MLS Cup 2020 was the 25th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS). It was played at Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The match was originally set to take place on November 7, 2020, but was postponed to December 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the adjusted MLS season schedule. The match was contested by Columbus Crew SC and Seattle Sounders FC, the defending champions from MLS Cup 2019.
A limited crowd of 1,500 spectators was permitted to attend the match; it was the final playoff match played at Mapfre Stadium, which was replaced by a new stadium in 2021. Both teams had previously won the MLS Cup and were seeded to host their playoffs matches at their respective home stadiums.
The Crew won 3–0 to secure their second MLS Cup championship, scoring twice in the first half and preventing a Sounders comeback in the second half. MLS Cup MVP Lucas Zelarayán scored two goals and provided an assist to Derrick Etienne. Columbus manager Caleb Porter became the third coach to win the MLS Cup with different teams, repeating his feat from MLS Cup 2015, where the Portland Timbers defeated the Crew at Mapfre Stadium.
Road to the final
The MLS Cup is the post-season championship of Major League Soccer (MLS), a professional club soccer league in the United States and Canada. The 2020 season was the 25th in MLS history, and was contested by 26 teams organized into the Eastern and Western conferences. The 2020 regular season began on February 29, 2020, and was originally scheduled to conclude on October 4, 2020. The league was divided into two conferences of 13 teams, with each scheduled to play a 34-game schedule with 17 each of home and away matches. Each team was to play their intra-conference opponents twice—once home and once away for a total of 24 matches—and one match against 10 of the members of the opposite conference. The 2020 season was to be the first MLS season in which each team did not play every other team at least once.
Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused several matches to be cancelled, MLS suspended all play on March 12—the first total interruption of league play since the September 11 attacks in 2001. The league resumed play with the MLS is Back Tournament, a special tournament of regular season matches played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, with 24 teams participating following the withdrawal of FC Dallas and Nashville SC. The tournament, which included isolation of personnel and frequent COVID-19 testing, was organized into a group stage of three matches and a knockout bracket for the top 16 teams. It was played from July 8 to August 11 and concluded with the Portland Timbers defeating Orlando City SC.
MLS announced that the regular season would resume in home markets on August 12 with all teams playing a total of 23 matches over the course of several phases. The first phase comprised six matches between conference opponents for U.S. clubs, while FC Dallas and Nashville SC (who were moved to the Eastern Conference) played each other an additional three times to make up for missed matches from the MLS is Back Tournament. The three Canadian clubs played six matches between themselves, as they were unable to play in the United States due to cross-border travel restrictions, including a mandatory 14-day quarantine. The second phase began September 18 with clubs continuing to play intra-conference matches within a smaller geographic bubble; the three Canadian clubs played their home matches from temporary venues in the U.S. The regular season concluded with Decision Day on November 8 and conference standings for the playoffs were determined by calculating points per game due to cancellations of matches late in the season, including an eight-match deficit for the Colorado Rapids after a COVID-19 outbreak.
The MLS Cup Playoffs was contested using the single-elimination format adopted in 2019 by an expanded field of 18 teams—ten from the East and eight from the West. It began on November 20 with a play-in round for the four lowest seeds in the East and continued for four rounds hosted by the team with higher ranking as determined by points per game. A scheduled international break in the FIFA International Match Calendar between Decision Day and the first playoff matches forced clubs to play without some players due to quarantine rules, despite league-funded charter flights to circumvent it. The MLS Cup final was scheduled for December 12, its latest-ever staging.
The finalists, Columbus Crew SC and Seattle Sounders FC, played each other in the 2010 U.S. Open Cup Final, which was won 2–1 by Seattle. The two teams had each previously won the MLS Cup, with the Crew defeating the New York Red Bulls in the 2008 final and losing in 2015 to the Portland Timbers. The Sounders were appearing in their fourth MLS Cup final in five years, having played Toronto FC in their three previous finals—winning in 2016 and 2019 and losing in 2017. The Sounders and Crew played each other once in the 2020 regular season, on March 7 in Seattle, which finished in a 1–1 draw.
Columbus Crew SC
The Columbus Crew underwent a major reorganization in January 2019, when the club's ownership was transferred from Anthony Precourt (who was awarded the rights to Austin FC by the league) to the Haslam and Edwards families. The Crew also announced the hiring of former Portland manager Caleb Porter and former Toronto FC team president Tim Bezbatchenko to rebuild the team ahead of the opening of a new stadium in 2021. The team missed the 2019 playoffs, finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference, but Porter and Bezbatchenko had begun rebuilding the roster with several acquisitions during the summer transfer window, including midfielders Luis Díaz and Youness Mokhtar.
The club declined options on several key players, including star midfielder Federico Higuaín and former captain Wil Trapp, and was left with 13 empty roster positions to fill with new offseason signings. Columbus acquired midfielder Darlington Nagbe through a trade from Atlanta United FC and signed Lucas Zelarayán from UANL Tigres of Liga MX for a club-record $7 million transfer fee. Nagbe and Zelarayán were placed at the center of Porter's preferred 4–2–3–1 formation and went on to contribute to the team's improved 2020 performance despite injury issues.
The Crew opened their season with a 1–0 win against New York City FC at home, with Zelarayán scoring on his league debut. Following a 1–1 draw with the Sounders in Seattle, the MLS season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the suspension, the club sent at-home workout plans and nutrition advice to its players, who were also monitored through video conferencing during training exercises. Players returned to the Crew's training facility in on May 13 for individual workouts, which was replaced by group training on June 4 and full-team sessions on June 12.
Columbus was drawn into Group E at the MLS is Back Tournament alongside Atlanta United FC, in-state rivals FC Cincinnati, and the New York Red Bulls. The Crew topped Group E with three victories, all shutouts, and advanced to face Minnesota United FC in the Round of 16. Minnesota won 5–3 in a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw, with one shot from the Crew saved by goalkeeper Tyler Miller.
The Crew resumed the regular season atop the Eastern Conference and remained there through late September. The team, playing mostly at home, went on a six-match unbeaten streak but lost Nagbe and Zelarayán to multi-week injuries. The unbeaten streak was snapped by a 3–1 loss to Toronto, the first of several away matches that saw Columbus win only three of their remaining ten matches. The Crew finished third in the Eastern Conference, having tied Orlando City SC on points but bumped ahead by the wins tiebreaker, and were winless in away matches; the team went on to play the entire playoffs at home due to their seeding and regained Nagbe and Zelarayan, the latter of whom was named MLS Newcomer of the Year.
Columbus played New York Red Bulls in the first round of the playoffs following a week-long break after the regular season ended. The Crew conceded a 23rd-minute goal to the Red Bulls, but responded with three goals from Pedro Santos, Nagbe, and Gyasi Zardes to win 3–2. Ahead of their Conference Semifinals fixture against expansion side Nashville SC, the team lost seven players to positive COVID-19 tests, including starting goalkeeper Eloy Room and midfielder Derrick Etienne. The semifinal match, the last of the season to be played behind closed doors, remained scoreless until extra time despite several chances from Nashville. Zardes assisted on the opening goal, finished by Pedro Santos in the 99th minute, and scored himself four minutes later to secure a 2–0 victory.
The Crew faced the eighth-seeded New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Final with 1,500 fans in attendance at Mapfre Stadium. Columbus advanced to their third MLS Cup final with a 1–0 win against New England, with the lone goal scored in the 59th minute by midfielder Artur after controlling the majority of shots but failing to create scoring chances.
Seattle Sounders FC
The Sounders won their second MLS Cup in 2019 by defeating Toronto 3–1 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. The club retained most of their roster under head coach Brian Schmetzer, but lost midfielder Víctor Rodríguez and defenders Román Torres, Kim Kee-hee, and Brad Smith during the offseason. In January 2020, Seattle signed central midfielder João Paulo to a Designated Player contract and also acquired defenders Yeimar Gómez Andrade and Shane O'Neill to fill open positions in the backline. After a short preseason, the club played in the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League, where they were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Honduran champions C.D. Olimpia, who won in a penalty shootout following a 4–4 draw on aggregate.
Seattle opened the regular season in March with two matches at home played in front of crowds despite the severe COVID-19 outbreak in Washington state and a state of emergency declared by Governor Jay Inslee. The Sounders won 2–1 against the Chicago Fire in the first match as striker Jordan Morris scored twice in the second half to overcome an earlier deficit. The following week, in front of the smallest attendance for a home match since 2009, the team drew 1–1 with the Columbus Crew. The club suspended all operations until further notice on March 12, days before a planned away fixture with the Houston Dynamo; a home match against FC Dallas on March 21 had already been postponed due to the state government's ban on large events amid the pandemic.
The club organized virtual training sessions through video conferencing and nutrition plans to maintain fitness during the suspension, which was lifted for socially distant training at Starfire Sports on May 18 with approval from the state government. The Sounders were seeded during the MLS is Back Tournament draw and placed in Group B alongside Vancouver Whitecaps FC, the San Jose Earthquakes, and FC Dallas, who later withdrew due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the club. They finished second in Group B behind San Jose with a 1–1–1 record and a goal difference of +2. Seattle went on to be eliminated in the Round of 16 by Los Angeles FC, losing 4–1 due to several defensive mistakes.