Draft:Pablo Moreira (football manager)

Pablo Moreira (born on March 6, 1985) is a Uruguayan football manager who formerly coached for the Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer. In 2020, Moreira became the youngest Assistant Coach in MLS history to win multiple MLS Cups, doing so with the Portland Timbers in 2015 and the Columbus Crew in 2020. The very next year he helped lead Columbus Crew to the 2021 Campeones Cup, the clubs first ever international trophy beating Liga MX Champions Cruz Azul.

Playing career
Moreira played as a forward for The University of Akron from 2003-2007. Moreira earned All-Mid-American Conference honors in 2006 and 2007 playing under Caleb Porter. Akron made four NCAA appearances and won three Mid-American Conference Regular Season Championships in addition to winning three Mid-American Conference Tournament Championships during Moreira's collegiate career.

Moreira also played in the USL Premier Development League for the Kalamazoo Kingdom in 2006 scoring 5 goals and 3 assist in 10 appearances. In 2007 he played for IMG Academy Bradenton totaling 4 goals in 11 appearances while garnering National Team of the Week honors.

Managerial career
Collegiately, Moreira managed at The University of Akron from 2010-2012. During his three seasons with the Zips, Moreira posted a 55-6-9 record through 70 games and helped produce 14 professionals into Major League Soccer during that span. Akron set an MLS record for most first round selections from a single school landing five of the first eight picks during the 2011 MLS Super Draft. Akron won the NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship in 2010 in addition to winning the Mid-American Conference Regular Season Championship in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and the Mid-American Conference Tournament in 2010 and 2012.

Moreira served as an Assistant Coach for the Portland Timbers from 2013-2017. In 2013, Moreira’s first season with the Timbers included a +23-point improvement and a +43 goal-differential increase from the previous season securing a first-place finish in the Western Conference and the club’s first postseason berth. The Timbers set new single-season club marks in points (57), wins (14), goals (54), goal differential (+21), shutouts (15) and fewest goals allowed (33).

Moreira coached in the 2014 MLS All Star Game beating Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich side (2-1) at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon.

In 2015, the Timbers reached the MLS Cup Playoffs setting a new single-season club record in wins (15), while leading the league with 13 shutouts. Portland advanced to their first ever MLS Cup Final at Mapfre Stadium, which was a surreal return to Ohio for the former Akron Zip. In the 2015 edition of the MLS Cup, the Portland Timbers made club history by beating Gregg Berhalter's Columbus Crew 2-1 becoming the first team in Cascadia to win the MLS Cup. A hero's welcome awaited the Timbers as they paraded around Portland celebrating the achievement with their fans.

In 2017, the Timbers finished first in the Western Conference standings while also leading the league in goals (60). They qualified for CONCACAF Champions League in addition to winning the Cascadia Cup before exiting in the Conference Semifinals of the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Moreira joined the Columbus Crew as an Assistant Coach ahead of the 2019 season. The very next season, Moreira helped lead the Crew to a number three seed in the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs. Columbus beat New York Red Bulls, Nashville S.C. and the New England Revolution to advance to the 2020 MLS Cup where they would host the defending champions Seattle Sounders. In the final game at the legendary MAPFRE Stadium, Columbus Crew lifted MLS Cup beating the Seattle Sounders 3-0 to win their second-ever MLS Cup, becoming one of seven teams to win multiple MLS championships.

In 2021, Moreira and the Crew won the Campeones Cup claiming the clubs first ever international trophy beating Liga MX Champions Cruz Azul at Lower.com Field 2-0 "Dos a Cero".

On October 10, 2022, after missing a post-season birth on the final day of the season, Moreira was fired from the Columbus Crew.

Personal life
Moreira comes from great soccer lineage as he is the son of former Uruguayan International Jose Hermes Moreira, who in 1980 with Club Nacional went on to capture the South American Treble winning the 1980 Intercontinental Cup, Copa Libertadores, and Uruguayan Primera División title in addition to winning the 1980 Mundialito for his nation of Uruguay.