The Interview: Jesús Ferreira

The written Q&A of my conversation with the USMNT forward about his story, the potential of playing in the World Cup and the role his mother has played in his rise.

Jesús Ferreira is the favorite to start up top at the World Cup for the USMNT (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

MURCIA, Spain — I love doing in-person interviews with somebody for the first time. That happened when I sat down with Jesús Ferreira this week. He has a great story and a way of expressing himself in two languages that is impressive. I think you will enjoy this, and I know I did.

The entirety of the written interview below is reserved for paid subscribers. As always, you can still get the entire free audio version of my podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to go for your pods.

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Grant Wahl:

Our guest now is Jesús Ferreira, the 21-year-old center-forward from FC Dallas. Jesús, it's great to see you. Thanks for coming on the show.

Jesús Ferreira:

Thanks for having me.

Grant Wahl:

The World Cup is now less than two months away. Being here with the team this week, does the World Cup feel even closer now?

Jesús Ferreira:

Honestly, it does. I mean, at the same time, it doesn't, it's a weird feeling. Being back with the guys and getting to work right away, that's the best feeling. And so the group is excited for the next few days and the next few matches that we have to prepare. And so we're looking forward to that.

Grant Wahl:

You're in a good position to be the guy who starts at the number nine for this US team. What exactly does Gregg Berhalter ask for you to do in his system when you're the guy in the number nine role?

“A lot of people ask me about my dad, but I think the main character in this story could be my mom.” — Jesús Ferreira

Jesús Ferreira:

I think that the nines here in the group that came to this camp are all able to start at any point. And so for me it´s just staying focused and doing my job and what Gregg needs me to do, and that is being able to help out in the combination, coming down and facilitating just the buildup, and also making runs in behind, making sure that the defenders have a hard time defending, and I create space for our wingers. And so it's a lot of movement, a lot of running around, but at the end of the day, that's what the system needs and that's what is going to make the team win.

Grant Wahl:

How complex is Berhalter's system? Because I get the sense that in some ways it might be a bit more complex than some national team coaches.

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Jesús Ferreira:

No, I think he has an idea of how he wants to play and how he wants each player to function. And I think that each player knows what their abilities are and what they can bring to the system. And so that all brings us into the same page and brings us in the same way of seeing the way that he wants to play. And so I think we all are on the same page to following what coach Gregg needs us to do and what works for us.

Grant Wahl:

You've had 18 goals for Dallas in the league this season, you signed a designated player contract earlier this year. You were just named the number one player under age 22 in MLS. Congratulations on all of those things. I guess I'm wondering at the World Cup, millions and millions of people will see you on television. Big clubs from Europe will see you play. What's your level of interest in moving to Europe at some point?

Jesús Ferreira:

That's every kid's dream, is to play for a team in Europe. And obviously that's one of my dreams. I've said it a few times in different interviews that I don't really like to think too much ahead and get ahead of myself. I want to stay in the present, stay in the moment, and focus on what I can do right now. And that right now is with being the best player that I can be for Dallas and for the national team.

Obviously my dream is to one day hopefully play in Europe, and I think that will come at its time. Right now I'm focused at Dallas, making sure that we have a good playoff run. We can do the best that I can. Cause obviously my ultimate goal is to bring something, a silverware to Dallas, because I think that the fans deserve it. The ownership deserves it, and then just the city deserves it. And so my number one goal right now is to bring something to Dallas and then obviously the next one would be to hopefully be in that World Cup roster. And the ultimate one would be hopefully make a jump to Europe one day. But I think that right now it´s just me focusing on what I can control right now, which is being the best version and best player that I can for Dallas and for the national team.

Grant Wahl:

In a press conference this week, you mentioned the work you've done on your mental health and working with a sports psychologist. How did that come about?

Jesús Ferreira:

Obviously when I was younger, just when I first signed, I knew that signing was the easy part and staying on a good level week in, week out was the difficult part. And so for me, once I started playing more, once I got more minutes, I kept noticing that my mood would change whenever things weren't going my way, I was having a bad touch, I wasn't getting any chances, and that kind of took me out of games. I knew that I was locked out of games for five minutes and then those five minutes, anything could have happened. And so I noticed that I needed to change that, my agent noticed that I needed to change that. And so he came to me with an idea of, "Hey, do you want to work with a sports psychologist?" And I was like, "If it's going to help my game, then a hundred percent, I want to do everything that I can to get to the next level of my game."

And that's one of the things that we wanted to try and it's working, obviously. I've seen a lot of improvements. I think that my mood has gone from five minutes, to a minute, to 30 seconds. And so we want to stay less focused on what you're doing wrong and stay more focused on what you can do next, and so I've noticed that I've learned how to just focus on having a good game, making sure that my first touch is good, making sure that my runs are good, my pressing is good, and then focusing on the final product, which is the goal or the assist.

And so just making sure that I wasn't so hard on myself and obviously having a good coaching staff that has helped me, good teammates that have made me realize that I bring more to the team than just goals and assists—my pressing, my buildup, and all of that can help the team win even though I don't score. And so having someone like that that can help me outside of the field and help me make sure that my mental side of the game and mental side outside of soccer is straight and is good and is strong, has helped me huge.

Grant Wahl:

Do you think we've gotten more willing in the sports world, maybe especially in men's sports, to acknowledge that ... "I'm seeing a psychologist, I'm working on mental health"?

Jesús Ferreira:

Yeah. I think that maybe people are afraid to say it, but for me it has made my game so much better that I'm not afraid to say it's something that has helped me. And if it can help other guys and other players younger than me or having the same problem, then I want to help. And I want to be that guy that can say that. Yeah, I'm seeing a sports psychologist, I don't have a problem saying it because it's helping my game every time that I talk to him. And so anytime that I can improve my game, anytime that I can bring my level a little bit higher, I'm going to take the chance on it.

Grant Wahl:

Your father, David Ferreira, was an MLS MVP with Dallas in 2010. He also played for the Colombia national team. In what ways has your father influenced who you are as a soccer player?

Jesús Ferreira:

I think in every way. Being a young guy, just watching him go from country to country, city to city, stadium to stadium, and having different fans in different languages yell his name. That's when I noticed that I wanted to become a soccer player, and just seeing the way that he carried himself, the way that each team that he went to, he put everything on the line for that team. Just seeing the effect that he had as a player on each team that he went to, that made me realize that I want to have that effect on teams.

And so when he came to Dallas, he went all the way to the final, won MVP, and made sure that everybody remembered his name. And so once I signed for Dallas, that's something that I wanted to do. I wanted to make history, but I wanted to make my own history. I wanted people to remember me for Jesús Ferreira and not for my dad. And so I think we're doing a good job there. And so I want to continue. I want to make sure that Dallas remembers us as a great duo and as great soccer players and humans.

Grant Wahl:

What are your memories that stand out when you were growing up of living in different countries where your dad was playing?

Jesús Ferreira:

Yeah, I don't have much because I was so young. We moved a lot when I was younger. We stayed in Brazil the longest, I think it was five years, and just the soccer culture that they had in Brazil is crazy. The fans yelling, you can see that it meant everything to them, every game. If you won a game, it was like a final to them. And if you lost, it was the worst thing ever. And so just seeing how soccer can bring so many people together and seeing how it can affect so many people, it was an amazing feeling.

Grant Wahl:

Do you have any sort of memories of what you might call life-changing moments growing up for you as a kid?

Jesús Ferreira:

I think just making the move to the US. I think that my family and I can agree that that kind of changed and set up for the rest of our lives, us moving to the US. We didn't really think about it too much. We just thought it was going to be another country that my dad went to go play, and soon we will be out of there and we'll go to another country, but it wasn't like that. Once we stepped here, we started learning a new language, we started doing other things, we joined school, we started joining soccer and so kind of everything ... it was a little bit different than the other countries that we were in. And we kind of noticed that we were going to have a life here, in a way.

And so obviously there was a lot of sacrifice that had to be made from my mom's side. My dad having to go back to Colombia to go play and my mom having to decide, "Hey, do we go back to Colombia and just live life there? Or do we sacrifice and just stay here and kind of risk it to see if y'all make it or not?" And so in a way I'm proud that my mom sacrificed everything that she had, because obviously she had no friends in the US. Didn't speak the language, still doesn't speak the language. It's hard for her to have three kids and having to run around from school to school, from practice to practice. And so I give a lot of credit to her that she was able to manage all that and let us chase our dreams. And our dreams were to become soccer players, and what better academy than to do it with Dallas, we saw that there was a lot of signings from young guys, a lot of the coaches loved the young guys and the club loved signing young guys. And so we wanted to pursue that and it came true whenever it happened, we were happy and we kind of told my mom, "We made it."

Grant Wahl:

I was going to ask you about your mom because I assume you get asked about your dad a lot, which makes sense. But what's your mom's name, and what sort of influence has she had on you?

Jesús Ferreira:

Her name is Ulayvita. It's hard to pronounce. A lot of people call her Ulay. But yeah, I think that, like you said, a lot of people ask me about my dad, but I think the main character in this story could be my mom. Obviously my dad wasn't really in the picture a lot just because of the soccer, his practices, his games, he was always traveling, and it was my mom who was there all the time, all the time taking us to practices, to school. I have two younger brothers, 17 and 10, and so obviously you can tell it's kind of hard whenever she had to take me to middle school and elementary and then kindergarten and going back, picking up the kindergarten and middle school and then high school. And it was all over the place. And so I give her a lot of credit because she's the one that kind of had to deal with everything.

When I signed my first contract, she had no idea what I was signing or what was going on. And so I give her a lot of credit that she stuck around and she let me follow my dreams. She let me become a pro soccer player because without her sacrifice, we would probably be back in Colombia and obviously maybe still chasing our dreams, but it would be way more difficult than what it was. Because obviously we had a life set already. We had soccer friends, just friends in general. And so I'm just happy that she was able to say, "Okay, I'm going to let y'all chase y'all's dream. I'm just going to be here to protect y'all and provide that cover back at home." And I'm just happy that she actually did that and let us follow our dreams. And obviously every time that I see her, I say our dream has come true because without her, we wouldn't be in this situation. I wouldn't be here in the US national team or with Dallas.

Grant Wahl:

I know your dad won a Copa America with Colombia, but he didn't play in a World Cup. You've got a very good chance to play in a World Cup. Has he talked to you at all about what it means? I know you know what it means to make a World Cup, but the fact that he wasn't able to, it's a little bit like your teammate Tim Weah, his father never played in the World Cup despite being a well known player.

Jesús Ferreira:

We haven't really talked about it, but whenever we do talk, he makes sure that I understand what an important moment this is for me and for my family obviously. We all know that these opportunities don't come often and not everyone gets them, and so whenever we do talk, he makes clear enough that this is not an opportunity just to take lightly, that I have to make sure that I have to go and grab it, and make sure I do the best with it that I can.

And so with that being said, obviously I work hard every time that I get the chance to show the coaching staff that I want to be here. As much as I want to take it serious, I also want to enjoy it. And so I want to make sure that they notice that I'm here not to mess around, that I'm being serious, and that I want a spot here in the roster. And so I'm just happy to be here in the group of guys that are named. And so hopefully at the end of the year, I can be in that final roster, but I'm just glad that I can be in the present moment right now, be in his list.

Grant Wahl:

At what point in your life, at what age were you when the possibility of representing the United States came up for the first time?

Jesús Ferreira:

I believe I was 17, probably. 17, and I was being called into a few youth camps, domestic camps here in the US. And I didn't really think about it too much because I wasn't going to be able to play. They never really took me to tournaments because the same reason, I wasn't able to play. And so it was kind of hard because obviously as a kid, all you want to do is represent a country and fight for that country. And so for me growing up and not being able to be called into Colombia national team, it was tough because I saw all my friends at Dallas, obviously we have one of the best academies. And so every time that there was camps, there was two, three, four guys from Dallas going to camp. And I was like, "Oh my." I was doing things right in the academy. I was scoring goals and I was like, "Colombia can't see this?"

And it was a little bit frustrating because I did go to a camp in Colombia, a U15 camp. And they were like, "Yeah, we like you, but it's kind of hard. We want you to move down here to Colombia." And that was something that I wasn't going to do because I was so close on signing. I signed when I was 16. So it was kind of the next year after. And I was like, "No, I'm too close to just signing a professional deal with Dallas and I'm not going to really give that up. Cause that's what I really want to do." And so I never really heard back from them after that, and so I kind of just focused on myself, focused on trying to get a pro deal and I made it happen.

And so after that, there was a few calls with the youth national teams and I was going in, I probably went to two camps before I could actually make an official move. And so those two camps were great, but at the same time, awful, because we had games at the end of the camp and it was just me sitting on the bench, wanting to go in and jump in and represent the country, and I couldn't. I had to just do training camps and just train, train, train, and I was happy to be there, but at the same time, it was frustrating because I wanted to jump in and play and represent the country.

And when I hit 18, my agent and I sat down and my family and friends and that was mainly just my mom, I, and my dad just kind of talking, "What do y'all think about me representing the US?" And they were like, "We're going to support you no matter what, the decision is on you. And that's it, we're not going to say anything else. It's up to you. We're going to support whether you want to stay and try to go to Colombia or you want to represent the US."

And at the end of the day, I've been in the US for more than half of my life. And the US has given me everything from competitive soccer to friends, to new family members, like my brother, he was born in the US. And so it's not hard to say that USA is my home. So I'm just glad that they gave me the opportunity to represent the country. And I'm just fulfilling one of my dreams.

Grant Wahl:

There's so much competition right now for the US number nine spot, including with your friend Ricardo Pepi. How would you describe that competition?

Jesús Ferreira:

I think it's a friendly competition, I would say. Obviously whenever we come to camp, we want to compete with each other, we want to make sure that the other one knows that we're friends, but yeah, we want to fight for that spot. We want to be starting in that spot. And obviously whenever we go back to our domestic leagues, I want the best for him. I want him to be scoring goals and making sure that he's in that radar. Obviously I support him in whatever he's doing, and obviously right now he's starting a new journey and I'm excited for him because you can really tell his talent. But whenever we come to camp, we know that we're fighting for the same spot and obviously I'm going to support him no matter what, if he's starting or not. And I'm just glad that we can have that healthy competition and healthy relationship in us.

Grant Wahl:

FC Dallas has been known for developing talent, but not for winning that many trophies. Could that change this year?

Jesús Ferreira:

Yeah. Obviously we want to change that. The team that we have, we have a young team right now that's hungry to get silverware. We kind of had a fresh start this year with new coaches, new players, a lot of new things around the club. And so right now we are hungry to get a silverware. That's kind of it. And the thing that helps us is that everyone that has joined us, which are new faces, a lot of them, are on the same page as us. We didn't want to feel the same way that we were last year, losing back to back to back to back to back, left and right. And we didn't want to have that feeling no more. And we made sure that everybody in the locker room was on the same page and made sure that everyone wanted the same thing. And everybody does want the same thing.

Obviously we have goals as individuals that we will only achieve if we do our team goals, and our team goals obviously was make playoffs. And then our next one is going to be hopefully have a home game in playoffs. And that's what we're looking for. That's what we're fighting for. And then our ultimate goal would be win MLS Cup, and that's something that our team sees it happening. Obviously there's a lot of people that don't, a lot of people in the MLS that count us out, and we want to prove them wrong. We've shown it during the season that we can compete against any team. And we have the players, the quality to beat anyone. And so we want to send a message to the league and to everyone watching us is that Dallas is a team that wants to fight for the title. That it's a team that is hungry to put everything on the line to win the trophy. And we're going to do that.

Grant Wahl:

Jesús, thanks for coming on the show.

Jesús Ferreira:

Thank you for having me.