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Team of the Week presented by Audi: Larrys Mabiala masters Week 18

July 2, 20183:00PM EDT

Week 18 of the 2018 MLS regular season was a time for big wins, narrow wins and one wild draw. The variety of action was represented in the Team of the Week presented by Audi.

10 teams are represented in the Team of the Week XI, with only the Portland Timbers snagging two…

July 2, 20183:00PM EDT

Week 18 of the 2018 MLS regular season was a time for big wins, narrow wins and one wild draw. The variety of action was represented in the Team of the Week presented by Audi.

10 teams are represented in the Team of the Week XI, with only the Portland Timbers snagging two spots, while an additional three teams were included in the 18.

Audi Player Index Spotlight

This week’s spotlight player is Timbers defender Larrys Mabiala, who scored two goals in a 3-2 road win over Cascadia rival Seattle Sounders. Mabiala earned the Audi Player Index performance of the Week, earning 1,416 points, best in the league.

Mabiala put 50 percent of his shots on target into the net, had a 100 percent accuracy rate, and won 100 percent of his aerial duels. The Congolese international also made seven clearances and three interceptions.

Team of the Week: Adama Diomande (LAFC), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (LA), Aleksandar Katai (CHI), Miguel Almiron (ATL), Diego Valeri (POR), Eduardo Sosa (CLB), Larrys Mabiala (POR), Matt Hedges (DAL), Tommy Smith (COL), Rudy Camacho (MTL), Luis Robles (RBNY)

Coach: Remi Garde (MTL)

Bench: Tim Howard (COL), Kemar Lawrence (RBNY), Dax McCarty (CHI), Nicolas Lodeiro (SEA), Cristian Penilla (NE), Latif Blessing (LAFC), Chris Wondolowski (SJ)

For more information about the Audi Player Index, visit mlssoccer.com/audi.

The Team of the Week presented by Audi is voted on by the MLSsoccer.com editorial staff.

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July 1, 201810:03PM EDT

Who starred in Week 18 and who left something to be desired?

MLSsoccer.com’s Bobby Warshaw gives us the players and teams that made his stock up and stock down lists for the latest MLS matchday.

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Larrys Mabiala emerges as set-piece threat, wins derby for Portland Timbers

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SEATTLE — Portland Timbers defender Larrys Mabiala was the unlikely hero in a 3-2 road win over the slumping Seattle Sounders on…

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June 30, 201810:54PM EDT

SEATTLE — Portland Timbers defender Larrys Mabiala was the unlikely hero in a 3-2 road win over the slumping Seattle Sounders on Saturday, scoring a 74th-minute winner in Portland’s first-ever regular season victory in Seattle in the sides’ MLS era.

The winner capped Mabiala’s first-ever MLS brace. He has three goals in his last two games, marking the first time he’s found the net in consecutive appearances since the 30-year-old came to Portland last season. All three goals have come from restarts.

“I’m so happy for him,” said Portland forward Samuel Armenteros, who scored a goal of his own in the 57th minute. “Being on the field to score and to hear the stadium go quiet, that is the sweetest feeling.”

Mabiala has scored all three of those goals with his head, prompting Armenteros to suggest the defender would be the target of good-natured ribbing from teammates about his hat size on the ride home. Mabiala threw it back, saying Armenteros has the bigger cranium but “doesn’t know how to use it.”

In truth, everyone on the Timbers could be forgiven for their heads becoming inflated given an unbeaten stretch that is now at 10 matches in the league. Not even a trip to CenturyLink Field, where Timbers had previously gone . 0-7-3 in league play since joining MLS in 2011, could stop Portland’s momentum.

Amazingly enough, Portland had run off the first eight of those results without scoring a single set piece goal. But Mabiala’s emergence as an offensive aerial threat has changed all that. And on Saturday, that allowed the Timbers to depart with a victory despite leaving Sebastian Blanco on the bench and Fanendo Adi off the gameday roster with a thigh injury.

“Everyone was just very focused on the victory,” Mabiala said. After three straight draws, the team “wanted to show everybody we can get three points,” he said, “and this was the best time to show people that.” 

Armenteros credited a winning attitude from the Timbers that remained present until the final whistle. 

“The game is 90-plus minutes,” he said. “It’s not 70. It’s not 75. It’s not 80. We know to keep on fighting. We score one. They score one. We scored two. They scored two. We didn’t give up and, plus, we have that head of ours. He made the difference today.”

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April 22, 20187:46PM EDT

Goal! Larrys Mabiala scores with a header from the center of the box. Assisted by Diego Valeri.

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