PORTLAND, Ore. – The signs outside the stadium still read Providence Park, but inside near the field, the green-and-yellow tarps which normally adorn the field-level walls had been covered with two shades of Vancouver Whitecaps FC blue, with “Bell” spelled out in white on each panel. Signboards near the field’s lines had the Portland Timbers’ partners swapped out for Vancouver’s, while the sound pumped through the stadium’s audio system mimicked the Whitecaps’ BC Place crowd, not the fans Portland would normally hear in Goose Hollow.
Though much of the rest of the Timbers’ 1-0 victory over the Whitecaps felt like a home game, the record books will list it as a road one, with Providence Park serving as Portland’s ultimate home away from home.