The Timbers eked out a win agains the Sounders at home this weekend, extending their losses to 6 in a row for the first time in club history, moving us up one spot above Seattle in the standings and back above the playoff line. They have a game in hand and to be fair, they fielded a squad missing something like 6 starters, and Paul Ariola got subbed out due to injury after 7 minutes. It was nowhere near the route 5-1 route we gave them a couple weeks ago. With a little luck and better finishing Seattle could have easily stolen that match from us, we weren’t very sharp. Still, to hear Sounders fans talk, you’d think they were in contention for the wooden spoon. Our tifo was amazing though, and apparently it actually got under Brian Schmetzer’s skin.
Let’s talk about that Hellraiser tifo… So amazing. 3 big panels in the back, and one big one center stage, complete with animation, smoke, and tear away sections. First the back panels went up, then the center panel went up, with red text that said “We’ll tear your soul apart” and a yellow decorative square. At first glance it looked a little underwhelming, until the box started to open itself and smoke started pouring out. Then two sections peeled away to reveal Pinhead. Wow… You have to see the video to fully appreciate the endeavor. The first five pictures are from the Timbers Army on Flickr, and the last one is from Timbers.com.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find an embeddable video showing the whole thing from the front. If I do, I’ll update this post. Until then, enjoy this video taken from the high-rise of Portland Towers. I’ve always wondered how well you can see the matches from up there.
Here’s great video from the 100’s in the North end.
In the couple of days after the match, I was lurking in r/SoundersFC furiously upvoting every comment or post that helped sew dissension. I know it’s petty, but it’s heartwarming schadenfreude. Nothing tops Schmetzer’s press conference though…
Here’s a 2008 video talking about Portland’s legendary support as the Sounders were getting ready to join MLS and leave us behind in the USL. Even then you can tell we got under his skin a little, but the respect is there.
Here’s a recap of the 2-1 highlights…
Here’s a recap of the 5-1 beatdown.
It was a great night because of the results and the tifo, but I may have the unpopular opinion that the atmosphere was more consistently lively at Mora’s last match.
Enjoy this shot of one of the urinals inside Providence Park.
