After a shaky start with teams dropping out due to players testing positive for Coronavirus, the ‘MLS Is Back’ tournament will conclude on Tuesday when Portland Timbers meet Orlando City in the final from the ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex in Florida. You can catch all the action live on ESPN starting at 8pm.
Portland & Orlando Set For ‘MLS Is Back’ Showdown
There’s little to separate the teams going into Tuesday’s final. Seasoned gamblers may be wise to save their money for the slots over at casino en ligne francais. Orlando is seeking its first trophy since joining the league six years ago while Portland will be looking to add to their MLS Cup victory in 2015.
Giovanne Savarese has guided his Portland Timbers to Tuesday’s showdown in Florida with a convincing string of results including five wins and one tie. Portland started the tournament with wins over LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo to get them through the group stages before drawing 2-2 with LAFC who were tournament favorites at sites such as online casino us.
The 2018 MLS Cup finalists then edged past Cincinnati in the round of 16 after a tense penalty shoot out before seeing off NYCFC in the quarter final with a 3-1 victory.
Semi final
Wednesday’s semi final against Philadelphia Union could not have got off to a better start when Jeremy Ebobisse settled Portland’s nerves when he headed home his fourth goal of the tournament from a corner with just 13 minutes on the clock.
Further relief came late in the first half when Philadelphia were awarded a penalty which Sergio Santos sent over the crossbar. Argentine playmaker Sebastian Blanco gave Portland a two goal cushion in the 70th minute with another header from a corner kick.
Philadelphia pushed hard to salvage the game and substitute Andrew Wooten finally opened their account in the 85th minute. Portland’s hearts were in their mouths a minute later when a well worked Union attack resulted in Kacper Przybylko sticking the ball in the net, only to have the goal ruled out by a controversial VAR offside decision.
Savarese
“Great performance from the players,” said Head Coach Gio Savarese after the game.
“Extremely proud of the way the guys were able to execute the plan. A lot of discipline. A lot of work. Lots of honesty in the game from the guys to make sure that we got a very important result.”
Orlando City booked their place in the final after a 3-1 semi final win over Minnesota on Thursday. Nani scored twice for Orlando, including a long range curler into the top corner in the 42nd minute. Minnesota set up a tense finish with a goal from Mason Toye in the 83rd minute, but they couldn’t complete the comeback. Benji Michel put the game to bed with a third goal for Orlando in the last seconds of the match.
“I want to recognize the players who have respected our way despite the pressure that Minneota applied,” said Orlando Head Coach Oscar Pareja after the game.The team had character to continue to possess the ball.
