This weekend, Atlanta United stunned the States by beating Portland Timbers to become MLS Cup champions in their second year in the league. Playing in front of 73,000 home fans, they ran out 2-0 victors on the night.
Marksman Josef Martinez grabbed his 35th goal of the season and assisted Franco Escobar late on. But how did Portland perform in the MLS Cup final? In this tactical analysis piece, well take a closer look at Portland’s play and what cost them the 2018 MLS Cup.
Struggles moving up the pitch
A big feature of the way Portland have been playing in the playoffs has been counter-attacking. Rather than taking the game to their opponents, they’ve tended to soak up pressure and hit teams on the break.
This is a game plan they didn’t stray from, but coming up against an energetic Atlanta side, this wasn’t the right approach. This is because of the positions Portland would begin their attacks from being too deep as a result.
This shows how Portland’s approach proved to be detrimental in the long run. This was a theme in the first half as Portland couldn’t deal with the manner of which Atlanta pressed the ball. Also disappointing was the movement off the ball. In that sequence, two passes could have been played if Portland ran into spaces off the ball but it just didn’t happen.
This forced their more attacking players to retreat even further back to get onto the ball. However, this played into Atlanta’s hands and led to the opening goal of the night:
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