The Coachella Valley Invitational featured two all-MLS matchups on Sunday afternoon as the Portland Timbers defeated the LA Galaxy in the first match, then 2023 MLS expansion side St. Louis CITY SC held Vancouver Whitecaps FC to a scoreless draw.
LA Galaxy 1, Portland Timbers 4
Portland dominated the Galaxy with a four-goal rout in their opening match of the Coachella Valley Invitational, led by new Brazilian star Evander and Eryk Williamson, who finished the game with two assists.
Evander's first goal in a Timbers jersey came in the 28th minute before Cristhian Paredes, Juan Mosquera and Jaroslaw Niezgoda blew the game open in the second half with goals of their own.
The Galaxy, featuring star players Riqui Puig and Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez from the start, got on the scoresheet once through winger Tyler Boyd, who's not officially signed by LA. Chicharito was subbed out in the 3rd minute as an injury precaution.
Goals
- 28' - POR - Evander
- 47' - POR - Cristhian Paredes
- 56' - LA - Tyler Boyd
- 60' - POR - Juan Mosquera
- 68' - POR - Jaroslaw Niezgoda
Lineups
- LA starting XI: Jonathan Bond - Kelvin Leerdam, Martin Caceres, Chris Mavinga, Raheem Edwards - Gaston Brugman, Riqui Puig, Mark Delgado, Douglas Costa, Memo Rodríguez - Javier Hernandez
- POR starting XI: David Bingham - Juan Mosquera, Dario Zuparic, Bill Tuiloma, Justin Rasmussen - Diego Chara, Eryk Williamson, Marvin Loria - Evander, Yimmi Chara, Jaroslaw Niezgoda
St. Louis CITY SC 0, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 0
Vancouver and St. Louis were unable to find a goal through 90 minutes despite playing with mostly first-choice lineups.
St. Louis now have two more preseason matches before officially opening their MLS expansion season on Feb. 25 at Austin FC.
Goals
- None
Lineups
- STL starting XI: Roman Burki - Jake Nerwinski, Tim Parker, Kyle Hiebert, John Nelson - Njabulo Blom, Eduard Lowen, Rasmus Alm, Tomas Ostrak, Jared Stroud - Joao Klauss
- VAN starting XI: Thomas Hasal - Javain Brown, Ranko Veselinovic, Tristan Blackmon, Luis Martins - Julian Gressel, Sebastian Berhalter, Russell Teibert - Brian White, Ryan Gauld - Simon Becher
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2, Las Vegas Lights FC 1
Vancouver took a 2-1 victory over USL Championship (second division) side Las Vegas in their fifth preseason friendly of the Coachella Valley Invitational.
Pedro Vite's free-kick stunner got the ball rolling, then Cristian Dájome's 80th-minute header off Ryan Raposo's low cross sealed the result.
Goals
- 33' - VAN - Pedro Vite
- 42' - LVL - Lucas Stauffer
- 80' - VAN - Cristian Dájome
Lineups
- VAN starting XI: Isaac Boehmer - Ryan Raposo, Karifa Yao, Matteo Campagna, Mathías Laborda - Kamron Habibullah, Andrés Cubas, Alessandro Schöpf - Pedro Vite, Ali Ahmed - Cristian Dájome
