Portland Timbers defeated Real Salt Lake, 2-0. Felipe Mora got things going with a goal in the 5th minute to give Portland the early 1-0 lead. Then, Timbers midfielder Santiago Moreno broke through in the 61st minute to give his team a commanding 2-0 lead. Not too long afterwards, Aaron Herrera earned a red card in the 79th minute for Salt Lake City, which meant that they had to try to overcome a 2-0 deficit while playing a man short.
That obviously did not happen.
As a result, the Timbers will now get to be the first team ever to host the MLS Cup.
They will take on the winner of today's match between the Philadelphia Union New York City FC.
Not sure if I am qualified to make a pick. However, for what it is worth, I expect New York FC to win, because they are hosting this game, and also, Philadelphia just got hit with Covid, which means that they likely will not be at full strength.
Actually found out about this here first. It's actually quite common for one of the teams to host the big game, though. D.C. United hosted and won it in 1997, the New England Revolution hosted and lost in 2002, the Los Angeles Galaxy hosted and won in 2011 and 2012, Sporting Kansas City hosted and won on penalties in 2013, the Galaxy hosted and won the following year, the Columbus Crew hosted and lost in 2015, Toronto FC hosted but lost on penalties in 2016, then they got revenge by hosting and defeating Seattle Sounders FC the following year. And finalists hosted MLS Cup again the last two seasons, with Seattle winning it at home in 2019 and Columbus winning it last year, though the Crew didn't get to benefit from having many fans present due to COVID. That's because for better or for worse – I would say for better – MLS did away with predetermined sites a number of years ago, instead letting the club with the better regular season record have the honor of hosting the game. Which as you know is the norm in North American sports. Only the NFL decides where Super Bowls are going to be played years in advance. The NBA, MLB and NHL simply let the higher seed host 4 of 7 games, including Game 7 when it goes that far.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Eastern Conference Finals, I'm rooting for Philly. Red Bulls fans tend not to be big fans of NYCFC, since it's perceived as a club essentially trying to buy its way to a championship. They're owned by City Football Group (which also owns Manchester City) and Yankee Global Enterprises (which owns the New York Yankees). They've been able to attract some big-name players who wouldn't necessarily have signed with the club otherwise. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that NYCFC is comparably rich and powerful to Europe's big clubs. But by MLS standards, one could say they've enjoyed a head start compared to other clubs entering the league. Granted, from the Red Bulls' point of view there's also the inevitable ball-busting on the part of NYCFC fans should they wind up hoisting the Cup: "It took us a little over half a decade to win it, whereas you clowns are still waiting more than a quarter century later." *Cue fist fights and the throwing of projectiles on the part of a few dumb asses who've had one too many*
I forgot about Atlanta United, which won it in front of over 70,000 home fans in 2018.
ReplyDelete