Isn't he the one who told FCD to take a second look at Richards? He coached both Richards and Cappis to the DA title and obviously made a huge impression on FCD with his talent evaluation abilities.
He won the DA championship with a non-MLS team a few years ago that had two players that he sent on to FCD for better opportunities. Chris Richards was one of those and has helped make FCD to make out like a bandit by flipping him to Bayern for around 1.5 million and a supposedly 40% sell-on fee. The other player wasn't allowed to be signed as a HG and moved onto a smaller Euro league team but was very good from the game I saw him (sorry can't remember his name). I think it's great FCD recognized Quill's skill in talent evaluation and coaching and his selflessness and rewarded him. Hopefully he can keep finding hidden gems for FCD. I don't have any idea about his coaching style though. Hopefully it's a fairly seamless fit to Luchi's but since they played against each other at academy level Luchi must feel comfortable with him.
I'm wondering how different his new job will be from his old job. NTXSC's first, second, and third priority will be developing players for FCD. Results are secondary. Entertaining the fans is secondary. Yes, he'll be in charge of professionals, rather than amateurs, but his roster will still be very youthful.
New information from Buzz Carrick at ThirdDegree "North Texas SC, I learned today, has international roster limits too. 7 to be specific. They can trade for them just like an MLS team can. That will be a factor if they get MLS players coming down on loan for PT for development, fitness, or rehab."Full Article
🖋 We've signed former @FCDallas Academy players @hectoremontalvo and @AyeCesar09! All the details here ➡️ https://t.co/6ureQpZfik#WeAreNext | #WeAreOne pic.twitter.com/mOtIplPtli— North Texas SC (@northtexasSC) March 28, 2019
Pepi with a hat trick and an overall dominating performance by NTSC. Was a little disappointed on how close this got at the death but Pepi should see first team action this season. He reminds me of Blas.
He kind of reminds me of Josh Sargent. If he's close to either he'll be a great player. I'm beginning to wonder if he ever plays for FCD. Maybe he will because he's just turned 16 (I think) so he probably can't go to Europe this or next year. Could he already be better than Cobra or Badgi?
I believe that FIFA's rules are that players can't be transferred from their home country until they're 18. I'm on the Ricardo Pepi hype train and all, but I'll recognize that dominating at the USL League 1 level often doesn't translate to the MLS level. Also, there's so much more to being a top-level professional than just knocking in the goals. Perhaps we can look at Pomykal and Ferreira now and say that Pareja was being too conservative with them last year, but at the same time, a setback for a very young player will be so much more devastating than for someone older. This might've undone Freddy Adu's career before it even got started. So I don't blame Pareja for not bringing them on more quickly. He got it right more often than he got it wrong. So I would not be shocked if Pepi sees time in the FCD lineup this season, and it also wouldn't shock me if he doesn't. Now... if he keeps knocking in the goals for NTXSC, that might force Luchi's hand.
Took my sons to watch the game, and they had a great experience. Open seating, so we landed front row midfield. Pepi was quite impressive for his age, but nice to see some other guys who have been on the fringes of the FC Dallas roster like Servania and Sealy. Some huge chances missed by NTSC, and it really shouldn’t have been close at the end. We stayed for the FC Dallas match viewing party where the NTSC players then showed up. The kids got Pepi to autograph their commemorative first-game tickets. Hope he proves successful enough that they’ll tell their friends about it someday! I like him and see a lot of upside. FC Dallas lacks a quality #9, so he may indeed get a sniff later in the season.
Pegasus- you are correct Pepi is 16 years old - just turned 16 in Jan or Feb. El Jefe - yes, must be 18 to play outside their home country UNLESS they and their family move to the new country - kind of like Emo Hyndman moving to England with his folks so he could play and train with FFC. Also - Ricardo Pepi has just been called up to the US U-17 team. I had a chance to meet him and his parents after the NTSC game Saturday. He is from El Paso, TX. His family seems to be very excited for him, but also focused on keeping him grounded and humble.
Imanol Almaguer (number 36) - a Dev Academy kid who was brought up for this NTSC game -subbed in the 57th minute and performed extremely well.
Ricardo Pepi becomes the first-ever USL League One Player of the Week after scoring three goals on his professional debut to help North Texas SC defeat the Chattanooga Red Wolves 3-2 on Saturday, March 30 at Toyota Stadium. The 16-year-old's three goals also made him the first person to score a hat trick in league history. Alfusainey Jatta also joins Pepi in the inaugural League One Team of the Week after an impressive showing in midfield. The Gambian youth international created three goal-scoring chances, won 80% of his duels and recorded the most passes (77) of anyone in the league in the opening week.
You can also play in Europe if you have access to a Euro passport like Pulisic had with a Croation grandparent. Odd that on Pepi's callup they show him from McKinney but that may just reflect where he currently lives.
I was pretty impressed with Jatta as well. Reminded me a bit of Pogba. Not surprised by the passes stat. He was constantly getting touches.
Can anyone update me on how Callum montogmery is doing this year? I had high hopes for him based on his draft position. Any chance of MLS minutes this year?
He might be on the bench the next game with Hedges out for a red card. I'd like to see him paired with maybe Bressan in the early US Open Cup games a s away of integrating him with some FCD players.
MAJOR LEAGUE SOOCER NEXT PRO Western Conference_ Frontier Division_ Colorado Rapids 2 North Texas SC Houston Dynamo 2 Sporting KC II MNUFC2 St. Louis CITY2 Pacific Division Real Monarchs Earthquakes II Tacoma Defiance Timbers2 Whitecaps FC 2 Eastern Conference_ Northeast Division_ New England Revolution II NYCFC II Philadelphia Union II Rochester New York FC TFC II Central Division Chicago Fire FC II FC Cincinnati 2 Crew 2 Inter Miami II Orlando City B