In advance of the Sounders-at-Chivas game, I interviewed longtime LA Galaxy member Alan Gordon, who had just been traded to Galaxy-rival Chivas.

And although he is a native of the Los Angeles area and has lived there most of his life, he did spend two years at Oregon State, scoring 26 goals in 40 games and earning All-Pac 10 honors in both seasons. Then he spent his first professional season with the second-division Portland Timbers.

I asked him about that Northwest experience, and like most everyone, he believes the Western Division will become all that much more exciting next season when the Northwest presence triples with the addition of Portland and Vancouver.

“Timbers support was phenomenal,” Gordon said. “It was just a great experience in my career. I still to this day think of it as one of the best years of my career because the fan support was so great. And coming back to Seattle, their fans are phenomenal. So I can’t help but thing that Vancouver will be the same. I think it’s a huge step for MLS and I think it’s going to be three of the top places to play in MLS next year.”