It has been 40 years since the Portland Timbers first took to the field in the old North American Soccer League. To mark the anniversary, and to coincide with the 2015 MLS Cup, here are 40 facts, tidbits, and stats from #StatMan to know heading into Sunday's battle with Columbus Crew SC (1pm PT, ESPN).
OLD SCHOOL HISTORY
-- The MLS Cup will be the 779th competitive match in Timbers club history.
-- This will be the club’s second finals appearance. Portland played in the Soccer Bowl in 1975 in the 25th match in club history.
-- Portland’s soccer club was officially named the Timbers on March 8, 1975.
-- Columbus Crew SC were formally named on Oct. 17, 1995. The nickname was selected over four other finalists- Explorers, Falcons, Kickers, and Pride.
-- The Timbers are the 13th franchise in MLS history to reach the MLS Cup final.
-- Out of the 13 teams that have joined MLS as an expansion side, the Timbers are the third to make an MLS Cup, following the Chicago Fire (1998) and Real Salt Lake (2009).
PLAYER INFO
-- Diego Valeri has four assists this postseason. With one more assist, Valeri would join eight other MLS players who have had five or more assists in a single MLS postseason. The others are Thierry Henry, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Ante Razov, Hristo Stoitchkov, Marco Etcheverry, Mauricio Cienfuegos, and David Vaudreuil.
-- Rodney Wallace is the longest tenured current Timbers player, having been traded to the club on Nov. 24, 2010 from D.C. United. Along with Wallace, four other Timbers have been with the club since its first MLS season in 2001. They are Darlington Nagbe, Jack Jewsbury, Diego Chara, and Jake Gleeson.
-- Both Will Johnson and Nat Borchers were part of the MLS Cup-winning Real Salt Lake team in 2009.
-- In the 2015 postseason, Dairon Asprilla has one goal and three assists. During the regular season, the Colombian had one goal and two assists.
-- Borchers, Nagbe, and Alvas Powell are the only Timbers who have played every minute of the 2015 postseason. Five Crew SC players have played every minute of its four postseason games (Waylon Francis, Federico Higuain, Kei Kamara, Michael Parkhurst, and Will Trapp).
-- No Timbers player has more minutes in the regular season than defender Jorge Villafaña, who played a career high 2,929 minutes. Only Bobby Boswell and Tyrone Mears played more than Villafaña this season among outfield players in MLS.
ADI, ADI, ADI
-- Forward Fanendo Adi has had a season to remember, scoring 18 goals across all competitive matches in 2015. Adi is the fifth Timbers player to score 18 goals in a single season, joining Peter Withe (1975), Fadi Afash (2002), McKinley Tennyson (2002), and Byron Alvarez (2004).
- Despite not joining the club until two months into the 2014 season, Adi is also on the doorstep of the club’s goalscoring record over two consecutive seasons. His 29 competitive goals over the last two seasons ties him with McKinley Tennyson’s 2002/2003 seasons and leaves him one behind Byron Alvarez’s 30 goals scored in the 2003/2004 seasons.
-- No Timbers player in MLS play has scored more regular season goals than Adi in a single year (16 this season) or a career (25).
-- Adi has also made a penchant for scoring braces. His nine multi-goal games in the last two seasons is tied with LA's Robbie Keane and NYRB's Bradley Wright-Phillips for most in the league.
GEOGRAPHY BEE
-- Only four African-born players have scored 15 or more goals in a single MLS season. Portland’s Fanendo Adi and the Crew’s Kei Kamara both accomplished the feat this year, joining Seattle's Obafemi Martins (2014, 2015) and Tampa Bay Mutiny's Mamadou Diallo (2000).
-- If he plays, Darlington Nagbe will become the first Liberian-born player to play in an MLS Cup. Though Liberian born, Nagbe became a naturalized U.S. citizen earlier this fall and has two caps with the USMNT.
-- No Norwegian-born player has ever won an MLS Cup, something goalkeeper Adam Kawarsey, born in Oslo, could change on Sunday.
-- This is the first MLS Cup to pair two teams from different states that start with the same letter--Oregon and Ohio.
2015, WHAT A YEAR
-- The Timbers entered the postseason on a three-game winning streak. After not having a three-game win streak during the first four seasons in MLS, Portland had two such streaks this season.
-- With multiple streaks with three or more wins, 2015 joins 2009, 2004, 2003, 1981, and 1975 for seasons with two or more three-match win streaks.
-- Portland recorded 13 shutouts this season, which tied for the most in MLS in 2015. The club's 35 clean sheets over the last three seasons leads the league.
-- For just the second time in club history, Portland made it out of the semifinal round of its league's postseason tournament. After 1975's Soccer Bowl appearance, the Timbers had lost in the round before the final in 1978 (NASL), 1989 (WSL), 2007 (USL), 2009 (USL), and 2013 (MLS).
-- In all competitions this season, the Timbers have won 18 matches, which ties for the fourth most wins in a season for the club. This year's club trails only 1978, 2004, and 2013 for wins.
-- This season, Portland tied for third in the overall MLS standings with Columbus and Vancouver on 53 points. It is the second time in the past three seasons that the Timbers have finished in the top three in Supporters' Shield standings.
-- Sunday's MLS Cup will be the sixth playoff match for Portland this season, the most the Timbers have ever played in a single postseason.
CONNECTIONS
-- On Sunday, the MLS Cup will be played at Crew Stadium for the second time in league history. Dwayne De Rosario scored the Golden Goal as the San Jose Earthquakes defeated the LA Galaxy, 2-1.
-- Portland goalkeeper Adam Kawarsey and Columbus goalkeeper Steve Clark have gone head-to-head five times throughout their careers in both MLS and the Norwegian Tippeligaen. Kawarsey’s teams have had the advantage, going 3-1-1 in the matches.
-- The original head coach of the Columbus Crew was Timo Liekoski, who played and coached at Hartwick College. U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer and former Timbers player Glenn Myernick also attended Hartwick.
-- Columbus Crew manager Gregg Berhalter was a member of the LA Galaxy side who lost to Nat Borchers and Will Johnson in the 2009 MLS Cup Final. Berhalter played the whole match and converted a penalty kick during his team's 5-4 shootout loss.
-- Manager Caleb Porter spent seven seasons as head coach of the University of Akron with whom he won an NCAA National Championship in 2010. Akron is approximately a two-hour drive to Columbus.
-- As manager of Akron and the Timbers, Porter has a recored of 84-6-11 in games played in the state of Ohio.
-- In 2003, Porter was part of the coaching staff that led the University of Indiana to the NCAA Championship. Both the semifinal and final that year took place at the then-named Columbus Crew Stadium.
-- Darlington Nagbe grew up in Lakewood, Ohio and attended the University of Akron, where he played for Porter. The midfielder also played for the Cleveland Internationals at both the youth and PDL level.
-- Timbers midfielder Michael Nanchoff is an Ohio native who was born in North Royalton. The son of former U.S. national team player, George, Nanchoff has played for Porter at both Akron and the Timbers.
-- Another Ohio native who is on the Portland roster is Ben Zemanski. The midfielder, who has missed the 2015 season with an injury, was born in Akron and played for the Zips under Porter.
-- The Columbus Crew have two players, Chad Barson and Will Trapp, who played at University of Akron for Porter.
-- Timbers assistant coach Cameron Knowles played at Akron, as did Player Relations Manager/Video Analyst Pablo Moreira.
-- MAPFRE Stadium to one of two stadiums in Ohio that the Timbers have played in as a club. The other was when Portland played at the Cleveland City Stars in 2009 at the Middlefield Cheese Stadium in Bedford.
