SEATTLE — A moment to reflect on what he had just done, on how far he has come since joining the franchise three years ago, did more to stop Seattle Sounders forward David Estrada than Toronto FC’s defense could for the better part of 90 minutes.
Half an hour after Estrada had walked off the CenturyLink Field pitch with 38,709 fans standing and chanting his name, celebrating the player who had just scored a hat trick to give Seattle a 3-1 victory over Toronto in its MLS opener, Estrada was asked about the journey he has taken from being a little-used substitute over the past two years to opening-day hero on Saturday night.
Only then did the player who dominated Toronto FC thanks to his constant movement finally stop. Unable to find the words, and emotional Estrada pause, choked up while fighting back emotion, then answered quietly:
“It’s been a long time coming.”
Estrada’s journey may have been long, but his rise from obscurity to hero has been as rapid as it has been unlikely. Coming into the season Estrada was a player who would have to battle just to stick on the roster, but a week and a half ago, thanks to both an impressive preseason as well as injuries at forward, he started Seattle’s CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal against Santos Laguna and scored the opening goal in a 2-1 victory. Estrada got the start again in the second leg of the quarterfinal, which Seattle lost, then started the regular season opener Saturday to give him just his third start in MSL play since Sounders FC selected him in the first round of the 2010 draft.
And it didn’t take long for Estrada to make his mark, opening the scoring in the 17th minute with a scrappy goal right in front of the net. Estrada remained dangerous throughout the first half, but two other scoring chances came up short. He would not be denied early in the second half, however, scoring on a perfectly timed run—or perhaps a slightly early run if you’re a Toronto fan—behind the defense in the 51st minute.
Toronto’s Ryan Johnson, who was denied a goal by the crossbar in the first half, made it a 2-1 game with a wondrous curling strike in the 62nd minute that was so good that Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning felt the need to tip his cap—literally. When asked about the goal after the game, Gspurning stopped and reached into his locker to pull out a green hat before continuing.
“For this goal, I have to put the hat on,” he said. “Congratulations to him. It was a great goal. I need to speak with (goalkeeper coach Tom Dutra) about what I should do with this goal, if I can do something else. But I don’t think so. I don’t think there was anything to do about it. Congratulations to (Johnson).”
Johnson’s goal had Toronto briefly back in the game, but only a minute later Estrada gave Seattle some breathing room with his third goal of the night on a give-and-go with midfielder Alvaro Fernandez, who helped set up all three goals. The three goals Saturday matches the total number of MLS starts Estrada has in his career.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It’s hard to describe, but I’m just thankful to have the teammates that I have… I always kind of put myself down but they’re always there to pick me up. It’s been a long time coming.”
And while Estrada seemingly has come out of nowhere to be Seattle’s newest star, Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid, like Estrada, says this success was a long time coming. Schmid, the longtime head coach at UCLA, watched with interest when Estrada went from walk-on to national freshman of the year after scoring 12 goals for the Bruins in 2006.
Schmid made Estrada a surprise first-round pick in 2010, and after he made little impact through two seasons while bouncing around between several positions, it looked like Estrada may never make his mark with Sounders FC. That all changed in dramatic fashion over the past two weeks, particularly on Saturday when he scored only the third hat trick in franchise history.
“Everybody thought he was maybe a bad draft choice, but I felt like if we kept him around long enough maybe eventually I’d get something out of him so I wouldn’t look so bad,” Schmid joked before turning serious in his praise for Estrada. “… His work rate is unbelievable. Like I’ve said, nobody deserves it more in terms of the effort that they put in day-in and day-out. It’s fantastic.”
Seattle’s season-opening win was important not just because it represents three points in the standings, but also because it showed the team’s mental fortitude following the thorough 6-1 beating it took at the hands of Santos Laguna on Wednesday.
“It was exactly the reaction we wanted to have,” said Gspurning. “It was not easy of course to forget the loss, but we did great from the beginning and it was so important for us, especially in front of our home crowd, to win the opening game.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.
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