Less about the actual soccer, more about being a Portland Timbers fan.
Timbers Army “No Pity” scarves made an impression in Atlanta. Enough so that Five Stripes supporters have made their own edition, a riff on ours that welcomes Gonzalo “Pity” Martinez as their new DP. I’m wondering how it will be received out of context without No Pity to reflect it. Does it make sense? About as much as me including Caleb Porter [source] in this graphic.
Atlanta United’s Nagbe says playing Portland for MLS Cup is surreal. Read about it in the Atlanta Constitution Journal. It’s a fluff piece, but it has a few interesting tidbits.
If you’re headed to Atlanta to support the Timbers in the MLS Cup, there’s an unofficial Facebook group set up as a resource.
The meager allotment of 1,300 tickets given to the Timbers Army for the 2018 MLS Cup sold out in 4 minutes. That’s less than the amount that showed up for the Cup in Columbus of 2015, and far less than the FIFA standard of 5% for traveling supporters. Mercedes Benz Stadium holds upwards of 70k people, so we should have gotten 3,600 tickets. Atlanta is fairly new to this, but MLS should have schooled them in advance. It has been reported that ATLUFC started selling Cup tickets before they had clinched. When the original allocation of 900 tickets was announced (before clinching) The Timbers Army/107ist joined forces with Kansas City Cauldron, Terminus Legion, and Empire Supporters Club to released a joint statement in protest. 107ist appeared to be spearheading this effort, and reaction from many fans (especially in Atlanta) was that we were counting our chickens before they hatched, and we wouldn’t be able to fill the seats if we got them, and tough luck if you don’t live in Atlanta. Well, we told you so. Let’s hope MLS forces the owners to adhere to FIFA standards. It might be too late for this cup, but they need to take care of it for future years.