Ronny Deila is Norwegian. He has been the manager at Strømsgodset, where he ended his playing career, then Celtic and Valerenga. He twice won the Scottish Premiership with Celtic.
He burst into tears when NYCFC clinched victory.
Sean Johnson, the goalkeeper and captain, playfully ran around with the trophy a bit before lifting it with his team.
Lift it high, @NYCFC!#MLSCup belongs to the boys in blue. pic.twitter.com/AOu2a9bGJQ
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 11, 2021
Like a lot of Cup competitions, this game was alternately infuriating and exhilarating. It started with too many fouls. Regulation time ended with too many complaints. But two industrious teams couldn’t be denied their goals, and the NYCFC celebrations are a worthy finale for the league’s comeback season after dealing, as we all have, with COVID.
May the disease be kept at bay so that we can enjoy another one next year.
Until then, have a great offseason. I hear there’s some league in England ...
NYCFC dominated through much of the game. They were undone by a last-minute equalizer -- controversial in some eyes, but also a lapse by their otherwise excellent defense -- and regrouped to stop the Timbers’ momentum and get the better of Portland on penalties.
Cruel finish for Diego Valeri and for all the fans in Portland aside from the long-ejected person who threw a beer that hit NYCFC’s Jesus Medina, but the Timbers squandered home-field advantage with a meandering attack that lacked urgency for most of the game.
The winning moment for @NYCFC!
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 11, 2021
The #MLSCup Champions. (Via @MLS) pic.twitter.com/Lq77saTObS
Should playoffs and penalties determine a league champion? Maybe, maybe not.
But you can’t say NYCFC are undeserved winners. After a bit of underachievement in the club’s early years, a stout defense and smooth attack paved the way for the visitors to lift a well-earned trophy.
NYCFC WIN MLS CUP 2021!
No doubt from Alexander Callens, and Portland won’t get a chance to prolong the proceedings.
Paredes converts
Emphatic shot cuts it to 3-2.
NYCFC shooting for the win ...
Magno converts
The 19-year-old big signing slips his shot under Clark. 3-1 NYCFC, and Portland must score.
NYCFC up 2-1 after three shots each
Moralez sends Clark the wrong way to score. Moreno does the same, taking Johnson out of the picture.
Clark saves! And Johnson saves!
Clark is all smiles after stopping Morales. But Johnson emphatically denies Valeri, possibly at the end of his great career.
Johnson saves!
The NYCFC keeper guesses correctly, leaps effectively and easily keeps out a shot from Mora. 1-0 NYCFC after one shot each.
Castellanos converts. The Timbers Army chanted “Steve” for goalkeeper Steve Clark, but the Golden Boot winner just had too much power. 1-0 NYCFC.
One thing the referee crew has gotten wrong. They’re wearing orange. So is NYCFC keeper Sean Johnson. Why not blue? Red? Black? (Clark is wearing yellow; Portland is green.)
Doesn’t matter now. Off to the spot/mark we go.
END OF EXTRA TIME: Portland 1-1 NYCFC
Using my system of rewarding the team that did the most attacking in extra time, Portland would be the winner. But it doesn’t work that way.
Ouch:
@duresport Last minute switch off by @NYCFC makes me think their EPL partner team is @SpursOfficial not @ManCity
— Ron Stack (@ronstack) December 11, 2021
116 min: NYCFC corner. Portland has not defended well on set pieces, but this one is punchless.
113 min: SAVES at each end. Clark’s is routine, though the shot from Tayvon Gray was well-struck. Johnson’s is not, as the NYCFC keeper had to be quick to his right to keep out Paredes, who took the pass from the influential Valeri.
111 min: To save time, I’m looking ahead to kicks from the mark, the referee’s way of saying “penalties.”
108 min: I should acknowledge the email from Gareth Rogers: “The ref swallowed his whistle. Clear foul.”
I would acknowledge the remarkable attacking play on the field right now if there was any to acknowledge.
106 min: The second session of extra time is underway. NYCFC took advantage of the break to complain some more.
To be sure, NYCFC had the better of play for about 80 minutes. And it wasn’t close.
105 min: Extra time so often disappoints, doesn’t it? We’ve had a couple of Timbers chances, at least.
Last word on the non-call on the equalizer, I think:
I have told hundreds of players in the same situation as Chanot, if you want that call then you have to go up for the ball. Stand there waiting for it to come down and an opponent jumps over you, I’m not calling that. Show me you want to win the ball.
— Doug Marshak (@vetshak) December 11, 2021
100 min: And now Valeri has a chance to put Portland ahead, thanks to a ball dropped to him by Yimmy Chara at the top of the 18. He puts it high.
98 min: Valeri goes to work on the touchline. Cleared, but Portland gets another free kick, and Valeri will take it. The ball drops to the far post but isn’t turned on frame.
96 min: Neither team in control at the moment.
From Twitter, from a high-up USL official who’s been in the game forever, regarding Clattenburg’s comments:
No, he said MLS sets a higher bar on overruling on-field decisions through VAR, less inclined to go to the screen.
— Nicholas Murray (@NJEMurray) December 11, 2021
Good clarification. But given the EPL’s constant bungling of VAR, isn’t that worse?
93 min: Paredes with a long shot for Portland, powerful but too close to Johnson, who holds it well.
Mark Clattenburg, continuing to make people wonder if the real referee named Mark Clattenburg has been beamed to another planet and replaced by an alien who will one day rule the planet, thinks he saw a foul. But MLS, he says, tends to have fewer foul calls. This from a guy from the land where it’s not a foul unless someone needs X-rays.
Extra time. Here we go ...
I see no foul, and I have one of the lowest thresholds for a foul of any ref in Northern Virginia.
PORTLAND EQUALIZE IN THE LAST MINUTE OF THE MLS CUP! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/NGBvvAjAe8
— ESPN (@espn) December 11, 2021
Niezgoda had the initial shot on a scramble in the penalty area. It’s blocked, but unfortunately for NYCFC, it falls to Mora, who coolly finishes.
NYCFC players, led by Chanot, are yelling at the referees. Yell all you want. Villarreal’s performance with the whistle has been outstanding, and we’re going to extra time.
GOOOOAAAALLL!! Portland 1-1 NYCFC (Mora 90+4)
Would you believe it?
90 min +4: Portland goes direct out of necessity after NYCFC tries to deflate the ball. The Timbers win a corner. Goalkeeper Steve Clark races forward. The ball is cleared, and Clark plays the ball wide. Well done.
90 min +2: A chant of “NYC” can be heard in Providence Park. That’s shocking. Portland’s fans ramp up the noise after a few seconds of that.
90 min +1: Castellanos dives. Villarreal isn’t interested. Portland goes forward. NYCFC fouls. Medina hoofs the ball to the sky and gets a yellow card. The Timbers will surely think, “Great, but can we have another 30 seconds?”
90 min: We will play four more minutes, pending additional substitutions and dives.
89 min: Valeri’s appearance at least perks up the uncharacteristically subdued crowd. Portland earns a corner, and it’s cleared.
On the counter, Medina goes 1-on-1 with Diego Chara. Chara wins. He’s arguably Portland’s best player today.
87 min: Villarreal ignores a frivolous NYCFC attempt to draw a foul at midfield. Portland’s possession continues.
It appears Diego Valeri will indeed come on, but is it too late? At the risk of assuming too much, yes, yes it is.
83 min: It will be Polish striker Jaroslaw Niezgoda, not Valeri, in place of Dairon Asprilla.
Another cross gets to Mora, and he makes good contact this time, though it’s deflected for a corner.
The corner bounces out to Blanco, whose 25-yard scorcher is blocked by a teammate’s face. That kind of day.
82 min: CHANCE, the best for the Timbers by far. Yimmy Chara puts a free kick onto the penalty spot, where Felipe Mora is implausibly alone. He only makes slight contact, though, and Johnson covers up the ball.
Questions for Portland coach Giovanni Savarese:
Down 1-0 at home, 10+plus minutes left in your season, three subs in your pocket and Diego Valeri on the bench. What's up, Gio?
— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) December 11, 2021
79 min: Castellanos shoots wide as NYCFC breaks the pressure, such as it is.
The visitors’ Santiago Rodriguez gets a yellow card as he is substituted. Stopping to adjust your shin guards as you’re leaving the field is not a good way of saying, “No, I’m not delaying the game.”
78 min: I can’t make heads or tails of this, like the coins in my curling club that have “bear” and “queen,” but it’s apparently another way of saying Portland’s attack has been minimal.
Nothing for Portland in the middle of the attacking half. #MLSCup pic.twitter.com/FoNzyiLayX
— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) December 11, 2021
76 min: A shot on goal! A shot on goal! Jose Carlos van Rankin is left alone and puts in a diagonal shot to the far post. Easy save for Johnson, but the 0 is wiped from the stat sheet.
75 min: Yimmy Chara, finally, gets a step after dispossessing an NYCFC midfielder. Maxime Chanot, who has been superb, intercedes, and a deflected shot lands in Sean Johnson’s arms.
74 min: The Timbers have a kickabout in their own half, as you’d expect from a team that’s up 2-0.
What? They’re down 0-1?
do the Timbers think there's a second leg
— James Tyler (@JamesTylerESPN) December 11, 2021
72 min: Portland is stringing together more passes. But this possession goes nowhere, and the vaunted Timbers Army isn’t making much noise right now.
70 min: More crosses for the Timbers. Still nothing on target, but it’s mildly promising.
The crowd grows restless over an NYCFC “injury” that takes a while to clean up.
68 min: Out of nothing, Portland gets a cross in front of Johnson, but the NYCFC defense expertly responds and doesn’t allow a shot. The Timbers have STILL put nothing on target. NYCFC has five shots on goal.
66 min: The action remains in Portland’s defensive third. Unless someone fancies an 80-yard shot beating Sean Johnson, that won’t do for the Timbers, who look as dreary as the persistent rain at the moment.
62 min: Portland subs: Santiago Moreno replaces Sebastian Blanco. Cristhian Paredes replaces George Fochive, who should have been playing on a yellow card for the last 50 minutes.
Twitter’s gonna Twitter, and plenty of people are calling out the entire Portland fan base over the beer thrown from the stands, but 99.9999% of Timbers fans are heartbroken to see someone do that.
Updated
60 min: Free kick, NYCFC, near the sideline. The first effort is cleared. The second effort ends with NYCFC foul, emphatically called by referee Armando Villarreal. For all our complaining about the lack of cards in the first half (“murder” is the runaway winner on the poll asking where the threshold would be set), Villarreal has done well here.
Portland prepping some subs.
58 min: Clark again is called into action with a good save to keep it 1-0. Portland goes the other way to earn a corner. The Timbers desperately need to make something happen.
56 min: Rodriguez has a solid shot from 22, but Portland keeper Steve Clark smothers it comfortably. Timbers fans must be asking why he couldn’t have done that on the NYCFC goal.
53 min: A shout for a penalty on a potential NYCFC handball in the 18 off a Portland corner. Play continues, so we haven’t seen the replay yet.
Now we see it -- no. Ball is drilled off the defender’s thigh and up into his arm. Good no-call. The coaches I ejected from an Under-14 youth game in the spring may disagree, but youth soccer coaches are not good authorities on the Laws of the Game.
52 min: More on our projectile-thrower:
The fan who threw the object was ejected from the game, and has been banned from Providence Park. There is zero tolerance for behavior of that kind.
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) December 11, 2021
Through a wet camera lens, we see that Portland has earned a free kick to the side of the 18 -- this time, a legitimate foul. Have to say that the early rash of unkind challenges has mercifully ceased.
49 min: Castellanos earns a free kick from 22 yards out as some of a Portland defender’s leg hairs brush against his. Moralez clangs it off the bar. The belief is that Clark got a hand to it, and NYCFC has a corner kick that somehow eludes two onrushing attackers. More calamitous defending from the Timbers.
47 min: Updates from ESPN sideline reporter Sam Borden -- Moralez is fine, Medina is fine, and the lead perpetrator in the beer-throwing has been ejected.
Seems like there was more than one projectile, though. But maybe he grabbed his neighbor’s beverage as well.
46 min: ESPN returns from halftime commercials just a second or two before kickoff.
Sam Moses writes: “You’re doing a great job. This email sent from the jungle in Sumatra 4 a.m., by a near-Portland resident, following the game on both livestream and your comments.
“P.S. I covered the first “Soccer Bowl” for Sports Illustrated, 1975, Tampa Bay Rowdies beat the Timbers. I was a rookie at SI, knew nothing about soccer, got the assignment because no one on the staff wanted it.”
First off, thanks, and may the jungle treat you well.
Those of us of a certain age can relate to covering soccer because no one else would. Several of us old-ish-timers covered soccer in addition to our other duties because we felt our news organizations should be doing so, even if it meant we’d do it in our spare time.
The Zoomers tend to roll their eyes when you tell them that, though.
Updated
MLS commissioner Don Garber confirms that the front-runner to be the 30th team in the league is Las Vegas.
That should be enough to split the league in two tiers with promotion/relegation, right? **ducks**
Halftime: Portland 0-1 NYCFC
The Timbers will want to shred the script from the first act here, with NYCFC on the front foot most of the half, punctuated by a clinic in poor defending near the end and a disgusting act by one or more projectile-throwing fans who are hopefully facing a lengthy ban from MLS stadia.
Portland has yet to manage a shot on goal. As Real Salt Lake showed, you can advance in the playoffs without doing so, but not if you concede.
45 min: Neither team has gained the initiative since the goal.
As I type that, Blanco rips a shot from 25 yards that whizzes past the post, a couple of feet from an equalizer.
If you’re a youth coach who wants to show your players how not to play defense or goalkeeper, here’s the NYCFC goal:
New York City take the lead in the MLS Cup final! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6KRF3dU8Zx
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 11, 2021
The goal is from a free kick from Moralez, who’s gutting it out on a bad leg. Castellanos has too much space, and goalkeeper Steve Clark offers too little resistance.
Meanwhile, a replay shows NYCFC’s Medina was hit by a projectile from the stands. Not sure it was quite as bad as he made it look, but it’s inexcusable at any rate.
GOAALL!: Portland 0-1 NYCFC (Castellanos 40)
A neat header squibbles it way into the net, but now we might have an incident from the stands.
39 min: Good play from Portland at both ends, nearly connecting on a dangerous pass near the penalty spot, followed by Diego Chara neatly snuffing out the NYCFC counter.
38 min: Santiago Rodriguez crosses for his NYCFC teammates but finds the wrong side of the top netting.
Damien Neva writes: “Hello! Tuning in from Brooklyn in support of Portland (I’m a longtime Chelsea fan). That playing surface looks like carpeting, but a cursory search tells me it’s something called FieldTurf, which is manufactured, not grown. For a club whose very identity is rooted in forestry, that’s some tension.”
True, though this turf has a reputation for being better than most.
35 min: Blanco is off to the races against two NYCFC players, then cuts it back.
But the bigger story is Moralez, who is in serious anguish right now.
33 min: ESPN’s crew tells us Moralez is hobbling. That’s the last thing NYCFC needs right now. But the team in blue continues to maintain possession.
Updated
31 min: NYCFC ramps up the pressure, with Portland unable to clear. Moralez gets two chances to put in a dangerous cross, but Castellanos can’t quite get his foot to the second.
Updated
29 min: More Portland possession, and Sean Johnson is grateful to grab a cross from Blanco.
I’m soliciting opinions on the threshold for a yellow card:
The threshold for a yellow card in MLS Cup today will be ...
— Beau Dure (@duresport) December 11, 2021
24 min: Give no cards, and you end up with players fighting. That’s why there’s a code in hockey. Portland’s Larrys Mabiala gives a hockey-style check to NYCFC’s scoring king Castellanos. Players complain and shove. Still no card.
Mark Clattenburg says that by the Laws of the Game, Villarreal could have given four yellow cards by now, but he doesn’t need it. Yeah, but the rest of us do.
Portland gets a chance, as Felipe Mora’s shot is blocked. The ensuing corner comes to nothing. NYCFC breaks the other way. Actual soccer being played.
22 min: Portland wins possession at midfield and avoids being fouled. They turn it over anyway, and we’re back where we’ve been -- NYCFC keeping possession 20-40 yards from the Portland goal.
19 min: The action goes again toward the Portland end, with Medina earning a couple of touches within the 18. Portland breaks the other way and ... it’s another bit of brutality, this time by NYCFC’s James Sands. “Smart tactical foul by James Sands,” says Taylor Twellman.
16 min: That’s more like it for Portland. Yimmi Chara, one of two Charas in the Timbers XI, breaks free in the penalty area and sets up Sebastian Blanco, who scuffs his shot. The Timbers extend the possession with another half-chance.
13 min: Portland’s George Fochive gets away with his second card-worthy offense at midfield. The Timbers thus far have done nothing else.
11 min: NYCFC’s Maxi Moralez flings himself face-first to the Portland turf, just inside the penalty area. Villarreal is smarter than that.
This game needs a serious boost.
Updated
9 min: English referee Mark Clattenburg on ref Armando Villarreal: “He certainly doesn’t want to give an early yellow card and set a precedent.”
Based on the first two fouls in this game, Clattenburg and Villarreal should reconsider.
Corner kick to NYCFC.
6 min: Medina inflicts a kick to the leg of Portland’s Asprilla. There’s a UFC PPV tonight if you’re into that.
4 min: FINALLY, someone at ESPN flips the switch on the app, and I can watch. My five-minute trial of UniMas was about to end.
No other shots have been noted in the live stats.
Michael Vraney writes: “Great to see you back on the soccer beat at the Guardian… love these fans, who would have ever believed in this type of support back when MLS started… BTW, I’ve got Timbers winning 2-0, hoping for a entertaining game!”
You and me both.
1 min: Maxi Moralez shoots for NYCFC. It’s saved. I’m getting this from the MLS site because ESPN’s app, which is supposed to show ABC Sports content, is still not showing this game.
My apologies for the technical difficulties that have made it impossible for me to catch the kickoff. How’s it going?
If you’ve just joined us, here’s a look at MLS Cup so far ...
Dying. pic.twitter.com/5PZ72t7syE
— Andrew Das (@AndrewDasNYT) December 11, 2021
The game itself is scheduled to start at 3:33 p.m. ET.
More time to go to the fridge ...
CORRECTION: #MLSCup kickoff is now 3:33 pm ET https://t.co/yDcpCDYKWK
— Andrew Wiebe (@andrew_wiebe) December 11, 2021
Meanwhile, those who argue for promotion/relegation in US Soccer are complaining on Twitter that they’re being misrepresented. This is the same movement that has long insisted that people who point to the legitimate business reasons why it hasn’t happened are being paid under the table by a cabal of MLS, former US Soccer president Sunil Gulati and the ghost of Chuck Blazer, the Falstaffian figure who turned FIFA/CONCACAF whistleblower under duress.
That’s Twitter for you.
If you’d like to chat with me during the game, tweet @duresport -- you know what, just email me.
We can discuss different formats for MLS, including a potential opening for promotion/relegation and more immediately a change to the playoff structure, after we discuss the rules in basketball that allow 30 seconds of action to take place over eight minutes. Yes, we’re now running long into the MLS broadcast window. Thanks, UConn, for missing all those free throws.
For TV viewers in the US: The good news is that Connecticut’s dominant women’s basketball team, often an annoyance for other teams who think it’d be nice if someone else won for a change, has pulled away from UCLA, which means the game preceding our broadcast is likely to end on time.
And I’ve spoken too soon, as UCLA hits a 3-pointer to cut the lead to nine, just enough to make the Bruins feel justified in taking timeouts to prolong the last minute for an hour or so.
But the other good news is that US sports broadcasts often start long before the game does, so kickoff will be sometime between 3:15 ET and our eventual rule by robots from Proxima Centauri.
The Portland weather report calls for a 100% chance of Portland. That’s wind and rain:
Conditions: in a word, atrocious#mlscup pic.twitter.com/yBK64BTnwf
— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) December 11, 2021
How NYCFC got here: The glamour of a Manchester City/New York Yankees offshoot that brings in Patrick Vieira to coach David Villa, Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard has faded. In its place is a pretty good team.
Like other successful MLS teams of recent years, following the path set by Atlanta United, the roster is heavy on good players from South America and unheralded European countries rather than famous players from England and Italy.
The team in Man City light blue beat Atlanta 2-0 in the first round, shocked New England on kicks from the mark in the quarterfinals after a 2-2 draw, then scrapped their way past what was left of the Philadelphia Union after COVID protocols struck in the semifinals.
Neutrals will bemoan the fate of the Revolution and Union, with good reason, but with Golden Boot winner Taty Castellanos (19 goals) up front, this is not an unworthy title contender. Argentine playmaker Maxi Moralez had 11 assists, and occasional US international Sean Johnson is an adept goalkeeper.
How Portland got here: The Timbers still have some potent players from their 2015 Cup-winning run. Argentine midfielder Diego Valeri isn’t in the same form from his 2017 MVP campaign, but to say he has been successful on this stage would be an understatement. Forward Dairon Asprilla scored a career-high 10 goals, though he missed the semifinal against Real Salt Lake after incurring a last-minute red card against Colorado. Felipe Mora led the team with 11 goals. Steve Clark was claimed off waivers (for non-US audiences: other teams said, “Nah, we don’t want him”) in 2018 and has been a reliable goalkeeper at age 35.
Portland beat Minnesota 3-1 in the first playoff round, upset the top-seeded Colorado Rapids in the quarterfinals and cruised to a win over Real Salt Lake, the seventh and final seed in the West and the architects of an unlikely run to that stage, in a 2-0 decision to complete the trip to a final in their home stadium.
Welcome everyone. We’ve had a thrilling MLS season marked by the runaway dominance of Bruce Arena’s New England Revolution in the East and an entertaining race between the Colorado Rapids, Seattle Sounders and Sporting KC.
So, naturally, we’re about to watch a league championship between NYCFC and the Portland Timbers.
Maybe not the fairest way to determine a league champion, but it’s undeniably exciting.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Patrice Worthy’s look at the Timbers’ troubling history with race.
