Roger Levesque and a chopped down 'tree'

While many rivalries in MLS are young and have only blossomed in the confines of MLS, the Timbers-Sounders rivalry goes back years, first to the NASL era of the teams in the late 1970s. But it started to really take on its current form in USL during the 2000s, with one of the most memorable moments coming after the Sounders had just made the jump to MLS.

In 2009, with the Sounders a new MLS side and and the Timbers still in lower-division USL, the two sides met in Portland for a U.S. Open Cup match.

Whatever hopes the Timbers fans had to prove they were better than their major league rivals were quickly dashed – it took the Sounders’ Roger Levesque only 48 seconds to score. That was already enough to silence the Portland crowd, but it was his goal celebration that left the most lasting impression.

Levesque mimed being chopped down like a tree as a teammate pretended to be lumberjack, an attempt to mock Timbers fans. It worked and Timbers fans to this day still hold a special bit of disdain for Levesque in the rivalry.