Seattle Sounders star Pedro de la Vega: “They called me Puskás!" | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

It’s the type of openness and camaraderie you rarely see spanning the divide between rivals Portland and Seattle.

Timbers all-time great Diego Valeri chatted one-on-one with in-form Sounders star Pedro de la Vega for this week’s edition of ‘Esto Es MLS.’ The two Argentines went in-depth on PDLV’s jaw-dropping Leagues Cup goal vs. Cruz Azul, the “nonsense” he saw on Instagram about the contentious scenes after Seattle’s impressive win over Inter Miami in the tournament’s final, his gradual adaptation to life in North America and much more.

“We're a team that's a bit of a pain, you know?” de la Vega said of the Rave Green’s 3-0 dispatching of Lionel Messi – one of his personal idols – and Miami, which ended with an ill-tempered altercation.

“We're kind of annoying. And I think against these teams, you know you have to do something more … because from the point of view of play and quality, perhaps they're superior.”

A night to remember

Seattle’s organization and intensity carried the day in front of a record crowd at Lumen Field. And for all the postgame chatter about his exchange of words with Messi, de la Vega prefers to follow the unwritten code of ‘what happens on the pitch, stays on the pitch.’ He won’t let the fracas dampen the Sounders’ achievements, which include him earning player of the tournament honors.

“Obviously, I wanted to be far away from that situation,” he said of the clashes. “Because for me, as I said before, playing against Messi, [Rodrigo] De Paul, in a final was something incredible for me. And then a bit of tension was generated in the game, in a play that was, ehh, nothing – it ended there for me; it was nothing more than that.

“Afterward, well, a lot of things were said that obviously got me a little angry, you see? Because I look at Instagram and maybe people tag me in some posts and I say, ‘What a load of nonsense this is.’ … I'm left with all the beautiful and positive things from the final, and in fact, at the end, when the mess started, I also went somewhere else because, honestly, it seems to me that it was useless, it was unnecessary.”

A goal for the ages

This was not your typical player interview, and with good reason – these two aren’t just countrymen, but former teammates, having crossed paths at Club Atlético Lanús during the final months of Valeri’s storied career in 2022.

Their connection is obvious, even though Valeri jokes that de la Vega wears “the wrong color of green,” and the Rose City legend is the first to advocate for his younger counterpart’s volleyed golazo against Cruz Azul to be nominated for the Puskás Award, FIFA’s annual prize for the most beautiful goal in world soccer.

“I was lucky,” said the unassuming attacker, revealing that his awestruck Sounders teammates “called me Puskás” after the stunning 7-0 trouncing of the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup winners.

“I hadn't even thought about it, right? But seeing it afterwards, it was beautiful. It was a beautiful goal, one of those that's very difficult to repeat, really.”

Breakout season

Sounders fans will certainly hope he can reproduce some measure of that excellence in their stretch run this autumn. Last year, the Designated Player’s debut season in MLS was marred by injuries that limited him to just 652 minutes of league action and de la Vega explained how he had to manage the transition to a wholly new environment, on and off the field, amid sky-high expectations.

Slotting into his preferred spot as an inverted playmaker on the left flank has helped greatly.

“I played a role that was nothing like what I have to do this year, which I think was mostly adapting to the team and helping out on the defensive end,” he told Valeri. “I think maybe playing on the left helped me a lot on offense too, because I feel more comfortable with the ball, I find space better, and I make better decisions.

“With time, patience and listening, with spending more time with my teammates, too, I think that helped me a lot to be better on the pitch.”

Seattle return to action this weekend with a visit to Austin FC for a Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire clash at Q2 Stadium (7 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+). De la Vega, who missed their midweek defeat at Miami (knee), will hope to be available for selection.