TUKWILA, Wash. – When it comes to the Cascadia rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers, there’s nothing manufactured about it.
These two franchises have genuine history and animosity that date back decades, long before the MLS era. When the Sounders and Timbers meet for the final time of the 2018 regular season at Providence Park this Sunday (6:30 p.m. PT; FS1, YouTube TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM), that contentious dynamic figures to be the same as it always is.
Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei has been a part of a few of these fixtures dating back to when he first arrived in Seattle in 2014. He had also been a part of a couple other rivalries while with his former club Toronto FC, and speaking with reporters after Seattle’s practice on Tuesday, Frei said there’s little comparison.
“No disrespect on my part on all the different cups the league has invented, but these [Seattle vs. Portland] games are the real thing,” Frei said. “It’s not just something that’s made up. People care. It’s in your blood, it’s in your DNA. The [Toronto vs. Columbus] Trillium Cup, I’m sorry, but that’s a very far-fetched, Canada vs. U.S. [rivalry] — it doesn’t really do anything.
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[With Seattle and Portland], there’s something here,” he added. “There’s real animosity. When we go down there this weekend, they’re not going to be nice to us, that’s putting it a nice way. And [it goes] the other way, the same way. There’s real emotions involved and that’s the only way it should be.”
All of that is compounded by the fact that the clubs have established themselves as two of the league’s most successful franchises. The Timbers set the bar with their MLS Cup victory in 2015, with the Sounders upping the ante by going to the next two finals and winning their first in 2016.
This Sunday’s match will once again be a showdown between Western Conference contenders. After stumbling out of the gate in 2018, the Sounders are now one of the league’s hottest teams, having gone nine straight matches since their last defeat — their last loss coincidentally came at the hands of the Timbers on June 30 — a stretch that has included a club-record six-game winning streak they’ll put on the line on Sunday. Portland, meanwhile, recently saw a 15-match unbeaten run of its own come to an end, and despite entering having lost three straight matches, is still a proven force to be reckoned with in the West.
“The sport has obviously progressed to a stage where [these games] are national news,” Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer said on Tuesday. “Even worldwide, is MLS getting a little more notoriety? I believe so. As far as what we feel, the three-hour drive back and forth feels a little different. The stakes are higher. The games were physical back then and physical now.
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“Lots of history has gone by, that’s another [aspect]. All the history that has gone by between the two clubs adds to the pressure, the spice of the rivalry — all the intangibles.”
Once the dust settles and the match kicks off, however, all the outside noise will take a backseat. For Seattle, a positive road result in the hostile confines of Providence would allow it to continue making up ground in a race for what would be a 10th consecutive postseason berth. It would also give the Sounders their first points of the season against Portland, which emerged victorious in each of the two previous matches between the sides this season.
“It’s a team that can catapult their second half of the season with a win if they beat us,” midfielder Cristian Roldan said. “So, it’s a team we absolutely need to beat. With all that pressure, with all that aggression, the game can get a little crazy. We have to stay level-headed because we can’t lose any guys, but at the same time we have to be as aggressive and as strong as possible.”
