Former Cosmos coach Giovanni Savarese stands in way of NYCFC's first MLS Cup title as coach of Portland Timbers

Giovanni Savarese’s resume screams New York in a way few others do across American soccer.

Here are a few of his stops as a player, and later coach: LIU Brooklyn, NY Greek Americans, Brooklyn Italians, Long Island Rough Riders, MetroStars, St. John’s and the New York Cosmos.

Fitting that he stands in the way of the area’s first Major League Soccer championship.

Savarese now calls home the city of Portland, Oregon, where he’s served as head coach of the Timbers since leaving the same role with the Cosmos in 2017. His squad will host New York City FC, seemingly the one local team with which Savarese has no prior affiliation, in MLS Cup 2021 on Saturday at 3 p.m. on ABC. The match is a chance to win the coach his first title at this level, albeit while trying to deprive his longtime home of the same joy.

"New York is always going to be part of my life, there’s so many great memories," Savarese said this week. "I've been in New York for a long time. I have many, many good friends in New York. So, it's always a special place for me."

Savarese, 50, developed a championship pedigree during his time in this area. A native of Venezuela, he was part of the Rough Riders squad to win the USISL title in 1995 alongside Brentwood’s Chris Armas and future MLS teammate Tony Meola. His first head coaching job came in 2012 with the relaunched Cosmos, who largely dominated the second-division NASL under his watch, winning three Soccer Bowl titles (2013, 2015, 2016).

That history doesn’t cloud Savarese’s vision entering Saturday’s matchup.

"That said, we are working, and I am the coach of the Portland Timbers, and we have to play a match, we’re in a game to win and it happens to be the final in our stadium." Savarese said. "I'm extremely excited. Love the City of Portland. I've been enjoying my time here and being the coach of this team and the coach of this group. So we're going to be as prepared as we can to play against a very good team."

Savarese’s teams haven’t had issue preparing for NYCFC before. His Cosmos always came to play against MLS competition in U.S. Open Cup play, including two wins over New York City in 2015 and 2016. In the MLS is Back Tournament held in a COVID-19 safety bubble in summer 2020, his Timbers eliminated NYCFC in the quarterfinals en route to winning the one-off competition.

"Definitely I remember every minute of those games. Who started, who played, who took PKs," Savarese said. "I wish that I could tell you that every time you play a team, if you've been successful, it repeats itself. It doesn't repeat itself without having to do a lot of new work, a lot of new preparation. Teams change, teams evolve, teams have different players and you need to be really prepared with your group to confront."

NYCFC’s development through seven seasons and this year's run to MLS Cup have impressed Savarese, especially City's penalty kick result over the New England Revolution in the conference semis.

"When I was there with the Cosmos, they have had big stars, good players, different coaches, different situations. And they have had good moments, difficult moments. But it's the first time that they're arriving to this stage. So I'm sure that they're very excited about this moment. It looks like they have a group as well that has found a way to push together.

"So we expect them to be very good, as we expect ourselves to be very good."