In a dramatic final, New York City beat the Portland Timbers 4-2 on penalties this Saturday (1-1 in regular time) and claimed their first North American Football League title, Major League Soccer (MLS).
Argentina’s Valentín Castellanos, the top scorer of the season in the MLS, opened the scoring in the 41st minute for New York, but Chile’s Felipe Mora forced extra time with a harrowing goal in stoppage time (90 + 4).
On penalties, goalkeeper Sean Johnson saved the shots by Mora himself and Argentine Diego Valeri, and Peruvian Alexander Callens converted the last one, ending hopes at Providence Park, in Portland (Oregon), where the Timbers hosted the final, against 25,218 spectators, for adding more points in the regular phase.
“We had more opportunities. Portland had to take the risk and found the goal, but as they say, if you don’t suffer, you don’t win,” Callens said after the winning penalty.
“It took many years to get to that. I felt a lot of emotion scoring the goal,” said ‘Taty’ Castellanos.
“They fought like us, but luckily we got some luck on penalties and we won. We deserved it.”
The New York team, which is part of the same business group that owns Manchester City, thus achieves its first big success since its arrival in 2015 at MLS, where it attracted the likes of David Villa and Andrea Pirlo in its early years.
“This turnaround shows the character of the team,” said Norwegian New York City coach Ronny Deila, who kept his promise to wear his underwear at the celebration in front of 3,000 New York fans. “It was a great victory and you have to celebrate . I would keep doing it.”
Timbers, on the other hand, did not celebrate the first time they played in the final at home, after the 2015 title and the 2018 runner-up.
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