OB Daz and Aidan reacts to the greatest soccer rivalry in North America between the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers. Link to original video: • Origins of "the greate... Instagram: officeblokedaz
The MLS cup is awarded to the winner of the playoffs. The team that wins is considered champions of MLS. The team with the most points at the end of the regular season is awarded the supporters shield, a separate trophy before the playoffs begin. There are plenty of fans who value the shield over the cup but to me it feels like the cup is the one people want the most. We also have the US open cup which is like our FA cup.
The Supporters Shield doesn’t mean shit if you don’t win the cup. It’s like the 2016 Golden State Warriors, they won 73 games and only lost 9 times, best record in league history. All of that effort washed away when they infamously blew a 3-1 series lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals.
For American soccer, the treble is: 1) US Open Cup - roughly equivalent to FA Cup. 2) Supporters Shield - top points finisher after all scheduled fixtures are played ("regular season", in American vernacular). 3) MLS Cup - determined by single elimination playoff tournament, with teams seeded according to finishing order through the regular season. The MLS Cup is considered the top prize. Because more than half the teams qualify for the playoffs, the drama is centered on mid table playoff races, rather than relegation battles. As the season culminates, up to 80% of the league is still in at least theoretical contention. International competitions include the CONCACAF Champions League (obviously, played federation-wide), and the Leagues Cup - which is contested between MLS and Liga MX.
The sad part about the rivalry nowadays, is that with the ownership of the Timbers being virtually non-existent, and the Flounders being a shell of their former selves, both teams have a degree of lifelessness to them that has taken some life out of the rivalry, and will take some rebuilding on both our ends to get things back to the way they used to be. But no matter what, we love our war with the fish folk up north, and still fight to make this rivalry the greatest in North America. Glad to see you guys take a look into our history here in the Pacific NW. #ACES #RCTID
Here’s how the playoff format works: The top seven teams in both the eastern and western conference automatically qualify for the playoffs. The 8 and 9 ranked teams in each conference battle in a play in game for the 8th spot. You play the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals within your conference, and the last team standing in the east and the last team standing in the west play for MLS cup. The quarterfinals are structured as a best of three. It’s 8vs1, 7vs2, 6vs3 and 5vs4. They play up to three games. The higher ranked team hosts game one and game three, the lower ranked team hosts game two. There’s no aggregate score, the scoreline gets wiped after each game, and you play until the first team wins two games. The first to win 2/3 advances to the conference semifinals. The conference semifinals and finals are single elimination games with th e higher ranked team hosting. When it comes to MLS cup final, the team with more regular season points hosts. That game is single elimination as well.
Thanks for mentioning the Portland Thorns. Seattle has the Reign. Gotta say that my allegiance to the Thorns and the NWSL has grown over the years to the point where I'll root for the Timbers to do well but I don't actively follow them or MLS anymore.
Seattle has two hockey teams, the Kraken in the NHL, and the Thunderbirds in the Western Hockey League which is major junior level. Portland had no major league hockey but they have the Portland Winterhawks, also in the WHL.
I'd argue that Toronto v Montreal is just as big of a rivalry as Portland and Seattle. It goes back to England vs France and the 2 cities are rivals in absolutely everything. Funny that Vancouver plays 3rd wheel in both rivalries.
Mls cup east vs west where has the best record in the playoffs gets the supporters shield plus they get to host Mls cup if they make there ps Mls cup used to be at a neutral site
MLS cup is the playoff competition. We can't just do league champions because we have too many teams causing unbalanced schedules. Not everyone has the same opponents. US Open Cup is our FA Cup. Same format, been running since 1904.
the sounders have the highest fan attendance in mls and when the two play each other they have the highest "rivalry" attendance. its something the mls loves but mildly pushes.
Portland won't be getting an MLB expansion team (or move) anytime soon. There's a hole in the southeast for MLB. Next one will be Charlotte or Nashville.
The Whitecaps of the 70`s had international players such as Alan Ball, Ruud Krol and Bruce Grobbelaar, Carl Valentine. Seattle has the Kraken as their NHL team also.
US Cup is like the FA Cup. MLS Cup is a version of the league championship, won in seeded bracket play after regular season. Cascadia Cup is a fans only cup. The winning city supporters club houses the cup, if I recall correctly.
@OfficeBlokeDazSportsEdition Seattle and Portland won't ever play each other in the MLS cup because it's West vs East for the Cup Match. It's the same as the NFL like the Giants will never play the Eagles in the Superbowl. But because they are in the same divisions they play each other a lot more often and because the Sounders and Timbers are usually 2 of the best teams in the West they meet in the playoffs frequently too
Seattle has the Seahawks(NFL), Mariners(MLB), Sounder(MLS) and now the Kraken(NHL) for the past two years not to mention the Huskies(NCAA) for college sports. The Sonics(NBA) were moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder but there is talk of bringing another NBA franchise back to Seattle in the near future. Oh yah, and Portland only has the Trailblazers(NBA) and the Timber(MLS) to hang their hats on. Never knew the history of the Sounders/Timbers rivalry went so far back so thanks for covering that.
You're correct Daz, it's East v West. MLS's biggest mistake this year is not getting Ronaldo v Messi rivalry continued in the states. Wish Ronaldo went to LA (either team)
MLS Cup is the league trophy, awarded to the winner of the playoff finals Then our domestic cup competition open to all clubs at all levels is the US Open Cup
Canadian sports are sad. The Canadian Football League flirts with bankruptcy. 1 MLB team; 1 NBA team; 3 MLS teams & 7 NHL teams. They won't spend money. Each year for decades, Lake Louise hosted a stop on the skiing world cup series. Won't spend money to upgrade; series stop won't be back (announced this week).
Yes I miss Big Country playing with the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Expos of Montreal. You still lead the world in cokeheads with mullets and maple 🍁 syrup production, Eh.
Seattle and Portland filled the Western Conference Champs from 2015-2021, they’ve both dominated the western conference over the past few years, sadly they’ll never play against eachother in the final because they do west vs east style
A budding rivalry in MLS is Charlotte-Atlanta. Two cities and states that have a fierce rivalry in every sport. We (North Carolina) always want to beat Atlanta (Georgia). Wether it’s college football, NFL, MLS, NBA… it’s a rivalry
Multiple MLS competitions during a season. There's the Supporter's Shield, given to the team with the higest points total at the end of the regular season. The MLS Cup, given to the team that wins the playoff bracket at the end of the season. US Open Cup, which is the American version of the FA Cup. Concacaf Champions League, which is just the Concacaf version of the UCL. Lastly, there's Leagues Cup which is a Cup tournament of all the teams in the MLS and Liga MX.
Timbers and sounders can’t play in the mls cup final. Mls is divided in east and west conference. So the conference finals would be the deepest they could play in the playoffs. For the other cups tho like us open cup they can
I like soccer (although I primarily only watch the World Cup and qualifiers and USMT Friendlies) and have seen occasional images of raucous MLS stadiums that are impressive and reminiscent of the EPL; but being 3000 miles away on the East Coast, this rivalry and the welcomed fanaticism of American soccer fans is news to me.
12:22 My ears may be playing tricks on me but I swear that's a remix of the song "Friends" by an alt rock band named THE HARA (they're from Manchester btw)... anyway, the chorus of the song goes "I don't think that we should be friends", which fits perfectly into this sports rivalry 🤯
In America we have post season playoffs that decise the champion not like England that just play thier regular season games and most points win is the champion, Nope in America u have to earn your tropies by Playoffs
I'll agree...they are definitely one of the better rivalries. Def in the top 3-5 of US Rivalries. Yeah, Portland and Seattle couldn't face off in the final because it is East vs West but facing in the semi final a big deal since it does declare you winner of the conference either way. The other "major" trophies (in the US at least) are the Supporter's Shield which is given to the best regular season record team and then the US Open Cup which is our FA Cup. The new Leagues Cup also gives entry into the Concacaf Champions League.... a lot of us are watching these games but since it's a new cup... not sure how many of us will actually care if our team win/loses in it. Time well tell on this one There was talk about letting Concacaf teams into Copa Libertadores in 2024 but the Club World Cup in 2025 should make this region's football culture grow some
we are on the topic of soccer here so I didn't feel like i had to explain that. wrote US because Mexico and the other Central American teams got crazier rivalries among themselves
The atmosphere in each city when these team's play each other is like nothing else. Much like when the blazers played the supersonic. Nothing better than a great rivalry ❤
If you want to see more about the rivalry, COPA90 did a video on the cascadia rivalry, I highly recommend, it goes further into the fans point of view in the rivalry
So glad you guys reacted to this. When Portland got the Timbers in 2011-12, my love for the sport officially began. So much that I became a City fan the very same year because I wanted to root for a team in what I thought was the best league at the time. Could of been a Barcelona or Man United fan like my friends but something about City drew me in. It was incredible to witness the 6-1 beat down on United and the Aguero goal being a fan in my first year. Those moments cemented the love I have for the sport and having my Timbers being reacted to by you guys are somewhat poetic to me. Cheers, from all the way in Portland.
Sorry, but soccer is way too dramatic and girly for me. They are on the ground more than half of the game trying to draw penalties and that makes me sick. Do you watch a sport like hockey or American football and then you go watch soccer it’s just downright hilarious how wussyy they are 🤷♂️
The Portland Timbers first year was 1975 I had seasons tickets..We had several English players on that first team Jimmy Kelly,, Tony Betts, Mick Hoban, Peter Withe, and Ray Martin from Birmingham City F.C. I think most of the team was English, Scottish or Irish.
