PORTLAND, Ore.
– Highlighting the second week of preseason training camp, the Portland Timbers travel north to face Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders FC Thursday in a preseason match at Qwest Field in Seattle at 6 p.m.
The Northwest rivals square off in Seattle’s inaugural “Community Shield” event, benefitting several Northwest organizations. The preseason contest will be broadcast live on Freedom 970 AM.
Tickets for the event, priced at $10 for adults and $5 for youth (6-17), can be purchased through area Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000. Children under the age of six are free.
The match is the second of preseason and is the first of two against an MLS opponent on Portland’s preseason schedule. The trip to Seattle marks the Timbers’ first visit to Qwest Field since the 2008 season, when Sounders FC was a member of United Soccer Leagues.
The Timbers and Sounders have a long-standing rivalry that dates back to 1975 as members for the former North American Soccer League. The last time the two clubs met was in the third round of the 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup before a sold-out PGE Park. It was the Timbers’ first meeting against Seattle as an MLS club; Portland will join Seattle in MLS play in 2011. The Timbers and Sounders FC were foes for eight seasons in the USL First Division from 2001-08.
Seattle’s “Community Shield” is modeled after similar events in England, where they are a long-standing tradition. Portland’s charity match on Feb. 17 against the University of Portland raised nearly $8,000 for Mercy Corps and their relief efforts in Haiti.
The Timbers resume their preseason training schedule Friday in Portland. The club kicks off the 2010 regular season on Saturday, April 17, at PGE Park as they play host to the Rochester Rhinos at 7 p.m.
