MLS Cup 2015 was the 20th edition of the

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

, the championship game of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

(MLS). The

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an Soccer in the United States, American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference ( ...

and the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at 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 state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

, 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 Diego Hernán Valeri (born 1 May 1986) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. From 2013 to 2021, Valeri played for Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers, and is regarded as one of the league' ...

scored the fastest goal in MLS Cup history at 27 seconds after Crew

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...

Steve Clark ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

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 CF Montréal of Major League Soccer. He is one of only eleven players to have scored 100 goals in MLS history, achieving the land ...

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 a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

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 league's Western Con ...

won the 1977 NBA championship.

Road to the final

Tournament Bracket

Match

Summary

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

opened up the scoring early as

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

swiped the ball out from under

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

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 tit ...

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 an professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Columbus Crew in Major League Soccer. Born in Liberia, he represented the United States national team. Nagbe spent the first seven ...

capitalized, passing to forward

Lucas Melano Lucas Santiago Melano (born 1 March 1993) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a forward for Newell's Old Boys. Club career Belgrano Lucas made his debut for Belgrano on 17 March 2012 where he played 13 minutes as a substitute in a match ...

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 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 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 defending team. The kick is taken ...

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 soccer player who played as a defender. The 2005 MLS Rookie of the Year and 2007 MLS Defender of the Year Award, Parkhurst was capable of playing both as a center back and r ...

's arm on the goal line. However, no

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic 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 throwing it into the g ...

was called and no goal was awarded. In the 69th minute, Portland striker

Fanendo Adi Fanendo Adi (born 10 October 1990) is a Nigerian footballer who plays as a striker. Club career Europe Following his transfer from AS Trencin, Adi scored a goal in his F.C. Copenhagen debut against FC Vestsjælland on 25 August, despite not ...

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 soccer player who played as a defender. He won the MLS Cup in 2009 with Real Salt Lake and in 2015 with the Portland Timbers. Youth and college career Born in Tucson, Arizona, Borchers ...

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 award, abbreviated '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 particu ...

Match details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MLS Cup 2015

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

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