The Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders FC had run out into each of their halves of the field ahead of the June 28 match at Providence Park, when behind the north end, the Timbers Army raised its tifo: an elaborate display depicting Mount Hood and its surrounding rivers and forests with a message spread across it.
“Walking in a...” the first part of the message read.
Timbers Army members on the field then raised the second portion of the message, suspended on wires hung from the rafters of Providence Park: “TIMBERS WONDERLAND.”
The Army displayed the tifo for what felt like minutes and few in the crowd or on the field could take their eyes off of it.
The Timbers Army had outdone themselves yet again.
Months later, in a match against the Houston Dynamo, the Army unveiled a banner from its capo stand depicting midfielder Diego Valeri and the words “TROESMA.” Few in the crowd would have understood the reference – to Argentine tango singer Carlos Gardel – but the message came across loud and clear to the Argentine playmaker.
"I want to say thanks about the banner, because it made me feel that words are hard to say now," Valeri said after the match. "I'm very surprised about that and I will keep this in my heart for the rest of my career.”
