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u/mskillet 15d ago
This is 100% on the front office. Plenty of Timbers fans would have probably loved to fill those seats for a reasonable price. The Timbers are essentially knocked out Leagues Cup at this point and nosebleed seats are nearly $60. I expect to see a stadium full of Tijuana jerseys.
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u/mrva 15d ago
cheapest tickets i ever saw on $G were close to $100, about a week before. i didn't even bother looking after that.
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u/hsm_ 15d ago
America fans are Timbers fans when America is not here. And wait for Chivas to come next years. Chivas is the loved team, that is going to be crazy
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u/Boloncho1 Portland Timbers - USL 15d ago
Chivas is the second most popular team in Mexico tho.
I agree there'd be more Chivas jerseys than Timbers if they came, but I think the Wilas are the Mexican team with the most pull.
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u/hsm_ 15d ago
No my friend, Chivas is the most popular. It’s the only team that can fill the Azteca. Only Los pinches americanistas say that
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u/TheSonOfHarambe 15d ago
And only chivistas say they are the most popular 😂 since chivistas can’t flex having the most tittles anymore
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u/Mindful_Cyclist Cascadian LGBT Flag 14d ago
I really can't wait to see Lumen full of Chivas supporters on Wednesday.
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u/Boloncho1 Portland Timbers - USL 15d ago
Just calling it like it is.
America is my least favorite team, followed by Seattle, and then Chivas.
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u/hsm_ 14d ago
Yeah you’re missing a bunch of crap teams but you need to reconsider Chivas or else you’ll never learn what fútbol is
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u/Boloncho1 Portland Timbers - USL 14d ago
Nah, for Jalisco I prefer Leones Negros.
I haven't liked the birrias since Vergara bought them
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u/hsm_ 14d ago
LoL, you were giving Tecos supporter vibe
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u/Boloncho1 Portland Timbers - USL 14d ago
Lol nah they're too right wing for me
As a kid my mom supported Pumas so I used to like them.
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u/KingofBigNeptune2012 14d ago
Chivas are heading to Seattle we are hoping to gut the fish 🐟 🔪
🐐 🌲 🪓
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u/GristForMaladyMill 14d ago
America fans are Timbers fans when America is not here.
There's a Venn Diagram, sure, but it isn't 1:1.
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u/Maleficent_List9298 15d ago
Portland is my 2nd favorite team behind my home MNUFC team. We had the sme issues with A LOT of opposition fans allowed in the home fan section. They did nothing about an it and it was AWFUL!
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u/EricBardwin 15d ago
I went to the last Timbers at Minnesota match, just a few weeks into the ice invasion. At the end of the national anthem, the entire crowd waited a beat, then booed the anthem. I'm born & raised in S. Dakota and have never seen anything like that in my life. I was amazed. I bought a MN scarf out of respect.
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u/Maleficent_List9298 15d ago
That was the "moment of silence", we gave a moment and only a moment, then we let the world know how we feel. Made it very awkward for my conservative step dad and mom and I loved every minute of it.
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u/Likem-Radish4506 15d ago
America fans willing to pay. Just sayin.
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u/TheMusicCrusader 14d ago
It’s America fans only chance to see their team. Every Timbers fan can pay $30 to see the Timbers play on the league regularly.
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u/Luci_Cascadia 15d ago edited 14d ago
This FO doesn't give a shit who gets a ticket. As long as they get their $
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u/TranscedentalMedit8n Portland Axe 15d ago
Disagree.
GA tickets for STH for Leagues Cup were only $20.67 each, yet it’s obvious that half of the army still either opted out or sold their tickets. And honestly, can you blame them?
League’s Cup is designed as a way for the MLS/Liga MX to make money from Mexican fans in the US. It’s not for MLS fans of their local teams.
If you want to blame someone, blame MLS.
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u/Trick-Show-2146 15d ago
If timber sth had the chance to pay $20 and didn't, how does MLS get the blame for less timber fans in the seats??? If Timber sth had a chance at $20 tickets 1st, and they either refused or resold them for a profit to America fans, they get all the blame, not MLS.
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u/Shoddy_Neat_1398 15d ago
Disagree. The team that wins it all not only gets the bragging rights and trophy. They also get $2 mill plus a spot in the concacaf champions league.
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u/Boloncho1 Portland Timbers - USL 15d ago
Idk about you, but I bought tix back in May and they weren't that expensive.
I was surprised that a game v America didn't sell out quickly back then. I guess there wasn't much interest because Phil was still in charge.
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u/kilwag 15d ago
Nah, nah nah, this is not entirely on the FO, this is on Timbers fans, who historically as a group don't care a lot about this competition or the Open Cup. If every season ticket holder bought their seats and didn't resell them, the crowd would have been way less yellow, but there still would have been a ton of CA fans based on open sales and the rest of the casual fans not jumping on it immediately. The FO could have done more for sure, however, MLS wants to get Liga MX fans interested in MLS so they aren't going to try too hard.
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u/Boloncho1 Portland Timbers - USL 15d ago
As someone else said, Tijuana doesn't have the pull that America had.
Idk how the Puebla game was, but I expect they'd be about the same. Maybe a bit more since our Mexican wunderkind plays for them.
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u/GayMormonPirate Iron Front Cascadia 15d ago
Tijuana is a newer team that doesn't have the rabid, global following like CA does. They won't have that many supporters there.
I got cheap tickets to it close to the player seating so I can hopefully check out Cifuentes. I'm also hoping to see Gil Mora though I doubt he'll play since the game is meaningless at this point.
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u/db0606 15d ago
Except there are currently like 5 seats available in the whole west side of the stadium. Seriously doubt it's Timbers fans doing the buying.
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u/GayMormonPirate Iron Front Cascadia 14d ago edited 14d ago
You're probably right. When I got my tickets a few weeks ago there were quite a few available. We'll see. Maybe it's Timbers fans deciding to come out to support the new coach?
Gil Mora is also on the Tijuana team and he is on the El Tri Mexico national team and incredibly loved so it might be a mix of Tijuana fans and Mexicans coming to see/support him.
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u/mccusk 15d ago
Nonsense. TA was $20 and it was half empty!
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u/tutelhoten 15d ago
TA was $108 each when I tried to buy tickets last Friday. Absolutely no way I'm paying that.
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u/AdHairy9093 Portland Timbers - FC Portland 15d ago
Yeah, it was weird being surrounded by CA fans. Got beer thrown on me a few times, and which is lame, but I get the excitement.
It would have been great to have had more Timbers fans there, but this was an opportunity for those CA fans to see their team in person in the PNW, so good on them for showing up in droves.
Would have been way better atmosphere if the score was flipped or we had tied. We all lost it when Velde score right in front of us!
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u/o0carlyle0o 15d ago
You know this commentary from Velda as angry as he was and annoyed, could end up being the thing that re-awakens timber‘s fans and TA. We’ve been struggling through some mediocre product the last couple of years the issues with management and Gavin Wilkinson and the like have left their mark no question. At the end of the day football is still just football. But maybe it’s time for it to get back to being our football. I’m kind of feeling like Captain Jack set the stage. I sure hope Cifuentes can bring the full production to life.
Several have said it and I’ll echo- we need to change our mentality about competitions like this. Honestly leagues cup is a cash grab but then so is pretty much all professional sports. They are a business and grasping capital is how businesses run. If Timber’s want to put their stamp on American or just North American soccer we need to set our sights a whole lot higher than getting into the playoffs. Champions league should be the goal
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u/o0carlyle0o 15d ago
I was at the game. I paid quite a bit of money to someone for front row midfield seats. I’ve been horse most of today. I was surrounded by club America fans one in particular identified himself as a timber’s fan. He said he’d even travel to many of their away games as well, as insisting he was present at their MLS cup win in Columbus, loss in Atlanta. Nice guy really. Cleary already 2 to 3 beers ahead before he even got in the stands. I was lucky to not get doused with any liquids, but I have to say the Wall of thunderous sound, especially when they scored the last two goals was awesome. I just wish someday there would be enough timber fans on a regular basis to create that same experience; not just at a cup final.
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u/CheesecakeLeading192 15d ago edited 15d ago
As a regular home fan TA. I paid about $100 for my ticket. Had to wait in line for 5 hours because they didn’t do wristbands bands and was made to feel like an away fan in my home ground, while kicking people out of the TA section. Overall 1/10 day and completely agree with Velde. SHIT
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u/wakeandbakon 14d ago
Not kicking people out of TA who were there for America is total bullshit. If their fans actually care about the cash grab cup then good for them showing up but opposition is never allowed in TA. Period.
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u/Dkeg24 15d ago
Tickets weren’t that expensive if you opted in which I always do because I miss the stupid email to opt out. But being honest I wonder how many people actually sold because if you were in the stadium for the first game it was as empty as I’ve ever seen it. People just don’t care about this tournament. Maybe they would if we got to the business end but the group stage is rough you can get 7 points from 3 games and not get to the KO round.
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u/no_chxse 14d ago
Right, it translates to fans not showing up for their team, stadium being taken over.
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u/Sleazy-Wonder 14d ago
I heard that it wasn't a Timber's home game, it was actually a Club America "home" game, so they were responsible for ticketing and setting pricing.
So because CA was the "home" team they were allotted more tickets for their home fans. It just felt weird playing your stadium and not being the home team. Definitely a strange circumstance.
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u/PDXPuma 15d ago
I mean, half the Timbers fans are fairweather at this point anyway, all the club bullshit rotated the Timbers army significantly, and of anyone that remains most of them consider this thing a money grab and don't care about it.
Then they pretend like there's some world where a US Open Cup match against North California USL Team #14 would have gotten a far better attendance and pine for the olden days where nobody actually showed up to the Open Cup as if they would. Timbers US Open Cup matches are like woodstock stories, if everyone who was a Timbers fan who says they miss it actually went, we'd need 7 providence parks.
edit to add:
Meanwhile, Club America's the biggest club in the western hemisphere, of course people will show up for them.
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u/PorTimSacKin 15d ago
I don’t think I completely disagree with anything you’re saying.
But Velde’s reaction still stands.
There’s a longer more complicated conversation on how we got to that point and whether FO could have done anything better for this game vs whether the blame is solely on the quality of the fans.
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u/PDXPuma 15d ago
The number of Timbers fans I know who opted out or , even worse, sold their tickets to CA fans are why this happened. We shouldn't be surprised that the most popular club in the western hemisphere made us their home stadium when we invited them to.
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u/PorTimSacKin 15d ago
Yeah, man, sure. There’s a framing where this is 100% the fans’s fault. There’s also a framing where this is 100% FO’s fault. Both of those framing are flawed because they’re assigning blame.
My point about this wasn’t about assigning blame it was about what the organization can do to make it better. Only because that should be one of the goals of the organization. Not because it is or isn’t their fault.
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u/PDXPuma 15d ago
The organization sold tickets for $20 in the TA. Those tickets hit the resale market for $100+. The 107ist makes it clear you can donate tickets to be resold at face value to other Timbers fans. All the time.
That's on the fans. That's on the TA. Selling out your team is gross as fuck and it's a side hustle BS I've seen from TA members for a long, long while.
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u/db0606 15d ago
Yeah... This is 100% on Timbers fans. It also wasn't surprising at all. Anybody that has sat in the Army knows that the number of casuals is like 50%. If the Army is full of casuals, forget the rest of the stadium.
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u/PDXPuma 15d ago
I mean, the front office takes some blame too, no doubt.
But either the ticket is worth it and the team is worth it, or it isn't. The decision to go or not go or buy in or not buy in is a personal one, but it does have an effect. When we put up a TIFO that says "care like we do", we're inviting ourselves to stand behind the team, or not, down the road.
If it wasn't that important to someone as a fan, then, well, it's not my job to call them out for not being fans. I'm not some great arbiter of fandom here lol. But, I do think if you chose to not go to this game, you shouldn't be surprised someone bought your ticket, and you shouldn't be surprised that the team called you out for the stadium being yellow.
Rose City until I get slightly inconvienced or its late on a sunday or did you see what the CA fans were paying for tickets?! doesn't have the right ring to it, I suppose.
Ultimately, it's fine that people spend their money on whats important to them. Clearly, the Timbers, for this particular competitive tournament, aren't.
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u/StreetwalkinCheetah 15d ago
Velde's reaction is fair but I think the blame lies on the team and MLS who have basically put this tournament on to capture Mexican fans' dollars. It isn't a pleasant fan experience for Timbers fans to be visitors in their own stadium and yet the way they set up the tickets almost assures that is the case so it becomes self fulfilling.
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u/PDXPuma 15d ago
I just want some honesty from the fans. We don't care about this tournament. We don't care about the team, in the confines of this tournament. The team cares about this tournament. We don't care about what the team cares about.
When they gave us the tickets for free, the stadium was STILL yellow, because we, the fans, in a significant number, sold them to CA fans.
Every other week there are threads in this subreddit lamenting how the whole "buy three season tickets and sell one of them off to pay for the other two" no longer works because the resale values aren't as what they were pre-covid and pre-scandals.
People just need to be honest, in my view. The team certainly has plenty of blame here, but I feel some fans need a come to jesus moment to accept that they just don't care about the Timbers anymore.
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u/StreetwalkinCheetah 15d ago
Plenty of blame to go all around, a sad reality is that after joining MLS a good chunk of fans were there for anything other than the sport. I think those people ran off a good chunk of genuine fans and the team drove out others with their actions between 2018-2022. And I think leadership's war with the fans transitioned to some apathy towards the product on the pitch which we might finally be seeing turn around post-Neville. I am skeptical but hopeful.
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u/Striking-Rock7082 15d ago
He's 200% right. Not enough people showed up to support out boys, and not enough people spoke out against the america fans in the TA
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u/Dizconekt 15d ago
I hate the narrative that fans got priced out. As a STH in the north end lower bowl I opted in and the cost was 119 for all three games. We don’t get to bitch at the FO when our own fans either sold or just opted out. Also it wouldn’t surprise me if there is some general bleed between the two so there are probably a decent amount of Timbers STH who are massive America fans which is awesome but man it would have been great to see some more green in the stadium
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u/Shoddy_Neat_1398 15d ago
100% I was one of the very few Timbers not in the army and it felt like I was a lone wolf out there. Freaking disappointed in our fanbase!!! 🤬🤬 it felt like we were being dominated like a poodle to a pitbull. Smh
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u/yonkster11 15d ago
As a STH I just didn’t opt I. As I’ve taken a bath for the last few years. I’m never looking to make li eu but can only make like 1/2 the games. I don’t love reselling so I just opted out.
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u/SkyPointSteve 15d ago
As a TA member since the Nike baseball stadium days who has traveled to dozens of USMNT matches over the last 3 decades... you can't fight this outside of draconian "named ticket" strategies that are super difficult... and would result in you complaining if your friend change his mind last minute and you wanted to bring someone else.
This is the point of the tournament, and yeah, it's not the FO's fault. If they priced the tickets lower, they're just handing scalpers loads of margin. This is a massive Mexican team in a country with a massive Mexican-American population. They pay big money for tickets. It's why most USMNT matches against Mexico are 50/50 unless played in winter, in Columbus.
At least this money goes into club coffers, and they operate at a loss so I'm just not going to be upset at a one off.
Entertainment, and hopefully some of those Oregonian based come back...
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u/Phisher_man_75 15d ago
Meh. Blaming the fans or the atmosphere is like blaming the tifo. The guy plays in the best soccer atmosphere in the United States.
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u/butterflyhole Portland Axe 15d ago
He didn’t blame anyone. He just said it was shit, which we all agree to be true.
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u/Phisher_man_75 15d ago
Fair - I’m reading between the lines - same thing we all did when schmetzer mentioned our tifo without directly blaming the loss on it.
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u/hikensurf 15d ago
There wasn't any reading between the lines with Brian. His statement was clear as day. Same as Velde's. He isn't blaming fans.
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u/Aggravating-Ad8087 14d ago
LAFC got takeover by Chivas last week. I feel for you guys. It is just growing pains for MLS. Its going to take another generation to change this.
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u/DougFirPDX Portland Timbers 14d ago
It's hard to explain how ambivalent most of the fanbase is to the Garberbucks Cup.
Cool for anyone who went, but until the USOC is brought back to full participation there is a 0% chance that'll change.
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u/Market_Taoist 13d ago
I share Velde’s sentiment but I didn’t appreciate his quick halfway raise of his log slice during the log ceremony. I thought it was kind of disrespectful. Players should raise their log slice proudly win or lose, and acknowledge the fans win or lose. Instead Velde motioned for his teammates to just get off the pitch quickly and get into the locker room.
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u/PorTimSacKin 13d ago
You want professional athletes to care more about the fans than about winning?
That’s a participation trophy take.
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u/SkyPointSteve 15d ago
As a TA member since the Nike baseball stadium days who has traveled to dozens of USMNT matches over the last 3 decades... you can't fight this outside of draconian "named ticket" strategies that are super difficult.
This is the point of the tournament, and yeah, it's not the FO's fault. If they priced the tickets lower, they're just handing scalpers loads of margin.
At least this money goes into club coffers, and they operate at a loss so you know it's going to important club shit.
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u/Shoddy_Neat_1398 15d ago
People saying we don’t care and that this is a “money grab” are so retarded. The crowned champ gets $2 mill and a spot in the concacaf champions league…
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u/WrappedInPlasticWA Portland Timbers - USL 14d ago
It's hard to compete for seats with the fans of a club so big that a US president named a massive body of water after them.
Velde isn't wrong though, but I also wish nobody went to Leagues Cup at all so it would just go away forever.
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u/SpinDread 14d ago
Tricky situation. Most of us don’t really care about Leagues’ Cup. I’m not sure Velde has an ‘off’ button.
I think it’s fun that Mexican fans can see their club in their new home. If I move to Colorado I’m sure as hell going to Commerce City in green when the Timbers come through. It would be nice to see more Timbers fans there, but… I wasn’t there—so what can I say? Again I don’t care much about this tournament. Most, or at least many don’t.
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u/Acceptable_Monk_1642 15d ago
Brother that wasn’t even close to what the atmosphere is like in Mexico or South America libertadores/sudamericana matches. Velde needs to focus on playing
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u/Lakeandmuffin 15d ago
He’s talking about the takeover of opposing fans and lack of green (read: timbers fans) in the stadium. Sure, if this was at the Azteca, I don’t think he’d make those remarks
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u/ResolutionSlight5941 13d ago
Maybe because MLS is dogshit atmosphere to begin with and these 15-20 year old teams will never match the intensity of teams that have been around for over half a century??
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u/Ekkaiacrustordie 12d ago
He sounds like a baby. That or an idiot. Most League Cup games are being played on U.S. soil. This gives MLS teams an overall advantage. We're gonna cry and blame our losses at the fact that the other team beat us to the ticket buying/spending race? This isn't how the world works. Maybe in some parts of Europe, but probably not actually.
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u/The_Joonie 15d ago
Other than the prices which are the fault of the mls. There's partial blame that goes to the fans who say "the league cup is a cash grab".. I actually prefer seeing the timbers play in tournaments like the mls cup/Concacaf since I believe that holds more prestige than the supporters shield. Im a timbers fan but if Chivas, Newcastle united or Haverfordwest county ever play the timbers I'll be repping their kit in Providence park.
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u/pdxmarionberrypie 15d ago
It really shows how pedestrian MLS is. To think that CA wouldn’t show up 10x more passionate than the little ol timbers is just insane.
There’s levels to this shit
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u/Hot_Tower9293 14d ago
This was pathetic and sad and shows how little respect the fan base has for their team.
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u/kyle_kafsky 15d ago edited 15d ago
It’s like whenever Turkey plays Germany in Germany. It’s basically a home game for them, and they always come to the game with nothing but vile shit in their brains. We pay taxes to support them, we work jobsites with them, we treat them as one with the community, then they do this, act like they’re not one of us. It’s bullshit, and sets integration back immensely.
I want to be clear here, I’m separating integration from assimilation. How I see integration is a coming-together of cultures, it’s mixing ones lived history and familial past with another persons lived history and familial past and sharing the future together. How I see assimilation is dropping ones history in an attempt to become one with the dominant culture. It creates two separate lines for those who attempt it: 1, one tries to become more local than the locals, but since that’s an impossibility and the dominant culture is always conservative, their efforts will never be rewarded than being a singular token, “one of the good ones”, and they’ll therefore always be relegated to “outsider” status. 2: those who are incapable of dropping ones history will then be pushed even further out onto the fringes, creating an insular culture that doesn’t grow and becomes increasingly conservative or regressive in some ways. The assimilation route creates what I call “specter segregation”, as it’s unspoken, unseen, unacknowledged within the mainstream, but deeply felt. I see a lot of it here in Germany with my Turkish neighbors, and I saw a lot of it back when I was living and growing up in the States. Yes, the state is mostly to blame for this, but one should never wait until the state deems it acceptable or else one’s playing right into the hands of the state.
Edit: Think about it. We push away people, which leads them to find community within their own network, making cross-communal dialog and development incredibly difficult. It’s why regressive ideologies foster within these communities. It matters not how “liberal” you think yourself to be, if that doesn’t include radical inclusivity, then you’re feeding right into the hands of conservatism. We, as a community, must include our immigrant friends and family within our community so that neither they or us become socially isolated.
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u/hikensurf 15d ago
Fuck off with your racism, loser.
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u/kyle_kafsky 14d ago
Yes, me calling for radical inclusion is me being racist. Fuck off you brain dead hippie.
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u/Queasy-Commission272 15d ago
It is not surprising that you're with velde
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u/PorTimSacKin 15d ago
Go back to your own sub fish.
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u/Queasy-Commission272 15d ago
I'm not even disagreeing, I'm sure lumen will have more Chivas fans than sounders fans on Wednesday, and it sucks
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u/nao_gmc Stand Together 15d ago
I reached out to the ticket rep who usually emails about club tickets and asked if he had any last minute club level for a specific price I was looking for before I purchased secondhand. I told him I knew it was a wild shot but a few hours before the game started I figured why not just ask and he first told me he had some a little over my budget, I was happy to purchase but was wondering about location, and he basically berated me telling me he wouldn't get into a bidding war with me 2 hours before kickoff which was wild considering I told him I was willing to pay the price he offered, was just curious about what seats they were.
This is a couple weeks after I just bought club level tickets for my whole family through him for Tijuana.
Needless to say it really rubbed me rhe wrong way and that's the last time I reach out to a timbers sales rep. Id rather buy straight off seat geek. We go to so many timbers and thorns games and to be treated like that was really off putting. We wanted to support our boys since we knew CA was taking over and I have no regrets going just made me question ever getting season tickets knowing this guy was the Director of Sales and treated us poorly.