IRELAND INTERNATIONAL DERRICK Williams was sent off for a horror tackle as the Los Angeles Galaxy crashed to a 3-0 defeat against the Portland Timbers in Major League Soccer on Saturday.
Galaxy centre-back Williams saw red after a brutal lunge on the Timbers’ Andy Polo in the 44th minute, which left the Peruvian international writhing in agony at Portland’s Providence Park.
Polo was unable to continue and could later be seen hobbling away on crutches wearing a leg brace after being subbed off for Felipe Mora.
Derrick Williams red card challenge pic.twitter.com/sJ3imidLYE
— Rep of Ireland Player Tracker (@RepTracker) May 22, 2021
Mora would go on to play a decisive part in the Timbers win, opening the scoring for the home side on 47 minutes, heading home after Jose Van Rankin’s cross from the right flank.
Mora then bagged a second goal on 60 minutes, nodding in from close range after Van Rankin’s chip rebounded off the underside of the cross bar.
It got worse for Los Angeles shortly afterwards, with Daniel Steres tripping Van Rankin in the area after a surging run from the Mexico international defender.
Timbers favourite Diego Valeri duly stepped up to convert the spot kick, the veteran Argentine bagging his 99th goal for Portland to complete a comfortable win.
The victory lifted Portland to sixth in the Western Conference standings with nine points from six games. The Galaxy are second in the table with 12 points from six matches.
You don’t know what went on behind the scenes but at face value it looks like Moreno was treated very poorly
I’m not exactly sure what Moreno expected here. He was always going to be an interim manager. He was there for 5 months while they pummelled mickey mouse teams. Noel King would have comfortably managed that task. 10 weeks ago, he appeared to be happy for Enrique to take his rightful job back but since then he seems to have become bullish and wanted the job full time. That was never going to happen. Poor form to make things awkward for Enrique on his return and kick up this kind of fuss.
@M: based on what he said, it appears he would have been happy to be assistant again but Enrique must have seen him as a threat to his authority
@M: It was Enrique that made things awkward by saying he was ambitious and disloyal. Imagine if Mick had been out for personal reasons some of qualifying campaign, Robbie Keane had taken over temporarily, and then Mick came back, Robbie stepped aside to facilitate a return and then Mick fired him for the crime of taking over while he was gone and started badmouthing him to the press. As things stand, tragic circumstances aside, Enrique looks to be in the wrong here, though perhaps there’s more to it behind the scenes.
@ScewMadd: apparently Moreno asked him to let him stay in charge for the Euros and Enrique said no. That’s the fallout. The “another replacement wouldn’t have been so accommodating” thing is silly in light of that. Certainly does sound ambitious and a little disloyal. But the full comments from Enrique aren’t as bad as the headlines suggest