None of those guys play for FCD? I also heard a club called Hornets is building up in NTX and has an MLS Next slot. They apparently took a few kids from FCD academy at the younger ages this year. That would never have happened in the 2001 to 2004 age groups. This is not the same FCD Academy from a few years ago.
I mention them because right now the best non-FCD clubs in and around Dallas are in the ECNL. Same reason I noted when Evrit Fisher went to the USYNT or when the Texans 2010s almost won the ECNL national championship this summer: FCD primarily recruits from the 100 miles around Toyota Stadium, so identifying the best players therein may help in understanding FCD's talent pipeline down the line. If you want FCD kids, there's nine FCD ECNL guys on the various regional first teams. Also, Duncan Sullivan got cut from the FCD Academy around U15 year. He was a teammate of Tarik Scott, Nolan Norris, etc, but then dropped down to FCD ECNL for a couple years. Hornets is the only other North-Texas-based MLS Next club (which could be a draw relative to Solar and Texans and others) and they didn't exist until last year (when they too got some FCD kids, but none that were playing meaningful minutes; meanwhile, FCD pulled Ougir Velazquez from them mid-year; we'll see who they got this year).
From what I understand in that market. There is very little difference between FCD/Texans/Solar below the U13 level. Because of this, and because kids change so rapidly at these younger ages, FCD might not be the preferred choice until U14/15 ages. Hornets have come into MLS Next but are not at the level of most Texan and Solar teams. Is that correct?
They don't play each other, so it's hard to say for sure, but my eye test and USYNT regional callups suggest that's true. I think last year they were in the tier with DKSC and BVB locally (so tier 3). That was just their first year, though, and they exceeded my expectations.
All-Americans from the region are Trey Glosson and Kaifa Yuoh at the U15 level, Sebastian Gonzalez (of Lonestar in Austin) and Hudson Jacobs at the U16 level, Tobi Crear and Jonathan Luna at the U17 level, and Ryan Clanton-Pimentel (of Lonestar) and Duncan Sullivan at the U19 level.
The U15s are adding Wally Smith, a FW with some ODP honors, from Solar and Josue Morales, a GK, from DKSC (who had a pretty bad 2010 team last year). Orlandelli is playing with the U16s, which suggests he's a 2009.
Paes gets the callup for Indonesia for games on the 5th and 10th. FCD plays in Vancouver on the 7th. We'll see if it's Maurer or Carrera.
Luchi, Luccin, Morales, and now Varas have served as MLS head coaches (at least as interims - Luccin’s looking more and more likely to be FCD’s permanent). That’s a TON of coaching talent to both (a) have at one time and (b) lose at one time at the Academy level. FCD talks about a coaching development pipeline alongside the one for players, and they’ve moved some coaches up in the last 12-18 months (Martinez, Gall, Aldaz), but for a while there it looked like they were choosing mostly career youth coaches.
Caleb Wegman is now listed at 6'6. We are talking about a late December born '09. How tall might he grow? I know this same discussion was had for many years with Eyestone, but it's a little different because Wegman is a field player. I might be way too high on his game, but I feel like his relative age (for an '09, closer to most relevant 10's than 09's), his height (at least 6'6 and can clearly get taller), and pretty good athleticism for his size (he's not like a Lebron or Bolt in that height range, but clearly quite good) suggests he doesn't even need to be that great with his soccer skills. He has the potential to be a very unique player.
2-2 draw for NTX last night. Won the extra point in PKs. I missed most of the first half and all of the second after there was a multi-hour weather delay during halftime. '05 Ramirez scored the late leveler with a run from midfield and a heads-up first-time finish. Garcia drew a PK that would have been the winning goal if Pondeca hadn't missed it. Baran had a few bright moments off the bench. Mostly wanted to write this because Rapids played a kid name Vincent Rinaldi who they got from the FCD Academy. As much as people pooh-poohed the new HG territory rules, it does feel like I'm seeing more of these situations where FCD youth players struggle to get minutes, go elsewhere, and flourish. That's a good thing, imo.
3rdDegree posted all the Academy rosters. See here. Team-by-team notes: U18s: Now coached by Scott James (which makes sense since he's their lead for college recruiting). Glad Swann's still here - was mildly concerned he left. Buzz notes that Baran's not on this roster, which maybe says he's signed pro and it's unannounced. No meaningful additions. U17s: Still Matias Asorey, so he didn't leave. They cut the bottom three players on the roster (imo) and don't appear to have added anyone. U16s: Coached by Adam Wells, up from the U13s/14s. Turns out they just kept all the GKs and now have five on the roster. Two new players I hadn't flagged already: Cayson Young (from BVB dallas and a terrible Independence High School team) and Ninor Olu (of Heritage High's quite good team. Listed at 5'10"). If Olu's an upgrade at LCB then this group may be scary good. Ninor Olu with the PK and the hat trick. pic.twitter.com/ToA4vXlWVo— Heritage Coyotes Mens Soccer (@Coyotes_Soccer) February 28, 2024 U15s: Chuy Vera as coach! That's a huge resource to invest here. Additions I wasn't aware of: GK Knox Stover (of Solar and multiple ID camps), FW Jayven Perry (Filipino kid from a soccer family). Great job upgrading competition at the GK spot. FW's going to be thin with Gallardo gone (and we'll see if the kids they brought in are even close to his quality). Patrick Arne's gone and I'm worried about CB again. U14s: Two additions, no subtractions.
Swann was on the verge of going to USL (believe Louisville City) and then changed his mind and decided to stay.
Not a surprise if it was a USL club with a women’s side of the house. Swann’s probably on FCD’s protected list and his younger sister is good enough that every NWSL club in the country probably wants her.
3rddegree has since added Arne to his roster, so I guess he’s back. Excited to see his level after a year off. He was maybe the best player in this cohort at lower age groups.
Various outlets are reporting that Leo Orejarena has been called up to the US U18s ('07s) for a camp in Japan in the middle of this month. Has always been a weird age group for FCD with respect to YNT call-ups. Often I'm on a similar wave length as the USSF in evaluating players, but not so for the '07s.
9/8/24 FCD Academy v UPSL Dallas Deportivos Lineup (L-R): ’07 Lynch; ’07 Mendonca, ’07 McCloud ©, ’08 Luna, ’08 Alvarez; ’08 Moreira; ’07 Gutierrez, ’07 Arteaga; ’06 Waugh, ’08 Mazzawi, ’07 Aydin Pondeca. Mazzawi subs off for ’09 Diego Cruz in the 2H. Alvarez comes off for ’09 Fumtim about 10min afterwards. Somewhere in between those Lynch subbed off for ’09 Rios (?). As you may be able to tell from the names and/or birthyears, this is a grab-bag roster of kids that didn’t make the travel rosters this weekend for MLS Next play in Denver against the Rapids and Real Colorado. Lots of guys I think of as near the bottom of their respective age group depth charts. Maybe also some trying out new positions? Recovering from injuries? Hard to say. On weekends where the U18s have meaningful youth competition (more common now that MLS emphasizes the U18s over the U17s), I’d prefer to see UPSL used this way. And look, this is the bottom of the roster early in the season: there’s not a ton of quality on display, but Gutierrez and McCloud look generally up for it (even despite a bunch of rust evident). Moreira is rustier still but flashes quite a few times. Is that Kenny Cooper coaching for FCD? Crazy save by Lynch at 20:05. 27:26 nice movement by Mazzawi and find by Gutierrez, but then Mazzawi panics. 1:22:35 Mendonca just stops running and gives up a breakaway that isn’t scored. DD goal at 1:36:35 (courtesy of Luna breaking an offside trap, which he does several times this game). 1:50:10 Waugh dribbles through some defenders and rings the crossbar.
🇺🇸 Tarik Scott (‘05) scores his 9th goal of the season with a nice one-time finish 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/wNjBHCxQjk— American Ultras Talk (@ameriultrastalk) September 8, 2024
FCD 18s @ Rapids, 9/8/24, D 1-1 Lineup (L-R, where applicable): Lynch; Dozier, Scabin, Charles ©, Cortalessa; Kaakoush, Hickam; Luccin; Outman, Witis-Hughes, Contreras Subs: Wheeler and Torquato come on at half for Cortalessa and Lynch. Hickam and Scabin off early in the 2H for Swann and Guzman. 10min after, Salazar, Murphy, and Gaundique on for Outman, Kaakoush, and W-H. Goal(s): · 31:40 – Hickam’s on the ball outside his box. He passes wide to Cortalessa, who goes back to Hickam who can’t get the wall pass out to Cortalessa. It’s intercepted and carried forward, but Contreras back checks to intercept the resulting pass inside. He passes backwards to Charles, who, under pressure from two Rapids defenders, passes straight to a Rapids midfielder five yards away. He takes two dribbles to goal and fires from the edge of the box, blasting it into the far post past Lynch. Bad Charles body language immediately after. · 1:39:54 – CK taken by Contreras to the far post. Floats over the first group challenging for it and Mikey Murphy manages to get a scissor kick off through traffic to put it in from the top of the six. Other Key Chances: · 4:20 – Charles on the ball in his half. Puts some backspin on a pass over the top to Contreras down the right side. Contreras runs it down at the edge of the box and cuts it back to Cortalessa who gets an uncontested first touch shot from about 12 yards out but puts it over. · 27:11 – Two quick passes from Charles and Scabin have flipped the field to the left, where Dozier is driving into Rapids’ third. Pushes it into Outman in the pocket near the box, and Outman turns takes a couple touches, cuts back and finds Contreras at the top of the D. Contreras pump fakes onto his left and hits a hard shot from about 20 yards into the lower far corner, forcing a very smart save from the GK. · 28:53 – Rapids CB carries into midfield and hits a ball in behind Charles for the ST. Charles gets mugged as it’s released and the ST is free in behind but Lynch comes out urgently and clears away the danger (to the sideline, where the Rapids LB tries to hit a 40 yard shot sideways into an empty net). · 34:25 – Dozier collects a loose ball off of a Charles diagonal to the LW, stops, and finds Outman running in behind for the third or fourth time of the game. Outman gets the ball at the side of the box and hits a first time cross at an open Contreras’ feet in front of goal, forcing him to slow down and allowing a Rapids defender to deflect the ball back wide. Outman then hustles to get around a defender shielding the ball out and carries toward the goal before sliding a pass to the PK spot, barely missing W-H. Would like to see the midfield press a little more proactively to suppress space afterwards. · 36:04 – Rapids throw-in on FCD’s left side in FCD’s third. There’s a 2v2 scramble by the edge of the box before a winger dribbles at Scabin, cuts back from the endline, draws a double-team from Kaakoush, and finds Kaakoush’s mark, who floated in front of goal. Little bobble on his first touch before stabbing a shot from about 8 yards out that’s blocked partially by Cortalessa doing emergency defending and smothered by Lynch. · 39:18 – Hickam runs down a midfielder who just dribbled past him down the middle and pokes the ball back to Charles, who squares to Scabin, who quickly bops a ball wide left to Outman. Outman picks his head up and hits a big switch to Contreras at the far corner of the PK box. He waits a moment and slides a ball into the box for an underlapping Cortalessa who fires from the corner of the six right at the GK, who saves it out to the wing. · 1:07:17 – Rapids LB is on the sideline and hits a big looping cross at goal. It comes off the bar as Wheeler goes crashing into the net, and the ball bounces out to the Rapids RW, who takes it down at the top of the box and fires, but his is blocked by a scrambling Scabin. The ball bounces out and is shot again, but Wheeler has recovered and dives on top of it. · 1:18:49 – Immediately after coming on, Guzman heads a long ball down to Swann, who flicks the ball behind his back to Luccin. Great vision. Luccin then hits it first time in front of Contreras running down the right, Contreras’ first touch takes him wide, but he cuts it back to Swann, who pokes it to Luccin, whose first time shot from about 10 yards goes straight to the GK. · 1:24:15 – A cross into FCD’s box is headed out to the D, where Swann wins a cage match to get the ball and immediately pings a long through ball at W-H standing on halfway. W-H lets the ball go past into the path of Contreras (instructive to see him react quicker than the LB and create separation), and Contreras carries into the box and shoots far post, forcing a great kick save from the GK. Out for a CK. · 1:38:53 – Guzman carrying into midfield and tries to play a ball out in front of Gaundique down the left, but it’s headed up in the air by the RB. Guzman continues running and heads the resulting bounce to Gaundique anyway. Gaundique runs away from the cramping RB and gets a shot from about 12 yards that he tries to curl into the far post, but it’s saved out for a CK. Probably better to square it to either Swann or Contreras there. · 1:40:58 – Charles heads down a long ball to Contreras, who puts a pass down the right into Swann’s path. Swann first-times an outside the boot pass in to Salazar in the channel, and he lays it off for Luccin at the top of the box. Luccin takes a touch to his right and shoots, but it’s deflected up over the head of the GK and just over the bar. · 1:45:24 – A cleared FCD shot goes out to Luccin on the right edge of the box. He cuts around a defender, takes a touch to goal, and shoots low and far post, forcing another great save. Out for a CK. · 1:51:47 – Game getting really stretched due to tired legs. A Rapids player is down injured and Torquato plays past him to Contreras down the line. There’s a 3v3 in the middle and Contreras finds Luccin arriving late at the top of the box. This time he takes it first touch and the GK pushes it over the bar with an acrobatic save. Notes: · The chances log above probably tell the story, but this game should be 3-1 or 4-1 for FCD. Huge advantage in danger created, but the Rapids GK (GKs?) had a great shot-stopping game. · Rapids immediately start time-wasting tactics after scoring their goal. · Wait, if Lynch is starting this game, who started the UPSL game? ’09 Cayson Young? · I get the sense that #56 is good, but the situational defending by Luccin at 6:30 has to be better. Just gifting the attacker a run into FCD’s third. · Witis-Hughes: big kid. Tall and thick. Has maybe lost a step of speed/explosiveness relative to the competition in the last year. · New coach, new season, still doing this “Contreras comes and picks the ball up off the CBs thing”, eh? 7:50 the first instance. (admittedly, at 1:21:10 it turns into a chance when paired with Swann’s run in behind from midfield) · Lynch misjudges a cross and lets it go over his head at 21:28. · Cortalessa, very fast, very difficult to get past when he has the chance to defend patiently. Very good half for him on both ends. · Contreras had another one of those games where he starts off super sloppy and you notice a ton of bad moments on the ball, but then he also gets, like, six interceptions in the first half and you look up and all of FCD’s most dangerous moments involve him and you flagged a small handful of moments where he was running open into space and his teammates didn’t find him. See 1:44:48 for the defensive engine late in the game. · Also impressed with Outman. Got open again and again and generally turned it into eeky moments for the Rapids (some rust at the cutting edge of the blade, though – second game of the season). Was late to get back a few times and took some tactical fouls. · Botched trap and clearance by Scabin at 1:09:41 gets FCD’s coach up out of his chair and angry. Scabin has quite a good game defensively, imo, but struggles pulling off what he wants with the ball. Charles of course had the bigger gaff that led to the Rapids’ goal, but he otherwise was very effective passing back there. · Love Swann. Fun, fun player. Everything is fast: minimal touches, great vision, great processing, etc. Super effective in his time on the field. · Smallish tick from a former referee: Rapids’ GK is wearing green, so the ref crew can’t/shouldn’t be in green. Should be yellow or blue probably (assuming standard ref colors are still yellow, black, blue, red, and green). · There’s some crazy lens distortion on this camera or something because Contreras looks off by, like, three yards at 49:37 but the AR (who appears to be in perfect position) doesn’t call it. He gets a cross off and it only doesn’t get to W-H open at the back post because of a last ditch sliding intervention that almost turns into an own goal.
Bryce Outman, Mikey Cortellessa and now Leo. Think Niko Montoya might’ve had a cap or two at one point. I’m on the same page as you. I think too that at various points a lot of these decisions were based off of FCD input. Maybe those aren’t their four highest rated right now, but at the points they were I wouldn’t be surprised if they were the highest rated by the club at that point.
3-1 win for NTX this evening over Los Dos in CA. In contrast with the 1-0 over Vancouver on the weekend, they very much deserved the three points tonight by controlling play for huge stretches and getting on the ball around LAG's goal a ton. One of their best performances of the season given the quality of the opponent, the venue, the setup standings-wise, etc. Goals from '05s Norris and Ramirez and '06 Garcia. The second, Ramirez's, was an especially pretty fusion of team move and individual brilliance by Norris and then Ramirez. Everyone played well, pretty much. 05 Tarik Scott (really solid shift not rewarded by a goal) and '06 Daniel Baran (better tonight than I usually rate him) played the first half. '06 Urzua got in for mop up duty late.
Orejarena's goal at 23:05 here: Nice combination progression by USA leads to Orejarena in behind and he finishes precisely with his left. Earned a PK shout a few minutes earlier (if not a PK). Fairly meh otherwise.
Good 2-1 win for the U18s over Foro, who had been consistently the third or fourth best team in the area (depending on what you think of SMU) for the last few years under Michel's coaching. Not sure what their level is now that he's full-time with NTX. Fun Witis-Hughes goal at 1:31:52 (scores on a deflection but the rest is nice).
Subbed on the for the last ~15min of game time starting at 2:16:54. Missed an empty net at 2:26:25 when the US was down 4-2. In the spirit of "but other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?", thought he looked good in his other dozen or so actions.