Even before the opening whistle was blown, the latest installment of the Cascadia rivalry between the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders featured a piece of MLS history. For the first time ever, two sets of brothers were named as starters in the same game.
The two sets of brothers, of course, are Portland's Diego and Yimmi Chara and Seattle's Roldan brothers, Alex and Cristian. The four already made history of another kind last September when they became the first two sets of brothers to play in the same MLS game with the two Charas and Cristian Roldan starting and Alex Roldan coming off the bench.
It is not the first time history has been made by a pair of brothers in MLS this season. Just two weeks ago, Federico and Gonzalo Higuain became the first pair of brothers to score in the same MLS game when they both grabbed goals in Inter Miami's defeat of the Philadelphia Union.
Like the Higuains, the Charas have also already become one of the few pairs of brothers to assist the other for an MLS goal. And both the Charas and Roldans will be key to their team's hopes in Sunday's matchup (3 pm ET | ABC, ESPN Deportes).
Diego Chara has been a linchpin of the Timbers midfield for a decade, while Yimmi joined him last year to add an attacking spark as a dynamic winger.
The Roldans, meanwhile, both came to the Sounders via the MLS SuperDraft, with Alex joining Cristian as a regular in the first XI this season as a right wing back.
