FRISCO, Texas – Jesus Ferreira spent much of last season on loan with Tulsa Roughnecks FC of the USL Championship, an experience which has proved to be overwhelmingly positive for the FC DallasHomegrown striker.
That’s because not only did Ferreira, 18, the son of 2010 MLS MVP David Ferreira, contribute six goals, including his first professional hat trick, and one assist in 14 games, but he also gained two things essential for every young player’s ongoing development: confidence and experience.
“I think it was a positive outcome,” Ferreira told MLSsoccer.com after training Wednesday. “I wasn’t really playing much here under Oscar [Pareja, FC Dallas' former head coach], other than a few minutes, so it was good to be able to go up there, get some valuable minutes and a lot of games. I grew and [realized] now I’m playing with other guys, stronger guys, that I have to play quicker. It was just a good experience.”
When Ferreira says he wasn’t playing much for FCD under Pareja, he isn’t exaggerating. In 2017 and 2018 combined, he played 22 total minutes over two first-team appearances.
However, this season has been a much different story, as Ferreira has already appeared in two games (one start) and has a goal and two assists, all of which came in a big 4-2 road win at Real Salt Lake last Saturday.
And Luchi Gonzalez, who previously coached Ferreira in the Dallas academy and now guides FCD, agrees Ferreira is now earning first-team opportunities largely due to the experience and confidence he gained in 2018 with Tulsa.
“Very important that he did that. It was a great solution by the club considering we didn’t have the second team ready,” Gonzalez said. “He scored six goals in a league that’s very competitive. I absolutely feel it helped him to gain confidence and know that he can score professional goals and not depend on physicality or athleticism, but just be smart, be quick, mentally, physically, be technical and have good timing movements. He showed that. He’s [now] earning opportunities and he’s contributing.”
Another big reason for his recent success is because Ferreira feels immensely more comfortable with the FCD first team because Gonzalez approaches the game similarly to how he coached many of these same players during his academy days.
“I think I understand his system a lot from academy. He has a lot of similar things that we did in the academy, so I think I’m already one step above knowing what he wants, where he wants us to move and stuff like that,” Ferreira said. “I think the system that we did in the academy helps me know what he wants over here.”
Ferreira also credits his father, now 39 years old who currently plays for Union Magdalena in his native Colombia, for some sage advice which helped him “carpe diem” (seize the day) when opportunities arise.
“He was just always being positive,” Ferreira said. “He would be telling me just wait until you get your moment and when you get your moment, don’t let it go.”
