PORTLAND — The glitz and the glamor are tough to ignore.
The names Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Juan-Pablo Angel, and Juninho resonate well beyond Major League Soccer.
But star power alone doesn’t explain the success of the Los Angeles Galaxy, who visit Portland’s Jeld-Wen Field at 7:30 p.m. today for a nationally-televised match against the Timbers.
The Galaxy, while seldom at full strength, have not lost a league match since May 1. They have eight wins and six ties over their past 14 games.
Los Angeles owns a league-best 12 wins, two losses and nine ties. Streaks like this don’t happen without a group effort.
Still, when Timbers coach John Spencer evaluates Los Angeles, the man wearing No. 10 jumps off the screen.
Landon Donovan has scored a league-best 11 goals (tied with Thierry Henry of the New York Red Bulls).
Donovan is “worth every single penny and a little bit more than the league pays for him,” Spencer said.
For the record, Donovan is guaranteed $2.3 million this season. Beckham, who has contributed eight assists from the Los Angeles midfield, will make $6.5 million this season.
“Super dangerous,” is the way Spencer describes the 29-year-old Donovan, who in his 11th MLS season and ranks third on the league’s all-time list of goal scorers.
“He plays wide left for his team at times and runs 60 yards forward and 60 yards back for 90 minutes. Doesn’t take a play off,” Spencer said.
And when Donovan moves to forward, as he did to score twice in Sunday’s 4-0 win in Vancouver over the Whitecaps, he is a lethal finisher.
“Every time he gets on the ball he causes you problems,” Spencer said. “Every time he’s not on the ball, his movement causes you problems because he sees things that other players don’t see.”
The Timbers (6-10-4), of course, have problems apart from dealing with Donovan. The expansion team is coming off another disheartening result on Saturday, when a 2-0 lead disappeared in the final 20 minutes against a Toronto team with one of the worst records in MLS.
“It’s going to be a tough test for us, so we’ve got to put the disappointment from the weekend behind us pretty quickly and just focus on getting points against the Galaxy,” Timbers forward Eddie Johnson said.
Johnson scored the first goal of his injury-shortened season against Toronto, and thought he had another one when the ball somehow caught the crossbar and stayed out.
He said the Timbers aren’t lacking for confidence despite their habit of surrendering late-game goals.
“I think there is confidence in the group at the moment,” Johnson said. “I think it came from the exhibition games that we’ve had recently.”
He was referring to a 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion and a 1-0 win over Independiente. Those were excellent chances for Johnson, Sal Zizzo and other players who have battled injuries to work themselves into consideration for the starting 11.
Imagine what a win today over the best team in MLS might mean.
NOTE — Today’s game was originally scheduled for 8 p.m. before ESPN2 decided to put it on national TV.
