Jesus Ferreira continued his record-setting season by scoring his 15th goal of the 2022 Major League Soccer season on Wednesday as FC Dallas shut out the visiting Philadelphia Union 1-0. The home win was a statement game for FC Dallas, who have struggled this season against some of the top-ranked teams. Philadelphia is the current leader of the Eastern Conference.
The match with Philly was the kind of game FC Dallas may have lost earlier in the season, but efforts by the coaching staff to reinforce the team’s defensive effort late in close games are showing signs of paying off. The FC Dallas defense was solid throughout the night and limited shots on goal to only three, all blocked by goalkeeper Maarten Paes.
“Defensively we closed all the gaps, and we were all joined as a unit tonight,” said head coach Nico Estevez after the game. “They are a team that likes to attack from the sides and create width on the field. They send in crosses, or they like to build up combining from the back.
“Once we closed the gap in the middle, we forced them outwards, and that’s where we also dominated the game. Our positioning on the field was exceptional tonight.
“We were very compact, and we barely left them any space for them to do much. I believe that they are a team that likes to play fast, and us counter-attacking makes them slow their rhythm.”
Ferreira scored in the 33rd minute of play on a quick pass from Paul Arriola that set Ferreira inside. His shot was a right-footed rocket that completely beat Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Andre Blake.
Ferreira is now in second-place league-wide in scoring and is only two goals behind leader Sebastian Driussi. He is only the second American to score 15 goals in a season since 2017 and is three scores from tying the FC Dallas franchise record for most goals in a season.
“It would be an amazing feeling,” Ferreira said about the potential of getting his name into franchise record books. “I’m always trying to break records here at the club. It’s the club I watched growing up. To be able to be in the history books for the club that I love and grew up watching would be amazing.”
The chemistry between Arriola and Ferreira has been growing all season. Estevez said that the team is also seeing players in other positions beginning to gel just as the most critical part of the season approaches.
“It’s not just them two only; Alan Velasco and other teammates are always looking for each other,” Estevez said. “Paul (Arriola) and Jesús (Ferreira) have quite some time playing together, so they know each other off the ball as well.”
“It’s great for us to have players like that, but adding players like Alan, (Sebastian) Lletget, Paxton (Pomykal), Tsiki (Ntsabeleng), and also Marco (Farfan) who has helped a lot tremendously,” he added. “We are combining more, and all the work that we have done since the beginning of the year is starting to show. It helps us earn wins.”
Dallas is now 8-3-3 at home, but only 3-4-6 on the road. They have now opened a four-point lead in the standings over fourth place Minnesota and are only six points behind Number 2 Austin FC. They go on the road for a contest against Nashville FC on August 21 before returning home to finish the month against Real Salt Lake, who is fighting for playoff positioning.
