BEAVERTON, Ore. – In some ways, 2018 is ending like every other year for Liam Ridgewell in Portland. He’s at the heart of the Timbers’ back line, proving to be the team’s best and most influential defender, and providing the leadership Portland management sought when they lured him from England in the summer of 2014.
“When I came here … said we want to win an MLS Cup,” Ridgewell, a league champion in 2015, remembers. Having just finished training, the 34-year-old defender is five days short of his second MLS Cup final.
“That was my same ambition,” he says, “to come here and win and make this team into an organization that wins stuff.