Sounders will host Portland Timbers in fourth round of US Open Cup

The Seattle Sounders will enter the 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in the fourth round like the other 19 U.S.-based MLS teams. Unlike the vast majority of them, the Sounders will be facing another MLS team on June 13 (this was changed from June 14). As seems to happen with alarming regularity, it will be the Portland Timbers. It’s the third time in four years the regional rivals have met in the tournament.

This will be the seventh time that the two have faced each other in the Open Cup, with the first two coming when both were USL teams. This is the second time in the last three years that the Sounders and Timbers have meet in the earliest possible round and will be the third time the Timbers have played at Starfire in the MLS era.

The most famous Open Cup game between the two took place on June 16, 2015. What has become known as the “Red Card Wedding”, the Sounders were left with seven players after three red cards and an injury. The Timbers would eventually prevail 3-1 in extra time. Clint Dempsey remains suspended from the tournament after ripping up referee Daniel Radford’s notebook in that game.

The year before, the Sounders hosted Portland in the quarterfinals and prevailed 3-1 in extra time on their way to their fourth U.S. Open Cup trophy.