Spend some time talking to Erik Hurtado and the word that’s likely to pop up most frequently is “work,” or some version thereof: putting the work in, getting the work done, hard work, tough job, job’s not finished, a job is waiting.
For a good while, though, the narrative arc of Hurtado’s season with the Vancouver Whitecaps seemed to suggest that work will only get you so far.
On Sept. 3, the 25-year-old striker, who had failed to score a single Major League Soccer goal this season, had an exceptionally rough game versus the New York Red Bulls that saw him miss seven shots; his agony was unmistakable.
But even while coach Carl Robinson admitted that the forward was in tears after the loss—praising him for all the hard work he puts in, naturally—Hurtado insists he didn’t dwell on the poor performance. With a few days off, he went for a hike and tried to collect himself mentally before, as he puts it, he could “get back to work.”
Hurtado’s discipline finally seems to be paying off. Last Saturday, he scored his first goal of the MLS season—in fact, it was his first MLS goal in nearly two years—in the team’s crucial 3–1 win at Columbus. On Tuesday, he scored again, this time in the club’s 2–1 win over Sporting Kansas City in CONCACAF Champions League action. The win earned the team a berth to the tournament’s quarterfinals for the first time in franchise history.
Now, as the Whitecaps prepare to take on their Cascadia rivals the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, Hurtado is hoping his run will continue—that he can help lift his team, currently seventh in the Western Conference, over the red line.
“I think we know the circumstances of the game,” Hurtado told Sportsnet this week. “It’s a rivalry game. We’re going in and we have a job that we’re gonna have to do. And I feel very confident that if we go in and do the job and do the game plan, then we’re gonna come out on top.”
The game, at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field, is likely to be a barnburner.
The Sounders sit in ninth place in the Western Conference with two fewer points than Vancouver and two fewer games played. The Whitecaps have just five matches remaining in their MLS campaign, all of them against teams in the West. Vancouver will face Seattle twice, along with Portland and San Jose—the other two sides the Whitecaps are battling for the sixth and final playoff spot in the conference. (Vancouver will also host Colorado—one of the clubs contending for the Supporters’ Shield—on Sept. 24).
Robinson this week called Saturday’s matchup with the Sounders “a massive game,” noting that consistency has been the biggest difference-maker for the top teams in MLS, and something he’s hoping his club can find after two consecutive wins between both competitions.
Seattle is coming off a 1–1 draw at San Jose—a result that benefited Vancouver in the standings—and will be boosted by the play of Nicolas Lodeiro, the Uruguayan playmaker who has made huge contributions to the club since his arrival in July. The 27-year-old has three goals and six assists in seven MLS matches. If Vancouver is to get a result, they’ll need to keep Lodeiro in check.
The good news is that the Sounders have otherwise looked lacklustre in their past few matches. And they’re still without Clint Dempsey, who returned to training this week but isn’t yet ready to return to play.
“It’s nitty-gritty time,” Robinson said. “We know we need to go and get a result; they’re feeling the same. It comes down to players. Whichever players turn up on the day will obviously win the game, but we’re very well-prepared, we’re organized, and it comes down to fine lines. Hopefully we can take our chances and keep the back door shut. Then we might have a chance.”
As far as players turning up, some younger members of Robinson’s squad made promising showings in Tuesday’s Champions Leagye one—Alphonso Davies especially so. Davis, who started the match, scored the stoppage-time game-winner. Robinson wouldn’t say whether he was tempted to start Davies once again, instead offering both praise and hype-tempering words about the youngster’s need to better some of his in-game decision-making.
Hurtado, for his part, is still riding the high of that first MLS goal in a game that seemed to shift the team’s momentum dramatically.
“It felt amazing,” he said. “Especially to get it in such a big game, to get that win was awesome as well. It kind of felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders.”
Hurtado called his Champions League goal “a boost of confidence for sure.” That makes three goals in his last five matches, if you count both MLS and Champions League. So it would be tempting to say that maybe luck is finally going Hurtado’s way—though that’s not quite how he’d put it.
“I think luck is just what’s left over after hard work,” he said. “You put in the hard work and eventually luck will come your way. As a striker I just have to put myself in the right position, that’s all I can do. I’m gonna keep doing that.”
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