MLS is Back Tournament final: Portland Timbers 2-1 Orlando City – as it happened
12-Aug-2020 02:59:03 | The Guardian
You can read the full report from tonight’s match below:
Related: Dario Zuparic goal clinches MLS Back is Tournament for Portland Timbers
The trophy aloft
What a tournament. What a team. #MLSisBack #RCTID pic.twitter.com/SOm06u3xfq
Congratulations are in order
A few weeks ago, the Twitterati would’ve given good odds against MLS managing to pull off this tournament. But they did, and it was fun to watch. The Disney heat didn’t stop teams from unleashing the attack.
The coaches shake hands. Maybe they’re not supposed to, but everyone in this bubble has been tested over and over, and they’re all negative. Just remember not to do that after tonight.
Can’t believe I made a Quiet Riot reference and didn’t mention that Portland’s keeper, Steve Clark, shares a name with the late Def Leppard guitarist. No f-f-f-f-foolin’
The Timbers are deserving champions of this unusual tournament.
90 min +5: Portland using the space like Will Ferrell with a cowbell. The Timbers earn a corner, and this is almost done.
90 min +4: Ping, ping, ping, ping ... corner kick.
Gallese runs up the field and almost gets his head to it.
90 min +3: Nani’s free kick is disappointing, but with a lot of bodies in a confined space, the ball can go many different places, and it lands at the feet of Kyle Smith. He blasts a short shot over the bar, and Portland’s lead is intact.
90 min +2: Nani tries to get past Duvall and can’t, but the Portland defender clips Nani’s shin, and that’s enough to get a whistle. Free kick.
90 min +1: Tuiloma replaces Valeri, and that should be it for subs.
Can Orlando send this game to PKs? Probably not, but we’ll keep watching.
90 min: CHANCE as the free kick goes nowhere and Portland is off to the races. It gets to Valeri, whose shot forces another outstanding save from Gallese. That would have clinched it.
Five minutes to go.
89 min: Giovanni Savarese sends in Felipe Moro to replace Blanco.
Portland immediately concedes a free kick, and everyone lines up on the 18.
The “highlight” of Ruan’s high boot ...
pic.twitter.com/2jJ9ZhPqZc
87 min: And that will be all for Ruan. Kyle Smith is his replacement. That’s five subs for Orlando.
85 min: Ruan raises his foot about six feet off the ground in attempt to play the ball. Unfortunate for Valeri that his head was there. Yellow to Ruan.
84 min: A reminder that the loser of this game collects $150,000.
The winner gets $300,000 but has to play in the CONCACAF Champions League, so call it hazard pay. Referees in this region don’t always protect attackers.
81 min: Urso falls a little too easily with Chara on his back, and Orlando gets a free kick from 25. The ball is back-heeled to Jansson, who rips it and sees it deflected just wide.
Best opportunity for Orlando since Walt Disney flew over Florida and said, “Let’s build it there.”
78 min: More subs for Orlando ...
Santiago Patiño for Uri Rosell.
76 min: Stop ... water time.
(Or whatever they’re drinking.)
75 min: I neglected to mention that Portland’s Diego Chara picked up a yellow, not a rare occurrence. He might be lucky to escape another whistle as he pokes the ball away from behind.
73 min: We have a scuffle, and it involves the frustrated Nani, who gets a yellow for barging into Jorge Villafaña and banging heads like a pair of Quiet Riot fans.
Villafaña exaggerates a bit, adding to Nani’s exasperation.
71 min: Orlando also brings on the subs. Benji Michel replaces Chris Mueller, who looks dejected on the bench despite some fine moments in this game and an outstanding tournament. Junior Urso replaces Mendez.
68 min: Portland does a hockey-style line change after the goal, with Polish attacker Jaroslaw Niezgoda replacing Ebobisse and Andy Polo coming in for Loria.
Orlando has still had more than 60% of the possession, but Portland has put five shots on target to Orlando’s one.
ALL HUSTLE!
Dario Zuparic gives @TimbersFC the 2-1 lead in the final. #PORvORL pic.twitter.com/0i4mCP0NHk
Third time’s a charm.
Valeri’s corner lands at Eryk Williamson’s feet, 15 yards from goal. He rips a diagonal ball toward the center of the goal, and it pings off a leg or two before presenting Zuparic a golden opportunity at close range.
64 min: SAVE, the first significant goalkeeping in this game, as Gallese pushes Valeri’s low free kick around the post.
AND ANOTHER as Portland works the ball in to Ebobisse, who stings Gallese’s hands.
63 min: Oh my -- Moutinho makes a horrible misplay that would’ve let Loria run in one-on-one if the defender hadn’t rugby-tackled him. It’s a yellow card, and if not for the presence of another Orlando defender, that could’ve been a red for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. (The great abbreviation: DOGSO.)
Free kick 20 yards out, dead center.
61 min: Whose idea was it to give Diego Valeri the ball with acres of space? To Orlando’s relief, his speculative ball forward is cleared.
58 min: Portland tries a quick break with a good through ball to Loria, but Jansson slides to poke the ball out of play.
The Timbers may not have a lot of possession, but they have quality. That’s why this is 1-1 and not 1-0 or worse.
56 min: Mabiala, the Portland goal scorer, fulfills his first responsibility with a good block in his own area.
Orlando has the ball ...
54 min: Mueller does some nice work to set up Nani, whose rushed one-timer will be landing at Epcot Center in a couple of minutes.
(I was at Disney World around this time last year.)
Quick note on social justice, adding to something seen at halftime:
Black Players of Major League Soccer (@BPCMLS) refused to just shut up and play.
Today, the story behind their protest is told as a short documentary, "Say it Loud: The Story Behind the Protest."
Here's the film's premiere, exclusively on The Root: https://t.co/pgNYClrEIb pic.twitter.com/8nXbXZRKb2
52 min: And once again, when Portland can get forward, the Timbers are dangerous. Blanco’s shot inside the box is blocked out of play for a corner.
Valeri’s first attempt from the corner is played out for another. The next one is cleared, and this time, Portland gains possession.
51 min: Orlando has the ball.
Orlando still has the ball.
48 min: Speaking of cards, Antonio Carlos gets caught flat-footed by Diego Valeri and sticks out a leg, a hip, a thigh and perhaps some pieces of the old Operation board game to impede his progress. Yellow card.
Valeri’s free kick goes straight to goalkeeper Gallese.
46 min: Orlando possesses the ball for a while and runs into a green wall once again.
Michael Vraney asks: “Who gets a red first, Nani or Blanco? I’ve always had a soft spot for the creative petulant type.”
A contrast in goal scorers
Orlando’s Mauricio Pereyra is an attacker from Uruguay, which has gone a few decades without winning the World Cup but is still a soccer nation of distinction.
That Orlando equalizer ...
.@luisnani to Mauricio Pereyra! Easy from that range. #PORvORL | #VamosOrlando pic.twitter.com/PnGtBNTXT8
Neither goalkeeper has a save. Why? Because Portland has had very little possession, and Orlando has done little with theirs.
But it only takes one moment for a special player to have an impact, and Nani and Valeri have done just that, setting up one goal each direction.
45 min +4: A promising Orlando attack, with more incisive passes than we’ve seen for much of the half, ends with a pass that Chris Mueller can’t quite redirect on target.
45 min +2: Another free kick for Portland. Valeri again puts forth an inviting delivery, but no one is there to RSVP.
45 min: A long Portland pass threads the needle, but Gallese is quick to slide out to the edge of the box and snare the ball.
Four minutes of stoppage time forthcoming.
43 min: Valeri tries the cheeky free kick under the wall, but it’s less impressive than a recently discovered tunnel at the U.S.-Mexico border.
A couple more clumsy challenges, and now the Portland goal-scorer, Mabiala, goes into the book.
42 min: Unintelligent challenge from Moutinho on Loria, and Portland has another free kick, this time 20 yards out. Too close for Valeri?
And suddenly, it happens. Nani creates a sliver of space on the left and zips a pass to a tightly marked Pereyra. Portland’s Williamson loses out on the collision with Pereyra, and the Uruguayan slots it into the net from close range.
37 min: Welcome to anyone who has switched over after watching the five-overtime NHL playoff game. I won’t spoil the result in case you recorded it and plan to watch the whole thing later.
Your synopsis so far: Orlando is winning by a mile. Or they would be, if this was a possession game in training. Unfortunately for the Lions, you have to put the ball into the net, and they really haven’t come close. At the other end, Portland took advantage of a long free kick to take the lead.
Here’s our only shot on goal so far. They’re 1 for 1.
Diego Valeri serves it up, Larrys Mabiala slams it home.#PORvORL | #RCTID | #MLSisBack pic.twitter.com/i2bLoIJ930
34 min: Elfath brokers peace between Pareja and Blanco, and we resume play. Some stats go up on the large screen -- Portland’s expected goals number is 0.21. Their actual goals numbers is nearly five times that.
32 min: This is curious. As we head into the hydration break, something happens off camera. Our commentators aren’t in the bubble, so they don’t know what happened, either. It seems like some sort of argument between Blanco and Orlando coach Oscar Pareja, all interrupted by the fourth official.
Blanco has a nice conversation with referee Ismail Elfath, and it appears no one will face any action beyond that.
30 min: The big screen bringing fans to the venue through the magic of the internet shows a young shaggy-haired Portland fan dancing.
Portland gets another shot of sorts, but it’s well wide.
Yes, it’s against the run of play, but it’s well-deserved. Diego Valeri floats a 40-yard free kick over the defense, and Mabiala times his run perfectly and heads the ball down. It bounds up into the top of the net.
Here’s that Chara foul on Pereyra
Mauricio Pereyra's movement tormented Victor Wanyama, tormented Ozzie Alonso, and now here is is tormenting poor Diego Chara -- who gives him a forearm shiver for his troubles.
Pereyra pic.twitter.com/VHclqTxzoQ
24 min: Joao Moutinho comes up to take the free kick, which smashes into the wall and lands in the box out of reach of any Orlando attacker.
Orlando’s Jhegson Mendez shoves a Portland player who’s shielding him from the ball, so we’ll go the other way. Frustration setting in for the Lions?
22 min: More Orlando possession, more failures to do anything with it. Pereyra falls 25 yards out under a Chara challenge, and Elfath lets play continue for a bit.
The replay shows Chara lifted his forearm as he ran up to Pereyra. Lucky not to be cautioned there.
19 min: Somehow, Nani was wide open, and somehow, Pereyra had plenty of time to float the ball to him, and somehow, Nani managed absolutely nothing with it before the Portland defense recovered.
Orlando did get a corner out of it, but it comes to nothing.
17 min: Half-chance, with Blanco putting in a good cross for Ebobisse. Orlando keeper Pedro Gallese came out to punch clear with both hands and unfortunately got Ebobisse in the head as well. The striker is down for treatment and scrunching up his eyes. The trainer gives him the “follow my finger” test, and it appears he’ll continue.
15 min: Chris Mueller has a brief look at the goal from 20 yards out, but the Portland defense recovers in time to block his shot.
The statkeepers aren’t recording that as a shot, so we’re still shotless here.
12 min: Portland’s first significant offensive foray sees Blanco playing the ball wide to Valeri, whose cross fails to get through.
Thirty seconds later, Blanco makes a strong tackle deep in his own half, as if he’s suddenly a center back.
Seba Blanco does it all.#PORvORL | #RCTID pic.twitter.com/WX0lX3egSx
10 min: Map showing Orlando’s dominance in possession or a typical Florida pop-up thunderstorm? Fortunately, the former.
As expected .. #PORvORL pic.twitter.com/olVVdELNpj
8 min: Nani is making his presence known with a couple of touches on either side of the box.
MLS’ detailed stats tell us Orlando has had 94% of the possession.
6 min: Kathryn Nesbitt gets some screen time, raising her flag to draw attention to a Portland foul near her sideline. Uruguayan Mauricio Pereyra lines up the free kick, another rather aimless delivery into the box.
Orlando, you guessed it, regains possession.
5 min: Ebobisse gets acquainted with Orlando’s defense in a bit of body-slamming. Ismail Elfath declines to blow the whistle.
3 min: Free kick for Orlando, which has had the better of play so far. It’s 28 yards out to one side, whipped in and cleared. Orlando regains possession. Portland has barely seen the ball.
Orlando opens with some possession.
MLS veterans face off as coaches
You might not find two MLS coaches who’ve earned as much respect in the league as Portland’s Giovanni Savarese and Orlando’s Oscar Pareja.
Black Lives Matter movement
MLS players and staff have taken advantage of their unusual platform here to make bold statements on social justice. The league hasn’t been playing the national anthem, but players have all taken a knee before each game, and the various T-shirts included some designed by Philadelphia’s Warren Creavalle, drawing inspiration from a blog post by a player we’ll see tonight, Portland’s Jeremy Ebobisse.
And at last, ESPN turns its attention to Disney World, and perhaps we’ll find out when we’ll actually be kicking off.
But first, Tim Howard narrates a piece about the bubble.
Officiating news
The center ref is Ismail Elfath, but the story here is Kathryn Nesbitt, the AR who will be the first woman to officiate an MLS final.
Yes, that’s the Nani, the former Manchester United player and Portuguese international. He was superb in the Lions’ 3-1 semifinal win over Minnesota United.
English striker Dom Dwyer, the husband of U.S. women’s striker Sydney Leroux, is out injured. The man up front is Tesho Akindele, from Canada by way of the Colorado School of Mines.
Your Lions for tonight's #MLSisBack Final. @orlandohealth | #PORvORL
The Pacific Northwest team has a lot of South Americans. Argentines Diego Valeri and Sebastian Blanco are the keys to the attack, and Colombian Diego Chara locks down the midfield.
Their leading scorer in this tournament is French-born American Jeremy Ebobisse with four goals. The Duke Alumni Association would surely want me to mention that he and I both attended that fine institution, though he was there only two years while I was there ... six years? Seven? Not sure. They never taught me to count.
Our final Starting XI for the #MLSisBack tournament.#PORvORL | #RCTID pic.twitter.com/dwa8LKAhed
As with the NWSL Challenge Cup, this ad hoc tournament had a few hiccups before getting underway. FC Dallas and Nashville SC had to withdraw before the tournament started because of COVID-19 issues. But like the NWSL, MLS has managed to get through its short bubble season.
The next challenge for MLS is a resumption of the regular season, starting ... tomorrow night, when FC Dallas hosts Nashville.
Separated by most of the continental USA’s land mass, the Portland Timbers and Orlando City have had contrasting fortunes in MLS.
The Timbers won MLS Cup in 2015 and reached the final in 2018. The expectations of their substantial supporters are always high.
It’s August 11.
A first-round NHL playoff game is in triple overtime.
⚽ @OrlandoCitySC faces the Portland Timbers tonight in the #MLSisBack Tournament Final. To show our support the @LakeEolaPark fountain will be purple and we will be cheering them on virtually. #VamosOrlando
: Taylor Rahn pic.twitter.com/kmwGnudNlm
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a look at fans returning to MLS stadiums:
The five-month wait has been hard for Luis Dollar, president of El Matador, an FC Dallas supporters’ group. “Man, not seeing our team out there was brutal,” he said. “We miss our team.”
Related: A much-need respite or foolish risk? MLS welcomes back fans
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