Photo by Jose M. Romero
By JOSE M. ROMERO
PORTLAND, Ore. — It rained and rained and rained some more, but 18,627 fans packed into compact Jeld-Wen Field for the Portland Timbers' MLS home opener couldn't have cared less.
They witnessed history, as the Timbers got two goals from striker Jorge Perlaza in a breakout performance for both him and the Timbers' attack in a 4-2 win over the Chicago Fire Thursday night, the first MLS win in club history.
It wasn't pretty soccer. The rain made the new turf slick and waterlogged as players slipped and slid around. The defenses weren't very solid — one defender for each team was charged with an own-goal — and there was some rough play here and there in the form of two reckless tackle yellow cards for both teams.
But the Timbers made it happen for their adoring fans, especially the rowdy lot in the north end stands, the Timbers Army.
It was a night to remember for many reasons and many people. Timbers owner Merritt Paulson got a hockey chant of his name from the Timbers Army after addressing the crowd before the match. MLS commissioner Don Garber got a big hand for using the phrase, "Soccer City, USA" in talking about Portland. The Timbers Army struck up their cheers and songs more than an hour before first kick and long lines of fans were waiting in the rain for the stadium gates to open long before they were opened.
In the 11th minute, the fans thought they had the Timbers' first MLS goal at home, but Kenny Cooper's header into the net was disallowed.
It happened in the 29th minute. Perlaza made a run, hesitated to let his defender go by him and scored with Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson out of the net. Khalif Alhassan got the Timbers' assist.
In the 38th minute, Rodney Wallace, Portland's right back, struck from long range after a free kick from Jack Jewsbury came out to Wallace on a deflection, and he finished well.
The Timbers took a 2-0 lead to halftime and made it 3-0 on Perlaza's second goal, this one a rebound shot in the 47th minute.
The Fire (1-2-1) didn't go away. An own-goal by the Timbers' Eric Brunner on an attempted clearance in the 67th minute made it 3-1. Then Marco Pappa beat Portland keeper Jake Gleeson in the 80th minute, and for just a moment, the stadium got quieter.
In the 84th minute, a scrum in front of Johnson following a corner kick resulted in Portland's Futty Danso knocking the ball off the Fire's Dasan Robinson for an own-goal. All the Timbers had to do was play out the clock, and after they did, players took a lap around the field and stopped to go into the stands with the Timbers Army.
Perlaza and Wallace were handed their customary slabs of wood, a Timbers' postgame tradition for scorers.
Diego Chaves, who has been off to a grand start to his Fire career with three goals already to lead the team, took six shots but couldn't get one past Gleeson.
"I don't think you'll see an atmosphere like that in American soccer history," Timbers coach John Spencer said after the game. "I think it was tremendous. I thought it was electrifying when the first goal went in, it was pretty incredible."
The Jeld-Wen sign needs a bird
It was actually a racetrack that was converted into a dual purpose stadium. Thats why there was always the elongated L of seats, rather then the half diamond you get at purpose built baseball fields.
Your set back from the field, but in the end it actually works better, because everyone has a good vantage on the whole field.
Go across town to Merlo Field at U Portland. In all honesty, the physical field itself is probably the best in Washington/Oregon, if not the whole west coast. And your Right There in the action.
USMNT haven’t been there since the Costa Rica qualifier in 1997. It was the loudest sporting event I ever attended. I’m not sure the USMNT has played any other games there.
Excuses excuses. The Fire don’t draw. Their stadium is the lamest SSS in the America. Bobby Boswell summed it up best best on his site a few years back, crappy park, crappy neighborhood, crappy fans. Every expansion team from the last 5 years craps on this fanbase. And they love to hold up their expansion season which would be forgotten except for a blown offside call- ask Bruce Arena who beat DC in ’98, the Fire or the ref. Just shut it down and give the franchise to the Cosmos already, NY fans deserve another team in that market.
Ha, you’ve got to be kidding. I was at the game in the west stands. There was certainly no pumping in audio over the PA (lol) and no artificially amping the crowd. My ears were ringing for hours after. It’s just the way the stadium is built with the angle of the stands, the roofs, and the sunken bowl shape. Nice try.
Once again, the Fire can’t win a fair fight!
Jeremy:
1) There are plenty of hispanic folks that live in the area here. The city of Portland itself might be white, but the surrounding area is much more diverse.
2) There are also plenty of hispanic folks around here wearing USMNT gear (and I’m sure other Portlanders can back me up on that).
Not sure what the weather has been like in Seattle, but this year is the first year I think is the latest ever that we got a 60 degree day (March 30), and generally speaking it’s been significantly colder than average here. I’m 100% with you, La Nina can suck it.
Portland USL attendance by year:
2010: 10,727
2009: 9,734
2008: 8,567
2007: 6,828
Prior to that they averaged 5000+. The supporters group especially has grown dramatically in the last decade, typically the supporters section would fill up well before the rest of the stadium. The
It’s “quasi.” And Fire fans are legit. If there’s any region with a claim to quasi-hipsterness, it the PNW. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me how they bicycled or camped or hitchhiked their way to Portland/Seattle/Vancouver from back East…I could buy a sweet fixie or single-speed and a lot of espressos.
Even more to the point vis-a-vis soccer in the States, how can you openly pine for a first-tier domestic league while trying to mock teams for snagging advertising dollars? Messi is going to sign with the Rapids because of his lifelong love for Commerce City?
yikes!
What about ‘white Hispanics’…how would you qualify them? I’m curious since that is what I am.
I don’t understand the problem with advertisement in professional sports. Did we forget this is a business first? I mean we enjoy the product afterwards, but does it really make it less enjoyable or classy if someone is making money from advertising in their business?
Jeremy: It’s not about being white, but supporting the UMNST….there’s a lot of US fans of all ethnic groups. The question is in which markets are fans more likely to support the USMNST or other countries’ teams
Man, Alaska Airlines plastered all over everything, that big KeyBank sign below the suites, and all that electrified advertising along the touchlines. Sure felt awfully corporate and manufactured. Also, that atmosphere was entirely implausible: surely the Timbers were pumping in audio over the PA system. Or the ESPN production crew artificially amplified the crowd. Definitely one of the two. Lastly, where were all these fans before? I watched a few Portland games at the same stadium (but half empty) the last few years, and can’t understand why the city, if it’s a real soccer city, didn’t fully embrace that product! And did I mention that it’s not real soccer if it’s played on plastic?
Seriously though, congrats to Portland on a great debut. What a fun night and impressive showing from both team and city. Soccer in the PNW—and in the States—is going to be a lot more fun with you in MLS.
It was ELECTRIC indeed…!!
Especially without grass.
They all notice you now.. whooop!!! Seattle bad.. lolz
So sick of this stupid dumb argument. Who cares what Portland’s support was pre-MLS? Guess what? If lots of folks were attending their first soccer game last night that is a great thing for soccer in this country. Effing losers only gripe about why the sport won’t grow when you take two seconds to stop shitting on new fans for a supposed lack of authenticity. Brilliant.
News flash: If you make a better product more people want it. Shut up and let them have their night, and hopefully many more like it.
Dude. Being white has absolutely no baring on crowd enthusiasm.
I think what you meant to say was you want games against Mexico in a city that doesn’t have a huge Mexican population who could drown out US Supporters?
Please tell me that’s what you meant.
You got it Charles.
Here’s an interesting interview with Hanauer about the costs of turf at the Clink.
http://www.sounderatheart.com/2011/4/13/2109386/adrian-hanauer-grass-qwest-field-installing-sounders
CommonSense? You had a great post and I was happy for you, but you couldn’t leave it alone. Had to get your dig in on Seattle, even though we had nothing to do with your night.
Insecurity. Get over it and support your team and quit looking up at us.
Someone said to start playing MNT games here like our own Saprissa. At first I thought it was a terrible idea, but it has a lot of merit to it. The supporters group can obviously be crazy when a show comes to town, and I believe Portland has the whitest population among large cities in the US (don’t quote me on that). I know it’s racist to want the games to be played in white cities, but it’s much better than playing in any state in the southern US where our own fans will be outnumbered.
Second with the homefield advantage is the playing field. We are definitely the most physical and biggest team in CONCACAF which will really benefit us when playing on a small field where players are tripping over eachother. It may not be pretty, but it will maximize the benefit of having bigger, slower players at the back and in central midfield.
The league would go broke if grass was mandatory.
http://www.sounderatheart.com/2011/4/13/2109386/adrian-hanauer-grass-qwest-field-installing-sounders
If anyone ever complains in the future about how Portland doesn’t have a little brother complex with Seattle, I will direct them to this comment.
You make a good point. My view is that there were a lot of Seattle and Portland fans who didn’t attend every D2 game because of the lack of quality, and winning the title didn’t mean much.
However, Seattle and Portland always took the US Open Cup very seriously. The Cup was seen as a chance to beat the best teams in the country, and attendance was better for these games.
Can’t say it was surprising. You would think someone in that position would have more class.
Did Portland’s GM really refuse to give a Chicago player the ball for a throw-in?
If so, he deserved to get tossed…pretty classless from a GM. Sort of sad side note to an otherwise impressive atmosphere…looking forward to seeing more games there.
Wow, enjoy your team and get a life troll. You just can’t go a day without comparing yourself to your big brother can you?
This RSL fan was impressed with that atmosphere. The production let the crowd noise in – props to ESPN for that.
Chicago’s keeper was a disaster. Portland is still porous…but that’s a helluva party.
Its just sad. Last night should have been all about Portland. Instead, the FIRST post on your victory article dives into comparisons to Seattle.
You are the Jan Brady of the MLS.
Maradona was a cheat.
+8000
Although I do think you’ve gotten some slightly warmer weather than we’ve had up here in Seattle. This whole winter has sucked. La Nina needs to go the hell home. She’s way overstayed her welcome.
It hasn’t stopped raining here in months.
It really is no win for the teams. Everyone would be complaining how the field is trashed if they put in grass.
So does it really matter if the complaining is about turf or a really bad field ? no.
Really, you can’t just enjoy your moment? Why is it you feel the need to compare yourselves constantly to Seattle? You had a great night last night on national TV (quality of play notwithstanding). Revel in it. Soak it up. Enjoy it. Seattle had absolutely nothing to do with what was accomplished last night.
Does the Catholic high school league also play their games there as well?
Lol. I’ll take your word for it on who you thought was the best player. Not to hijack this thread but I did have the fortune of seeing Stoichkov, Hagi, Hugo Sanchez, Michel, Butragueno, Ronaldo, Romario, they were all amazing. Maradona thought to me, at least when I saw him was a virtuoso. His personal life and pseudo worshipers and coaching are laughable though.
It would be an honor to see any player of the caliber grace Jeld-Wen Field.
I was describing the electric atmosphere, any of those greats would have approved of it!
I had ACL surgery last Friday and was worried I’d miss the game. I hobbled there in crutches, waited in line for 2 hrs to get jn, another 1:45 for the game, only to experience one of the most amazing sporting displays in my life. I, like thousands of my TA brethren, have been supporting this team for years, but to finally get that display, that stadium, that amount of city wide support.
Amazing.
So proud of the boys, so fun to have them celebrate in TA with us. Can’t explain how amazing that felt.
Ohh yea, f shittle. You have no room to talk about USL. Your support was nothing short of pathetic. You have “great” support, but 95% gave 2 ish about USL sounders.
Full credit to the TA, you guys put on one hell of a show.
Makes me realize the 3+ supporters groups in LA really need to get together and form a coherent group.
I’m not sure where journalistic integrity comes into this — I didn’t read anything in this article which seemed not to match what I saw on TV last night. I also don’t understand the urge from Portland fans to rip Jose Romero to begin with; he has always been up front about being a Timbers guy, even when he was running the Seattle Times’ Sounders blog (much to my chagrin).
Actually, Portland’s average attendance was about 5,500, which was roughly 50% larger than Seattle’s.
Amazing Portlandia reference that 99.90% of readers will fail to get.
Seriously people check out this show.