New York City FC at Portland Timbers 12/11/21 - MLS Picks & Predictions

It’s about time for the biggest match of the season in the MLS, as Western Conference winners Portland Timbers will play host to Eastern Conference winners New York City FC for the MLS Cup. Both competitors have done a really good job this season but there is only room for one champion.

Portland were really solid in their home match against Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference Finals, scoring a goal in each half and winning by a confident 2-0. After beating Colorado and Minnesota in the previous round of the playoffs, Portland are now on a 6-match winning streak, while also keeping 4 clean sheets in the process. This season they had the best home record in the Conference (11-4-2) and the 3rd best in the entire MLS, while not counting their two home wins in the Playoffs. Portland have a good shot at the championship here, especially with the home crowd cheering for them.

New York City fought really hard in the Eastern Conference final against Philadelphia, where they came back from one goal behind to eventually win on the road. City scored an own goal at the 63rd minute but they corrected that by pulling even 2 minutes later. They eventually scored the winning goal at the 88th minute with Magno for the final 2-1. New York City are in really good form lately, unbeaten in their last 8 (5-0-3). They weren’t very good on the road during the regular season (4-8-5), but New York City have remained unbeaten in two away playoff matches so far.