Sunday 6 December 2015 22:48, UK
Columbus Crew face Portland Timbers on Sunday night in the MLS Cup final, and we take a look at what to expect.
As two of MLS' best performing clubs go head-to-head to win the most prestigious prize in American soccer, we look at both club's routes to the final as well as a verdict from a current MLS player.
Watch the MLS Cup final live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 9.15pm on Sunday.
Route to the final
Portland have never reached the MLS Cup final since joining the league in 2011, but have the opportunity to win the trophy before their rivals Seattle Sounders.
Columbus and Portland finished in second and third respectively in their conferences, both taking major scalps on route to the final.
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Portland were saved by both goalposts in a penalty shoot-out to stop Sporting Kansas City from progressing to the finals at the knockout stage, before dispatching Cascadia rivals Vancouver Whitecaps.
Their conference final saw them beat FC Dallas in the Western Conference Championships. The second leg ended as a 2-2 draw, meaning a 5-3 aggregate win for the Timbers.
For Columbus, their second-place seeding meant playing one less round than Portland, and hard-fought wins over Didier Drogba's Montreal Impact and Bradley Wright-Phillips' New York Red Bulls have seen them secure safe passage to the final for the first time since their victorious 2008 campaign.
The strikers
Both clubs are expected to impose their high-pressing style of play in this decisive clash, with head coaches Caleb Porter and Gregg Berhalter expecting a lot from their target-man strikers Fanendo Adi and Kei Kamara.
Adi has scored 18 goals in 27 starts, while Kamara has 24 goals in 34 matches. Both players have been catalysts for their teams and have the responsibility to lead the lines on their own.
One of the main tasks for Portland will be to stop Kamara from connecting with the ball aerially, meaning Liam Ridgewell and Nat Borchers, both 6ft 2in, will have to be in a combative mood to prevent the striker from having a major influence on the match.
Meanwhile, Adi's size and power caused problems to FC Dallas' backline, with their head coach Oscar Pareja deciding to play two different central defenders over the two legs.
Adi's goal to give Portland a 1-0 lead highlighted how they struggled to contain the powerful Nigerian, meaning a clear strategy will need to be adopted to stop their main danger man.
The managers
Porter and Berhalter are both considered promising up-and-coming coaches in MLS, neither having managed in an MLS Cup before.
For Porter, Portland was his first job in the professional game having managed the highly-regarded college team Akron Zips. The 40-year-old has brought many of the US' brightest young players through the college system, and has aimed to prove in his two years of managing the Timbers that he is capable of bringing his expansive, passing game to the highest level of the US game.
Similarly, Berhalter had only managed one side before taking over at Columbus Crew. The former defender went to Scandinavia to manage Hammarby IF, becoming the first American to manage a professional team in Europe.
He was named Columbus manager in 2013, and in two years, Berhalter has taken the Crew from a team sitting eighth in the eastern conference to a second place regular-season finish.
His game plan revolves around flying full-backs and narrow wingers, with the aim of keeping the ball along with a flexibility to play a more direct style when required.
The verdict
Before the conference finals took place last weekend, Philadelphia Union midfielder Michael Lahoud successfully predicted a Crew v Timbers final. He provides us with his thoughts on how the tie could play out, yet feels the result is too hard to predict.
"I see it as a tight match, possibly being a 2-1 extra-time match. I don't know who would win but I think a set piece goal would be the winner, that's my prediction.
"Either Kei [Kamara] with the winner - which would mark a fairy-tale season for him - or any of the tall, timber trees up there [at Portland] with Nat Borchers or Liam Ridgewell."
