TUKWILA, Wash. – When asked earlier this week if the Cascadia Cup rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers still carries the same weight as it did in past years, Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid didn’t hesitate.
“That’s [similar to] asking somebody from Real Madrid, ‘Is the Barcelona/Real Madrid game still a special game?’” Schmid said. “This is going to be a special game forever.”
The clubs face off for the first time in 2015 on Sunday, as Seattle will host Portland for an evening bout at CenturyLink Field (9:30 pm ET, Fox Sports 1). The Sounders will look to build off a stretch of strong play against their Northwest foes that they put together last season, when they went 2-0-1 against Portland in MLS play and also bagged a 3-1 victory over the Timbers in US Open Cup play.
“Huge,” goalkeeper Stefan Frei said of Sunday’s matchup. “This is an existing rivalry, one that has deep roots. It’s a big deal. When you’re talking about derbies over in England and whatnot, this is a legit huge derby. There’s no fakeness around it.”
Seattle and Portland each have established reputations for having two of the most raucous home crowds in MLS, something that is only amplified when the two sides meet. While Schmid and the Sounders won’t have to deal with an abundance of opposing hecklers as the home squad on Sunday, the Seattle coach still offered up a simple response for any Timbers fans that plan on doing any ribbing when the Sounders travel to Providence Park to take on Portland on June 28.
“They try and be creative and they can continue to try,” Schmid said. “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me. …It’s great. Fan is short for fanatic and fans pay their money to shout and sometimes the things they say are funny and make me laugh.”
The Sounders will have to take on Portland without their most important defender. Center back Chad Marshall, the league’s reigning Defender of the Year, will serve a one-game suspension Sunday for his late tackle on Colorado’s Vicente Sanchez in Seattle’s 3-1 victory over the Rapids last weekend. Marshall was originally shown a yellow on the play but was handed the suspension after a review by the MLS Disciplinary Committee.
“We knew it was going to get looked at,” Schmid said of the suspension. “We felt it might be a possibility. …It wasn’t a surprise once we heard they were going to look into it.”
Schmid said veteran Zach Scott, who served as Seattle’s starting center back beside Marshall for much of last season, will likely receive the start alongside Brad Evans in Marshall’s absence.
