I've been dreaming for the great one to journey to my hometown of Portland, Oregon, for many... well, two years now. Not as a member of my club the Timbers, not in the flesh, but in 24-frames per second. Moving pictures... in the hyper-reality of cinema... in the celluloid guise of the brilliant film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait. Click to continue reading...

Not to be left standing with their d*ck in their hands, Vancouver Whitecaps have made the next move in the Pacific Northwest MLS Expansion Death Race 3000™. One day after Portland fired it's shot across the bow, they launched a two-pronged attack today on both the world-wide web and, as seen above, British Columbian morning television. Click to continue reading...

While Portland may have not finished in the top two of the WVH Poll for expansion (that nod went to St. Louis and Montreal), they have put out their plan today for MLS expansion, including what they plan to do with current Timbers venue PGE Park. According to MLStoPortland.com, the plan to renovate PGE Park includes: Modification [. Click to continue reading...

A week ago, the Carolina RailHawks season was on life support. After Fridays 3-2 win over Miami, their condition can be upgraded to critical.
The three points earned last week are vital to the RailHawks chances of salvaging their season, but they are not in the clear yet. The win got the RailHawks out of the USL-1 cellar and into 10th place. Click to continue reading...

The Sounders and Timbers will surely play again -- most likely in the U.S. Open Cup -- but yesterday saw what will likely be the last league match between the two for a while.

Seattle won 1-0 in Portland, the Columbian has the story.

Now I've some a couple of these matches live. Click to continue reading...

What? You thought I forgot there was a little three decade-long grudge match tonight? Blogger please. I will not rest until I get a call from FSC's Mitch Peacock himself saying "you can stop now, we really don't have the bandwidth for an audience this size." Until then, I'm going to keep reminding you to do whatever you have to do to watch the game on FSC at 11pmEST. Click to continue reading...

There has been a lot of news about MLS expansion floating around and I havent' written much on it because I've been sort of saving some of my thoughts for my PE column. I'm planning on writing next Tuesday's piece on expansion and kind of break down where things stand and what cities should get an expansion team. Click to continue reading...

After being gifted a man advantage for about the final 50 minutes of the match in Portland Thursday night when Chris Brown elbowed David Stokes in the face, the RailHawks failed to take advantage of their superior numbers to steal three points from the Timbers.
Instead, the RailHawks continued their undisciplined trend of earning ejections themselves as David Stokes was sent off late in the second half for a second yellow. Click to continue reading...

After a very disappointing effort in Charleston last night, the Timbers are headed home for what they hope will be a prosperous Thursday match on their home pitch against Carolina. One point from this past trip has really put the pressure on with the likes of Montreal and Rochester charging up the table in hot pursuit of a middle or better playoff spot. Click to continue reading...

As I've eluded to before, if the USL first division was a movie, it would be Groundhog Day. How else can you explain consecutive road trips to the southeastern United States? If the flick is true to form, the Ax Men will lose the first game, travel overnight by bus to the next location and pull off an improbable victory tomorrow. Click to continue reading...

Tigres enfrentará en unos minutos a los Timbers de Portland en el estadio PGE Park. La información pinta para ser dificil de conseguir. Sin embargo se hará lo posible por traerles información "calientita" sobre el juego según llegue a Solo Tigres. Los Timbers estarán enfrentando por segunda vez a un equipo mexicano en pretemporada. Click to continue reading...

The Timbers were not shut out of the win column in the month of June, rallying for a big 2-0 win against Atlanta, making this difficult, four-day whirlwind a success. Matt Bobo must have nightmares about Chris Bagley at this point.

We had a 4:30 a.m. lobby call today at the hotel and flew out of Atlanta at 7 a. Click to continue reading...

In what feels like a Groundhog Day (the movie) cycle, here we are again less than an hour before the scheduled kickoff between the Timbers and Silverback in Atlanta.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn Select nearby at about 6 a.m. this morning and I grabbed a couple hours of legitimate sleep before being roused by an old school telephone ring signaling that it was time to go pick up the rental vehicles. Click to continue reading...

Well it's 1:26 a.m. ET as we head on down the road from NC to Atlanta in a rather nice motor coach by USL standards. No leather, but it's got a nice smooth air suspension and not one but TWO drivers to get us on down to the land of peaches and sweet tea.
Spirits on the bus are pretty high, considering the frustration that everyone feels with regard to going without three points for what seems like an eternity. Click to continue reading...

The Timbers' attack got a big boost today with the addition of Brian Jordan, who is now officially on loan to the Boys in Green. Jordan joined the club last night, flying in from L.A. in time for tonight's Fox Soccer Channel match against Carolina.
Portland is due for an offensive surge as it is, so BJ back should only hasten that. Click to continue reading...

We arrived on time here in Atlanta, but our flight to Raleigh/Durham - originally scheduled to depart at 9:21 ET has been pushed back to 11 p.m. So, what was already a two-hour layover will likely be four.
I can't complain too much, as this is the first real flight delay we've had this season. Click to continue reading...

Portland.

We all would love Portland in MLS. Good news for those who feel the same comes in the form of the new Portland mayor, a soccer guy who loves the Timbers. 
Portland has an appropriate sized stadium already in the form of PGE Park, which if renovated would be suitable to MLS. Click to continue reading...

Lots of stuff going on tonight, watching the Houston-New England MLS match along with the Portland-Silverbacks match on USL Live.

Thoughts:

• New England has been pretty impressive, even without their missing stars. The more I see this Dube kid, the more I like him.
  
• Tony Caig is possibly the worst goalkeeper in MLS.

Click to continue reading...

Big big big upset in the Open Cup last night as Hollywood United went to Portland and knocked out the Timbers 2-3. Yes that is the team started by the LA pretty boys, but the team is much more serious these days and only bring out the glamor for the charity games.

~and~

Chicago & Columbus fans joined together last night at their teams Open Cup qualifier to unveil a new campaign and banner "Fans Against Racism"! Click to continue reading...

Courtesy Du Nord, the grid for tonight's first round in the US Open Cup. I think the quirky majesty of this out-of-the-way, neglected competition speaks for itself. The Pancyprian Freedoms? Bradenton Academics? Clearwater Galactics? Beautiful.

Carolina Railhawks v Brooklyn Knights
Real Maryland Monarchs v NY Pancyprian Freedoms
Richmond Kickers v Fredricksburg Gunners
Western Mass Pioneers v Boston Olympiakos
Minnesota Thunder v St Louis Lions
Michigan Bucks v Cleveland City Stars
AAC Eagles v Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Rochester Rhinos v RWB Adria
Austin Aztex v Atlanta Silverbacks
Miami FC Blues v Bradenton Academics
Charlottle Eagles v Clearwater Galactics
Charleston Battery v ASC New Stars
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Los Angeles Legends
Harrisburg City Islanders v Yakima Reds
Arizona Sahuaros v Seattle Sounders
Portland Timbers v Hollywood United Click to continue reading...

If I have one complaint about the USL's goal-of-the-week award, it's that they don't prominently display it on the front page of the USL website. So if you're like me, and couldn't find it right away, click on this link.

The latest GOTWA belongs to Portland's own Takayuki Suzuki - shocker, I know. Click to continue reading...