Robby Larson even wisecracked that perhaps he should mark his place in it immediately after the Portland Timbers’ Western Conference Final win over Real Salt Lake last weekend.

“We joked walking out of the stadium on Saturday saying, ‘Should we go and get dinner or should we just put our chairs out?’” recalled the Timbers Army member to MLSsoccer.com as he and several of his friends sat in line on Thursday afternoon. “Like, we know it’s not supposed to start yet, but it’s going to. And by Tuesday morning there were people out here.”

The queue grew as the week rolled on, eventually stretching the length of the 95-year-old downtown venue, down SW 18th Avenue, winding around and down Salmon Street, and onward to 20th Ave. Tents are no longer allowed underneath the stadium’s new east side expansion, but they mushroomed further down the line, and everywhere were cots, blankets, comfy chairs and gas-powered firepits to ward off the damp December chill.