So much of Giovanni Savarese's professional career, both as player and coach, can be tied to the Greater New York City area.
After making his professional debut in his native Venezuela at age 15, Savarese came to the United States for college where he starred for LIU Brooklyn while spending the college offseasons playing locally. Next came two years with the then-USISL's Long Island Rough Riders, followed by the inaugural 1996 MLS season as a member of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.
He scored the first goal in club history. His time with the MetroStars marked his best prolonged period of club soccer success as a player.
The Big Apple is where he began his coaching career as well, first in the MetroStars-turned-New York Red Bulls youth academy until 2007, then as the academy director of the NASL's New York Cosmos in 2010.
He got his first head coaching job with the Cosmos' first team prior to the 2013 season and never looked back, managing the side to four NASL finals and winning three.
“I mean,” Savarese told MLSsoccer.com with a chuckle, “I think I’m a New Yorker now. You know?”
He continued: “New York City has a special place in my heart. It’s a city that I love, it’s a city I have so many great memories and many friends.”
The Portland Timbers hired him after that 2017 season with the Cosmos, and he's enjoyed continued success in MLS ever since. The club made MLS Cup in 2018, losing to Atlanta United, and now are back in 2021. This time, Savarese is coaching against a team from New York, rather than for it, as Portland host NYCFC in MLS Cup on Saturday at Providence Park (3 pm ET | ABC, UniMás in US; TSN, TVA Sports in Canada).
The Venezuelan's fondness for his second home aside, it doesn't matter a ton who the opponent is. It's a nice theme and wrinkle to the final, but Savarese is desperate to win MLS Cup.
“You want to be part of that group that adds a star to the crest of your team, to stay forever in their history," Savarese said. "And then when you add that you play at home in the final? There’s nothing bigger than that. I want to win because I like to win, I’m competitive. I don’t want to lose even a staff game. We want to win because we’ve worked so hard.”
This season has been far from easy for the Timbers.
It began early in the Concacaf Champions League, a notorious season-buster for good clubs in the past (2018 Toronto FC missed the playoffs after setting records the year prior; Columbus Crew missed the playoffs this year after winning Cup in 2020, just to name two). Two of their three Designated Players – Sebastian Blanco and Jaroslaw Niezgoda – were still recovering from torn ACLs. The hope was the pair would be back roughly for half the season, but Blanco only ended up making 12 starts, Niezgoda three.
Key midfielders Eryk Williamson and Andy Polo suffered season-ending injuries. Polo made just four appearances, Williamson 14 before going down. They were forced to use five (!) different goalkeepers due to injury, including an emergency loan signing of Logan Ketterer early in the season just to get by.
“We’ve had some big challenges in Portland, starting the season multiple times with so many games on the road and then the pandemic– even with all those hurdles, this has been the most difficult season," Savarese said. "I feel so proud of this group.”
The club will never be full-strength this year, but after the All-Star Game presented by Target they got as healthy as reasonably expected and then took off. Portland ended the season on a 10W-3L-1D pace and have rattled off another three wins in the playoffs here, continuing the form.
“Gio has this level of humility where he’s able to relate to players from all parts of the world," general manager Gavin Wilkinson said. "The way he approaches the game, he’s ambitious and he wants to get better and to the top. Not once does he turn up to work thinking it’s good enough.”
The culture of the club and locker room helped the Timbers stay afloat despite all the injuries.
“Having the resilience to stand up and be strong again shows the character of the group," Savarese said. "To keep on believing in the direction, the players trusting the staff, staying together and fighting through.”
Portland have advanced past Minnesota United, top-seeded Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake to host New York City FC. It's been a dream run, with the chance of doing something special.
“All the hard work we put in – the players, the staff, everyone – has given us the chance to host MLS Cup," Savarese said. "This is something we dreamed of.”
