Welcome to "Beat Seattle" Week

Two huge rivalry games mark the biggest weekend of the calendar so far.

They are the first games we look for when the schedule is released. The games that everyone circles on their calendar. The games that as we count down the hours to kickoff, we feel a magical combination of excitement and anxiety in our gut.

I’m talking about those games that Timbers and Thorns fans know well, those home matches against Seattle. Ahead of those matches, there’s but a single refrain on the minds of all PTFC fans: “Beat Seattle”.

Photo Credit: Portland Thorns

This year, the cosmic scheduling forces have aligned so that both the Timbers and Thorns have home matches against their most hated rival on the exact same weekend. The Thorns square off against the newly re-minted Seattle Reign in the evening on Saturday May 11, and the Timbers face the Sounders on Sunday May 12 in the afternoon. Timbers2 is even getting in on the action with a home match against Tacoma on Friday May 10.

For the first teams, both games carry incredible weight for both clubs, both in unique ways (one with significantly more positive vibes than the other). As if this rivalry needs any kind of stakes though. It’s Seattle — it’s always a big freaking deal.

The Thorns have been revived since installing Rob Gale as interim head coach, and its led to a very Thorns-esque run of wins. Portland is riding a high of four straight wins into facing their foes from up north. While not rising to “must win” territory, Saturday will be an excellent opportunity to truly cement the belief that the Thorns are back back, and will be fighting for the top spots in the NWSL once again.

For the Timbers, it’s an opportunity to start to get a wayward season back on track. A hot(ish) start to the year has cooled off and frozen completely, with Portland currently on an eight-game skid without a win. Beating Seattle will not ameliorate any of the ills plaguing the Timbers in 2024, but it will end that ignominious winless run and restore some much-needed vibes to a season that is quickly falling into a depressive hole.

And all of that is before even mentioning the Seattle clubs’ own interests in beating Portland. Coming from the perspective of Portland fans who saw their teams silence Lumen Field on multiple occasions last year, the folks from up I-5 will desperately want to see their clubs return the favor.

Put that all together into the cauldron that is Providence Park, and you have the recipe for a massive weekend of rivalry footy action.

Because of that, your humble blogger friends at Stumptown Footy want to do the occasion right, in a special week we’re calling ”Beat Seattle” Week. All this week, we will be publishing special rivalry-focused content to commemorate and stoke the flames just the tad of this classic Portland vs. Seattle battle.

You can expect two Stumptown Radio podcast episodes, each focusing on one of the matchups with some special guests tagging in to help. We’ll also be putting up some Portland-focused views on the rivalry, highlighting what this matchup really means to fans. You, dear reader, will also have the chance to chime in and fire off your takes and thoughts as well this week.

To be sure you don’t miss out on any of the action, be sure you’re subscribed and watch your email inbox. Not a subscriber yet? No worries — hit that button below to get all the good stuff beamed directly to your inbox:

And if you want one central location to find all of the rivalry week stuff, here’s a dedicated page on the Substack Website which will be updated with posts and pods as they’re published that you can bookmark:

Providence Park will be at the epicenter of American soccer this weekend, and we hope we’ll do it justice in the leadup and on matchday.

Onward.

Beat Seattle.