I think there's a balance. Obviously, being able to develop a Pepi and sell them has benefits across the board, and no one should be turning down high end talent. On the flip side, a lot of MLS teams have found value in the 18-22 range in MLSNP graduating up. Columbus is probably the textbook, but they won a title that translated over into MLS production: Aidan Morris spent age 19 at Crew 2. Zawadzki went to college and then Crew 2 at age 21. Same with Arfsten. Same with Schulte. And then went on to be big parts of winning MLS Cup. The key is finding guys with enough potential to move up and contribute. Eighteen to 22 is not necessarily too old. And I suspect that your actual 16 year old stars get more benefit playing with some of these 20 year olds than having a team full of 16 year olds.
We've only had one NTSC game. It's a little premature to evaluate............................. By the way, I was interested to see that Matt Hedges was announced as an assistant coach with NTSC. North Texas SC Announces FC Dallas Legend Matt Hedges as Assistant Coach | North Texas SC "The winning mentality is what I want to bring to the younger guys." No one better than Matt to mentor the next generation. pic.twitter.com/vippHNrLpQ— North Texas SC (@northtexasSC) March 2, 2026
I don't want to overreact to a game where NTX fielded a lineup that was most of a year younger than their opponents on average (20.2 v 20.9). Same deal as 2024 when everyone got mad they won the Cup with old players but they were the younger team in every playoff game until the final. I'm also generally amenable to the idea that the club has both short- and long-term needs. Like, Ibeagha and Abubakar are both probably leaving this coming offseason - FCD would LOVE to fill those slots in the rotation with young, cheap CBs identified and/or developed via NTX. Vejrostek probably doesn't fit that timeline considering his physical profile today - he's barely 16. The only players to get meaningful NTX game time at that age or younger are Gomez, Sealy, Pepi, Che, Smith, and Garcia, all meaningful outliers physically for their age. It just hasn't happened often and is happening less as FCD layers in U23 talent instead of just treating the second team like an Academy all-star team. If there's a concern for me at this point, it's asking why NTX needs to sign someone like Tim Ospina when he's probably 5th or 6th in the midfield depth chart when everyone's healthy. You've already got Aroyameh there - why add another obstacle in midfield? Maybe you don't like the '08 and '09 Academy mids, but Vejrostek can play that spot - why not give him minutes there while there's an injury crunch?
You have to fill out the roster with depth. There will be injuries (as we've unfortunately already suffered), suspensions, callups to the first team for emergency fill-in duty, etc. etc. Its premature to say that Vejrostek won't see time. Call me when we're midway thru the season. If people want to talk to me about Nolan Norris not playing with the first team, I'm willing to listen to those complaints. But again, we'll see how the season shakes out. We're only two games in.
I think average age has its uses, but it also kind of feeds my point. The club has too many players on NTSC who technically are around league average age or even a little younger who just very clearly lack much upside (Luccin, Baran, Gibson, heck even Contreras, Garcia, Torquato, Simmonds are all meh to me too). I think it’d be better to have a team of older guys who can show the younger players the ropes and younger players (15, 16, 17 year olds) with legit upside to impact the first team. That’s more of a sweet spot than using it as a U-19 team.
After watching Kamungo again I'd rather have Norris playing left wingback. Defense would be much better and offensively Bernie flashes speed but really never does anything while Norris was surprisingly good offensively in the U20 WC. So that's two spots he would upgrade. I'm still watching to see if Quill is Hyndman part II. May be a few years before my decision is made.
I suspect Norris will be in the rotation at LCB, and not LWB, in Quill's system. We see where he was playing in preseason. I think he's even less likely to be a wingback than Torquato. I watched Nashville blow the doors off of New England in Week 1. The Dallas defense pitched a shutout against them. To me, what Dallas is missing, is a #10. A playmaker.
Dallas was very lucky. Nashville had a lot of good shots late that they completely blew. That LCB and LW are not MLS starting quality. I agree Norris should be at LCB but he'd be an upgrade at both spots.
Subsequently, (per 3rdDegree) the 2012s sent GK Steven Shevkunov, CB/CM Evan Boyette, CB Luis Villalvazo, CM Mateo Arriaga, and D/CM Lincoln Clark to a "South" region camp near Atlanta.
2011 RCB captain at Tulsa Greenwood trialing with FCD. Has been in a few YNT ID camps. Formerly with OKC Energy's very good youth setup. FCD seems fairly happy with Rowan Lester in that spot for the 2011s, but having more quality depth won’t hurt and I see room for improvement at RCB. Idk why FCD hasn’t been more active historically recruiting from OKC/Tulsa. There’s not a more obvious “next metro” for them outside of their HG area.
3-1 win for NTX over Colorado on the basis of an Edu Nys hat trick. Better result this week, but (to my eye) a worse team performance against a worse team. First goal was a sweet bit of vertical combination play up the right between Contreras and Simmonds before Contreras tried to find James at the back post but accidentally hit Nys in the near channel - the ball deflected off of Nys and into the box where he finished. Second was Nys blocking a clearance into the box and scoring. Third was Swann and Contreras causing a high turnover and Contreras quickly finding Nys open in the middle before a precise far post finish. Thread-eligibles -'08 Aiden Jordan got the start as Dymora traveled with the first team. Made a lot of saves, but I think both his feet were on the ground for all of them - ie: shots were right at him. Struggled badly passing over distance. -'08 Jonah Gibson struggled more in possession this week and had a hard time handling Stewart-Baines' (considerable) speed - lucky that S-B was as profligate as he was. He needs to be able to hold his own when it's athletic parity. -'07 Josh Torquato won a bunch of fouls. Generally more solid defensively. Continue to want more progression / goal-danger from him. -'07 Jaidyn Contreras started at RWB again. Got on the ball a bunch. Also struggled some with S-B's speed and carrying - otherwise another solid game defensively. Another good game progressing the ball, but less goal danger (in the final third especially - found Simmonds in behind near midfield a couple of times). Continues to be a terrible crosser of the ball - very good at passing into the box, bad at crossing into it. Two trademark Contreras plays around 30' where he hits a big ball up the field and then outruns everyone to be the one to receive the next pass ahead of the guy he passed to. -'07 Caleb Swann. Maybe was the extra guy in the first team roster last week? Not a lot to do in this one. Good ground coverage. -'06 Simmonds had a worse game this week. Lots of getting on the ball in valuable moments and doing less with it than he should (sometimes much less). Eventually piled up quite a few shots because the Rapids kept giving so much space in behind. Would have a goal but for a great save and an assist but for Natty James mishandling Simmonds' squared ball in the box. -'05 Newman, '06 Garcia, '07 Luccin, and '09 Sedeh all came on as subs. Not much to say about any of them except that Newman played at RCB. Sedeh's touch was pretty inconsistent (good and bad). -'06 Baran, '07 Salazar, '08 Easterly, and '09 Burchfield made the bench but didn't appear.
Despite it making literally no sense, the HCU (formerlly Houston Baptist) men's soccer program is in the Ohio Valley Conference. I believe men's soccer is the only sport they play in that conference. Anyway, your answer is YES. The Ohio Valley Conference is in D1. The winner of Ohio Valley gets an automatic bid to the D1 NCAA tournament. Who's the most notable program in that conference? SIU Edwardsville I guess. Some capped USMNTers have gone there. Most recently Matt Polster. Eastern Illinois is in that conference. Notable for Schellas Hyndman as a player and coach. See, it all comes back to FC Dallas somehow.
Just announced that Cook’s going to Cincinnati. Same spot as Orejarena. Would seem they think FCD doesn’t know how to evaluate #10s.
Picked up a hat trick against Tulsa Greenwood's U19s last night. Interested to see whether they send him to GA Cup or the Dallas Cup Supergroup at the end of the month.
Nolan Norris did get the start at LCB last night for Dallas against San Diego. Caleb Swann on the bench. I didn't see the full game, so can't comment on the performance. I saw some highlights, and it looked like a fun 3-3 game. Norris wasn't at fault for the first two San Diego goals at all. Both penalties conceded by others. From the highlights, not the best game for Luca Bombino. Dallas is a strangely good, yet flawed, team. Will compete for the playoffs from the middle of the pack.
I thought Norris was really good. Love his passing. Not just accurate but the right weight and in the spot a player can easily keep it. Defensively I thought he was good but may have (or not) stuff at the far end in the first half. I need to see some replays but seemed the ref didn't like FCD and was therefore very happy to upset his feelings by the team scrapping back and getting a draw. Musa with monster game. Can't see him here after the WC. FCD always so nice helping other teams.
Agreed. By the eye test, FCD's best CB on the night both with and against the ball. Clearances off the line, interceptions, etc. The only FCD player that could hurt SDFC for playing their defensive line so high (ASA's G+ really dinged him for his passing and I have no idea why - completed more passes than expected and had a pretty aggressive selection too - sprung Kamungo for the PK).
Confused by this take. Bombino played both sides of the pitch, switching between left and right back as needed. Feed the ball to both players that were fouled in the box causing both of the penalties. Wasn't at fault for any of the Dallas goals. Played the full match after Wednesday's full match against Toluca . .why call his performance out?
1-0 loss on the road for NTX at Austin. Between the debilitating wind and the surface, perhaps the least attractive game of soccer contested by professionals I've watched in 3-4 years. The less said about it the better.
Maybe silly question. When a kid is red-carded for NTSC, like Torquato was in this game, does that carry over to MLS first team play??? Or can he still appear on the bench for the first team?