MLS Final TIMBERS VS NYCFC

The Major League Soccer (MLS) conference final takes place this Saturday, December 11th. We are looking back at how the two finalists, Portland Timbers and New York City FC made it to the top.

Portland Timbers

The Timbers will host New York City FC at the 2021 MLS Cup final at Providence Park, so what better way to start with the historical journey of the Timbers.

The Portland Timbers were founded 12 years ago in 2009 and are part of the western conference of the MLS. They are a phoenix club (a new club that was set up to replace a club that failed in business terms but not in sporting terms) and are the fourth soccer franchise in Portland that have used the Timbers name, which was founded in 1975 by the original Portland soccer team in the North American Soccer League, with the league being folded in 1985.

The Portland Timbers that you know today joined the MLS in 2011, with fans seeing one of the best MLS playoffs since the league began. A win over Sporting Kansas City in a penalty shootout, with the famous missed double post penalty kick from the Timbers. Despite this, they still managed to defeat Kansas and win the MLS Cup, the first for the team.

After this victory, a few years later the Timbers were crowned the Western Conference Champions and Champions in the MLS Back tournament in the 2020 season that was affected by the pandemic.

Which leads us to today, will they be victorious again? After coming fourth in the regular season league with 17 wins and 13 loses, Portland Timbers beat Colorado Rapids with a tight last minute goal from Larrys Mabiala resulting in a 1-0 win in the conference semi-finals despite having a Dairon Asprilla sent off, although this was in the fourth minute of added time.

The Timbers then beat Real Salt lake in the Western Conference final on the 4th of December, with goals from Felipe Mora and Santiago Moreno, resulting in a 2-0 win.

New York City FC

New York City FC was founded in 2013 and is part of the Eastern Conference of the Major Soccer League. It is owned by the City Football Group which also owns Manchester City, one of England’s most successful football clubs as well as the New York Yankees.

It wasn’t until 2015 that the team made their debut against Orlando City with Mix Diskerud scoring the first ever goal for the team in the regular season.

Despite finishing in the bottom three in their first season, in 2016, they were able to dominate the many teams in the eastern conference and finished 2nd out 10 with 15 wins and 10 losses. The team have only just made it to the MLS playoff final for the first time this year, from 2016-2020, they haven't had much luck regardless of where they finished in the regular season table.

This year, they came 4th in the Eastern Conference table with 14 wins and 11 loses, with Atlanta United not too far behind. In the conference semi-final they beat New England Revolution in a penalty shoot out and then scored goals for both teams in the Eastern Conference final against Philadelphia Union, however, they qualified for the Cup final with a score of 2-1 on December 5 2021, Talles Magno saved the day with a final goal in the 88th minute.

It’s hard to predict who is going to come out on top, with both teams finishing in the exact same spot in the separate conference table and both doing well in the semi-finals and conference finals. However, with NYCFC being a player down due to Sebastian Blanco tearing his ACL, the Portland Timbers are currently the favourites.

The MLS Cup final is set to take place this Saturday, be prepared to sit on the edge of your seat for 90 minutes or longer...