When Sebastián Blanco pulled up grabbing his hamstring early in the second half on Thanksgiving Day in Colorado, there were plenty who figured the Portland Timbers’ 2021 season was over.
It wasn’t a crazy thought. But then the Timbers, minus their chief attacking catalyst, grew stronger and stronger in that half and beat the Rapids 1–0.
The next day in Kansas City, ownerless, permanent manager-less Real Salt Lake upset Sporting, meaning that the Timbers would, improbably, host the Western Conference Final at Providence Park against a team they’d already beaten three times this year.
And then you could feel it, couldn’t you? That unmistakable sense that the stars were aligning, that these Timbers, all but given up for dead in August, were on a collision course with MLS Cup.
It didn’t hurt that the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, the New England Revolution, were upset on their home turf on Tuesday. That meant that all that stood between the Timbers and hosting their first major championship in club history was a fourth victory of the year over Real Salt Lake.
The Timbers entered Saturday afternoon’s match without Blanco, available only on the bench, and without Dairon Asprilla, suspended after being red carded in the waning moments of the win over the Rapids. In place of their two attacking stars, they inserted 24-year-old Marvin Loría for only his second start since mid-August and 21-year-old Santiago Moreno for just his fourth start ever with the team.
It was not by any measure the most talented Timbers team to ever grace the field in a playoff game. But there was that sense. Hundreds of people camped overnight outside the stadium. A huge tifo in the North End. And an opponent that, from the first minute, the Timbers looked like they could handle.
The Timbers played this game with relish. Not with overwhelming skill, not with sublime passing moves and sustained individual brilliance, but with tenacity and cohesion and confidence. That’s what wins you playoff matches—especially on turf, especially in the rain, especially in front of one of those ear-splitting Timbers crowds that has made Portland synonymous with soccer support in every corner of the world.
The kids weren’t overawed. The veterans didn’t give an inch. And now Portland is a week away from hosting MLS Cup against either Philadelphia or New York City in what will be one of the biggest sporting occasions in the history of the Rose City.
Early forecast for next Saturday? 43 degrees and cloudy. Chance of rain. Just the way we like it.
Salt Lake’s memorable playoff run, which saw them eliminate Seattle before they knocked out Kansas City, is over. After two monumental efforts, they rarely looked inventive enough to break the Timbers down. Of course, they never looked like they’d break the Sounders down either, but went through on penalties after failing to register a shot in 120 minutes In their first-round match.
On Saturday, they never had a chance to go that route. Just four and a half minutes into the game, Felipe Mora flicked a sharp entry pass into the box for Yimmi Chara to run into. His cross hit two Salt Lake players and skidded right into Mora’s path, and the Chilean, running towards the six-yard box, deflected it in.
The Providence Park crowd let out an almighty roar. Mora had hardly had time to break his running stride as the ball came flying at him, and it was the pace from the attempted outside-of-the-foot clearance from RSL’s Aaron Herrera that eventually carried the ball past David Ochoa. It was a dream start, one that would allow the Timbers to stay compact defensively and work with the space that RSL’s need for a tying goal would eventually open up.
Over the next half hour, the Timbers’ front four buzzed as RSL struggled to build fluidly from back to front. Moreno’s pace in particular was scrambling the Salt Lake defense, and it was the Colombian who had the best chance to double Portland’s lead after Ochoa palmed a Loría shot into the middle of the box, but he eventually fired over the bar.
It was after that warning shot that RSL finally found their footing in the game. They spent much of the half trying to work the left side of the Timbers’ defense with Anderson Julio and Herrera, and it was the fullback who opened up enough space to whip a cross towards the dangerous Damir Kreilach on 33 minutes, but Kreilach’s header from point blank range was stopped by Steve Clark.
It was a classic, show-stopping Clark save, and, in a week when people around MLS talked an awful lot about his opposite number, Ochoa, a sudden reminder of what a truly game-changing goalkeeper can do for a playoff team.
RSL never got a better look. Though they closed the half in the ascendency, the Timbers were crowding them out of the middle of the field and limiting their ability to play between lines. Their attacking fulcrum Albert Rusnak, who missed the first two games of the playoffs with COVID-19, couldn’t get himself going. Nick Belser, the former Timbers draft pick, was struggling with the pace of the game in central midfield. And the Timbers kept running hard, avoiding mistakes, and waiting for a moment to stretch their lead.
It came on the hour mark. Dario Zuparic lofted a ball towards Moreno in midfield that the winger controlled off his chest, dribbled forward, and, from 25 yards out, ripped towards goal. The shot thudded off the post, hit the diving Ochoa in the back, and nestled in the back of the net.
It was total bedlam. The Timbers’ bench exploded. Ochoa laid flat on the turf, hands covering his face. Moreno ran to the corner with his shirt off, all 5’8 of him flexing for the cameras.
It was over. Salt Lake, never a sure bet to get a single goal, weren’t going to get two. A quarter of an hour from time, Herrera, perhaps still frustrated by his fifth minute mistake, lunged in on Loría and was rightly shown a second yellow card.
RSL finished their season with ten players on the field, out of luck and out of gas. Ochoa needed to make a diving save to deny what would have been a roof-raising third goal from a Diego Valeri free kick in stoppage time, and with Alan Kelly’s whistle several minutes later, the Timbers clinched the Western Conference title for the third time in seven years.
If there were any question marks about the state of the Timbers heading into this game, they were answered emphatically. They played like a big team. It didn’t matter which players were and weren’t available—and there can be no greater compliment to a coaching staff or a group of players.
To Zuparic and Larrys Mabiala, who hardly put a foot wrong in central defense all night. To Clark, who improbably will get a second shot at MLS Cup with the team he unforgettably lost his first chance to six years ago. To Diego Chará, who was sensational in the middle of the field. Certainly to all of the role players who looked like they’d played in this game a hundred times over, and to Giovani Savarese, who has once again dialed up an extraordinary cup run.
The magic is real. MLS Cup in Portland. Next Saturday.