Sounders FC star Fredy Montero happy to be playing in Seattle

Don't ever play the shell game with Fredy Montero.

Montero, Seattle Sounders FC's hotshot forward, took money from ex-teammates in his native Colombia with that hustle all the time. He'd place a ball or marble under one of several cups, and move them around so deftly that no one could guess which cup it was under.

Small wonder the 21-year-old can fake defenders and score goals with such ease.

Case in point: Thursday night at Qwest Field in Sounders FC's inaugural game. Montero burst upon the Major League Soccer scene with two goals and an assist, recording the first goal in team history and freezing the goalkeeper with a shot fake and subsequent blast into the net on the second.

His debut performance ranks with some of the best this city has seen, and earned Montero MLS Player of the Week. Montero further endeared himself to fans with the celebrations of his goals — a choreographed dance with two teammates and a display of a Colombian flag on his sleeve in front of the fans behind the south goal.

Seattle is Montero's town now. He can hardly go anywhere without someone congratulating him.

"It happens at restaurants," Montero says, speaking in Spanish. "I think it's so wonderful when the people start to appreciate the work that you put in. 'Great game,' they say."

Then he switches to English for a second, conveying fans' well-wishes. "Good job, Fredy. Very good." Back to Spanish: "Those are things that now I'm beginning to understand and I feel good when they say them, so thank God for all that."

Thank several people for signing Seattle's newest sports star.

Alejandro Taraciuk, a former league intern-turned-scout in Argentina, recommended Montero to MLS. Seattle general manager Adrian Hanauer and technical director Chris Henderson traveled to South America to see Montero play and meet with him, his representatives and Taraciuk to work out a deal.

Montero's parents, who kept him out of trouble as a kid, helped Montero decide to go to the U.S., instead of taking offers from teams in Argentina, Spain and Mexico. The Colombian soccer federation then agreed to loan Montero to MLS.

Montero calls the loan agreement the most concrete and serious offer he received.

"Thank God I landed in such a great place," he says.

Fans in Colombia wondered why Montero, an emerging star in the country's top soccer league and for its national team, would spurn a chance to be somewhere where soccer is king. But Montero was attracted to MLS by what he saw as a dynamic, attacking and physical style of play, things that he said aren't often present in Colombian soccer.

He also was convinced he'd be making history with a new team and that he'd receive every opportunity to show his skills and score goals with Sounders FC.

The opportunities in Europe or elsewhere will almost certainly come. Montero, still so young with a knack for finding the net, can expect to make millions in another part of the world. Even Hanauer can accept that he might not have his prized forward beyond this season. Sounders FC's GM wouldn't go into specifics about Montero's loan agreement, but Seattle doesn't have much control over where Montero will play beyond this season.

"All players have the possibility of movement," Hanauer says. "Any player can be bought if the price is right."

Montero is happy where he is for now.

"I have a one-year contract, and if everything goes well, perhaps renew it for another year," he says. "I also have to think about the economic potential if another team is interested. But right now I wear this jersey and I'm defending it, and I continue to be happy in this city that likes me."

Montero's path to the brink of international stardom began in Campo de la Cruz, a town in northern Colombia. When he was 8, his family moved to nearby Barranquilla, one of the biggest cities in the country, and Montero enjoyed a happy childhood full of soccer and studies. His father, a policeman of 24 years, made sure his five children stayed out of trouble and danger and signed up young Fredy for the neighborhood youth team.

Montero quickly established himself as a scorer. When Montero was 13, a scout for Deportivo Cali, a top club in Colombia, offered him the opportunity to sign with the team and develop in its system. At first, Montero's parents were worried about their son going off on his own at such a young age, but they eventually allowed him to pursue his soccer dreams.

Montero spent nine seasons in the Deportivo Cali organization, including the one season the team loaned him to Atletico Huila, another first-division club. Montero helped Huila to a spot in the 2007 championship game, was the two-time leading goal scorer in the league and met one of his heroes, Carlos Valderrama, a Colombian icon from his days on the national team.

"Colombia is a place where bad things always happen," Montero said, "but there is a lot of courage. There are so many good people. The bad ones are the ones the public [in the U.S.] sees, and that's affecting our image as a nation. But I'm happy to be Colombian, and I'm sure people can go there without any problems."

Montero, who lives with a brother and enjoys playing video games, is adjusting to life in Seattle. His English is improving, he has bonded with Spanish-speaking teammates Osvaldo Alonso and countryman Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and has toured the city with Taylor Graham, another teammate who speaks Spanish. And he has a little something planned for the fans the next time he scores. But he wouldn't reveal it.

Montero has also flashed his sleight-of-hand for his teammates. That includes taking their money with the shell game.

"Exactly!" Graham said. "He's the king of the street games. You'd think you get it right every third time, but you don't."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409