FRISCO, Texas – On a night where Brek Shea’s absence was the story heading into FC Dallas’s match with Portland, 2010 MLS MVP David Ferreira posted two assists and ran the attack with a performance that rolled back the clock and reminded everyone why he’s the engine that once made this team go.
And might again soon.
Full Match Highlights
“The scary part is I think [David] is only 80%,” head coach Schellas Hyndman said after the match. “I don’t think we’ve seen the old David yet, but what we’re seeing right now is better than most of the league as an attacking midfielder.”
Dallas routed the Timbers 5-0 on the night, and afterward, no one was talking about Shea anymore. Instead, they were talking about Ferreira. The Colombian has shown flashes of his MVP form as he battles from what Hyndman described a few weeks ago as “60%” fitness, but Saturday night’s 5-0 thrashing of Portland was the first win we’ve seen truly architected by Ferreira in some time.
First it was a trademark ball down the left side freeing Jair Benitez before his cross was deflected in for the first goal. Just minutes later Ferreira sprung Zach Loyd down the right before the defender laid off a ball pounded home by Andrew Jacobson. And for good measure, “El Torito” grabbed his second official assist of the evening in the second half opening up Jackson with space before the Brazilian scored his goal.
Hyndman pulled Ferreira minutes after the third goal, but the damage was already done on the Colombian’s best game since early 2011.
“From the first minute I felt very well and I felt like everything was going the way it needed to go,” Ferreira said through a translator. “The whole team was playing well and that’s the reason for the result that we achieved today.”
Hyndman noted after last weekend’s victory over Colorado that Ferreira was the one who forced the rest of the team to work harder, and with two assists tonight Ferreira’s name was on the scoresheet for the first time since a 3-2 loss to Portland on April 17, 2011.
“Every game I’m feeling that I’m a little bit better,” Ferreira said. “I still need to improve I still need to get to my optimum ability and play but every game that I play I feel better. Now I just want to recover next week to be ready to go out on the field and be better next time.”
