Zlatan Ibrahimovic was not in LA Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid's starting XI for Saturday afternoon's game at the Portland Timbers, though he entered in the 72nd minute for Emmanuel Boateng.
Ibrahimovic had started seven of LA's last eight matches, missing only a 1-0 win over San Jose for which he was suspended.
With Ibrahimovic on the bench and Ola Kamara with the Norway national team, Chris Pontius took advantage of a rare start at forward and scored in the 20th minute to give LA a 1-0 lead.
The Galaxy are playing their second match in four days after Ibrahimovic bagged a brace in Wednesday's 3-2 home loss to Dallas. The Swedish superstar, who made his dramatic debut in a 4-3 win over LAFC on March 31, has put up 5 goals and 3 assists in 618 minutes across 9 games (7 starts).
Chris Pontius, who started atop the Galaxy's 4-2-3-1, scored a goal in the 20th minute to give LA an early 1-0 lead.
