Only Diego Chara, Diego Valeri and Jake Gleeson from the Portland Timbers’ current active roster, were with the club when they made their first MLS Cup Playoffs Conference Championship appearance in 2013, but the lessons the organization has learned through three conference final appearances in six years continue to inform this year’s run.
On a day-to-day basis, those lessons inform travel plans, training schedules, and player routines as they prepare for their most important games of the season. In the broader picture, they provide for a learned perspective on Major League Soccer’s two-legged, 180-minute conference finals.
From 2013’s losing battle against a classic Real Salt Lake core to 2015’s triumph over FC Dallas en route to the team’s first MLS star, here are some lessons to keep in mind as the Timbers transition into this year’s game two.
The tone from game one can definitely carry over …
Five years ago, the Timbers jumped out early on RSL, with Will Johnson’s 14th-minute free kick giving Portland fans reason to believe a matchup that had confounded their team throughout the season would, at its most important point, turn. Come halftime, though, Real Salt Lake was back on top, scoring the first two of their four goals en route to a 4-2 advantage after leg one.
A similar dynamic played out in 2015, too, albeit in the Timbers’ favor. Thanks to goals from Liam Ridgewell, Dairon Asprilla and Nat Borchers, Portland took a two-goal lead out of the first leg in Goose Hollow, vaulting off their 3-1 win to, eventually, take a 5-3 aggregate victory over FC Dallas.
In both cases, the dynamic that began in leg one carried through to full time, with RSL and, two years later, Portland setting a tone that carried through to the 180-minute mark. While that isn’t always the case for soccer’s two-legged matchups, both times the Timbers have made it this far, the first leg told the series’ ultimate tale.
… but the type of game? That could definitely change.
Through the telling of that tale, though, the tone of the story can drastically change. Take the second leg in 2013, for example. After a six-goal shootout two weeks earlier in Utah, Portland and RSL would score only once in Goose Hollow. Unfortunately for Timbers fans, that goal went against them, with Salt Lake’s Robbie Findley all but sealing his team’s MLS Cup return with a 29th minute goal. Come full time, the control Jason Kreis’ team had established at Rio Tinto Stadium stayed true at Providence Park, even if the manner of the control changed drastically from game one.
Two years later, the second leg played out differently, with Portland and Dallas combining for as many goals in Frisco (four) as they’d scored in Oregon. But the way those goals arrived was noticeably different. Despite creating a number of good chances over leg two’s first 45 minutes, FC Dallas failed to breakthrough, allowing Portland to carry their 3-1 edge into the matchup’s final quarter. When Fanendo Adi beat Jesse González in the 54th minute, Portland had all the goals they’d need, even if Dallas eventually pushed the score to 5-3.
Perhaps it’s too much of a truism to note that a match takes on a different pose while approaching its final moments, but as a reminder, that truism is helpful when trying to imagine this year’s leg two. Portland and Sporting played out a tight, even first 90 minutes, but at some point in Kansas, the game is going to have to open up. When it does, it will look nothing like the game that played out at Providence Park.
Seeding, home field not as important as form
By now, Portland fans have learned, for better and worse: Seeding really doesn’t matter, that much; at least, if you’re using the regular season standings as a cheat sheet to determining which team is stronger, you’re not considering enough information. In a league where the first 34 games are about preparing for the last five (or six), you have to contextualize the first season’s results.
Portland learned that in 2013, when an RSL team that had failed to track them down at the top of the conference proved demonstrably better over the Timbers’ last 180 minutes. Two years later, Portland was in Salt Lake’s boots, showing their conference’s top seed that their regular-season form didn’t carry much weight in the season’s penultimate round.
On Thursday, Sporting will be in the same position as 2013’s Timbers and the Dallas team of 2015, something that doesn’t guarantee they're destined for the same fate. Still, any reliance on home field by players or fans would fly in the face of lessons Portland’s learned.
Experience may matter, a lot
The other commonality from the Timbers’ two previous conference championship appearances: the team that had been together longest won out. In 2013, that meant an RSL squad that had been competing at the top of the league since 2009 had the edge on Portland, whose group had been mainly brought together that offseason. Two years later, though, a Timbers core forged around Chara and Valeri – as well as Darlington Nagbe, Adi and Ridgewell – applied the lessons from their prior disappointment, knocking off a Dallas team still incorporating some of its brightest young talents.
As it concerns Thursday, it’s unclear which team has the experience edge. On one hand, Portland still has Chara, Valeri and Ridgewell, while players like Jorge Villafaña, Asprilla, Lucas Melano and Alvas Powell were with the team, before. Sporting’s identity, however, is built around players like Matt Besler, Graham Zusi and Seth Sinovic – veterans who helped guide the team to a title in 2013.
On both sides, there are core players who are capable of imparting 2013 and 2015’s lessons on the rest of their group. The difference on Thursday may be less about which team has more knowledge at its disposal. Instead, it may come down to which side can leverage that knowledge most.
