Atlanta United’s extraordinary opening chapter came to the ideal conclusion for hometown fans on Saturday night, as an MLS record 73,019 crowd saw them defeat Portland 2-0 to win MLS Cup, in only their second year of existence.

Josef Martinez eased any local memories of infamous Atlanta sporting collapses with a typical poacher’s goal just before half-time, and then with a keen but limited Portland team pushing for a comeback, Franco Escobar finished off a 54th minute set piece at the back post, to tilt the mood in the stadium into decidedly celebratory mode.

Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) MVP! MVP! MVP!



Cool. Calm. Collected. @JosefMartinez17 opens the scoring in #MLSCup https://t.co/ZWD8CQVRC8

With coach Tata Martino leaving to take the Mexico job, and inspirational playmaker Miguel Almiron parlaying his own extraordinary tenure in MLS into a likely move to the Premier League, the coming off-season was always likely to represent an inflection point for an Atlanta project that has steamrollered into the league as both a competitive and cultural force.

At times, even as they have dominated opponents with their high-speed attack, and racked up more points than any other team playing during their short history, that competitive aspect has almost been taken for granted amid the focus on the sheer spectacle of the Atlanta United phenomenon. But make no mistake, in a town without a major sporting championship since 1995, it mattered that the end of the beginning came with a win.

Yet this was also an extraordinary spectacle for the league. Grateful MLS executives may wonder what they have done to deserve this. The last time Portland Timbers appeared in an MLS Cup final, in 2015, they won the title in front of 21,747 fans in Columbus. Now the Timbers found themselves competing in front of a crowd larger than any of the last four Super Bowls, in a state of the art stadium, against a team who didn’t exist three short years ago.

Atlanta fans are not shy about reminding the rest of the league about the benchmarks they have set. Before the game kicked off, a giant tifo banner of a steam train was hoisted in the main supporters’ section. Barreling at full speed, it was emblazoned with the legend “MLS 3.0”.

Presumably we were to imagine this train rumbling over flattened timbers, and in truth, the Timbers could do little to derail Atlanta, on a night when their usual plan of well-drilled containment and countering looked inadequate.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brad Guzan celebrates as Atlanta’s victory is confirmed. Photograph: Jason Getz/USA Today Sports

Both teams started cautiously, befitting the stakes of a final, and Portland perhaps saw a little more of the ball than they may have anticipated early in the game. But Atlanta were the clear aggressors, pushing their overlapping wide players forward trying to pull Portland out of shape, and not shy about sending long balls over the top to test the honesty of Larrys Mabiala and Liam Ridgewell at the heart of the Portland defense.

Still, clear chances were at a premium for both sides, until Atlanta forced a breakthrough from nothing in the 39th minute. Michael Parkhust, the Atlanta captain had lost all four MLS Cups he had played in – the last one in Portland’s 2015 win over his Columbus Crew SC team. Now he had the decisive touch in bringing the Cup to Atlanta. With Portland trying to play the ball out of the back in risky fashion, Parkhurst pounced on a loose touch from Jeremy Ebobisse. His lunging tackle touched the ball towards Josef Martinez on the edge of the box. The Venezuelan’s quick touch and thought left a flailing Ridgewell stranded, before Martinez neatly stepped around Jeff Attinella to place the ball into an empty net.

Portland have made something of a habit of second-half comebacks in this playoff run, not least when Sebastian Blanco’s gut punch of a golazo turned around the Western Conference final. For a brief flash in the early moments of the second half they looked like they might be about to play themselves into this game as well, but then Almiron’s free kick was flicked on by Martinez to meet Escobar’s sprint to the back post, and when the defender placed the ball across Attinella for 2-0, the result rarely looked in doubt.

Portland kept working, but their attacks increasingly looked like backdrops for the curtain calls Atlanta’s stars were taking as the minutes ran down. Man of the match Martinez was subbed out for Hector Villalba in the 86th minute, to an ovation that was perhaps only exceeded by the one for Almiron, in the 90th minute.

It looks likely to be the last minute Almiron plays as an Atlanta player – bigger stages await. Though on the evidence of tonight, not much bigger.</s>Atlanta– Nicknamed “The Five Stripes” Atlanta United defeats the Portland Timbers 2-0 Saturday night inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Atlanta United got things going in the 39th minute with a goal by Josef Martinez to give Atlanta 1-0 lead before the half. In the second half Atlanta strikes again, Franco Escobar in the 54th minute give Atlanta United a 2-0 lead to cruise with that score. Atlanta finishes the season with a 21-7-6 record with 69 points. This is the first MLS Cup Title in Team History. Atlanta United formed in 2014 and started playing their first MLS game in 2017.</s>(Reuters) - Atlanta United FC capped off a spectacular rise when they won the Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup final on Saturday, beating Portland Timbers 2-0 in front of 73,019 festive fans.

In just their second year in the league, Atlanta dominated the Timbers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, scoring a goal in each half.

MLS’ most valuable player Josef Martinez settled Atlanta’s nerves by scoring in the 39th minute, his 35th goal of the season.

The Venezuela striker also had an assist in the second goal early in the second half, flicking on a glancing header to full back Franco Escobar, who ghosted in at the far post to score from point-blank range.

The victory provided a perfect send-off for Atlanta coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, who is leaving to take charge, according to multiple media reports, of the Mexico national team.</s>ATLANTA, Georgia – The Portland Timbers ousted FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium on Halloween. They knocked off rival Seattle Sounders at a hostile CenturyLink Field. They fought back to beat top-seeded Sporting Kansas City on a chilly night at Children’s Mercy Park.

But it wasn’t Portland’s night in Atlanta Saturday.

Three years after hoisting the MLS Cup trophy in Columbus, the Timbers weren’t able to reclaim the championship. Portland’s magical 2018 MLS Cup Playoff run came to an end Saturday in the 2018 MLS Cup as the club fell 2-0 to Atlanta United in front of an MLS-record 73,019 fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Atlanta was heavily favored heading into Saturday’s game. The Eastern Conference powerhouse earned an incredible 69 points during the regular season and finished as the runner-up for the MLS Supporters’ Shield. Behind 31 goals from MLS MVP Josef Martinez, Atlanta also led the league with 70 goals over their 34-game campaign. Ahead of Saturday’s game, statistical website FiveThirtyEight gave Atlanta a 77 percent chance of winning their first MLS Cup trophy.

The Timbers were happy to embrace the underdog label. After upsetting three teams on the road en route to the MLS Cup game, Portland believed that it could get the job done away from home once again.

Atlanta was far from dominant in the first half of Saturday’s championship match. Neither team managed to take a shot until the 23rd minute when former Timber and current Atlanta midfielder Darlington Nagbe sent the ball over the net.

But Atlanta didn’t need to wait for a moment of individual brilliance in the attack to score the opening goal Saturday. They just needed to take advantage of a sloppy moment on defense from the Timbers.

Portland forward Jeremy Ebobisse took a heavy touch in the midfield in the 39th minute, enabling Atlanta defender Michael Parkhurst to make a sliding tackle. The ball shot out toward the box where it got past Liam Ridgewell before landing at the feet of Martinez. Martinez dribbled around Timbers goalkeeper Jeff Attinella and slotted in his 35th goal of the year to give Atlanta a big 1-0 lead.

Franco Escobar put the game all but out of reach in the 54th minute. Miguel Almiron placed a beautiful free kick into the box for Martinez, who flicked a header on for Escobar. Escobar slid in and scored to give Atlanta the 2-0 lead. The cheers from the crowd, who stayed on their feet throughout the entire game, were deafening.

Despite disappointment of Saturday’s loss, the Timbers can still be proud of their success in 2018. With a new coach in Giovanni Savarese and a handful of new players, Portland came together late in the year to make an unexpected run to the MLS Cup.

Portland has had a history of success over the last six years. Since 2013, the Timbers have finished first in the Western Conference during the regular season twice, reached the Western Conference Championship series three times and made a run to the MLS Cup twice, winning the MLS Cup trophy in 2015.

But after celebrating their first MLS Cup on the field in Columbus in 2015, the Timbers were forced to watch Atlanta hoist the coveted trophy Saturday night.</s>The title drought is over in Atlanta: The city's soccer club, Atlanta United, won the championship of Major League Soccer on Saturday night with a 2-0 victory over the Portland Timbers.

It marked the city's first major sports title since the Braves won baseball's World Series in 1995.

Josef Martinez and Franco Escobar scored for United, while goalkeeper Brad Guzan made some clutch saves.

"It's not every day you get to win a title," Guzan said. "To be a part of this is truly special."

When the match was over, a record crowd of more than 73,000 fans celebrated at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium -- while the rock band Queen's song, "We Are The Champions," played.

"Most of us aren't from here, so we don't know the pain that they've been through," said United captain Michael Parkhurst, who broke his own title drought after playing on four runner-up teams. "I'm just happy that we could come through for them tonight. I know there were a lot of anxious and stressed-out fans."

Portland was seeking its second MLS championship after winning the cup in 2015. They had eliminated Dallas, Seattle and Kansas City before losing in the final.

Atlanta, in just its second season in the league, had beaten New York City FC and then the New York Red Bulls to earn the right to host the championship.

The championship was Atlanta's second in soccer: The Atlanta Chiefs claimed the title in the old North American Soccer League in 1968.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.</s>It all comes down to this. The final match of the season kicks off as Atlanta United FC takes on the Portland Timbers in the 2018 MLS Cup. The game will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, where there is expected to be a new MLS Cup record crowd. Sportsbooks list Atlanta United at -225 to win (bet $225 to win $100), while Portland is an underdog at +575 (risk $100 to win $575). A draw is listed at +360 after 90 minutes of play, and the Over/Under for total goals scored is 2.5. Before you lock in your 2018 MLS Cup picks, you'll wan't to see who SportsLine's Roger Gonzalez is picking.

Gonzalez grew up playing competitive soccer before becoming one of the world's foremost soccer journalists. After covering soccer all over the globe -- a Champions League final in Italy, Copa America, professional leagues in Argentina -- Gonzalez returned to the U.S. as CBS Sports' top soccer expert. He has his finger on the pulse of MLS teams.

Now, Gonzalez has analyzed Saturday's MLS Cup 2018 from every possible angle to reveal a strong money-line pick that he's only sharing at SportsLine.

Gonzalez is well aware that Atlanta United features the most explosive attack in Major League Soccer. In fact, the Five Stripes scored 70 goals this season, the most by any club. Striker Josef Martinez won the 2018 MLS Golden Boot trophy, finishing with 31 regular-season goals, nine more than Zlatan Ibrahimovic's 22. And Atlanta gets the benefit of hosting the 2018 MLS Cup on Saturday, where the Five Stripes have lost just two games this season.

But just because the United feature an explosive offensive attack doesn't mean there's value in backing them on the money line.

Portland has flourished on the road in the 2018 MLS playoffs. The Timbers defeated FC Dallas away from home in the knockout stage and beat the arch-rival Sounders at CenturyLink Field in a dramatic penalty shootout in the Western Conference Semifinal. Portland then beat the top-seed Sporting Kansas City on the road, 3-2, to help the Timbers advance to their second MLS Cup final since 2015.

Now, the Timbers get a chance to win their second MLS Cup championship in franchise history on Saturday. Portland had success against Atlanta earlier this season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Timbers led Atlanta 1-0 at halftime before eventually tying 1-1 in their only meeting this season back in June.

We can tell you Gonzalez is leaning over 2.5 goals, and he's also identified a critical x-factor that makes one side of the money line a strong value. He's only sharing what it is, and who to back, at SportsLine.

So who wins the 2018 MLS Cup? And what critical x-factor makes one side of the money line a major value? Visit SportsLine now to get Roger Gonzalez's exclusive Atlanta vs. Portland pick for the 2018 MLS Cup, all from an esteemed soccer expert who has his finger on the pulse of the MLS, and find out.</s>Back before the start of the 2012 season, MLS commissioner Don Garber issued a cautionary note about the “ghost of the NASL” and how it still “haunts the corridors of MLS”. When more than 70,000 people cram into Mercedes-Benz Stadium this Saturday, to watch Atlanta United host Portland Timbers in the MLS Cup final, it will be a spectacle that suggests that ghost has long since been exorcised.

Certainly, Atlanta’s arrival into the league represented a quantum leap for MLS on multiple fronts. Everything from crowd numbers, to the profile of the club’s first head coach, Tata Martino, to their training facilities, represented unprecedented benchmarks for any MLS team, let alone an expansion side. It’s meant that whatever happens on the field on Saturday, we will witness one of the most significant domestic soccer games in US history. That Atlanta are hosting a team, in Portland, who have given us some of the most memorable images of fan culture over the past decade, only enriches that set up.

Yet the ghost of the NASL will still be in the building – though perhaps as a more benign spirit than the tortured (and bankrupt) one Garber invoked. Garber was fretting about the boom-and-bust spending of the 1970s NASL, and attempting to cast the modest growth of MLS in the years following its own brush with disaster in 2002, as a necessary precaution against a similar fate. But there’s another version of events that sees current MLS success stories like Atlanta and Portland as building on the past and drawing some of their cultural presence from everything that went before them.

Atlanta and Portland are former NASL cities who each appeared in Soccer Bowls in the 1970s, and the construction of their soccer cultures has been shaped over decades of complicated histories with the sport. Both teams arrived in MLS (Atlanta in 2017, Portland in 2011) as seemingly fully formed cultural presences from day one. To critics and rivals that was enough to see them as suspect hipster novelties, untested by lean years.

But that doesn’t tell the full story. Both cities have had complex soccer trajectories over the years since their NASL days. Yet somehow, via the indoor game, college sports, and some extraordinary individuals, a small but distinct grassroots culture was maintained that both the current MLS organizations have been able to tap into.

It has also meant crossover between the two cities. When Portland hosted the 2014 MLS All-Star game during the period when their crowds and tifo displays made them the darlings of the league, I spent half-time interviewing future Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank in an executive box at the stadium, as he thoughtfully took in the scene with his family.

Gesturing to the raucous crowds at Portland’s intimate converted baseball stadium, he outlined the plans for his new joint-purpose NFL/MLS stadium in Atlanta, to ensure a similar atmosphere for his new soccer team, and spoke hopefully about the remarkably long planning runway his new team were on.

Given the struggles of the then still-existing NASL Atlanta Silverbacks and the rather mixed record of NFL owner-patrons of MLS teams, even ones as savvy as Blank, few expected the nascent Atlanta United to take off from that runway at the speed they have. But as the months ticked by towards launch, the new team kept hitting their marks, from branding, to season ticket sales, to the appointment of the former Barcelona and Argentina coach Martino, to the signings of Miguel Almiron and Josef Martinez, who broke the league’s goalscoring record this season.

Yet it’s wrong to characterize what’s happened in Atlanta as only a highly moneyed startup — for United, and the Timbers, their current standing represents a 50-year overnight success.

Modern Atlanta soccer arguably has its roots in a burst of interest that followed the 1966 World Cup. Back in the late 1960s, at the now demolished Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, weekdays would see two men, Phil Woosnam and Clive Toye, pull a pair of desks out of a locker room into the stadium tunnel. They would plug in a couple of phones and complete the assembly of the Atlanta Chiefs first “office”, as the more serious business of baseball went on around them.

From that modest starting point, the Chiefs would become one of the success stories of the early NASL – winning the title in 1968. That same year they silenced Manchester City’s Malcolm Allison after the team he’d derided as “fourth division standard” beat the champions of England twice on their summer tour.

Attendances were never high by the eye-watering standards of the modern Atlanta United – who average more than 50,000 fans a game – but those who were there were witnessing some key moments in American soccer history. Woosnam, the Chiefs’ first team coach, moved on to become an inspirational commissioner of the NASL, and Toye would go on to make his name running the New York Cosmos during the Pele inspired heyday of league and club. In their absence, Atlanta soccer would stumble until United’s emergence. Yet throughout the struggles a certain folk memory of the sport lived on, and has added a grain of authenticity to Atlanta United’s life in the city.

Portland Timbers, too, stand on the shoulders of those who came before, and as an organization have always leaned into their past. In 2012, a few months after Garber’s “ghost of the NASL” remark, their fans hoisted a stadium wide tifo honoring Clive Charles, who as a former player for the Timbers in the NASL days, had gone on to build a powerhouse soccer program at the University of Portland (starting the career of Kasey Keller among others).

The wording on the banner read: “Legends are born when the previous are surpassed”. And it was a message not only to visiting Seattle fans, but to the rest of the league, that in only their second year as an MLS team, Portland were not new to this.

Now, in 2018, the Timbers visit Atlanta, hoping to play spoilers to the hosts’ own second year of existence. If they do, Atlanta’s response to adversity, on what’s otherwise been a relentless two-year upswing, could become one of the most telling inflection points in their history. But win or lose, they’re not new to this either. There will be ghosts in the house.</s>Atlanta United has home-field advantage and enjoyed the better regular season, but the Portland Timbers have been road warriors all postseason and will look for another win in an enticing MLS Cup final.

The two conference champions meet at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where more than 70,000 are expected to watch the league crown its 23rd champion. The two sides played to a 1-1 draw in their only regular-season meeting, which was also in Atlanta earlier this year. Both boast a host of South American talent, with Atlanta featuring single-season-record goal-scorer Josef Martinez and playmaker Miguel Almiron, among others; Portland, meanwhile, counters with a Diego Valeri, Sebastian Blanco and Diego Chara midfield.

The match will be the final one in Atlanta for manager Tata Martino, who has already announced he'll be leaving the club. For his counterpart, Giovanni Savarese, the match marks his fifth final in six seasons as a manager, with the previous four coming in NASL with the New York Cosmos.

Stay tuned here for live updates and highlights of goals and key plays throughout the match :

Here are the lineups for both sides:

Portland is seeking its second title in four seasons, while Atlanta is looking to win in just its second year of existence.</s>Atlanta United and the Portland Timbers meet in the final match of the season. 90 minutes to decide the MLS Cup winner. With just one last game to go, there are plenty of storylines and key matchups that will determine the course those 90 minutes take.

Will Atlanta’s relentless attack prove unstoppable one more time? Or will Portland’s stellar defensive shape nullify the Atlanta firepower?

This matchup is a delicious clash of styles, with Atlanta United actually playing right into the hands of how Portland has progressed this season. The Timbers owned the third-least possession of all MLS teams this season, while Atlanta held the most. This will make for a fascinating 90 minutes to see how the fifth-seeded Timbers can hold off Atlanta and look for goals of their own.

Portland relied on this defensive midfield pairing against Sporting KC in the semifinals, helping keep Kansas City choked off in the danger area outside the top of the box. It’s likely that Giovanni Savarese deploys both together yet again in the finals, but even if only one plays, whoever is on the field will have the responsibility of keeping Miguel Almiron locked down, and force the creative weight on those behind him – like Julian Gressel and Darlington Nagbe. While both those players are talented – Gressel in particular has come on strong of late – neither is as important to this team as Almiron, and stopping his marauding will be priority number one. This is the most obvious battle that Portland must win if the Timbers are to pull off yet another upset.

There is some serious MLS experience among this matchup. With Jeremy Ebobisse coming on strong of late for Portland, Valeri has moved back into a more creative role, but he still remains the Timbers’ biggest goalscoring threat. Portland as a team scored the joint-most headed goals in the league this regular season with 14 as well as ranking third in the league on set-piece goals, so Parkhurst and Larentowicz, alongside Argentinian Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, will need to be mistake-free in the air.

But guarding the aerial threat will hardly be enough to keep Valeri under wraps. His creativity not only opens up teammates, but can also create chances for himself out of seemingly nothing. The experienced Atlanta defense cannot allow Valeri to open space on his own, as the possessional advantage Atlanta will almost certainly enjoy should limit the amount of opportunities Portland can create. Therefore, the Atlanta defense needs to make Valeri earn his chances and not allow them to magically appear out of nothing.

Atlanta succumbed to a 1-1 draw the first time these teams met, as Portland locked Atlanta down at Mercedes-Benz Stadium despite a huge possessional advantage for the hosts. Why? They limited Atlanta’s attack and completed a number of deep key passes from the midfield area on the counter. 23-year-old Eric Remedi wasn’t around for that first meeting in late June, only arriving two weeks later in the summer transfer window. The Argentinian midfielder immediately slotted into the starting lineup and has played every single league minute since his first start on July 29. His presence will be critical if Atlanta is to neutralize the Portland counter, as he will not only be tasked with keeping the speedy Portland forwards at bay, but also not giving away needless fouls that would allow Portland to enjoy set-piece opportunities, which often go hand-in-hand with counters.

It goes without saying that if Portland is to play its desired style and let Atlanta control the ball, goalkeeper Jeff Attinella must be on top of his game. The 30-year-old American has been here before, but only as a backup, forced to watch from the bench as Nick Rimando couldn’t lead Real Salt Lake to victory on penalties in 2013. Now with the starting job and a popular cheer from the home fans, “Jeff Jeff Jeff” will need to stand tall to keep Portland in the match.</s>Atlanta United, a.k.a. "The 5 Stripes," a.k.a. ATL UTD, has done the unthinkable and won the Major League Soccer Cup in just two years.

The expansion MLS team defeated the Portland Timbers by a score of 2-0 tonight, here in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The two goals were scored by Franco Escobar and Josef Martinez.

There will be a parade Monday, December 10, at 10 a.m. on Peachtree Street, running through Downtown and Midtown Atlanta. It will start at the corners of Peachtree Street and Baker Street, and will end in The Home Depot Backyard at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with a pep rally that will start at noon. Arthur Blank, as well as Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Governor Nathan Deal will be in attendance, along with many other ATL VIPs and fans. Make sure you're there!
In its second season, Atlanta United FC wins the MLS Cup, defeating the Portland Timbers 2–0 in front of a record crowd of 73,019 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.