FC Dallas has 3 03’s on the Gold Cup provisional team. That FCD age group will end up as one of the best we’ve seen. It may rival their ‘98 age group. The initial most hyped player from that age group was Dante Sealy. He was an every game player for the U-17’s as a U-15. Pepi was instantly more impressive IMO. I said it at the time. He started with the U-15’s, but played a lot of the season with the U-17’s because he was way too good for the U-15’s. Gomez and Che played for the U-15’s. Gomez looked like the best player on the U-15’s at the end of the season when Pepi was with the U-17’s. Che wasn’t converted from a striker to CB that much prior to this season. He showed good potential for a player who hadn’t played CB that much. I believe Gomez was also in his first season as a defender.
Take Pepi's first half out of the equation and pretty much every HG that played tonight played well. Two points especially: 1. I get there's a need out wide because Vargas has been terrible, but Pomykal needs to end up playing in central midfield. Not involved nearly enough in his half of play, and most of FCD's (few) dangerous spots in the first half came from him earning fouls or receiving in pockets. Put him in the midfield and let him cook. 2. As an avowed Ferreira skeptic, I was happy to see him looking lively and incisive in his first minutes of the season. Luchi still won't play him as a false 9, tho. More likely to play as the AM behind Pepi or Jara.
The 03 class of Jonathan Gomez, Ricardo Pepi, Justin Che, Dante Sealy, and Collin Smith is the best single age group that any academy has produced since RSL’s class of 97 which had Justen Glad, Danilo Acosta, Brooks Lennon, Sebastian Saucedo, Aaron Herrera It is extremely rare that you get this many pro’s from a single age group. Dallas will look even better as 4 of those 5 have Europe potential similar to what the RSL guys did but I think the Dallas group has better chances to realize that potential. This Dallas group will likely be the best individual age group for any American academy ever What is a worry for Dallas now is that their younger age groups are starting to look more like their 2004’s than their 2003’s. They’ll need to step up their scouting and recruiting game again for the 2005’s and younger. Their worst age group is the 2007’s who aren’t even the best 07 team in Dallas, that group needs help bad
In the 1st half they couldn't play through Minny's press & they tried to. That's on the cm & coach, not Pepi, but reinforces Pomykal should play cm. I hope Luchi's response isn't to bench him. He's the one who didn't play that well in his role. Beautiful goal by Pepi. That's already more in the run of play than Jara. Of course it's Pepi's 2nd too.
FC Dallas 98’s include McKennie and Cannon. That’s two NT players right there. They also have Eddie Munjoma whose going to have a long MLS career. After that, there are players like Terwege, Vega, Hale, and Montesdeoca who could have MLS careers. I think you give the advantage to this FCD age group over RSL 97’s if a few of those others pan out as pro players. The RSL 97’s have no one at the level of McKennie or Cannon. I will maintain there was no age group as talented as the Atlanta 00’s (Carleton, Goslin, Garces, Asensio, McGann, Crain, Brighton), but Atlanta didn’t give any of them the chance to break into the first team, so they are behind for now at panning out at the pro level.
I’m okay with Pomykal starting out wide. Let him drift inside. It allows for the possibility of Pepi and Ferreira to start together up top, and Tessmann/Servania to start in midfield. If they can regularly start Pepi andFerreira in a two striker set up with Pomykal out wide (probably on the right), and one of Servania/Tessmann starting in the two man midfield with the other getting minutes off the bench, I won’t complain how they align the rest or their players.
Dallas Rebels would throttle the FC Dallas 07’s. Both teams competed in Dallas Cup and the Rebels cruised to a championship while the FC Dallas 07’s didn’t even make it out of their group. In USYS the Rebels are the number one ranked team in the country and if they were in the DA they’d still probably beat the overwhelming majority of teams
Fair enough, I guess. Both Texans’ (top of their ECNL conference) and Solar’s (3rd in their MLS Next group) top teams in that age group are good too. Plenty of ‘07 talent in the metroplex to bring in, and plenty of time left to do so. I’m just not convinced on the evidence of 3 games in 4 days (at the Dallas Cup, where they were undefeated) that FCD’s ‘07s are some trash generation given their success elsewhere: having trouble tracking down the results from the Fall, but have they lost a competitive game since becoming U14s?
So this is new to me. What is USYS? Why are good players in that league as opposed to FCD/Texans/Solar and will they stay there? If as AO says the )7's are ok and they are able to add from the other three games as they get older might this turn into a good group? I've noticed kids start moving the closer pro opportunities start getting close but they may not want all the extra travel until then.
It is United States Youth Soccer. It is just another registration that some tournaments require for participation. The rankings are based on playing in their sanctioned tournaments and Classic League Play. Rebels are a very good team, but they are ranked above the MLS Next and ECNL teams, because they play in the Classic League. The only ranking points for the MLS Next and ECNL are for the tournaments they play. Not saying Rebels is not as good or better than these teams, just that the rankings are not an accurate reflection of all teams in the area. The reason boys don't leave is that they play a good style of soccer and it is a lot less expensive then the big 3! Only the FCD MLS Next is free, all the rest are close to $3,000 in dues, plus uniforms, travel and extra tournament fees.
Just to keep us up-to-date on the below. Cool moment for both Rodriguez and NTX. D-Rod's a fun player, and one I thought deserved more of a look in the U17 cycle, though his struggles for playing time at NTX in 2020 were discouraging. Hopefully he continues to do well in San Luis - not many players like him in the pool. 🗞 NEWS: We have reached a transfer agreement with Atlético San Luis of Liga MX for midfielder David Rodriguez.Good luck David and thanks for all the memories! 👏📰 Details: https://t.co/ItNBqUu0sD pic.twitter.com/ZyLJgkwj0h— North Texas SC (@northtexasSC) June 21, 2021
We get to see Liga MX best against MLS best, but would be interested to see how teams like San Luis stack up against FC Dallas or Cincy.
Yeah, I'd actually like to see Leagues Cup extended further down the table and matched. Right now Liga MX sends their best, and MLS sends those not going to Champions League. I'd rather it be a more one for one. 538 pegs San Luis as Inter Miami level, worse than FC Dallas but better than Cincy, FWIW. In other news, new Dallas acquistion Quignon was the worst player on the field in the last game. Just awful. But he will keep playing, I'm sure!
That will change soon as CONCACAF will use Leagues Cup to qualify for CCL. That means Liga MX will need to send different teams that didn't qualify directly to CCL. As it is right now Liga MX is sending the exact same teams to both CCL and Leagues Cup.
Will they? Or will the Leagues Cup qualify a team for the *next* year? I wonder if they can find a way for both leagues to send their best at some point, rather than both leagues send their second best.
According to this CCL will change in 2023 and one of the ways to qualify is through Leagues Cup. Sending the same teams to play CCL and Leagues Cup in the same year isn't going to work anymore.
The winner of the Leagues Cup gets a birth in the Group Stage. I would assume their is some mechanism to invite another club if the winner is already in the group stage. Similar to what happens with other methods of qualification like Cups. Leagues Cup is suppose to generate revenue for MLS and Liga MX, so both are going to want Club America, etc in the event. It seems like MLS/MX want to expand leagues cup though, so from that perspective it does seem like both leagues would have to drop down the totem pole a bit in inviting clubs although might not get to the San Luis level.
I couldn't watch more than 20 mins, luckily has to go. I'm starting to think he knows his job is on the line so he does that thing where coaches plays stale veterans thinking it'll save them
Enjoyed watching their new CDM misplay a header in his own half, leading to LA's second goal. Good times. Love those vets.