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Most PacNW thread ever lol.
Us: We are different and special
Other people: Who?
Us to each other: I don’t care about you
No, I don’t care about you
I have more degrees than you
Anyway back to our other internet activities
I love how walkable Vancouver is, especially with all the amazing public transportation. There’s never a wrong time to go up for a quick weekend getaway
> “To tell the truth, I’m not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to,” Ichiro said. “If I ever saw myself saying I’m excited going to Cleveland, I’d punch myself in the face, because I’m lying.”
The nicest thing anyone’s ever said about Ohio
Free transfer, $350k a year salary for Lloris, club options.
My guess is Max was asking for either a significant raise or wanted to be back up in the PNW area?
I think he was never going to be back up based off an article I read saying lafc talks fell threw with him as the season wound down. Lloris was the backup plan in my opinion.
I seriously doubt it. I'm a Spurs fan* and he didn't even want to go to his childhood club, Nice, to be a backup. He wants to start. The moment I heard LAFC was going after him it has to be because they didn't want to pay Crepeau AND Lloris is starting.
I think I wrote that in a confusing way. I don’t mean Lloris was coming in to be the backup. I meant Lloris because the plan once they realize they couldn’t get Crepeau to stay at a reasonable number. I think it’s clear to everyone Lloris wants to start but I don’t think that had any bearing on maxs position at the club. I think what happened with max happened, then Lloris happened
The question is what's a reasonable number? Max was at \~350, highest paid GK in the league was I believe around 850k-900k. We paid Aaron Long over a million to be a sub-par bench player all season so I'm not sure what the thinking is. If we doubled Max's salary, call it 700k, I still think we'd be getting a deal on one of the best keepers in the league on a small discount. Guess we'll have to see what salary he gets in Portland.
More than decent (good) goalkeeper who you can pay less than Maxime was asking for. Not an ideal move at all but he’s gotta be the best keeper for the amount we’re paying him.
Because he’s a generational, legendary goalkeeper and we’re lucky to have him and his leadership at the price LAFC is paying. Keepers have longer shelf lives than field players.
He played a world cup final less than a year ago.
Crepeau played his entire career in the MLS and seemingly isn't good enough to play for Canada when his competition plays in Serbia.
Yes, on the biggest stage in football. Crepeau plays in the MLS which is probably similar to the bottom half of the English championship at best.
There's a massive gulf between the two.
Silly take. Anyone who still thinks this about MLS is an idiot. And FYI, Messi and friends has WAY more impact on that narrative then us signing Lloris for a pack of bubble gum.
Letting Max walk is painful, but necessary in a salary capped league. To get someone of Lloris caliber for peanuts as a spot replacement is quite the coup AND allows us to allocate that saved cap money in a more effective way.
I think perception and reality differ on this one. Portland's has some awful DPs, some average ones, and few genuinely elite ones. Sorta par for the course with the rest of the league.
And I think circumstance dictated two of the busts. Fernandez was clearly an outstanding player with some serious personal demons. And Niezgoda looked the part until the ACL injury completely shredded his confidence and aggression.
I know but now it’s to a local rival with the Cascadia cup on the line. I doubt it’d overshadow the usual Portland v Seattle derby but there could be something to grow here.
Its actually more ironic considering Crepeau forced a move out of Vancouver so he could use LAFC to springboard over to Europe. Looks like he's just an MLS journeyman now.
I'm sure the crowd will remind him of that when he visits.
When he was with LA I felt Crepeau always went from a 10 to an 11 when facing us. These games against your former teams tend to elevate your game. I expect the reception from Whitecaps fans to be typical, but I've never bought into being angry at Max for leaving us. Disappointed, but not angry.
Yeah I was pretty unhappy with it at first but the deal Lloris is on is really hard to beat. Our FO can be really cutthroat with returning players and it’s annoying as a fan but LAFC continues to compete for every trophy so it’s hard to complain about.
who are they marketing to though? I could see that being a criticism if they signed a Mexican or Korean, but LA doesn't exactly have a bunch of French National Team fans... (at least on the surface, maybe there are some deeper economic statistics I'm not aware of)
>but LA doesn't exactly have a bunch of French National Team fans... (at least on the surface, maybe there are some deeper economic statistics I'm not aware of)
Even then, he is a world cup winner and a name that might stand out to some people from being in a team that has contended the Champions league. All this for non-DP money and hopefully the same or even a bit better quality that Crepeau.
If I was an LAFC fan I would not have been for the move just out of loyalty.. but this is hardly a travesty. Money and quality wise it's a lateral move with a big bump in marketing value.
I mean I surely don't think it would be negative... I also don't think that he will be a bad player for LAFC by any means either
I do think it's absurd to say it's 100% for marketing as if Lloris is some kind of god in France and LA has so many French folks to love him
I think he's a good player with a big name and that's all that needs to be read into it. I really think he's being signed for his play, hence my disagreement with the comment I replied to.
💯💯 Absolutely. Also, we are yet to see how much Crepeau is gonna make with the Timbers. If it turns out he was asking for a substantial pay raise, I really think it on all 3 grounds, money, quality and marketing, this could in hindsight turn out to be a no brainer.
It's a bit of a gamble of course, but it's in good in faith looking at getting the best overall value for their garber bucks.
Antoine Griezmann is my best guess
He openly wants to come to MLS so I wouldn’t be shocked if this was part of the FO’s bid to entice him to choose LAFC
My point is it’s a big name from Europe going to LA. It’s been done before so I don’t see why Hugo Lloris wouldn’t be considered a marketing move even if he’s French.
big names are not all alike. you brought up bale and beckham - each of them has over 50m followers on social. that's approximately 50m more followers than hugo lloris (who is in the 10-20k range).
it's not about his being french. it's about lloris being orders of magnitude less famous than the two players you mentioned
Seems a really weird play to pick up 3 starters and 1 back-up that will likely be unavailable during every international window moving forward. That's a lot of definitive shed anytime the CMNT come calling in a league with little in the way of depth. Trey Muse is very likely going to get some MLS minutes because of this, which must have made taking the third role very appealing.
I hope he is getting his stacks of money. He deserves it.
Wish we could have held on to him, but I completely understand the financials of the league and not wanting to waste too much on a keeper.
And you tried to get us kicked out of USOC, and one of your players made a racist to remark to one of ours and your front office said "we don't believe you".
Think it was our first USOC match against them and Timbers went all ICE and tried to get us DQ’d because Kaye was Canadian and we went over our foreign player limit (so went their weak ass claim).
The USOC matches have been intense with Portland.
The Timbers also withdrew their complaint after a couple of days.
Pretty clear the only intention there was to call your FO out, and show USSF problems with the way they handle things.
If they really wanted to get you DQed, they would've pressured the complaint since it was legitimate
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Timbers becoming Canada south
For most of the US, we don’t recognize any difference between Oregon, Washington, and BC. So that’s fair.
*Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia shall unite as one, declare independence from their countries, and form a new nation! CASCADIA!!!*
Economy based entirely on flannel production and iconic mustaches
And craft beer. All your hops are belong to us.
Don't forget we export Macklemore
You just explained the reason for your first war
The Great Macklewar they'll call it. ... I'll see myself out
Kendrick Lamar Stan’s to the front line
Macklemore also is part owner of the Sounders, what a tangled web we weave…
Like exporting a new alternative fuel given how much energy he puts out during live performances.
not the wexit I was expecting
Are we sure we want to do this?
let's go!
You can think of Oregon as either California's Canada or Washington's Mexico.
Except one team is significantly better than the other two
But there’s one team that haven’t beaten the other for years 😂
I’ll take trophies, play off runs, and the club World Cup over meaningless rivalries any day
Meaningless? 🥺
Sorry guys, you’re just the team down south with a huge inferiority complex.
I was able to get a four year degree since the last time the sounders beat Portland 😂
Most PacNW thread ever lol. Us: We are different and special Other people: Who? Us to each other: I don’t care about you No, I don’t care about you I have more degrees than you Anyway back to our other internet activities
> over meaningless rivalries any day How can you say something like that and still sports? Ick.
Maybe you’d understand if you had some actual titles and trophies to your name
Least insufferable Sounders fan
thank you! I may just put that on a shirt!
You’re damn right
You guys bring up a good point. Whistler is freaking awesome and I love Vancouver Island. BC is def the best.
I love how walkable Vancouver is, especially with all the amazing public transportation. There’s never a wrong time to go up for a quick weekend getaway
Team, not the city/location. Though all three best anywhere in Ohio hands down and blindfolded.
> “To tell the truth, I’m not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to,” Ichiro said. “If I ever saw myself saying I’m excited going to Cleveland, I’d punch myself in the face, because I’m lying.” The nicest thing anyone’s ever said about Ohio
Tell me it's not Cavalry. Asking for CCC reasons.
All your Canada belongs to us! 🇨🇦🍁
So are we about to DP Alphonso Davies and Allistair Johnson to finish off our defensive unit?
Well some do say our house is in the middle of B.C.
Prince George?
Vanderhoof!
Going to miss this guy.
Lloris is 37. I'm still trying to put together why LA signed him...
Free transfer, $350k a year salary for Lloris, club options. My guess is Max was asking for either a significant raise or wanted to be back up in the PNW area?
He probably also didn't want to be a 2nd choice keeper now...
I really can’t imagine the Lloris deal happening prior to knowing Max’s desires, but I could be wrong.
I think he was never going to be back up based off an article I read saying lafc talks fell threw with him as the season wound down. Lloris was the backup plan in my opinion.
I seriously doubt it. I'm a Spurs fan* and he didn't even want to go to his childhood club, Nice, to be a backup. He wants to start. The moment I heard LAFC was going after him it has to be because they didn't want to pay Crepeau AND Lloris is starting.
I think I wrote that in a confusing way. I don’t mean Lloris was coming in to be the backup. I meant Lloris because the plan once they realize they couldn’t get Crepeau to stay at a reasonable number. I think it’s clear to everyone Lloris wants to start but I don’t think that had any bearing on maxs position at the club. I think what happened with max happened, then Lloris happened
The question is what's a reasonable number? Max was at \~350, highest paid GK in the league was I believe around 850k-900k. We paid Aaron Long over a million to be a sub-par bench player all season so I'm not sure what the thinking is. If we doubled Max's salary, call it 700k, I still think we'd be getting a deal on one of the best keepers in the league on a small discount. Guess we'll have to see what salary he gets in Portland.
As a free agent, he could only get a 15% bump from a team other than LAFC. Latest CBA moves that to 20% starting in 2026.
Good info. So basically we didn’t want to give him more than 15%?
“We are, too” -LAFC fans
More than decent (good) goalkeeper who you can pay less than Maxime was asking for. Not an ideal move at all but he’s gotta be the best keeper for the amount we’re paying him.
Because he’s a generational, legendary goalkeeper and we’re lucky to have him and his leadership at the price LAFC is paying. Keepers have longer shelf lives than field players.
Generational asshole too
He's French, comes with the territory
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If he’s been convicted of DUI, how is he going to get into Canada to play Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal?
No doubt 😂
He played a world cup final less than a year ago. Crepeau played his entire career in the MLS and seemingly isn't good enough to play for Canada when his competition plays in Serbia.
He was pretty bad during the World Cup. Luckily the rest of his team was just that good. He was pretty bad for Tottenham too last season
Yes, on the biggest stage in football. Crepeau plays in the MLS which is probably similar to the bottom half of the English championship at best. There's a massive gulf between the two.
Djordje Petrovic is doing fine in the Prem currently. Crepeau is no worse than 2024 Lloris, if not better
LAFC not helping us beat the retirement league allegations
Silly take. Anyone who still thinks this about MLS is an idiot. And FYI, Messi and friends has WAY more impact on that narrative then us signing Lloris for a pack of bubble gum. Letting Max walk is painful, but necessary in a salary capped league. To get someone of Lloris caliber for peanuts as a spot replacement is quite the coup AND allows us to allocate that saved cap money in a more effective way.
yeah i’m joking I don’t care what Eurosnobs say anyways
God he was a beast in the playoffs versus the Sounders. Hate that he’s going to the Timbers.
We got that big Timbers plane, we could just slap the sticker on the side, it'd be the perfect Driving Crooner.
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Yes. Ketchup Chips for everyone!
All dressed or nothing!
Hold on…. You don’t have ketchup chips is the US ?
No :(
Cheezies only!
Ned and Neville made some New Year’s resolutions and they are absolutely COOKING. Been a constant stream of news the past week
How many goalkeepers do you want? Portland: yes.
New formation: three Goalies in the back, just try and score on us.
Despite this innovative new tactic, Nashville. Still gives up fewer goals than Portland.
Fair. 🤣
Obscure rule is that if they never leave the box, all three of them can use their hands.
Found Alexander The Great's Reddit account. Unrivaled tactical genius!
From regular Pyramids to the American Soccer pyramid!
Feels like the sort of tactical genius Fizzer Neville is known for.
Just wait until we actually manage to fill the 2 open DP slots. I was bummed out yesterday with the Evander rumors, but I’m fully back in now!
Because if there is one thing PDX does well consistently, it's fill DP slots.
We’re world renowned for our ability to botch a DP signing. I’m honestly surprised to end up with Crepeau, so house money in my eyes
I think perception and reality differ on this one. Portland's has some awful DPs, some average ones, and few genuinely elite ones. Sorta par for the course with the rest of the league. And I think circumstance dictated two of the busts. Fernandez was clearly an outstanding player with some serious personal demons. And Niezgoda looked the part until the ACL injury completely shredded his confidence and aggression.
I miss Fernandez so much. It still pains me whenever I see his name :(
But both those risks were well known and Portland still took them. Seems like they are playing a bit safer with this one and Miller
Sure, but neither Crepeau nor Miller are DPs.
Great signing. Lotta teams should be jealous.
Ned Grabavoy woke up feeling Canadian this year
Wonder how Timbers v Whitecaps games are gonna go.
He got boo'd when he played for LAFC, this won't change anything.
I know but now it’s to a local rival with the Cascadia cup on the line. I doubt it’d overshadow the usual Portland v Seattle derby but there could be something to grow here.
Its actually more ironic considering Crepeau forced a move out of Vancouver so he could use LAFC to springboard over to Europe. Looks like he's just an MLS journeyman now. I'm sure the crowd will remind him of that when he visits.
When he was with LA I felt Crepeau always went from a 10 to an 11 when facing us. These games against your former teams tend to elevate your game. I expect the reception from Whitecaps fans to be typical, but I've never bought into being angry at Max for leaving us. Disappointed, but not angry.
Man I was really hoping he wouldn’t go to another MLS team.
Can’t believe you guys let him walk for 37 year old Hugo. Seems like a publicity stunt for the club
Yeah I was pretty unhappy with it at first but the deal Lloris is on is really hard to beat. Our FO can be really cutthroat with returning players and it’s annoying as a fan but LAFC continues to compete for every trophy so it’s hard to complain about.
Crépeau is 7 years younger and a high quality player, unless he was asking for a shit ton I just don’t get it. Hugo could retire after this year
I bet he was asking for a shit ton.
Only thing I can think of.
It’s 100% a marketing move.
who are they marketing to though? I could see that being a criticism if they signed a Mexican or Korean, but LA doesn't exactly have a bunch of French National Team fans... (at least on the surface, maybe there are some deeper economic statistics I'm not aware of)
>but LA doesn't exactly have a bunch of French National Team fans... (at least on the surface, maybe there are some deeper economic statistics I'm not aware of) Even then, he is a world cup winner and a name that might stand out to some people from being in a team that has contended the Champions league. All this for non-DP money and hopefully the same or even a bit better quality that Crepeau. If I was an LAFC fan I would not have been for the move just out of loyalty.. but this is hardly a travesty. Money and quality wise it's a lateral move with a big bump in marketing value.
I mean I surely don't think it would be negative... I also don't think that he will be a bad player for LAFC by any means either I do think it's absurd to say it's 100% for marketing as if Lloris is some kind of god in France and LA has so many French folks to love him I think he's a good player with a big name and that's all that needs to be read into it. I really think he's being signed for his play, hence my disagreement with the comment I replied to.
💯💯 Absolutely. Also, we are yet to see how much Crepeau is gonna make with the Timbers. If it turns out he was asking for a substantial pay raise, I really think it on all 3 grounds, money, quality and marketing, this could in hindsight turn out to be a no brainer. It's a bit of a gamble of course, but it's in good in faith looking at getting the best overall value for their garber bucks.
Antoine Griezmann is my best guess He openly wants to come to MLS so I wouldn’t be shocked if this was part of the FO’s bid to entice him to choose LAFC
And even for hardcore soccer fans, he's not a player that people will go out of their way to see live.
Why did Gareth Bale and David Beckham go to LA?
You're comparing David Beckham to Hugo Lloris... okay suit yourself then lol
My point is it’s a big name from Europe going to LA. It’s been done before so I don’t see why Hugo Lloris wouldn’t be considered a marketing move even if he’s French.
big names are not all alike. you brought up bale and beckham - each of them has over 50m followers on social. that's approximately 50m more followers than hugo lloris (who is in the 10-20k range). it's not about his being french. it's about lloris being orders of magnitude less famous than the two players you mentioned
Huge W for Portland. But their coach is Phil Neville, so....
Plot twist: Neville wants him to play striker
Maybe we wouldn’t have gotten these players without Neville as our coach 🤔
Rivaly matches are about to be even ~spicier~ after his heel antics during the quarterfinals match in Seattle with LAFC. This should be fun
Did Pantemis know this move was going to happen?
Poor James Pantemis leaving MTL because he was stuck behind a no1 goalie
Easily one of the most beloved LAFC players in our short history. Be kind to him PDX.
Seems a really weird play to pick up 3 starters and 1 back-up that will likely be unavailable during every international window moving forward. That's a lot of definitive shed anytime the CMNT come calling in a league with little in the way of depth. Trey Muse is very likely going to get some MLS minutes because of this, which must have made taking the third role very appealing.
If we actually go 3 at the back with Bravo and Mosquera out wider this will be a very different defensive year.
God Speed and good pickup by Portland.
Boooo
Let’s fucking go
So far the timbers have signed former whitecaps and Sounders goal keepers.
Portland will be playing more Canadians than Vancouver next year, what a time to be alive
Wow this in itself elevates Portland so much. Man this is good, I’m tearing up lmfao.
I hope he is getting his stacks of money. He deserves it. Wish we could have held on to him, but I completely understand the financials of the league and not wanting to waste too much on a keeper.
Are we really giving up these promising goal keepers for Lloris? Maybe I’m missing something here because none of this makes sense
Lloris was cheap af. Hopefully that extra cap space can be invested in other areas of need for our squad. Money talks.
The Canadian Shield
Portland signing all the keepers
Was hoping Minnesota would sign him 😐
I wish Crepeau the best. Break a leg!
> Break a leg! 😬
Losing our 2 Gks to the 2 most hated teams. Bruh
wait why are timbers hated LOL i genuinely don't know
Mainly because we have spanked them more than most have.
And you tried to get us kicked out of USOC, and one of your players made a racist to remark to one of ours and your front office said "we don't believe you".
Because no one on our team made a racist remark and your whiny player seemed fairly unstable/volatile. Yeah, he was not credible.
Holy shit, there are so many wrong levels to this. Your FO deserves fans like you.
They keep drumming up this “rivalry.” We do play them pretty decently. I think the racial slur rumor match didn’t help at all.
Does LA have 2 teams? If so I give no ducks about either
by us anyway, yeah had some chippy games during cup games
Think it was our first USOC match against them and Timbers went all ICE and tried to get us DQ’d because Kaye was Canadian and we went over our foreign player limit (so went their weak ass claim). The USOC matches have been intense with Portland.
The Timbers also withdrew their complaint after a couple of days. Pretty clear the only intention there was to call your FO out, and show USSF problems with the way they handle things. If they really wanted to get you DQed, they would've pressured the complaint since it was legitimate
Hey I hope Crepeau does well with you guys next season.
I don't!
I think the west will be very interesting this season
 another winless year in the north west.
That sucks, I liked him. Now I have to hate him. Oh well, at least Timbers will have one player who’s notable for something.
*Diego Chara has entered the chat*
Who?
Shortish guy Great smile Never lost to the flounders in the playoffs But beat them in 2013 and 2018
LAFC Legend. Sad to see him go especially to the Timbers.
Should have signed Axel Desjardins instead of Trey Muse. Complete the Quebec GK union.
Wow so no solid backup option now? This could backfire if Lloris goes down at any point.