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Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson announces that Atticus will attend MLS Cup | SIDELINE

By now most MLS fans know of Atticus Lane-Dupre and the Green Machine.


If you don’t, he’s the youngster who was diagnosed with kidney cancer as an 8 year old and whose youth-league team, Green Machine, got to play against the Portland Timbers in front of more than 3,000 fans during the 2013 season as part of the Make-a-Wish Program. For more, check out the MLS Insider episode above for one the most inspiring thing you’re likely to see today.


So you can understand why Timbers owner Merritt Paulson was so thrilled to announce Wednesday on Twitter that Atticus and his family would be attending Sunday’s MLS Cup title game between the Timbers and Columbus Crew SC (4 pm ET, ESPN, UniMás, TSN, RDS2, MLS LIVE).

When MLSsoccer.com checked in on Atticus a year after that heart-wrenching moment at Providence Park, he was doing great, in the clear cancer-wise, although still going through regular scans, with a low chance of it recurring.


Here’s hoping the Timbers can make another memory for young Atticus.