The question marks over Brian Fernández have never been about the 24-year-old’s talent and having looked to have put his troubled past behind him, the Argentine forward is setting Major League Soccer on fire.
A stupendous left-footed strike with the outside of his boot to give Portland Timbers a 1-0 win over FC Dallas on Sunday evening was Fernández’s ninth goal in seven matches (in all competitions) since arriving from Necaxa and with it came MLS history.
It was the fifth consecutive MLS game that Fernández has scored in and that now stands alone as the record for the best start to an MLS career – scoring in all five regular-season games.
Brian Fernandez does it again — goals in his first five games in @MLS! #PORvDAL pic.twitter.com/o2bnEu2L75
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 1, 2019
The pressure that came with signing for a record fee of in excess of $10 million could well have suffocated some or taken others time to adjust but Fernández has proved an instant hit in Portland.
Aside from a goal in every MLS start, the former Defensa y Justicia and Racing Club striker has scored in both US Open Cup games so far as the Timbers have progressed to the quarter-finals.
It would be easy to look at Fernández’s form since leaving Argentina and say that his start to life in Portland is expected but there was a degree of risk in the signing. A positive drug test for cocaine use back in 2015 and an attitude towards training that looked likely to result in Fernández wasting his incredible talent would have put many clubs off.
Neither Defensa y Justicia nor Racing Club could keep Fernández on the straight and narrow and even a brief loan spell in France with Metz didn’t work out.
Never been done before.@TimbersFC‘s Brian Fernandez just made history. #RCTID pic.twitter.com/dEd8TFJ3gG
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 1, 2019
golazo argentino 