MLS is Back Tournament Final

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Bay Lake hosted the final.
Event	MLS is Back Tournament
Portland Timbers Orlando City SC 2 1
Date	August 11, 2020 (2020-08-11)
Venue	ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Bay Lake, Florida, US
Man of the Match	Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers)[1]
Referee	Ismail Elfath[2]
Attendance	0 (behind closed doors)

The MLS is Back Tournament Final, known as the MLS is Back Tournament Final presented by Wells Fargo for sponsorship reasons, was a soccer match held on August 11, 2020 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Florida. It was the final match of the MLS is Back Tournament, a competition marking the resumption of the 2020 Major League Soccer season following the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The match was played behind closed doors due to the pandemic and was broadcast on ESPN beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.^[3]

Portland Timbers won the match 2–1 to win the MLS is Back Tournament and were presented the trophy after the game. As winners, Portland received $300,000 in prize money and also earned a spot in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. They qualified for the United States' third berth, replacing the 2020 MLS Eastern or Western Conference regular season champions which are not the Supporters' Shield champions.^[4][5]

The match was the first MLS final refereed by a woman, with Kathryn Nesbitt acting as an Assistant Referee.

Road to the final

Match

Portland played in a defensive posture for much of the game, allowing Orlando 64% of the possession but not letting them get into good shooting positions.^[7][8] In the 27th minute Portland scored first, with Larrys Mabiala scoring a header from a free kick by Diego Valeri. Orlando responded with a goal 12 minutes later via a move to the end-line by Nani and a pass to the near post that Mauricio Pereyra finished. Portland scored again about 3/4 of the way through the game; Valeri sent a corner kick to Eryk Williamson, who controlled the ball and sent it toward goal, where Jeremy Ebobisse redirected it to Dario Župarić for a tap-in through Nani's legs. Both of Portland's goals were scored by center backs. The game opened up after that, with Orlando committing more players forward in an attempt to level the score, but Portland's defense continued to hold them off until the final whistle. The game finished with Orlando having only one shot on goal – namely their goal – while Portland had six.^[8]

Details

Portland Timbers

Orlando City SC

GK 12 Steve Clark RB 15 Chris Duvall CB 33 Larrys Mabiala  44' CB 13 Dario Župarić LB 4 Jorge Villafaña  73' CM 21 Diego Chará  70' CM 30 Eryk Williamson RW 44 Marvin Loría  67' AM 8 Diego Valeri (c)  90+1' LW 10 Sebastián Blanco  89' CF 17 Jeremy Ebobisse  67' Substitutes: GK 1 Jeff Attinella GK 31 Aljaž Ivačič DF 18 Julio Cascante DF 25 Bill Tuiloma  90+1' DF 28 Pablo Bonilla DF 32 Marco Farfan MF 19 Tomás Conechny MF 22 Cristhian Paredes MF 40 Renzo Zambrano FW 7 Andy Polo  67' FW 9 Felipe Mora  89' FW 11 Jarosław Niezgoda  67' Manager: Giovanni Savarese

GK 1 Pedro Gallese RB 2 Ruan  85'  87' CB 25 Antônio Carlos  47' CB 6 Robin Jansson LB 4 João Moutinho  63' CM 20 Oriol Rosell  79' CM 8 Sebas Méndez  71' RW 9 Chris Mueller  71' AM 10 Mauricio Pereyra LW 17 Nani (c)  73' CF 13 Tesho Akindele  78' Substitutes: GK 23 Brian Rowe DF 3 Alex DeJohn DF 15 Rodrigo Schlegel DF 24 Kyle Smith  87' DF 27 Kamal Miller MF 11 Júnior Urso  71' MF 21 Andrés Perea MF 34 Joey DeZart MF 77 Robinho FW 18 Daryl Dike  78' FW 19 Benji Michel  71' FW 29 Santiago Patiño  79' Manager: Óscar Pareja

Broadcasting

The match was broadcast on ESPN.