Portland Timbers 1, LA Galaxy 1 | 2018 MLS Match Recap

Chris Pontius scored in a surprising start at center forward and the LA Galaxy earned a 1-1 away draw against the surging Portland Timbers on an afternoon when Zlatan Ibrahimovic played only as a late-game sub.

The Galaxy's Ibrahimovic came on in the 72nd minute in a game played on Providence Park's artificial surface, three days after the Swedish superstar went 90 minutes and scored twice in a 3-2 loss to FC Dallas.

Diego Valeri equalized from the penalty spot for Portland, who saw their six-match winning streak snapped but have still lost just once in their last 10 under first-year boss Giovanni Savarese.

Goals:

20' - LA - Chris Pontius Watch
57' - POR - Diego Valeri (PK) Watch

Three Things:

THE BIG PICTURE:
Portland are now 6-1-3 this season when midfield wrecking ball
Diego Chara
starts this season. They'll have to find a way to get a result without the Colombian in Week 15. He'll be serving a yellow-card accumulation suspension when
Sporting Kansas City
come to town next Saturday (10:30 pm ET |
TV & streaming info
).

Today is Diego Chara's 215th Timbers appearance, making him the club's all-time leader in games played across all eras. Legend. #RCTID pic.twitter.com/hKlyueHadh
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) June 2, 2018

MOMENT OF THE MATCH:Andres Flores earned Portland's penalty when he took Sebastian Blanco's feed and made a darting run into the area, pushing the ball past Jorgen Skjelvik before absorbing a shoulder and an arm from the Norwegian.Though Skjelvik's shoulder was in front of Flores', referee Alan Kelly ruled he was playing the man, not the ball.

MAN OF THE MATCH:
For a brief moment, it looked like
David Bingham
might not even start Saturday's game

Bingham was taking a routine punt in warm ups and his plant leg went out from under him and he went down. The trainers are looking at him #PORvLA
— Jamie Goldberg (@Jamiebgoldberg) June 2, 2018

. But he was cleared and eventually made nine saves, including quality denials of Chara, Samuel Armenteros and Valeri in the first half and
Bill Tuiloma
late in the second.

David Bingham finished with 6 saves in the first half, his most in a 1st half of a game in his MLS career. It is also the 3rd-most saves in a 1st half by any keeper this season in the MLS.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 2, 2018

Up Next:

POR: Wednesday, June 6 vs. San Jose Earthquakes, US Open Cup 4th round (10:30 pm ET)
LA: Wednesday, June 6 vs. Golden State Force, US Open Cup 4th round (10 pm ET)

Ian Nicholas Quillen -

@IaqDiesel