There simply is no greater rivalry in American professional soccer. The Portland Timbers and the Seattle Sounders' beef spans across four leagues, and predates MLS by almost 20 years. So when the stakes are high, so too is the tifo.For the uninitiated: tifo—an Italian word that means, generally, the phenomenon around supporting a team—has come to be associated with coordinated visual displays of fandom. Well, the Timbers Army came to set the new standard for fandom at today's game against Seattle with this choreographed display, set to the theme of Freddy Krueger.The Star Spangled Banner trailled off at "and the home of the…" and then the banners dropped, reading "legends never sleep," and fans formed black and red stripes from their kits—before the visage of Freddy Krueger rose from the ground. Spooky. Spooky-good.[h/t Oregonian]UPDATE:As @anmangus pointed out to us, today's tifo is marbled with history, as the Sounders' Emerald City Supporters rolled out a "Welcome to your nightmare" tifo prior to the playoffs derby back in 2013 before the Timbers won 2-1. Freddy Krueger, nightmare-haunter, was an apt response, then.Here's a look at some of the best tifos between these two rivals:The context makes the today's tifo all the more delicious. Yet not quite as delicious as the scoreline after 90 minutes—the Timbers won 3-1 (including this beauty from Diego Valeri).
Advertisement