The Portland Timbers won the 2015 MLS Cup on Saturday against the Columbus Crew 2-1, taking the Major League Soccer championship on the road at MAPFRE Stadium. Diego Valeri opened the game with the fastest goal in championship history and he won the MVP award for the game.
The Timbers won their first championship in team history with goals from Valeri and Rodney Wallace, while the Crew got a goal from Kei Kamara. The Crew went down very early in the game after a misplay by goalkeeper Steve Clark and that allowed Valeri to come in and put the goal in the net. The second goal for Portland came on a controversial play and that ended up being enough for the Timbers to hold on for the championship.
Portland hit the post three times during the game and the Crew pushed hard down the back end of the second half to try and even things up. The second goal from Wallace came after the whistle did not blow following the ball going out of play and that kept things going and allowed Portland to score. The Timbers finished in third place in the western conference this season and the team had to come in and win on the road to take the championship. Valeri put the Crew on high alert after the record-setting goal and Columbus was not able to recover.
