There are few ways to look at the MLS regular season that are more enlightened than as a series of 34 tests. It’s not too unlike being back at school.

Throughout the week, teams train for each upcoming match. In other words, they study. Come matchday, it’s time to put the “studying” to use in the test. Some days you pass, some you don’t. Pass most of them, you’re a playoff team. Pass three-quarters or more, the Supporters’ Shield might be in your future.

But what sometimes gets lost in the mix is that no single test reveals the true picture of what a team is. Not passing a single test usually won’t ruin a season. And on the flipside, passing one test isn’t necessarily precedent for those to come. Instead, like a semester, it's the balance of results on the season that determine whether a team has truly made the grade.

Like any good student, LAFC wants to pass as many tests as possible to put themselves in a good position for the final.

“We always talk about how to become a complete team. That’s a combination of what you put into a game, along with your ideas, and finally, your execution. Some games might ask a little more of one of those parts than the other but what I like so far from the group this year is their understanding that on the field, every game, between our concentration and the pure mentality and commitment of how we play, that part has to be demanded of each other all the time,” Bob Bradley said after LAFC training on Thursday. “I don’t think that changes for the second game.”

LAFC’s first test of the season, a 2-1 victory over last year’s regular-season Western Conference champs Sporting KC, was passed with flying colors. But that test was just the start. The focus now shifts to Portland on Sunday.

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“It’s a good sign. After the game, everybody felt good about the effort,” Bradley said. “So now, I think it’s a good challenge to say that can’t just be something that happens every now and then or something that came out on a home opener. That’s got to be part of what we bring every game.”

In 2018, LAFC and Portland played three times. Portland took the regular-season fixtures with a win and a draw, but LAFC eliminated the Timbers in a contentious U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal 3-2 at Banc of California Stadium.

That recent, albeit short, history of bitter matches has only helped to fan the flames of a growing rivalry between LAFC and the 2018 MLS Cup finalists.

“In rivalries, there are, of course, special ones,” Bradley said. “When there is respect between teams and there is a real understanding that when we play against this team we need to be at our best, in a way, that produces a rivalry.

“That’s the case with SKC and based upon the really difficult games we had with Portland last year, and the success they had as a team, I think it’s true as well.”

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