Mar 16, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter (left) and Seattle Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid (right) hug prior to the game between the Seattle Sounders FC and the Portland Timbers at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
After a hard-fought 3-1 victory against FC Dallas, Caleb Porter once again has found himself in the center of a coach-on-coach altercation. Almost immediately after the game, this video popped up with appropriate sides being chosen by the public at large. However, looking at the extremely short video, it’s hard to draw many conclusions. While we can all empathize with Porter’s reaction, do we have a fair idea about what would cause a grown man to give another grown man a tissue? The only setting appropriate would be a funeral or after the first 20 minutes of the Disney film Up. Can we really believe there were no interactions between the two until that tissue paper appeared?
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Looking at Porter’s track record with these incidents, you’d be hard pressed to say it cam out of nowhere. The Oregonian’s Jamie Goldberg has put together a highlight reel of Porter’s past squabbles. The most famous being “The Handshake:” Porter being snubbed by his idol, and coach of Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola. But she also made sure to include lesser known incidents like a shouting match with Bruce Arena after a July 2013 game and a nose-to-nose showdown with Carl Robinson following a 2014 Timber loss.
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Porter certainly has track record of getting underneath the skin of opposing coaches, and likely, contributed to this spat as well. However, the other interesting storyline emerging from this most recent encounter is the rivalry bubbling up between these two clubs. Last season, from all meetings of Dallas and Portland, produced 4 red cards, with the only meeting at Providence Park generating an fractious atmosphere, leading to a Blas Perez, multi-game suspension red card. And, who could forget the bizarre double red card last year in Dallas? (These were both rescinded, but something happened in order from them to be handed out in the first place).
Now, with the most recent entry from this burgeoning rivalry in the books, we can all begin to look forward to the next meeting of the these two on July 25th. Let’s just hope that this time they don’t wait until after the game to produce this drama. Don’t forget the tissues, because someone will be leaving upset.