—by Garrett Dittfurth

Landon Cakes

Tonight the 2011 Major League Soccer season begins, when LA Galaxy, featuring such glamorous international stars as David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Mike Magee, face some team from up north. Kickoff is at 6:30pm (ESPN), which should leave you plenty of time to get out of work (for example) and head to one of Portland's many fine watering holes to watch the game.

Not sure where to watch? Here are a few options that might interest you:

Bitter End Pub [since closed] (1981 West Burnside) - The TA's game-day pub is also a great place to watch a match on TV, whether it's Timbers away, CONCACAF Champions League or MLS. Tuesday nights also feature trivia at Bitter End, so you can get your nerd on while watching Frankie Hejduk go cleats up into nomeansno's face (for example).

Beulahland (118 NE 28th) - You really can't go wrong with Beulahland. For me this is the best place to watch soccer on the east side; they've got a good selection of taps, cheap tallboys and random sody pops, to go along with a nice food menu and a laid back environment for watching Timbers, MLS, EPL, etc. Well hello there, sardine sandwich and pounder of Old German...

4-4-2 (1739 SE Hawthorne) - The new kid on the scene used to be a Bosnian grocery and deli before they turned it into what I'm told is a fantastic soccer pub, with great food (still Bosnian) and a big selection of taps and bottles. What we do, we drink?

Those are just for starters. Portland, as you know, is full of great neighborhood bars, plenty of spots where people gather with their friends to knock back a few and watch a match. Marathon Taverna has always got soccer on the TVs and I loved watching World Cup games there last summer; Triple Nickel Pub has been an east side outpost for TA MLS viewing for a couple years now; both Blitz locations are amenable to soccer; Brooklyn Park Pub is a super cozy little bar in SE; and Slim's and Leisure Pub have been doing duty as North PDX soccer spots. A wealth of options, we has one.

Check out the full list of Official partners and DaveKnows' Portland Soccer Bars site for more ideas, and feel free to let us know in the comments where you'll be watching First Kick tonight.