MLS Cup 2015 was the 20th edition of the

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

, the championship game of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(MLS). The

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

match was to determine the champion of MLS' 2015 season. The championship was contested on December 6, 2015, between the

Columbus Crew SC The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 charter clubs of the league. ...

and the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

MAPFRE Stadium Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer from 1999 u ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, with the latter winning 2–1 and earning a berth into the

2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League The 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2016–17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 9th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 52nd edition of the prem ...

. The Timbers' Diego Valeri scored the fastest goal in MLS Cup history at 27 seconds after Crew

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Steve Clark Stephen Maynard Clark (23 April 1960 – 8 January 1991) was an English musician. He was a guitarist and songwriter for the hard rock band Def Leppard until his death in 1991. In 2007, Clark was ranked No. 11 on ''Classic Rock Magazine's'' "1 ...

miscontrolled his defender's back-pass. Portland doubled their lead in the seventh minute with a goal by Rodney Wallace, and although Columbus got a goal back through

Kei Kamara Kei Ansu Kamara (; born 1 September 1984) is a Sierra Leonean professional footballer who plays as a striker for FC Cincinnati. He is one of 13 players to have scored 100 goals in MLS history, achieving the landmark in 300 appearances. He is ...

in the 18th minute, the Timbers held on for their first MLS Cup championship. It was the first men's professional sports championship for a team from the city of

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

since the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

won the 1977 NBA championship.

Road to the final

Tournament bracket

Match

Summary

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

opened up the scoring early as

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Diego Valeri swiped the ball out from under Columbus

and flicked the ball into the back of the net with one touch at the 27-second mark. It was the fastest ever goal scored in an MLS Cup match. The Timbers kept the pressure on, and when the

assistant referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

failed to call a ball out of bounds after it drifted across the sideline and several Crew players stopped playing, Portland midfielder

Darlington Nagbe Darlington Joephillip Nagbe (born July 19, 1990) is a professional association football, soccer player who plays as a midfielder for and captains Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew. Born in Liberia, he played for the United States men's nat ...

capitalized, passing to forward

Lucas Melano Lucas Santiago Melano (born 1 March 1993) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Miami FC. Club career Belgrano Lucas made his debut for Belgrano on 17 March 2012 where he played 13 minutes as a substitute in a ma ...

to set the table for a goal by left winger Rodney Wallace that put Portland on top 2–0 in the seventh minute. In the 18th minute, Columbus got on the board after Portland goalkeeper

Adam Kwarasey Adambathia Larsen "Adam" Kwarasey (born 12 December 1987) is a retired professional association football, footballer who plays as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Born in Norway, Kwarasey represents Ghana national football team, ...

failed to take control in a scramble at the goal line and Columbus forward

, the league's leading scorer, shot the ball into the net. Kamara's goal to make the game 2–1 ended up as Columbus' only shot on goal of the match. Portland got a number of opportunities to score in the second half, but the Timbers failed to convert. In the 60th minute, a Portland

corner kick A corner kick, commonly known as a corner, is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defe ...

resulted in a loose ball in the penalty box, which ricocheted off the goalpost before being cleared after striking Columbus captain

Michael Parkhurst Michael Finlay Parkhurst (born January 24, 1984) is an American former association football, soccer player who played as a Defender (association football), defender. The 2005 MLS Rookie of the Year Award, MLS Rookie of the Year and 2007 MLS Def ...

's arm on the goal line. However, no

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

was called and no goal was awarded. In the 69th minute, Portland striker Fanendo Adi headed the ball toward the goal, but it deflected off the far goalpost and then bounced away off Clark's body. Clark also stopped a point-blank header from Portland center back

Nat Borchers Nat Borchers (born April 13, 1981) is an American former professional association football, soccer player who played as a defender (association football), defender. He won the MLS Cup in 2009 with Real Salt Lake and in 2015 with the Portland Ti ...

in the 81st minute, and then tipped another shot by Adi over the net shortly thereafter. The game ended with a 2–1 scoreline as Columbus was unsuccessful in taking advantage of Portland's missed opportunities, giving the Timbers their first MLS Cup victory and the city of Portland its first men's pro sports championship since the Portland Trail Blazers won the NBA championship in 1977. Valeri was named the match's

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

Match details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MLS Cup 2015

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

* Columbus Crew matches Portland Timbers matches Soccer competitions in Columbus, Ohio December 2015 sports events in the United States 2015 in sports in Ohio 21st century in Columbus, Ohio