“There's a million different ways you can do it in MLS.”
Those were Jim Curtin’s words after his Philadelphia Union secured the Supporters’ Shield last year, their first major trophy and proof of concept for Philly’s thrifty, academy-centric, pressing-driven model. And indeed, there’s more than one way to win in Major League Soccer.
Over the past decade or so its member clubs’ diversity of approach has grown with the league itself. That said, so has the "copycat" phenomenon.
Whenever a club finds a winning formula, there’s a very good chance others will study what they’ve done and incorporate elements of it – or even copy it whole cloth – for their own purposes. Philly’s 2020 success, for example, inspired pieces like this as others took close note.
So as we count down to Saturday’s MLS Cup final between the Portland Timbers and New York City FC, what lessons might others be cribbing? Let’s take a look.
What’s difficult to reproduce about these finalists
Right off the bat, their competitors might point out some unique advantages these contenders enjoy. For NYCFC that starts with their owners City Football Group, the global network that revolves around parent club Manchester City and its owners in Abu Dhabi but shares important infrastructure and economies of scale across its 10 members, scattered from England to Spain to China to Australia and beyond.
CFG pool a variety of resources, from coaching education to tactical philosophies (the so-called “City way”), though scouting and player acquisition are perhaps the most immediately tangible benefits for NYC. At the time of an in-depth analysis by The Athletic’s Sam Stejskal two years ago, the multinational conglomerate employed about 10 full-time scouts around the world and five or six times that many on a part-time basis.
That’s an extremely valuable set of eyes and ears operating on a scale that no one in MLS, save perhaps their cross-Gotham rivals the New York Red Bulls, can match. It helped them spot Brazilian striker Heber in the Croatian first division, for instance, and brought Jesus Medina in from Paraguay. And when the system identifies a desirable player, the clubs can work together on loan moves, training stints and the like.
Santiago Rodriguez, one of the Cityzens’ top performers in these Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, arrived in the Bronx earlier this year on a loan from Montevideo City Torque in his native Uruguay. That was also the previous home of MLS Golden Boot winner Valentin Castellanos, who joined NYCFC on loan before a permanent transfer was inked in November 2018. Comparable past arrangements involving Yangel Herrera and Jack Harrison benefited both the New York and Manchester outposts of CFG.
Portland, too, have been astute with their scouting. Theirs is a veritable foreign legion of a roster, with 16 nations represented, arriving from around the world via a range of mechanisms. Last winter, general manager and president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson saw opportunity amid the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing in Josecarlos Van Rankin on loan from Chivas Guadalajara and completing permanent transfers for Felipe Mora and Claudio Bravo at what he described as “less than half of their current market value.”
The Timbers also command a different sort of distinction: Their home base is ‘Soccer City USA,’ per capita one of the most soccer-mad corners of the United States or Canada. PTFC have long carried a long season-ticket waiting list and demand is such that the club financed an $85 million expansion to add 4,000 seats a couple of years ago. The supporter culture is rich and deeply rooted, fueling a visceral home-field advantage and financial sustainability well above and beyond what might otherwise be considered a “small market.”
That doesn’t make the Timbers big spenders per se; MLS Players Association documents suggest they sit smack in the MLS middle class this season, below the median, in fact, in terms of roster spend. But they can spring splashier moves when required, and big-ticket items like Diego Chara, Diego Valeri and Sebastian Blanco have paid off handsomely for them over the years. Their passionate fans expect that sort of ambition, and the vibrant atmosphere of Portland’s soccer culture adds to the club’s appeal for players.
What’s easier to reproduce about these finalists
Both these teams have gotten many of their biggest signings right, starting with Designated Players like Chara, his brother Yimmi, Blanco – Portland’s highest-paid player and most productive attacker – Castellanos and NYC playmaker Maxi Moralez. It continues with TAM and U22 Initiative pickups like Rodriguez, PTFC winger Santiago Moreno and, so far at least, City striker Talles Magno.
The Cityzens have gotten younger and more mobile since the bruising 2015 expansion campaign in which they finished 17th in the overall league table, tacking away from older star names like Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard in favor of academy talent like James Sands and rising talents from abroad like Castellanos and Rodriguez.
Aiming for the fluid, proactive soccer that Man City have become synonymous with, they’ve remained a front-foot possession side across the managerial tenures of Patrick Vieira, Dome Torrent and now Ronny Deila. Stats Perform data shows that City held 53.1% possession in 2021, fifth-highest in MLS, and averaged 27.5 touches per match in the opponents’ penalty box, second only to LAFC (28.4).
That capacity for controlling the tempo has shined in this postseason, enabling them to disorganize Atlanta United in Round One, then take the game to Shield winners New England Revolution in their pulsating Conference Semifinal upset of the East’s top seed before wearing down Philadelphia’s rugged 4-3-2-1 block last weekend.
Past editions of NYCFC have often struggled in knockout situations: This year marks their first-ever trip past the Conference Semifinal stage. After Sunday’s win over Philly, Sands reeled off several of those disappointing setbacks as he savored the fruits of their burgeoning mental strength.
“I've seen this team have such a tough go of it in the playoffs, losing to Columbus (in 2017), losing to Toronto (in both 2016 and 2019), losing to Orlando (last year),” he said. “All such heartbreaking games, that to finally get over that hurdle means a lot for everybody.”
Noted Deila: “We’ve been very successful in coming to the playoffs six times in a row; we haven't dealt with the pressure before and now we're starting to do that. I think the learning, from the whole club, to win football games and how to deal with that and how to win them when the pressure is on; that’s something you have to learn over time.”
For Portland, it’s been a case of matching tactics and preparation to a veteran-heavy squad with solid continuity from their run to the 2018 MLS Cup final.
Head coach Giovanni Savarese has leaned into that experience with an organized defense and quick counterattacking that’s been quite effective in tournament situations, in many cases happily conceding possession in order to deny key spaces and high-quality scoring chances. Jamon Moore of American Soccer Analysis broke it down in data-centric terms here:
“The core of the team is over 30; that’s experience. And from that experience we want to take our young players and they'll learn how to win these types of games,” Diego Chara told me after their conference semifinal upset of the Colorado Rapids on Thanksgiving. “In the playoffs, we found that way to be patient, try to keep the ball, but at the same time be ready to get our transitions – I think we are really, really good doing that.”
It’s not that Portland park the bus; rather, they have a highly-developed sense of quality over quantity when it counts most, be it defensive shape, looks at goal or even time of year.
“We're comfortable defending deep,” said goalkeeper Steve Clark, whose shot-stopping is a key part of the equation, on Thanksgiving. “There's no panic. We understand what it takes to dig out of those minutes and to weather their storm.”
While each of the league’s 27 (and counting) teams must settle on their own recipe, there’s plenty of kitchen methodology, so to speak, to be gleaned from this year’s finalists. Time will show us who puts it to good use.
