Vendetta
11 years ago
*suspects someone is going to bring up the Americans using the term 'soccer'*
To add more to that great derby, is this one Timbers player dissed Dempsey after their loss saying "If he's so good, why did he leave Tottenham?", causing it to be even more like European leagues when it comes to heated rivalries and fights between players. It's a tiny useless addition but it has a great deal of importance to it because things like that never happen in the MLS.
I was at the stadium on Sunday as the Seattle Sounders broke the MLS attendance record, hosting their bitter rivals the Portland Timbers in a highly-anticipated grudge match.
It's the first meeting between the two teams since the signing of Clint Dempsey for Seattle, whose transfer is the new transfer record in MLS history too. But why this was so important is that according to MLS rules, a US national team player returning to the league is subject to an allocation process. By such process, Dempsey would have gone to Portland instead, but he was signed on as a Designated Player (a loophole in the league-wide wage cap allowing teams to have a certain number of high-profile players they might want to attract with lucrative wage packets -- such as Henry or Beckham), which meant that he bypassed the process altogether.
Portland were PISSED about it, as he's widely recognized as the best US player in the world, if not their best ever, and he went to their bitter rivals, on a technicality.
Seattle, of course, were loving it, and this game attracted a record 67,000 people to the stadium.
It as awesome. :) I had to sit close to the Portland section, so I got to hear ALL the songs and banter, and it was just like being back home. :) I'm a newly-minted Sounders fan, but I give full credit to the Timbers fans, who sang their hearts out all game long, even after they went 1-0 down.
Here are some pictures I took:
That banner is a huge sign which reads: BUILD A BONFIRE [upon which to throw the timber].
If the US can continue to make games like this happen, they have a league to be increasingly proud of. :D