SEATTLE — Perhaps no one in Seattle Sounders history needed a goal quite as badly as Jesús Ferreira did. Coming into Wednesday’s game against San Diego FC, the youngest player to score 50 MLS goals had not hit the back of the net in nearly 1,300 minutes.
Ferreira has insisted that he wasn’t feeling a ton of outside pressure; that he felt supported by coaches and teammates; that he was getting reassurance through both playing time and his ability to contribute in less obvious ways. Still, he had also acknowledged “it’s time for me to get a goal” about a week earlier.
In the Sounders’ previous game, Ferreira had come close to breaking the seal. His movement had looked much better and only a couple reflexive goal-line saves had kept Ferreira from scoring against his former team.
Given a second consecutive start at the No. 9, things weren’t going too well for Ferreira or the Sounders in the early stages against San Diego. Through the first 57 minutes, Ferreira had just 11 touches and only one of them came inside the penalty area, and that had resulted in a loss of possession. The Sounders had collectively managed just one shot at that point and were struggling with San Diego’s pressure to a degree that felt almost foreign, especially at home, where they had trailed just a total of four minutes through their first six league matches.
It all changed in an instant.
What started with a seemingly innocuous free kick, suddenly transformed into a genuine attacking sequence when Alex Roldan played Paul Rothrock into space on the right wing. Rothrock took the slightest look and sent in a first-touch cross that set up Ferreira for a beautiful turn, opening him up for a sweet left-footed finish that beat San Diego goalkeeper Carlos Dos Santos to the far post.
Ferreira immediately wheeled around toward crowd, pantomimed wiping himself off, put his hands in a prayer symbol, blew kisses and raised his arms in celebration before being mobbed by his teammates. Before heading back to the center circle, he also grabbed a ball, put it under his shirt and gave the thumb suck in acknowledgment of the impending birth of his first child.
“It’s a lot of emotions, a lot of happiness,” Ferreira said when asked about the multi-layered celebration. “It’s kind of like something left my body, I guess.
“My baby’s being born any day now, so it could have happened today during the game, it’s just a matter of time. I’m happy that I can be a dad soon and happy that I can score my first goal before she was born."
The Sounders were forced to endure a fair amount of pressure to actually see the win out and make sure the goal had its full impact. But once they did, it felt fitting that it came in a game in which the Sounders were largely outplayed.
San Diego outshot the Sounders 15-7, forced Stefan Frei into several tough saves, won more tackles, won more duels and held 63% of possession. It was the first time all year the Sounders had lost the xG battle at home and was their largest xGD deficit in a home win since 2018.
It may not have been a blueprint for much sustained success, but they still secured the victory while starting without their top two centerbacks and calling on an 18-year-old to play nearly 60 minutes after their third-choice centerback went down with an injury. When the energy was starting to flag, Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer got an exuberant performance from Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, who made several important defensive interventions and helped stretch the San Diego defense.
The Sounders have won plenty of games while playing with a style we’ve dubbed “High Life Soccer.” This was a performance that suggested the Sounders can win ugly, too.
“That was a gritty performance and that’s why I liked it,” Schmetzer said. “San Diego is a good team. In the first half they took it to us.
“But this is MLS. Grit, determination, home, just one bit of quality that we have is sometimes the difference.”
Sometimes there’s a bit of good fortune at work, too.
Just before Ferreira’s goal, Schmetzer had summoned Pedro de la Vega and Danny Musovski off the bench to get them ready to enter the game.
“It’s timing, it’s whatever you want to believe up there,” Schmetzer said, looking to the sky. “They were coming off the field. Fate has a way of being kind. I hope this gets him started. We needed him to score. He needed to score. … It’s the first of many more goals for the Sounders.”
