Head coach Giovanni Savarese leads the Portland Timbers into 2018 MLS Cup on Saturday (8 pm ET on FOX, UniMas, TSN and TVAS). But over two decades ago, Portland Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese was busy scoring goals during Major League Soccer’s 1996 inaugural season.
He would finish with 51 regular season strikes with the MetroStars, New England Revolution and San Jose Earthquakes. But there’s one that stands out above them all.
On May 4, 1996 the MetroStars were down three goals at home to the Tampa Bay Mutiny. But three goals in four minutes, including two by Savarese, turned the result around and one of those came on a bicycle kick. The match finished 3-3.
“You treasure every single goal and you work hard for every goal,” he told MLSsoccer.com. “But the bicycle kick is one of the goals you remember the most, especially because of the type of game it was against Tampa Bay.”
Savarese has already gone farther with the Timbers in the postseason than he has in five years in MLS. It was one-and-done in his only two playoff appearances as a player with the NY/NJ MetroStars in 1996 and 1998.
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