The Emerald City Supporters unfurled a giant, two-piece tifo display before the Seattle Sounders faced the Portland Timbers in Saturday’s Cascaida Cup clash, honoring head coach Brian Schmetzer’s past and present with the club.
Emblazoned with the words “The Rightful King Reclaims The Throne,” the banner depicted Schmetzer alongside the 2016 MLS Cup, which Seattle won after he took the reins (at first on an interim basis) from Sigi Schmid last July then led the Sounders to their first league championship.
Schmetzer was born and raised in Seattle and signed with the NASL version of the team straight out of high school in 1980. He played outdoor and indoor in his hometown then managed the Sounders in USL for an extended stretch, guiding them to titles in 2005 and 2007 before becoming an assistant under Schmid in MLS.
Saturday’s display is just the latest in a long line of impressive tifo displays in one of the most intense fixtures in North America, a rivalry that dates all the way back to 1975 when the teams first met in the old NASL.
