In 1975, the Seattle Sounders beat the Timbers in Portland’s North American Soccer League debut. Later that same year, the Timbers beat the Sounders in overtime on their way to the Soccer Bowl championship game.
A rivalry was quickly born.
Many of the players on the Qwest Field surface tonight weren’t born when those roots were planted, but they are aware that the spotlight will be a little warmer than usual when 36,000 fans and a national TV audience gather to watch the rebirth of the Sounders-Timbers rivalry.