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Portland Timbers defeat Columbus Crew 2-1 in hectic MLS Cup final

By on December 6, 2015

Major League Soccer was expecting an unconventional cup final. The Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew were two outsiders in the playoffs who scraped through to today’s final at Mapfre Stadium in Columbus. The proceedings lacked the glitz and glamour of big-money European stars, major market franchises, or landmark occasions such as Landon Donovan’s retirement last year.

Yet tonight’s spectacle certainly made up for its shortcomings with some bizarre twists, in a broadly scrappy affair that included moments of brilliance as well as howlers – the referees also pitching in for this latter category. At times the final was even hard to watch, like when Columbus fans threw bottles at celebrating Portland players in the corner. Overall the match lacked consistent rhythm or pace, with the flow punctuated by a myriad of twists that eventually evened out into a fair 2-1 win for the Timbers and their first ever MLS Cup. The chaos continued in Portland’s dressing room after the match, with the obligatory champagne consumed by the players. Caleb Porter stood with a beer in one hand and a slice of pizza in another as he spoke to reporters and Nat Borchers even found it a timely occasion to trim his trademark ginger beard.

Perhaps this final says more about the rest of MLS and its lack of a dominant team this season than it did about either of the teams on show today. On the road to the final, Columbus knocked out Supporters’ Shield winners New York Red Bulls, who never really got their playoff run going, and Portland defeated regular season runners-up FC Dallas in the Western Conference championship. The LA Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, Montreal Impact and DC United also fell short in the playoffs, allowing outsiders to sneak their way through.

However, that would be somewhat unfair to Portland’s rise to grace this season. The reinvention of Darlington Nagbe mid-season sparked a transformation for Portland into an attacking, stylish team, supported by a lynchpins Nat Borchers Liam Ridgewell at the back. It was Diego Valeri’s pressing right off the bat that lead to Portland’s opening goal, the fastest in any MLS Cup final, just twenty-seconds in. The ball was filtered to Columbus goalkeeper Steve Clark at the back, where Clark was caught dallying on the ball and his futile late attempt to hack it away only saw the ball deflect into the back of the net off of Valeri.

“It’s been two years since we started playing this system out of the back, and I think that is the first time we’ve directly lost a ball and been scored on there,” said midfielder Ethan Finlay. Finlay may be exaggerating about losing a ball out of the back, but he is certainly right in the respect that Columbus have never allowed such a high-profile goal from such a blatant error in their system.

Portland had a second, the eventual winner, in just the seventh minute. The build-up to the goal began when Alvas Powell passed the ball from nearly a yard out of play back into touch, where Tony Tchani took a step back towards the line in an apparent attempt to restart for a throw in. Yet the linesman had momentarily taken his eye off the ball and Nagbe took advantage of the momentary lull with no resistance and drove down the middle. Nagbe played it out wide right to Lucas Melano, whose far post cross found the run of Rodney Wallace, who nicked ahead of his marker to power a diving header into the back of the net.

“I kind of just let him go,” Tchani said, per MLSSoccer.com. “I [thought] they’re probably going to give the ball back. And then they went and scored against us and I felt pretty bad. … I just don’t get it. The ball was on my feet; if the ball is at my feet, I’m not going to stop if it wasn’t out. It was probably a yard out.”

With the lead, Portland inevitably shifted their approach to a more defensive gameplan. They were content to strike on breaks, which became more dangerous and frequent as Columbus pushed their men forward in search of an equalizer. Had their finishing been better, Portland could easily have won by a few more goals with all the chances they had.

Columbus were dominant through the rest of the first half, but Portland’s defensive structure held up well, with Diego Chara protecting Portland’s back-line.

“Chara, he’s a machine,” said Porter after the match, per ESPNFC. “I can’t count how many plays he made, little plays to stop counters, to win balls. He’s a very, very good midfielder.”

Yet Kei Kamara was still good for a goal, capitalizing on a scrappy chance from a half-cleared cross and dragging the ball into the back of the net through the legs of Powell on the goal-line. Columbus had trouble capitalizing on the momentum, though, and Kamara’s aerial presence was negated by Borchers and Ridgewell. Through the course of the ninety minutes, Portland allowed just one shot on goal.

As the game opened up in the second half, Portland came close on multiple occasions. In the sixtieth minute, a headed chance from a Portland corner was stopped at point-blank range by Clark and the ball rebounded to Kamara in the mixer, who hacked it up in the air in a panic. The ball hit the crossbar and, on its way into the goal, bounced clearly off the arm of Michael Parkhurst on the goal-line and onto the base of the post before he hacked it away. The referees missed the handball (which could have produced a red card and a penalty), more than canceling out their earlier mistake in the buildup to Portland’s second goal.

Fanendo Adi flicked a beautiful header off the inside of the post, off the unwitting Clark and out, while Borchers also had a far-post header from point-blank range somehow stopped by the twenty-nine-year-old goalkeeper. But when the final whistle finally came and Portland were crowned 2015 MLS Cup champions, nothing could made up for his earlier mistake. It was just that kind of crazy night for Columbus.

Homepage photo credit: Ray Terrill, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.