While Portland Timbers fans were still celebrating their team’s triumph, a new day had come in Orlando, and Sebastián Blanco was already up in his room. And he wasn’t the only one. Diego Chará, Diego Valeri, and a number of Timbers veterans had gone upstairs, leaving the celebrations of their hotel pool to share their day’s final moments with family back home. While much of the team’s final hours at the MLS Is Back Tournament were spent in chaise lounges under the night lights near the Dolphin Hotel’s pool, others were one FaceTime calls with family, enjoying a small reminder of what they’d given up.
Remembering 2020: When Blanco, Portland made MLS Is Back their own
