Saw on 3rd Degree Twitter that Justin Che has been loaned from Brondy to a second tier team in the Netherlands. Not sure that is a good sign for Che. Moving the wrong direction in his trajectory but hopefully he establishes himself and gets good minutes. Starting at FCD at right left back may look like it was a good place to be.
FCD U17 v Chivas can be found here. I'll circle back with a game report later. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1314834959118996
FC Dallas U18 v Chivas, August 17 2023, L 0:1 *See above Facebook link. Timestamps refer to game time, not time on the video. Lineup (L-R where applicable): Montoya; Canizalez, Shreiner ©, Brandon, Cortalessa; Charles, Hickam; Salazar; Witis-Hughes, Vargas, Baran Subs: Medrano on for W-H at half, sliding Vargas out to the wing; 60th min, Swann and Torquato on for Salazar and Canizalez; 70th min, Sylvester on for Hickam. Goals: · 61:10 – Torquato’s on the ball deep in FCD’s half. He turns and plays backwards to Montoya. Montoya takes a touch and tries to play out the right side, but he’s taken too long, the FW has closed the space, and the pass is deflected back into FCD’s net. Other Key Chances: · 9:00 – Cortalessa and Baran combine to force a turnover on FCD’s right in their own half. Baran picks up and carries swiftly through Chivas’ counterpress before laying off to Salazar in the center circle. He turns and waits a beat for W-H to shape his run before playing W-H down the right. W-H gets a shot off from 12ish yards away from goal on the left side. Shaves the far post. Probably the better decision to play Baran running down the middle. · 16:05 – One of several times early on that FCD forces a high turnover with their press. W-H gets a foot on a pass that deflects to Vargas in the middle of the field. He wins a duel to take it, and subsequently has a 4v2 with Salazar and W-H to his left and Baran to his right, but opts to shoot from 27 yards instead, blasting it over. Bad choice. · 17:52 – Chivas CK, inswinging to the back post. Brandon gets outjumped and the ball comes back into the middle, where a Chivas player takes it down at the top of the box and shoots wide. Shreiner and Canizalez closest to the open shooter. · 25:27 – Chivas CM plays out wide right to the RW, who squares up Canizalez and makes a yard of space outside the box from which to cross. Looping effort, shouldn’t be much trouble, except Cortalessa calls all clear for it to go through, but there’s a late runner at the back post and Baran doesn’t have position to defend him. Cross ends up just missing his outstretched foot for a CK. · 32:45 – Vargas earns a FK just left of center and about 25-27 yards out. Forces an acrobatic save from the GK at the left post. Not enough gas on the shot. · 45:46 – Chivas FK on FCD’s left side wide of the box. One of the guys over the kick runs for the near post while the other crosses low and at the PK spot. It finds a player checking into that space from the goalmouth, and he lays it off to the player who went to the near post. That guy strikes it first time on the bounce from just outside the 6 yard box and then off the crossbar. · 59:39 – Chivas GK on the ball outside his own box. Whops a big diagonal out wide of Cortalessa, and the winger twists and turns and takes it down and eventually plays his overlapping fullback wide. Charles doesn’t close down the cross quickly enough, and it bounces across the top of the 6 yard box just beyond the stretching reach of a Chivas FW. Torquato pops it into the air, and the subsequent bicycle kick goes wide. · 66:20 – After a partial clearance turns back a Chivas counterattack, Chivas is back on the ball on the right side in FCD’s half. Eventually, the RB gets on the ball and swings in a speculative cross at the back post, which is then headed back across before Montoya punches it away off the head of an attacker on the goal line intent on putting it into the net. Other Notes: · Although this lineup looks pretty close to first choice, important to remember that they’re playing something like 7-8 games in 9-10 days in this tournament. They should have rotations in mind even to start game 1. Especially playing in Mexico City and the altitude (several FCD players have their hands on their knees at times trying to breathe). · Hickam and Swann need to change up their aesthetics. Basically impossible to tell them apart from a broadcast camera apart from their numbers. · FCD starts off defending in the same 4-4-2 as the first team, wingers pulling back into midfield and the #10 moving up alongside the ST, but then switches to a 4-1-4-1 with Hickam in the hole near the end of the 1H. Midway through the 2H, after Medrano comes on, Salazar takes a position as one of the wide mids in the 442, and it’s Vargas and Medrano up top. · All three starting FWs are big, fast, and can play across the front. Lots of positional switching between them. · FCD mostly in control in the early going. Not all that many clear chances, but the game is being played in Chivas’ half. Pretty choppy thereafter, with FCD giving up the bulk of the chances. · First time seeing Baran with FCD. He’s big – like, 6’2” or so. Close touch isn’t awesome. Hard to keep up with when he gets running in transition, but doesn’t get involved in possession much. · Not his best game (still fine), but the moment at 27:10 is part of why I love watching Salazar so much. Turnover in the middle of the field; scan scan scan; precisely weighted first-time ball into space for Vargas, requiring Salazar to spin a 180 while he’s passing it. Terrific combination of vision, processing, technique, and willingness to play the game quickly and effectively. · 2x early on an FCD defender or midfielder is surprised in possession by a Chivas player checking back into the play from behind FCD’s defense. Should just be a communication fix, but not a great look anyway. · A few times W-H has a technical breakdown in a bad spot. Running over the ball kind of stuff. · Impressed by Montoya’s work with the ball at his feet until he had two awful moments in the 2H. Not super adventurous, but mostly capable. For evidence to the contrary, see 51:55 and the goal. · The view behind the right goal is really cool. · Vargas bullyball at 32:00 leads to a FK in a decent spot. He appears to still be getting bigger (Shreiner too – he was their most common target on set pieces). Up and down game from him. Even up and down within quite a few plays. · Charles is back to thumping people when he goes into tackles. Not a player where “subtle” comes to mind in basically any sense. · Several big diagonals get behind Cortalessa in the second half – still working on controlling that space. · LOVE the red-white-blue kit combo.
Per his Instagram, FCD's U16s add '08 Pierre Mazzawi from BVB by way of Solar. He's a YNT ID Center kid that was selected to go play at the MLS Next Best Of game this past season. No idea where FCD's going to play him, but seems like a pretty good pickup.
FCD U18s v LAFC, Liga MX preseason tourney, D 1-1 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=838302314679501 Time stamps refer to game time, not video time. Lineup (L-R if applicable): Montoya; Canizalez, Shreiner ©, Brandon, Munson; Hickam, Charles; Baran, Salazar; Medrano, Vargas Subs: At halftime, Torquato, Backus, Contreras, and Cortalessa on for Canizalez, Charles, Baran, and Brandon; Munson slides to RCB, and Backus is in the double-pivot with Hickam. Swann comes on for Hickam at about 53:00. 62nd min, Witis-Hughes and Sylvester on for Vargas and Medrano. Goals: · 56:44 – Salazar does well to win a cleared FCD cross in the middle of the field. The ball goes from Backus to Shreiner to Torquato and back to Salazar in about the same spot. He tries to find Cortalessa on the RW, but the LAFC LB cuts it off to Swann, who plays out to Cortalessa. Cortalessa plays a low ball along and behind the backline, barely missing Swann’s foot before finding Medrano in front of goal, and he redirects it into the far post. · 70:00 +2:08 – Torquato is dispossessed down in the left corner in LAFC’s half. Three relatively quick passes, and suddenly LAFC has a CM on the ball in a full acre of space near halfway. He runs at the backline and slide the RW in behind as Cortalessa breaks the offside line on the far side. The RW curls a slow shot into the far post from outside the box as Montoya kind of finds himself in no-man’s land and Shreiner / Munson can’t recover quickly enough to block the shot. Other Key Chances · 10:46 – LAFC on the ball near midway, and they swing it out wide left to their LW who is matched up with Munson 1v1. First the winger slips, then Munson, then Munson recovers to block the cross but slips again, so the winger is running free into the box from wide. He slides a pass through the six yard box, but neither LAFC target can get a foot to it and it goes out the other side. · 18:55 – A quick Munson throw-in and an aggressive touch by Vargas leads to a Salazar free kick about 30 yards out on the left side. He lofts a ball to the back post to Shreiner, who’s completely unmarked, but can’t get in front of the ball enough to head it across goal, where all of Medrano, Hickam, and Brandon were open. Instead, the GK collects. · 20:57 – LAFC’s RB has carried into central midfield, and then scoops the ball back to his right, where it eventually gets to the RW. He hits a ball to the back post, which is headed across to the ST, who manages to barely head the ball off the back post and in, but the ST is marginally offside. · 35:00 +1:19 – LAFC CK from FCD’s right. They’ve taken many from this side as Munson has struggled generally and specifically against LAFC’s #82. The ball bounces out to the top of the box, a little on the left, and LAFC’s #40 lashes a volley off the crossbar. · 41:59 – LAFC throw on FCD’s left in FCD’s half. Vargas checks back to win the ball, and he and Contreras contrive together to poke the ball out to halfway, where the LAFC CB slips and Medrano and Salazar are through on a 2v1. Medrano’s pass to Salazar is too long, though, and it pulls him wide, where he collects, makes some space, and shoots just wide of the far post. · 44:07 – Now it’s Cortalessa driving into CM before laying it off to Backus, who rifles a pass into Contreras’ feet near the top of the box. He takes a bouncing first touch, but gets the volley out wide to Vargas on the left. Vargas dribbles his guy back to the top of the box and scoops a pass just in front of the PK spot for Contreras, but he doesn’t control it and it bounces to Hickam, who hits it first-time, low, and basically right at the GK’s right foot. Cleared out for a throw. · 46:07 – In the midst of a sustained period of FCD pressure, the LAFC GK gets on the ball inside his box and hits a pass directly to Hickam ~30 yards out. He takes a touch and shoots (while being fouled), but can’t quite curl it around the GK, who’s 10 yards out of his net. · 47:05 – FCD CK taken by Salazar. He lofts one in that drops in the middle between the PK spot and the 6 yard box. Vargas outjumps everyone and forces an awesome save by the LAFC GK, down and to the right post. · 60:15 – Shreiner standing over a FK in his own box. Plays quickly to Backus, who goes back to Munson, who clears to halfway. Medrano challenges for it, and it falls to Salazar, who plays first time over the top to Contreras down the left. Contreras gets around his defender with a little stop-start move, and crosses from just wide of the six yard box at Vargas, who’s beaten to the ball by about a step. Cleared for a CK. · 66:02 – Shreiner clears a cross out to the LW, where Contreras collects simply and plays up the line to Sylvester. Sylvester lets it run on past the defender and proceeds to dribble from about halfway into the box, where he cuts it back to W-H open at the PK spot, but W-H puts his first time shot over the bar. · 67:00 – A Cortalessa clearance is taken down at halfway by an LAFC CB, who manages to poke it to an LAFC CM. LAFC works it comfortably to their RW, who runs at Torquato and gets a right-footed cross off in the corridor behind the FCD CBs, but the LAFC ST can’t quite reach the tap-in. · 68:56 – Shreiner steps into midfield to cut out a pass, and his ball caroms out to Torquato wide left. Torquato plays into Sylvester’s feet in the FW line, and Sylvester lets it run through onto W-H’s run. W-H catches up to it as he enters the PK area in the left channel and takes a first time shot almost right at the GK, who saves to a defender. Notes · Charles and Salazar taking all the dead balls for the starters, by the way. · Truly, truly, it is a 4-2-2-2 to start. Not sure I’ve ever seen an FCD academy team play like that. Hickam and Charles have to cover so much ground in the middle. One of the STs drops back when FCD is against the ball and defends the “#10” spot. · If you were here for the comment about Charles kicking the crap out of everyone yesterday, boy were you in for a treat when he got a yellow in the second minute for an awful slide tackle (and maybe should have had another at 22:00). That said, he has a pleasing tendency, when he misses on his passes to out to wingers, to miss long and force the other team to take a throw deep in their half: a pressing opportunity. · Lots of players slipping for both teams in the 1H. Chose the wrong studs, maybe, though they are playing on a different field than yesterday. · A choppy, back-and-forth game early gives way to a 10min period of LAFC pinning FCD back. Not many clear cut chances, but lots of pressure. LAFC the better team in the 1H. FCD then creates chances in bulk for the first 20min of the 2H – could have had two or more, but only got the one. Decision-making in the final third isn’t great. · Remarkable how often they get Shreiner open at the back post on set pieces. You’d think other teams would have that scouted by now. · First time seeing Backus in this CM role. Not much by way of standout plays either way, but he does the typical clever Backus stuff in small spaces. · Because the Academy is on a different calendar than the first team, they have to wait 6 months from the launch of a new kit before they get to us it. This is the first time, perhaps, that an Academy team has worn the Burn away kit in a meaningful contest. · It does not go unnoticed that Contreras was a key part of quite a few of FCD’s 2H chances. Much more involved in possession than Baran (who’s new, to be fair) and does well to dribble into open space. Doesn’t make the right choice after dribbling into a nice spot at 62:50, though. You watch this game, and you start getting into second half extra time, and you don’t think there’s any chance LAFC’s going to score. FCD’s in complete control and LAFC looks wasted. Swann particularly makes several great plays. And then, all of a sudden, there’s a midfielder wide open for LAFC and somehow they have a 4v3. FCD will be furious they let them tie it. An inexcusable lapse of concentration. The two goals they have conceded so far this tourney have been awful.
FCD U18s v Toluca, Liga MX preseason tourney, L 1-3 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1480095009472966 Time stamps refer to game time, not video time. Lineup (L-R if applicable): Enriquez; Backus, Guzman, Brandon, Munson; Swann, Charles ©; Contreras, Arteaga; Sylvester, Medrano Subs: At halftime, Vargas, Cortalessa, and J Salazar come on for Medrano, Backus, and Contreras; Arteaga goes to the LW and Munson goes to LB. At 53min, Shreiner and Hickam on for Guzman (who was injured in a collision) and Swann. At about 60min, Witis-Hughes and Luccin on for Arteaga and Charles. Goals: · 15:01 – On the FCD CK following the “key chance” at 14:25 below, Contreras whips one in at the top of the six yard box. Brandon challenges for it but barely gets a piece, so it bounces through to Guzman at the back post, and he puts it off the crossbar and in from five yards or so. · 20:57 – Toluca CK hit hard at the top of the six. An attacker gets in between Brandon’s and Charles’ zones and puts a head on it, guiding the ball into the far post. · 34:31 – Guzman and Backus can’t quite deal with a direct ball at Toluca’s FW, so he gets on the ball and plays wide right in FCD’s defensive third. The winger pushes inside and finds a midfield who plays back out wide to the overlapping RB. It’s at this point that Contreras realizes he should probably get back and help, because Backus is facing a 2v1 and Guzman doesn’t appear to want to do anything to help. The Toluca RB receives a wall pass into the box, carries to the corner of the six, and scores far post. · 70:00 +3:15 – FCD throw in on the left in their half. Munson throws to Salazar, whose first touch is loose and goes to Toluca. He and Hickam chase Toluca around a bit before the opposing CM cuts back against the grain and dribbles straight through Salazar, Luccin, Munson, and Brandon before flicking the ball past a poorly positioned Enriquez. Embarrassing. Other Key Chances · 5:22 – Brandon wins a clearance at midfield to Charles, who plays wide to Backus, who plays forward to Contreras in the attacking third on the wing. Contreras carries towards goal a little ways and finds Swann moving into a pocket at the top of the box. Swann first times a pass to Sylvester’s feet back in the right channel, which allows Sylvester to drive at the end line and play a pass across goal, which barely misses both Swann and Medrano. · 14:25 – Sylvester beats a defender to a cleared cross out on FCD’s left wing. He turns and attacks the box before passing to Charles near the top of the box, who redirects the ball first time inside to Medrano. Medrano chests it down inside the six yard box but can’t quite get his shot away before it’s cleared. · 29:30 – After a handball gives Toluca a FK from 23 yards just right of center, their captain takes it with his left, hitting the ball hard at the far post. Enriquez sees it late, but manages to bat it away and out for a CK. Notes · Feels like it is Significant that Charles gets the nod as a captain here playing up an age group (kind of) with Brandon on the field. PS: Charles is the designated long-thrower for this group. · Two straight good tackles by Charles in the 17th minute kill Toluca counter attacks and keep the ball in the attacking third. · Didn’t think of this when watching the LAFC game, but Contreras is wearing #7 this year, which was Javi Dolores-Herrera’s number last year. D-H is not at this tournament, though that’s pretty consistent with his place on the depth chart last season. Hope he hasn’t left the club. · Again with the 4-2-2-2. · First time seeing Arteaga with FCD. Undersized, bowling ball kind of player. · Munson’s speed on display a few times, but most notably at 8:10 when he chases down a breakaway from behind. Sylvester’s too at 13:00 and 14:25. · Contreras takes the dead balls today, making Charles a target. · Lotta body language that suggests it’s pretty hot there, but the weather report suggests it’s in the 70s, so go figure. Maybe just fatigue from a third game in three days. · Multiple times, Guzman gets away with a borderline PK because he’s chasing down guys that have gotten on the end of passes behind him. · Style points by Enriquez at 24:25, first taking the cross down with a bounce and then springing Contreras down the RW with a long throw. (On the other side, awesome play by the Toluca GK at 42:05 – flips the field). · Way too often, Sylvester makes overly simplistic runs to push the defense back. The whole thing vertical and at one speed: a brisk jog. Let’s see some variation! Try diagonals, or starting slow and then accelerating. · Couple different times, Swann gets the ball inside in the build and tries to play quickly to the RB but either misses everyone or passes directly to the other team. Technical and awareness problems. · Seems like this team can get stretched front-to-back pretty easy. Maybe that’s preseason conditioning? · #239 for Toluca is very good, imo. · Near disasterclass from Luccin in his short time on the field.
Another confirmed commit via Instagram: '07 FW Josmar Gaundique, most recently of De Anza Force, former US U15 callup and multi-time regional ID center callup. Will now be with FCD's U17s. Dribbly boi.
'08 Gabe Watkins, formerly of Solar and referenced below, has also joined FCD. Feels like the '08s have a truly crazy amount of CBs, but what do I know.
Stop me if you've heard this before: a team in the FCD pathway got a lead (in this case "leads") but dropped points. 2-2 draw at home against Tacoma and lost in the shootout (they even blew a lead in the shootout too - now tied for the league lead for draws and have only won ONE of their nine shootouts this year). Goals from '01 Pondeca (seemingly playing his way into a second year with NTX) and '06 Garcia (mostly bright after subbing on at half). '05 Norris conceded the PK that led to Tacoma's first. As an aside, I've been pretty disappointed by Carrera's lateral explosiveness on PKs this year - feels like a lot of cases where he's guessed right but couldn't reach the shot. Here's how we'll start tonight vs Tacoma ⤵️Lauti makes his home debut, starting in attack alongside Mulato and Hope! 🇦🇷 🇨🇴 🇬🇭📺 https://t.co/yp6UZvjI74 pic.twitter.com/kOjz4KfBIH— North Texas SC (@northtexasSC) August 19, 2023 Side note irrelevant to this thread: Carl Sainte was called into the Haiti MNT again for the upcoming window. He just turned 21 and he's got 11 senior team caps and seems like he's pretty locked in as at least a regular. The Haitian record for men's national team caps is 95 by Pierre Richard Bruny. Sainte's got a real shot to break it if he stays relatively healthy.
FCD U18s v Santos Laguna, Liga MX preseason tourney, D 2-2 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2345709842279226 Time stamps refer to game time, not video time. Lineup (L-R if applicable): Wheeler; Munson, Shreiner ©, Brandon; Contreras, Arteaga, Hickam, Baran; J Salazar; Vargas, C Salazar Subs: 34th minute Torquato comes on for Munson; Cortalessa, Swann, and Witis-Hughes come on at halftime for C Salazar, Baran, and Contreras – Arteaga’s now playing RW; Shreiner goes off injured at the 44th, replaced by Backus in the 54th, who goes in at CM, leaving Hickam at CB; in the 54th, Medrano and Sylvester come on for J Salazar and Vargas. Goals: · 37:03 – FCD throw on their left wing in the attacking third goes back to Swann, who switches flat to Cortalessa, who plays back to Brandon, who whops a diagonal back to the LW for Torquato. Torquato takes his first touch past his defender, who probably had position but then slips, so Torquato can roll a pass into the box, which is deflected to Vargas’ foot just outside the six. He fakes a quick shot with his left, does a speed turn back to the endline and scores. · 38:36 – The ball’s at the Santos GK’s feet in his box, and he hits a long ball under pressure from J Salazar. It’s flicked on behind the FCD lines, Shreiner and Brandon are WAY too far apart, and the FW gets a free run on goal. Slides it into the far post. · 40:13 – Salazar’s got the ball at halfway and he’s driving up the gut of the midfield. He’s caught from behind eventually, and the defender at the top of his 18 yard box hits a clearance forward. Brandon leaves his feet trying to block it, but he’s the last defender, so when he whiffs, the Santos FW gets another free run at goal. This time Wheeler saves the first, but the FW collects the rebound and scores in an empty net. · 63:26 – FCD throw on their right side in their half. Cortalessa goes up the line to Medrano, who chests it down before hitting a volley up and over the Santos backline. W-H chases it, managing to get his head in the way of the resulting clearance, deflecting the ball back to the right side. Sylvester makes a hustle play to get there before the defender, and carries into the wide edge of the box. Dribbling, twisting, turning, finally finding a yard of space to cross, and he hits it low at Medrano’s feet at the top of the six. Sweet trap, turn, and shot from him, putting the ball into the far post. Other Key Chances · 2:55 – Wheeler hits a GK long at the center circle, where Hickam can’t quite reach it in the air, so it bounces off the Santos CM to Brandon, who clears it again, and again it’s headed toward the FCD defense, this time over their heads. Shreiner and Munson can’t quite get the ST under control, and he cuts back against Munson and shoots from the top of the box, barely missing the near post. · 8:07 – Santos has been doing weird stuff on this CK. Changing takers, moving short options around. Eventually they elect to go short and get a 2v1, Hickam gets dribbled by, and the cross comes in from just wide of the box. The Santos attacker gets a head on it at the far post, directing back across goal. It’s ruled a CK, so I guess that means Wheeler got a hand to it – wildly impressive save if so. · 32:09 – FCD playing with a makeshift backline as Munson’s off the field injured and they haven’t brought in a replacement. Santos gets the ball across halfway without pressure, and a CM in the right halfspace swings the ball in behind Brandon to the run of the LW, whose first touch takes him to the PK spot before his shot is blocked by a desperate challenge from Arteaga. · 48:55 – Santos pokes a ball toward the halfway line on FCD’s left side, and Hickam’s screened away from it before it rolls straight past, leading to a 3v2 where Santos gets a decent shot away, but it’s right at Wheeler … but wait! He randomly drops it on the goal line, and has to scramble a little to pick it up before an attacker gets to it. · 61:30 – Santos takes a quick FK on their right side just inside FCD’s half. The ball goes wide to the RW, who cuts back and shapes a cross in front of the backline, and the ball bounces through to the late arriving LW. He shoots first time, aiming for the near post, but Wheeler, who had to stay in the cross-side of the goal in case the ST got a foot to the cross, comes barreling across to save it out for a CK. · 70:00+00:39 – FCD CK that Swann bends into the top of the six. W-H challenges it, the GK can’t get to it despite trying, and all of a sudden it’s fallen to Medrano at the back post with a split second to shoot at an empty net. He can’t keep his impromptu volley down and it goes over. · 70:00+1:23 – Brandon is scrambling near midfield to win a ball after blocking a pass to stop a counterattack. Swann nips in, takes the ball toward the left sideline, and plays forward to W-H up the left wing. He slips Sylvester in behind the Santos defense, where he hits a first time cross from just wide of the PK area across the six with his left. It makes it through to Medrano, who again gets a first time shot to win the game, but the GK manages to recover to the post to block it. The rebound goes back to Medrano, who shoots first time from an acute angle, but right at the grounded GK. Wild sequence. · 70:00+2:00 – Immediately after the ensuing CK, Santos takes a FK quickly in their area, Swann can’t quite win a challenge at midfield, and all-of-a-sudden Santos is running up the middle of the field with numbers. The ball is played through the backline to the penalty arc, and Wheeler gets there first, but his clearance goes off the attacker and into the box. Now Arteaga has to lunge to throw off the attacker before he can shoot into an empty net, and Hickam uses that split second to get goal side, strip the ball, and clear. Wilder sequence. Notes · Weird lineup. Baran at RB, Munson at LB. I think the best way to think of it is as a 3-4-1-2, but even that doesn’t seem to fit exactly. Sometimes Arteaga moves outside and Contreras or Baran shift inside to support buildout. Baran and Contreras switch sides near 20min, afterwards playing on the side of their dominant feet. After the Munson/Torquato sub, Torquato goes to LB, Contreras goes to RB, and they shift into a 4231 with C Salazar at RW. · Love Baran’s athletic package. Increasingly frustrated by the other parts of his game. We’ll see if he can adapt to the stuff FCD needs him to do. · J Salazar was getting onto the ball and running at the Santos backline quite a bit early on, but he’s not making as much of it as he should. Not quite putting it together. · 18:35 – really nicely done by Wheeler to aggressively come off his line to get to a bouncing ball in the box before the attacker can. Same at 70:00 + 2:25. · Vargas is doing some good work in the first half getting into space down the right wing and using his dribble to unsettle the defense. “ST’s body, winger’s skillset” is not a terrible description of him as a prospect. · At 30min, Munson goes out injured. Videos of the next day show him with an arm in a soft cast and a sling. Hope it’s nothing that keeps him out for long. · You may note the lack of FCD chances before second half stoppage time. They were generating quite a few “oh, this could be something” moments, but nothing that really reeked of goal chances until the game got crazy at the end. · Truly would be difficult to draw up a series of worse goals for FCD to concede in this tourney. Soooooooooooo many gifts for the other teams. · Munson and Shreiner both injured in this one. Brandon was asking for a sub at one point, clearly not fit to run by the end of the game. Not great, Bob. · The announcers pronounce Blake Wheeler’s name like “Black Weller”. Very fun. · W-H spends much of his half of play either uninvolved or making me wish he was uninvolved. · If J Salazar meant to do that s*** at 52:55, he’s officially the coolest player in FCD history. That move is cold as ice. · FCD spent a total of 13 minutes of this 70 minute game playing with 10 men while injured players were off the field and their replacements weren’t sent on. Some combination of borderline criminal team management, players not being ready to go on, or leaning into a “developmental opportunity”. · Two remarkable saves from Wheeler in this one. See above for timestamps. Worth looking up the video and asking “how?”. · Backus struggles mightily off the bench. Spends a lot of time on the ground. · I think Sylvester’s good. Very good. Would probably go him at RW, Contreras at LW, C Salazar at ST if choosing an ’07 FW line today. Wouldn’t be shocked to see him get NTX time soon.
I have no idea what's gone wrong with Che. Reached for the stars by going to the Bundesliga, and didn't reach them. Now taking two steps back to hopefully go 4 steps forward. It's hard out there. Ask guys like Charlie Kelman, Johan Gomez, Nico Carrera, and others. Guys we were hoping would go to lower level teams in Europe and advance to the big time. Hasn't happened. Hell, ask Jonathan Tomkinson. He seemed to on the cusp of breaking out when he got on the field for Norwich in 2022, and then nothing happened.
Nice goal by Jared Salazar today for FCD down in Mexico. pic.twitter.com/RD6rZRsGS1— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) August 23, 2023 Was traveling back half of last week, so I missed the last few games of the tourney. Salazar scored both for FCD in this 2-2 draw against Atleti. Also scored against eventual champions Palmeiras in the final matchday. Obviously a frustrating tourney from a results perspective. Bottom of the table with three points out of seven games. Won't speak for the final three games, but the first four (Toluca excepting) felt like they got losses when they played well enough to draw and got draws when they should have won. Some truly abysmal goal concessions made the difference. Hopefully puts a fire in the belly for the coming season.
Maybe it's all for next year when Obrian leaves, but I swear every time Sealy plays (which is rare so far) he does something that nobody else on the team can / will - attacks the box with combos, dribbles at guys, etc. At some point you hope the coach rewards that with more minutes.
Defenders, beware! Collin Smith got the sauce. #HammerDown | #BHMvDET pic.twitter.com/he1QhSvPqf— Birmingham Legion FC (@bhmlegion) August 27, 2023
Ian Charles named to the tournament Best XI. Per Google translate: “Although Dallas' performance during the tournament was not the best, the containment work of Ian Charles stood out, who proved to be an all-rounder on the field of play, and the one in charge of connecting the lines in the Longhorns' game.”
Anthony Ramirez again goes with the MEXYNT U18s, this time to Slovenia where they will play the UAE, Slovenia, and Portugal. 🇲🇽 Ellos son nuestros seleccionados #Sub18 con los que trabajará Alex Diego en el CAR para disputar 3️⃣ juegos en Europa, ¿quienes serán los rivales? Aquí te lo decimos👉🏻 https://t.co/bLHTATaYci pic.twitter.com/Xjsj93CSNI— Selección Nacional (@miseleccionmx) August 29, 2023
One last piece from my internship with @dallasnews went live this morning. Before I left, I spent some time around the FC Dallas Academy and took a deeper look into how it has become an internationally recognized talent factory over the years https://t.co/kpMjTCfcKl— Peter Rauterkus (@peter_rauterkus) August 29, 2023
DaMN their paywall. I quit getting the paper when it never showed up on time or at all and tried their on line but it constantly wouldn't let me log in or made me log in every time I clicked on a different article.
Here to stay ✍️ 🇯🇲We’ve signed Jamaican Youth International and @fcdallas academy product Malachi Molina to a professional contract through 2024!— North Texas SC (@northtexasSC) August 31, 2023
Disappointing but not surprising to see it confirmed that FCD didn’t get any of Grimm, Glosson, and Prachyl this off-season. Was hoping Pacheco would go full-time too after guest playing with FCD in the spring, but nevertheless. Austin US U15 ID camp roster August 2023 https://t.co/uipY1fb21L— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) August 30, 2023
Meet the #FCDallas U17s for 2023-24 #DTID #SomosFCD https://t.co/hqZPsu2Cuq— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) September 3, 2023 3rdDegree starting to publish rosters for the new Academy season. So far no real surprise additions apart from Tomas Pondeca's younger brothers. A few of the more surprising exits include Axel Valdivia, Myles Nicholes, Javi Dolores-Herrera, Juan Mancia, and Romeo Brown. Nicholes the only of those that has a significant chance of going pro (he's a swedish dual nat, so there's some chance he pops up in Europe), but with Scabin, Munson, and Guzman still there I'd take the field over Nicholes in the '07 age group.
FC Dallas stupid. Nicholes should’ve played so much more than he did. He’s not even that raw. I was about willing to concede that I was wrong, and then I went through some of the U-16 games he played during the Spring, and I decided that I’m not seeing that so I’m not going to concede merely for the sake of it. Not to say those other kids aren’t good. The club has some good ‘07 CB’s, but there must be something else at play. It can’t be due to a big hole in his skillset. What’s also weird is that he was captaining games as a U-15, and then a little over a year later he’s leaving after being unable to get on the field regularly. Not saying there’s something wrong with him, but often times there’s a piece to the puzzle missing of why stuff like this happens.
Next up...Meet the #FCDallas U16s for 2023-24 #DTID #SomosFCD https://t.co/7IGmFDHbdg— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) September 4, 2023 '08s didn't add as much as I expected given their struggles last year. Mostly local kids: Watkins, Mazzawi, and Moreira all bring interesting resumes to the squad and will probably contribute. We'll see about the Wostl kid from IMG - I linked some film of him below. Big FW. From an exits standpoint, most notable is Gabriel Rojas. Very fun player - will be disappointed if he goes to another MLS Academy because he's got a possible pro skillset.