VANCOUVER, B.C. -- The Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers will add a new chapter on Sunday to a fierce rivalry stretching back to 1975.
The Cascadian rivals will meet in the MLS playoffs for the first time, in the first leg of the Western Conference Semifinals of the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs (5 pm ET; ESPN in US, TSN in Canada), adding to a legacy of postseason battles in the old NASL and their days in the USL.
The atmosphere inside Portland's Providence Park is sure to be electric, and Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson is relishing the occasion.
"We like our rivalry games, whether it's Seattle or Portland," Robinson told reporters at training on Friday. "It's what everyone wants to see. I've got a group of players that want to play in these big games. You want to manage against the best coaches, and you want to play against rivals. So all in all, it's an exciting series."
The Whitecaps have felt right at home in the red-hot atmosphere of Providence Park these past few seasons, losing just one of their last five MLS matches there and negating the fear factor many teams often feel playing in front of the hostile Timbers crowd.
"It's a semifinal series, which is a major achievement for the football club and this group of players," Robinson added. "They should be proud of themselves, but I want them to go out now and embrace that challenge. I don't want them to go out and play with fear or be scared because there's nothing to be scared about or nothing to be fearful about.
"We've got to be wary of them. They're a good team, but so are we."
Sparks have definitely flown in recent meetings between the two Cascadian rivals, as have the cards, and with so much on the line, Sunday's game certainly has the potential of boiling over once again.
It's a situation that will suit a Whitecaps side that never shies away from a physical battle and in the knowledge that four Timbers players are carrying a yellow card into the game after Thursday's bruising battle with Sporting KC. One more and they will miss next weekend's second leg.
"We know what these series are like," Robinson said with a wry smile. "We've played them in preseason the last two years as well. There's been a number of yellow cards and the one above yellow cards in games. We know it's going to be intense. Hopefully we get a strong referee who's able to deal with it because you've got two passionate sets of players going head to head on Sunday."
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The Whitecaps may have struggled a little toward the end of the season, but they head into the Timbers' lair with the best away record in all of MLS. With the two-legged series likely to be decided by the narrowest margins, both teams know the importance of getting what could be one or more crucial away goals.
"We need to be smart," cautioned Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted. "No reason to try and finish it off in the first game. We have a home game and have good chances of winning that one. But we also know how big an away goal would also be, so we should try to go and get one of those."
One of the men tasked with grabbing that away goal is Whitecaps winger Kekuta Manneh, and he's confident Vancouver can leave Portland with at least one.
"Our away record has been great this year," Manneh said. "We've scored plenty of goals and been getting a lot of results away as well. For us, hopefully things don't change. If we play with the same intensity that we've been playing all year round, we'll get a goal."
