Big Test Ahead for Timbers on Sunday

To say that Sunday's match against the LA Galaxy is a day of reckoning for the Timbers is probably overstating the case by half, but it would also be a mistake to simply dismiss it as just another "second match of the season" in which a win, while nice, is not critical.


So here's why LA matters:

The first thing to say is that the Galaxy are the league's reigning bully-boys.  While sides like Seattle and Toronto FC and Orlando SC and NYCFC have gaudy rosters and appear to be playing well, none of them are, at face value, anywhere near as scary as the league's reigning champs who, with a convincing victory over Chicago, showed what everyone already suspected --that LA is fine without Landon-- that the rest of the league is on notice.

Which is just to say that the Timbers will have their work cut out for them Sunday evening at Providence Park.  A win will mean a definitive --if not yet set in stone-- turn-around from last year's doldrums, while a loss, especially at a rainy Providence Park, may well signal a return to last season's dithering, though of course, in the continuing absence of both Valeri and Johnson and possibly Chara, excuses can and probably will be made.

Anyhow, the take-home point here, if there is one at all, is that a Timbers win means exciting things for Portland especially if it happens with two or possibly three of their star players out, while a loss or a draw, while not the end of the world, will have a feeling of an inevitable return to last year's sorry early season shambles, whether that connection is fairly made or not.

For LA, a win will be no more than confirmation of what they clearly already believe, which is that they are the best side in the league and will only get that much better when Stephen Gerrard joins the midfield in summer.  A loss or a draw for the Galaxy can and probably will be written off as the result of early season rust --and the Galaxy is notorious for heating up only later in the season-- together with playing in rainy conditions at Providence Park which is well-known as a difficult venue for visiting sides.

My rash prediction is that we are in for a draw and that the Timbers won't truly hit their stride until a bit later in the season when all of their important missing pieces are returned and worked back into the system.