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	vs
MLS is BACK FINAL		Tuesday, August 11 - 5:30 pm PDT - ESPN
1975 (NASL)-2001 (A-League)-2005 (USL)- 2011-2015-2018		2010-2014 (USL Pro)
POR - Portland Timbers (The Timbers) "Forever Green & Gold" "Rose City 'Til I Die" #RCTID Timbers Army "Green is the Color"		ORL - Orlando City SC (The Lions) "Forever Our City" "Vamos Orlando" #OrlandoCity Iron Lion Firm & The Ruckus "La Grande Victoria"
#13 | F4 | F Winner | 4-0-2 3rd Final (Cup: '15, '18) F2: Beat LA Galaxy 2-1 F3: Beat Houston 2-1 F6: Tied LAFC 2-2 R16: Beat 2E-FC Cincinnati 1:1 (4:2) (PSO) QF: Beat 3A-NYCFC 3-1 SF: Beat 2A-Philadelphia 2-1		#22 | A1 | A Winner | 4-0-2 1st Final A1: Beat Inter Miami 2-1 A4: Beat NYCFC 3-1 A6: Tied Philadelphia 1-1 R16: Beat 3C-Montréal 1-0 QF: Beat 2F-LAFC 1:1 (5:4) (PSO) SF: Beat 2D-Minnesota 3-1

TEAMS CELEBRATING JUST 6TH AND 10TH ANNIVERSARIES FACE OFF
With nothing at stake, would we do this again?

MAKING SOURDOUGH EVERYTHING, CA (smt) -- While Major League Soccer celebrates its 25th year, it's two evenly-matched relative newcomers who will play for the MLS is Back Tournament final.   The sixth-year 1A-Orlando Pride Soccer Club has never made the playoffs in its five years but are a win away from a major (albeit short - 13 inches tall) trophy.  The 1F-Portland Timbers have been around for 45 years but are just playing their 10th season in MLS and have already won an MLS Cup ('15).  While Sebastian Blanco has led the Timbers with 3 goals and 5 assists, ORL's Nani has chipped in 3 goals and 3 assists plus a game-winning PSO penalty kick.  While POR has allowed at least one goal in all six matches, ORL has scored just one goal in 3 of the 6 matches.  Each team has survived a PSO while POR has given up five PKs and ORL has missed their only PK attempt. 

The winner will get $300,000, a spot in the 2021 Concacaf Champions League, a one-foot tall trophy, and the title of MLS is Back Champion.  While the wins in the knockout stage do not count in the regular standings, the great group stage performance means ORL will start the "Return to Season" portion of the regular season in 3rd place (vs 9th) in the East and POR will also start in 3rd place in the West (vs 7th-Tied).  Nashville SC and FC Dallas will kick of this Phase 1 (regional in home markets) the next day on August 12 in Dallas (with fans! Limited to 5,110 and no guarantee of a sellout, given it is FC Dallas). However, most teams, including both LA teams won't have fans for at least Phase 1.  The USL has had success with some teams having fans and the only team that has had positive tests was a team that did not play in front of fans (LA Galaxy II).  Go figure.

So would we do this type of pool again?  Having the free pool definitely relieved a lot of stress (money collecting-wise) though I think we would have had more entries if there was $10 on the line.  But while no one complained when NSH withdrew and CHI moved to Group B, I might have got some more pushback on how to make the the knockout stage more fair.  So if MLS decides to do this again, I think it was a lot of fun and the latter matches have been great to watch with lots of goals.  The first group stage matches were hard to watch and once teams got more fit (and the midfield adidas logo shrank in size) and as you got used to no crowd noise (except if you are watching the fake noise on FS1 or TUDN), it was refreshing.  But if MLS does this again, that would mean 3 pools to manage ('21: NCAA, EURO, MLS) which would be tough and even more tough if MLS decides this is a regular season opener and overlaps the NCAA tournament.

Just a reminder of the who will win what...

I'll be doing daily gameday updates on our Blog and re-posted on Twitter.  These updates will be every few days or so and will be emailed out.  Everyone can view their pick and bracket by clicking the "Pick" link in the standings next to their nickname.  If you want to know who everyone is, the Who's Who in the Pool is now available.

Crazy, our 26th straight year doing at least one HWCI pool...
Scott