I wanted to catch both the FC Dallas Academy 16s and 14s in group play and I had identified the U16s against DKSC ECNL, the defending ECNL champs. That led me to a back-to-back set with the FCD 14s against Arkansas Rising at Richland.
FC Dallas U16s vs DKSC – 6 pm Richland 7
Pretty good game, quite enjoyed the play from both teams.
Shout out to DKSC who were doing the right back shifting to central-mid thing that Gregg Berhalter tried with the USMNT. DKSC was impressively fluid in its tactics.
16s in a pretty standard FCD 4-3-3.
FC Dallas won 3-0 on goals by Hickam, Salazar, Contreras.
Subs: 29 Jaidyn Contreras, 71 Chris Arteaga De Paz, and 25 Ian Witis Hughes.
You guys have heard me talk about Swann, Cortellessa, and Outman before so let’s hit on a few other guys.
I can see why people seemed to take notice when “Kaka” Scabin came to Dallas. The kids got a lot to like. Good size and pace, athletic, good body control. Good one on one defender, knows how to use his positioning. Good feet. Good short to medium passer. Very interesting potential.
Kaka and Luke Munson make a really good CB combo, Munson isn’t left-footed, it doesn’t seem, but he’s got pace and reads well too.
Chris Salazar is a high line, post up 9. He’s got a little game.
Landon Hickam is a metronome-style sideline-to-sideline 6. Does the dirty work to really free up the double-8s in front of him. Good positioning and reading, he provides a very stable base and cuts out a lot of play.
One noteworthy name on the DKSC side, Evrit Fisher has been in at least one US camp that I know of. I was gonna write up a whole thing on his game and it occurred to me to say he’s literally a clone of Tanner Tessmann. DKSC used him as a stay-at-home 6, passer, and deep playmaker. Most of the play went through him. He only got adventurous in the last 15 minutes or so going forward and he made DKSC much more dangerous.
FC Dallas U14s vs Arkansas Rising – 8 pm Richland 6
I’ll be honest, I got very little out of this game. Arkansas Rising didn’t provide much challenge. The 3-0 final score was flattering to them.
First half, FCD was in a usual 4-3-3 but in the second they inverted the front 3 and turned the shape into what is sometimes called a narrow diamond 4-4-2. Here are the first-half starters, but the 14s also have open subs… so I’m not going to bother writing all them out. Suffice it to say FCD changed pretty much the whole team throughout each half.
This was my first time seeing this team and as I said this game did little for me. I took some notes, I have 5 or 6 names I found interesting, but I think there were some kids out of position based on the info I had coming in.
I’m going to watch this team again before I put out any hot takes on them.
There is one noteworthy player I feel compelled to mention, and this has nothing to do with his quality as a player, but FCD has a new kid named Caleb Wegman. He’s 6’4″.
The U14 level can be really rough with the size mismatches as there are kids in this game almost half as tall. I mainly mention him to show this disparity at this level. I run across it every time I watch U14 games.
Today’s Other FC Dallas Results
The ladies were off today.
Boys
ECNL Red 05/04 tied Strikers Miami FC 1-1.
RL 05/04 lost to FC Calencia SWAP 04/05 0-1.
ECNL White 05/04 tied Fullerton Rangers 05 Blue 1-1.
ECNL 06 Red knocked off Utah Celtic FC 06 by a 5-3 line.
ECNL White 06 reportedly had a bench-clearing brawl, parents included, with Weston FC U17 Reserves. No result is yet posted.
RL NTX Red 07 faced Santa Clara Sporting 07 ECNL but no result is yet posted.
ECNL Red 07 took care of Cadence SFC 2007 4-3.
ECNL Red 08 won 4-0 over Sporting Arkansas 2008.
ECNL White 08 won 1-0 over Cadence SC 2008.
ECNL Red 10 beat Javanon FC U13 by a 3-0 margin.
ECNL White 10 lost to Crossfire Premier 10 ECNL by a 3-1 line.
FCD Academy U12 North won 4-2 over HDA Catalyst 11. North wins Bracket F.
Pre-ECNL 11 beak Legends FC AC 2011 by 3 goals to 1. They finish 2nd on GD in Bracket D and might go through as a Wildcard.
FC Academy U12 South smashed Dallas Texans 11 Pre-ECNL 5-0. They are tied on points with Angeles Soccer Elite on 6 points in Bracket B but Angeles has one more game tomorrow.
GA Cup Update
Academy 17s first Knockout Stage game is verus Strikers FC, Tomorrow at 1:30 pm CT on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
The U15 were eliminated.