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MLS is Back Tournament Final
Event MLS is Back Tournament
DateAugust 11, 2020 (2020-08-11)
Venue ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Bay Lake, Florida, US
Man of the Match Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers) [1]
Referee Ismail Elfath [2]
Attendance0 ( behind closed doors)

The MLS is Back Tournament Final, known as the MLS is Back Tournament Final presented by Wells Fargo for sponsorship reasons, was a soccer match held on August 11, 2020 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Florida. It was the final match of the MLS is Back Tournament, a competition marking the resumption of the 2020 Major League Soccer season following the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The match was played behind closed doors due to the pandemic and was broadcast on ESPN beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. [3]

Portland Timbers won the match 2–1 to win the MLS is Back Tournament and were presented the trophy after the game. As winners, Portland received $300,000 in prize money and also earned a spot in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. They qualified for the United States' third berth, replacing the 2020 MLS Eastern or Western Conference regular season champions which are not the Supporters' Shield champions. [4] [5]

The match was the first MLS final refereed by a woman, with Kathryn Nesbitt acting as an Assistant Referee.

Road to the final

Portland Timbers Round Orlando City SC
Opponents Results Group stage Opponents Results
LA Galaxy 2–1 Match 1 Inter Miami CF 2–1
Houston Dynamo 2–1 Match 2 New York City FC 3–1
Los Angeles FC 2–2 Match 3 Philadelphia Union 1–1
Group F winners
Group F results
Pos Team Pld Pts
1 Portland Timbers 3 7
2 Los Angeles FC 3 5
3 Houston Dynamo 3 2
4 LA Galaxy 3 1
Source: MLS [6]
Final standings Group A winners
Group A results
Pos Team Pld Pts
1 Orlando City SC (H) 3 7
2 Philadelphia Union 3 7
3 New York City FC 3 3
4 Inter Miami CF 3 0
Source: MLS [6]
(H) Hosts
Opponents Results Knockout stage Opponents Results
FC Cincinnati 1–1 (4–2 p) Round of 16 Montreal Impact 1–0
New York City FC 3–1 Quarter-finals Los Angeles FC 1–1 (5–4 p)
Philadelphia Union 2–1 Semi-finals Minnesota United FC 3–1

Match

Portland played in a defensive posture for much of the game, allowing Orlando 64% of the possession but not letting them get into good shooting positions. [7] [8] In the 27th minute Portland scored first, with Larrys Mabiala scoring a header from a free kick by Diego Valeri. Orlando responded with a goal 12 minutes later via a move to the end-line by Nani and a pass to the near post that Mauricio Pereyra finished. Portland scored again about 3/4 of the way through the game; Valeri sent a corner kick to Eryk Williamson, who controlled the ball and sent it toward goal, where Jeremy Ebobisse redirected it to Dario Župarić for a tap-in through Nani's legs. Both of Portland's goals were scored by center backs. The game opened up after that, with Orlando committing more players forward in an attempt to level the score, but Portland's defense continued to hold them off until the final whistle. The game finished with Orlando having only one shot on goal – namely their goal – while Portland had six. [8]

Details

Portland Timbers2–1 Orlando City SC
Report
Portland Timbers
Orlando City SC
GK 12 United States Steve Clark
RB 15 United States Chris Duvall
CB 33 Democratic Republic of the Congo Larrys Mabiala Yellow card 44'
CB 13 Croatia Dario Župarić
LB 4 United States Jorge Villafaña Yellow card 73'
CM 21 Colombia Diego Chará Yellow card 70'
CM 30 United States Eryk Williamson
RW 44 Costa Rica Marvin Loría downward-facing red arrow 67'
AM 8 Argentina Diego Valeri ( c) downward-facing red arrow 90+1'
LW 10 Argentina Sebastián Blanco downward-facing red arrow 89'
CF 17 United States Jeremy Ebobisse downward-facing red arrow 67'
Substitutes:
GK 1 United States Jeff Attinella
GK 31 Slovenia Aljaž Ivačič
DF 18 Costa Rica Julio Cascante
DF 25 New Zealand Bill Tuiloma upward-facing green arrow 90+1'
DF 28 Venezuela Pablo Bonilla
DF 32 United States Marco Farfan
MF 19 Argentina Tomás Conechny
MF 22 Paraguay Cristhian Paredes
MF 40 Venezuela Renzo Zambrano
FW 7 Peru Andy Polo upward-facing green arrow 67'
FW 9 Chile Felipe Mora upward-facing green arrow 89'
FW 11 Poland Jarosław Niezgoda upward-facing green arrow 67'
Manager:
Venezuela Giovanni Savarese
GK 1 Peru Pedro Gallese
RB 2 Brazil Ruan Yellow card 85' downward-facing red arrow 87'
CB 25 Brazil Antônio Carlos Yellow card 47'
CB 6 Sweden Robin Jansson
LB 4 Portugal João Moutinho Yellow card 63'
CM 20 Spain Oriol Rosell downward-facing red arrow 79'
CM 8 Ecuador Sebas Méndez downward-facing red arrow 71'
RW 9 United States Chris Mueller downward-facing red arrow 71'
AM 10 Uruguay Mauricio Pereyra
LW 17 Portugal Nani ( c) Yellow card 73'
CF 13 Canada Tesho Akindele downward-facing red arrow 78'
Substitutes:
GK 23 United States Brian Rowe
DF 3 United States Alex DeJohn
DF 15 Argentina Rodrigo Schlegel
DF 24 United States Kyle Smith upward-facing green arrow 87'
DF 27 Canada Kamal Miller
MF 11 Brazil Júnior Urso upward-facing green arrow 71'
MF 21 Colombia Andrés Perea
MF 34 Jamaica Joey DeZart
MF 77 Brazil Robinho
FW 18 United States Daryl Dike upward-facing green arrow 78'
FW 19 United States Benji Michel upward-facing green arrow 71'
FW 29 Colombia Santiago Patiño upward-facing green arrow 79'
Manager:
Colombia Óscar Pareja

Man of the Match:
Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers) [1]

Assistant referees: [2]
Kathryn Nesbitt
Kyle Atkins
Fourth official: [2]
Joe Dickerson
Video assistant referee: [2]
Allen Chapman
Assistant video assistant referee: [2]
Logan Brown

Match rules [9]

  • 90 minutes, with no extra time.
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores level.
  • Maximum of twelve named substitutes.
  • Maximum of five substitutions. [note 1]

Broadcasting

The match was broadcast on ESPN.

Notes

  1. ^ Each team was given only three opportunities to make substitutions, excluding substitutions made at half-time.

References

  1. ^ a b Sigal, Jonathan (August 11, 2020). "Portland Timbers 2, Orlando City 1 | MLS is Back Tournament Final Recap". Major League Soccer. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e "MLS is Back final referee crew announced, with first woman to work MLS final". Major League Soccer. August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  3. ^ "Full match schedule and TV info unveiled for MLS is Back Tournament". MLSSoccer.com. Major League Soccer. June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  4. ^ "MLS is Back Tournament winner will qualify for 2021 Concacaf Champions League". MLSSoccer.com. Major League Soccer. June 10, 2020.
  5. ^ "Concacaf Statement – Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League qualification for the winner of MLS Is Back tournament". Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. June 10, 2020.
  6. ^ a b "MLS is Back Group Stage Standings". Major League Soccer. Archived from the original on August 29, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  7. ^ Sigal, Jonathan (August 11, 2020). "Portland Timbers 2, Orlando City SC 1 | MLS is Back Tournament Final Recap". MLS Soccer. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Portland Timbers vs. Orlando City FC: Stats". MLS Soccer. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  9. ^ "MLS is Back Tournament Competition Guidelines". Major League Soccer. June 10, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.

External links