Portland echoes with Timbers chants

Glasses clanking and the faint sounds of people talking filled the air. Fans dressed in green passed the pub's rain-covered windows. A bell chimes as the Timbers Army walked into McMenamins' Bagdad Theater, filled with anticipation for the match that will ensue.

Following a green-scarfed man through a door in the side of the pub, the room opens up into the Bagdad's elaborate theater lobby.

The main room was filled with patrons dressed in every shade of green, the Timbers Army supporters spread out in front of a monstrous screen draped across the wall displaying the starting line up of the Major League Soccer Cup.

The match had begun, the Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas, two young franchises, faced off to see who would take the 2010 cup.

The ball kicked off shortly after 4:30 p.m. by Dallas, who then took it down the field, making the first goal attempt on Colorado only 19 seconds into the first half. Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens jumped for the ball, only to have it fly past his finger tips and outside the right goal post.

Another seven minutes into the match, Colorado defender Brian Mullan made a second goal attempt that flew straight into the hands of Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. Bouncing back into the field and passed to midfielder David Ferreira running full on, the Timbers Army all around me getting ready to cheer, but was suddenly slide tackled only feet from the the goal by defender Drew Moor.

With each passing commercial break, roaring boos filled the theater with the mere sight of future rivals the Seattle Sounders, but fast as the commercial break was there, it is was gone again and right back to the match.

A long pass was kicked, stretching across the center of the field landing right on the chest of Marvin Chavez, who then fired it at the goal and into the hands of Pickens, inches away from a clean grab the ball is ricochet off the shin of Ferreira. Everyone around me yelled with excitement for the first point of the match during the 34th minute.

Rapids midfielder Jamie Smith kicked the ball toward the goal with teammate, forward Conor Casey running up the middle, attempting to slide tackle the ball, which caused a pileup. Casey managed to kick the ball in, tying up the match in the 55th minute and sending the theater into an uproar.

Neither team was able to score in the last of the second half and, with the extra time expiring, the match was sent into overtime 1-1.

A kick from Casey, just out side the penalty box, sent the ball soaring deep into Dallas' right corner of the field. Rapids forward Macoumba Kandji swiftly picked up the ball, worked his way close, and was knocked down by Dallas defender Ugochukwu Ihemelu, but still managed to get the ball away and scored the winning goal in the 17th minute of overtime.

With the end of the 2010 season, a new chapter has just begun in the long heritage of Portland soccer. The MLS selected the Portland Timbers, the Vancouver B.C. Whitecaps and the Montreal Impact to be the newest teams in the MLS 16 team lineup.

Everyone knows no sports team can ever survive with out a fan base and the Timbers have just that. In 2002, the Cascade Rangers and other fans who stood in section 107 at PGE Park united and created the Timbers Army.

Since the start, the Timbers Army has grown immensely, supporters making banners and flags. In the first few years, the Timbers Army took all other northwest teams by surprise with their unique and overwhelming love for its team.

With the revisions to PGE Park in downtown Portland quick underway, and their induction into MLS, the Portland Timbers and their loyal fans, the Timbers Army, have a bright, shining, green and yellow future ahead of them.

Contact York at photoeditor@students.clark.edu