Portland at L.A. Galaxy
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. today at Home Depot Center.
TV: KPDX 49 (cable Ch. 13/713).
Radio: 750 AM (940 AM Spanish broadcast).
Where they stand: Portland (1-3-1, 4 points) is eighth in the Western Conference; Los Angeles (1-3-0, 3 points) is ninth (last) in the conference.
Last season: Portland won 3-0 at home and Los Angeles won 3-0 at the Home Depot Center in L.A.
Storyline: Two hungry teams go at it. Portland has lost three in a row. That matches the Timbers longest losing string last season. Los Angeles has lost two in a row. The Galaxy hasn’t lost three in a row since before Bruce Arena took over as head coach in August of 2008.
Injury impact: Central defender Hanyer Mosquera is expected to return to action for the Timbers after missing the last two games with a concussion. Portland left back Rodney Wallace is expected to miss this game after suffering an ankle injury against Chivas USA last week. Because of knee injuries to reserve goalkeepers Jake Gleeson and Joe Bendick, the team has added rookie Brian Rowe from the MLS goalkeeper pool. David Beckham is listed as questionable (back spasms) but is likely to play for L.A. Like the Timbers, the Galaxy has had some struggles as a result to injuries at center back.
Question of the day: Will Portland be assertive early, or will the Timbers be tentative, trying not to make costly errors against some of the biggest stars in MLS?
Reserves win: The Timbers reserves scored a 2-0 win over the Seattle Sounders reserves on Tuesday. Camas’ Brent Richards made the throw-in that led to the first goal.
Follow Paul Danzer all Timbers season on Twitter at www.twitter.com/col_timbers
