gone very differently. Fanendo Adi scored his MLS high fourth goal of the season in the 52nd minute before the Galaxy equalized thanks to the own goal scored by Borchers in the 84th.
For Timbers coach Caleb Porter, he was very stoic and straight forward when he mentioned “It’s a good point on the road” in the post match press conference. However, when asked about the refereeing quality he said, “Well that’s just the luck of the draw, right?” He goes on to question the referees sending messages to the players “some games? Let’s do it every game, not some games”.
What coach Porter is alluding to is the double footed tackle that Jelle Van Damme put on Adi in the 20th minute that the referee didn’t call. Worst of all was the studs to the ankle foul that de Jong put on Nagbe in the 73rd minute that caused a small scuffle to ensue and forced off Nagbe due to injury. It is a tough break for the Timbers who are already without captain Liam Ridgewell due to injury. When asked after the game about Nagbe’s injury, Porter responded “I don’t know. We’re still evaluating it. Still evaluating it. Not Sure”.
For the Galaxy, it was an extremely frustrating night as the hosts outshot the visitors 13-4. Mike Magee had three chances to score for the Galaxy including an absolute sitter in the 58th minute that Sebastian Lletget teed up for him. The Galaxy eventually got the fortuitous own goal when Borchers headed the ball into his own goal on a Lletget cross. The Galaxy also lost defender Robbie Rogers just seven minutes into the game to an apparent back injury.
The Galaxy and Timbers did not produce the shootout that we expected to see. However, as mentioned there were plenty of fireworks in the tackles department. De Jong’s tackle on Nagbe will be a huge talking point this week for Timbers fans.
SI’s @GrantWahl reporting that Nigel de Jong will be suspended at least one game for tackle on Darlington Nagbe https://t.co/Fu63Jm4DcC
— Adam Serrano (@LAGalaxyInsider) April 11, 2016
The player of the game for the Galaxy had to be Lletget who created plenty of opportunities with him beating players one on one all over the offensive third. Galaxy fans were boosted by seeing Giovani dos Santos making his return from injury to play 63 minutes before being subbed off. However, the Galaxy seem to be really struggling without forward talisman Robbie Keane.
The Timbers will be looking to build on their performance Wednesday April 13 at 7:30 p.m. at home against FC Dallas.
For the Galaxy they will be making the very tough road trip to BBVA Compass Stadium to play the Houston Dynamo Friday April 15 at 4:00 p.m.
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