Saturday 5 December 2015 18:40, UK
Liam Ridgewell aims to make history with MLS club Portland Timbers by winning the club's first ever MLS Cup on Sunday.
The Timbers played their first season in Major League Soccer as an expansion club in 2011 and have reached the post-season just once before, when they reached the conference finals in 2013.
The Portland Timbers history dates back to the North American Soccer League (NASL) days in 1975, and not since that year has Portland reached the final of a league competition.
This year, Portland beat Sporting Kansas City, Vancouver Whitecaps and FC Dallas to reach the final with Ridgewell scoring the opener in the first leg win over Dallas in the western conference final.
And the 31-year-old says the class of 2015 are looking to write a new piece of history.
"I spoke to [former Aston Villa striker] Peter Withe when he was here [to visit]," he said.
"They came back [the 1975 team] and got an unbelievable reception, they're legends around the city and people love them.
"We want to be a part of that history and hopefully we can bring back the MLS Cup, make a special season and get something that we deserve."
Ridgewell joined Portland Timbers in June 2014 after playing the majority of his playing career in the Premier League with stints at Aston Villa, Birmingham and West Brom. At Birmingham, Ridgewell was part of the team that beat Arsenal in the 2011 League Cup final.
And the Englishman says he'll be looking to offer up his experience to help the younger players.
He said: "Yes it's bigger and yes it's a final, and yes there's a lot more media coverage and a lot more people want to speak to you, but at the end of the day you've only got to go and cross the white line and play a game of football.
"It will be up to us experienced guys to try to help through the other guys who have not been in this position before. We've all played in big games against big players and this will be like no other."
Ahead of the final, Ridgewall admits he is wary of the threat their opponents Columbus Crew pose, but feels the team he's in is up to the challenge of bringing the cup to Portland.
"They're a very good side, a very good attacking team," he explained.
"They've got a lot of goals in their side and like to cross the ball a lot, we've got to stop that and nullify that. But as I've said throughout the whole play-offs, it's about us.
"If we can perform the way we can, and the way we've shown, we'll win the game and do what we've gone there to do. We're looking forward to it and the confidence is very high."
Watch the MLS Cup final between Columbus Crew and Portland Timbers live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 9.15pm on Saturday night.
