U.S. World Cup qualifying victory rekindles memories of the Timbers’ NASL glory days It was one of the louder cheers heard by U.S. national team players in recent months, a din that rattled off the cozy, compact facility chosen by U.S. Soccer for a crucial qualifier with Costa Rica. The cheer was for them, and kickoff was still nearly an hour away. Most U.S. pregame warmups are greeted with distant shouts from a few hardcore early-arrivals, but on this day, fans occupied more than one-third of the stadium as the team came out. “The market proved itself to be stellar,” said U.S. Soccer president Alan Rothenberg. “Not just the numbers, but the enthusiasm that they had. This is tantamount to going to a game in Central America: A full house, fans here hours before [kickoff], the cheering never stopping …. it was great. “They told us what to expect. But you have to be here to really feel it.” Like the players, the fans were merely warming up. As the teams came out for the national anthems, they were greeted by a roiling sea of rabid fans banging missile-shaped noisemakers handed out by Nike. And when Tab Ramos’ missile hit Costa Rica’s net in the 78th minute, the din was deafening. Fans came early, stayed late, and raised a ruckus that had the U.S. players raving as their ears were ringing. Only one men’s international had previously been played in the city, yet Portland’s soccer tradition is a strong one. There are the men’s and women’s programs at the University of Portland, where U.S. assistant coach Clive Charles groomed internationals Kasey Keller, Shannon MacMillan and Tiffeny Milbrett. “It’s big for us to win any game, but for me, it’s a little more special,” said Keller. “With John Harkes out, I was given the captain’s band, which was an honor for me. “I knew this crowd was going to be pumped up for this game. I wanted to get a victory for them, and we did exactly that.” On the same afternoon, more than 5,000 fans ù another sellout ù watched the Portland women’s team play Notre Dame. Before Charles brought the Pilots to national prominence, he played for the Timbers, whose fans often buzzed Civic Stadium with the same raucous intensity. The team’s mascot, a crazed lumberjack nicknamed Timber Jim, would climb light poles when the team scored. T.J. would fire up a chainsaw, and wave it around as he took it up the pole with him. At times, it seemed sanity and safety were secondary to fun at Civic. Several crowds of more than 30,000 crammed their way into the stadium during its NASL days, although Civic’s official capacity barely surpassed 26,000. Extra bleachers were brought in for big games and the fire marshall looked the other way. “What fire marshall?” laughed Charles. “Just squeeze them in.” “We used to sleep in line for tickets,” said Bruno Matulich, 36, who wore a green-and-white Timbers scarf to the U.S.-Costa Rica game. “I was a maniac.” Pele played his last competitive game in Portland, almost 20 years ago to the day before the U.S.-Costa Rica match. He led the Cosmos to a 2-1 victory over Seattle in the NASL championship match. Stevie Hunt scored the first goal ù one of the most bizarre in American soccer history ù by nicking the ball away after Seattle goalkeeper Tony Chursky rolled it along the ground. Chursky, deaf in his left ear, didn’t hear his teammates’ shouted warnings; Hunt nipped in, and as a panicked Chursky tackled him, rolled the ball into the net. Pele lifted Hunt in celebration, and Hunt held aloft his left shoe, which had been yanked off his foot by Chursky’s desperate tackle. “We rooted for the Cosmos, of course,” said Matulich’s friend, Paul Kaufmann. “We hated Seattle. Their fans would actually put bumperstickers all over your windshield, and you couldn’t get them off.”