LA Galaxy winless streak continues in Portland Timbers stalemate

The Los Angeles Galaxy extended their unbeaten run to three matches with the 0-0 shutout against the Portland Timbers at Providence Park on Saturday afternoon. This was their third road match during the 2023 MLS season, but they have yet to win a game. The Galaxy have a record of three draws and one defeat this campaign.

“Again the game comes down to moments. We’ve got to put away some chances that we had inside of that 80 minutes where we have good control of things and we were unable to. I would say, yeah, I was pleased with the possession. I was pleased with our ball movement,” said head coach Greg Vanney after the game.

Vanney on the Galaxy not scoring

“Yeah, I guess whenever you don’t score, whether it’s the first or second half, it’s a little bit concerning. I would take a step back and look at, again, I don’t think we played great in the first couple of games. I also think we have a little bit of firepower that is not on the team, inside the team today, and some of those guys have been missing all the games. So you know, yes and no. I’m not overly concerned about it because I know what we are capable of and I know where we will be once we get - once we fill out the roster,” added Vanney.

The Los Angeles Galaxy are struggling to find the back of the net this campaign because they have only scored two goals and conceded four in four games. The match against Portland on Saturday was the 35th meeting across all competitions with the Galaxy leading the all-time record series with 14 wins, 13 draws and eight defeats.

“Yeah, I mean, the home draw was definitely disappointing. I think we deserved more out of it but also it’s a home game and you want to get three points. We played three of our four games on the road to start the season so far. That’s not the easiest way to get momentum. Sometimes if you get go play three at home, one on the road, you can start the season off building momentum, but that’s not really been the case for us,” said Vanney.

“We have had to go to some tough places to play and, you know, those games are not going to be in our future because we are getting them behind us. I think the home one we would have loved to have got three point out of. This one, I think we - again, with some final actions and the way we controlled the game, this was three points worthy, again, if we could get that final action done with our overall performance.”

The Los Angeles-based team is now sitting in 12th place in the Western Conference standings. The Galaxy will return to action on Saturday when they host the Seattle Sounders at Dignity Health Sports Park in search of their first win of the campaign.