TUKWILA, Wash. — When Seattle Sounders defender Brad Evans walks onto the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field on Saturday (12 p.m. PT; FOX, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM | TICKETS), it will be his 13th career regular-season game against the Portland Timbers. They all count for three points, but the 32-year-old veteran knows the impact of matches against the Sounders’ bitter Cascadia rivals carry much more significance.
“There’s certainly a buzz in the air around these games that’s a bit different because the media builds it up, it’s on TV a bit more, you read it in the papers,” Evans said. “It’s a special occasion and we take that to heart.”
The Timbers and Sounders’ rivalry dates back 42 years, and the two teams are the reigning 2015 and ’16 MLS Cup champions, respectively. Saturday will mark their first clash of the season and the first of three in a month. The Sounders will host the Timbers on June 13 in U.S. Open Cup play before traveling to Providence Park on June 25 for their lone regular-season match in Portland this year.
Evans and the Sounders are focused on taking care of business at home, a place where they have a five-game winning streak against the Timbers dating back to 2013.
“I think in a rivalry match, the home team typically has the edge and I think that has a lot to do with the crowd,” said Evans. “It’s also the players [not wanting] to put in a poor performance in front of your home fans. Where we’re at in the standings right now, it can go one of two ways, and we have to focus on an upward trajectory right now. It starts with a rivalry game, there’s no better time.”
Should Evans start again at right back, he will face a familiar opponent on the left side in Timbers winger and fellow United States national team player Darlington Nagbe. Evans and Nagbe spent the last couple U.S. January camps training together and Evans knows just how dangerous Nagbe can be on the ball. The Sounders will need to keep him in front of them and limit his movement in space.
“He’s a top player in the league,” Evans said of Nagbe. “You pick your moments of when you’ve got to go hard and when you’ve got to be smart and cover the space...I’ve never seen a player with the ball at his feet keep it like he does. I’ve never seen this before. He’s a special player and a special talent.”
Once the whistle blows, though, and the match begins, all the hype, the build-up, the tension will boil down into two very good teams battling for 90 minutes.
“This is a big one, not only for the players and the team, but for the fans,” said Evans. “We respect them for their efforts in these games where they come out early and provide that extra buzz and sometimes in a rivalry, that can push you to the next level. We feed off that, and they know that.
“We’re at home and we’ve got to make a statement.”
