The final match in the MLS Cup 2015 will be between one of the oldest and youngest clubs in the league. This will be the Portland Timbers' maiden trip to the championship since officially becoming a club in 2011. The Columbus Crew SC, which is one of the MLS originals, are about to embark on a quest to grab their second MLS title after winning it in 2008.
The Timbers will travel to Columbus to face the Crew SC at the MAPFRE Stadium in Sunday's showpiece. The young franchise is looking to be the 10th team in league history to win the MLS Cup and, if successful, would become the third expansion team ever (i.e. created from an expansion draft) to claim the championship since the Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake, in 1998 and 2009, respectively.
The Crew SC are making their appearance in the MLS title game in seven years after defeating the New York Red Bulls 3-1 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California back in 2008. Should they win, they would become the sixth club in history to win multiple MLS Cups, after LA Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes, D.C. United, Houston Dynamo, and Sporting Kansas City.
The two clubs have already met once in the regular season when Portland beat Columbus 2-1 on September 26. Timbers striker Fanendo Adi scored a couple of goals in the 28th and 50th minutes and led his team to victory. He delivered a team-high of 16 goals in the regular season.
Meanwhile, Kei Kamara scored the lone goal for the Columbus Crew in the 43rd minute--one of his 22 goals scored in the league campaign which tied for the most in the league this season, according to MLSSoccer.com.
The Columbus Crew SC and the Timbers will face off on Sunday, 4:00 p.m. ET. Fans who want to keep track of the game on TV can switch to ESPN or UniMás for Spanish-language commentary. Those want to watch the game unfold online can head to the Watch ESPN site, but they would only have access once they log in using existing cable subscription credentials.
Users can also enjoy Sling TV's free 7-day trial and watch the games via the service's online access to ESPN and other channels. Sling TV requires users to register and input their credit card details, but they can cancel the trial subscription anytime before it expires. LiveSoccerTV.com also lists a number of free live streaming links for the match.
The MLS finals will also be broadcast via online radio stations. The Timbers-Crew SC game will be aired live on "750/102.9 The Game" which can be accessed online on TuneIn Radio. For those away from their desktop or laptop, they can still be updated on the go by downloading TuneIn's Android or iOS mobile app for free.
