It’s been a minute since we last took a look over the 50 contracted professionals at FC Dallas and North Texas SC.
FC Dallas was bad on the road, then got good, and seemingly bad again. Luchi was in charge, now he’s not. El Tren just keeps steaming on though!
There’s nothing scientific to our power ranking, it’s not a ranking of talent or performance but it’s a mix of those, who is being talked up in the media, and who the fans are talking about.
Starting XI:
| 1 (+1) | Ricardo Pepi High: 1 | Low: 13 | El Tren just keeps scoring for club and country, and his transfer fee seems to rise daily according to the Twitterverse. – Dan |
| 2 (+3) | Jesus Ferreira High: 2 | Low: 16 | The Jesus has been on absolute fire playing the best soccer of his career. 4 Goals and 3 assists since our last ranking. – Buzz |
| 3 (+1) | Ryan Hollingshead High: 2 | Low: 4 | Ryan Hollingshead seems like the big winner from Marco Ferruzzi’s interim head coaching role. Back as the firm left back starter, Ryan was unlucky with the letter of the law denying him a goal against Minnesota. – Dan |
| 4 (+6) | Matt Hedges High: 2 | Low: 10 | D’Goat is back to full health, it seems, and is a lock-starter under Marco. He’s back to the form we know and love. – Buzz |
| 5 (+1) | Paxton Pomykal High: 6 | Low: 22 | Still starting is the main thing. Paxton needs to maintain his fitness and he’ll be back to form in the next year. – Dan |
| 6 (-5) | Jimmy Maurer High: 1 | Low: 6 | Some injury setbacks have him in and out of the lineup and that really hurt FCD over a 5 game stretch (1W-3L-2D). – Buzz |
| 7 (-4) | Facundo Quignon High: 6 | Low: 9 | Some bright spots and some real meh moments have led to Facu falling down the pecking order under Marco. – Dan |
| 8 (+4) | Bressan High: 5 | Low: 15 | The mid-season lock-starter is now in a battle for a spot with Jose Martinez. Which player starts seems to be determined by matchups. – Buzz |
| 9 (-) | Bryan Acosta High: 1 | Low: 9 | Team MVP Bryan is long gone, but he’s still got a big role to play. – Dan |
| 10 (+1) | Jose Antonio Martinez High: 5 | Low: 11 | Seems mostly recovered from the injury plaguing him and is getting some starts with Hedges. Can he beat out Bressan down the stretch? – Buzz |
| 11 (+4) | Ema Twumasi High: 11 | Low: 25 | He’s a lock at full back, an emergency backup winger, and can even do a job in central midfield. One of the few success stories of 2021. – Dan |
In The Mix:
| 12 (+6) | Jader Obrian High: 8 | Low: 18 | With no real challengers at right win under Ferruzzi, Jader’s become the full-time starter at right wing. While his all-around game isn’t great his production is fairly good. – Buzz |
| 13 (+5) | Brandon Servania High: 13 | Low: 22 | Six starts and a sub appearance in the past eight games. It’s all starting to come together for Brandon, ahead of the likes of Acosta. – Dan |
| 14 (-) | Edwin Cerrillo High: 14 | Low: 23 | Emerging talent at the 6. The gap from Edwin to Quignon is rapidly shrinking and he might be close to claiming the starting spot after the game against the Loons. – Buzz |
| 15 (-7) | Szabolcs Schön High: 8 | Low: 15 | Marco doesn’t seem to think of the Hungarian as a starter for some reason. Got the start against England in the week. – Dan |
| 16 (+4) | Phelipe Megiolaro High: 8 | Low: 20 | Made 5 unimpressive starts filling in for the injured Maurer but then stood on his head against Minnesota causing many observers to say, “where the hell has that been?” – Buzz |
| 17 (+6) | Dante Sealy High: 17 | Low: 26 | Scored his second goal for Jung PSV in 7 games with only 2 starts. Even if it’s only limited success, that drives the conversation for who is sold after Pepi. – Dan |
| 18 (-5) | Andres Ricaurte High: 1 | Low: 18 | He’s gotten sub opportunities under Marco but doesn’t look close to claiming a start. – Buzz |
| 19 (-12) | Nkosi Tafari High: 7 | Low: 28 | Nkosi has been the team’s best defender over a portion of the season but has been benched in favor of some more trusted vets. How that affects Dallas’ chances of keeping Tafari is going to be interesting when his contract is likely up over the winter. – Dan |
| 20 (+2) | Kalil ElMedkhar High: 20 | Low: 24 | He’s been on absolute fire for North Texas of late, scoring big goals and getting assists… where is the deserved reward of playing time for FCD? – Buzz |
| 21 (-5) | Justin Che High: 14 | Low: 23 | Lost out to Ema Twumasi at right back, but he’s established enough film at his highest level yet for scouts to peruse. – Dan |
| 22 (-5) | Franco Jara High: 7 | Low: 22 | The PK miss and later whiff against Vancouver were flat-out brutal and cost FCD the game. He hasn’t played since. – Buzz |
Second Team:
| 23 (+1) | Freddy Vargas High: 7 | Low: 25 | Two months since last appearing for FCD, and three NTX starts in the last few weeks. – Dan |
| 24 (+3) | Gibran Rayo High: 23 | Low: 31 | Playing the best ball of his career. Starting as the 9 (false) of late for NTX and scoring some goals. Actual production has long been his bugaboo and this might be the step in progression that gets him an MLS shot. – Buzz |
| 25 (-) | Caiser Gomes High: 25 | Low: 46 | Not quite living up to when he was loaned from one loan club to another, but he’d been a fixture up until sustaining a foot injury at the start of the month. – Dan |
| 26 (+5) | Eddie Munjoma High: 17 | Low: 31 | Playing for North Texas again as either an outside back or wing. He should have been playing down much more this year as time’s running out for him with FCD. – Buzz |
| 27 (+5) | Blaine Ferri High: 27 | Low: 35 | Really made a center-mid spot his own, and added three assists since our last ranking. – Dan |
| 28 (-) | Kazu High: 28 | Low: 40 | A starter at left back or left wing when he’s not shoved out by someone from FCD coming down like Vargas or ElMedkhar. NTX’s leading scorer. A player with a future at a higher level. – Buzz |
| 29 (-) | Imanol Almaguer High: 29 | Low: 37 | Occasionally picking up the armband, Ima is proving a real leader as well as a staple of Eric Quill’s midfield. – Dan |
| 30 (+6) | Nicky Hernandez High: 17 | Low: 36 | After a really rough season, he’s at least back to being a starter for North Texas. But this isn’t what FCD had in mind when they drafted him, I don’t think. – Buzz |
| 31 (+4) | Richard Sanchez High: 31 | Low: 48 | After rotating for a while, the former Homegrown has had four straight starts in goal. – Dan |
| 32 (+8) | Derek Waldeck High: 27 | Low: 44 | NTX Captain. Solid, steady, dependable, leader. I bet he would be an amazing coach. Hey FCD, hire this man now! – Buzz |
| 33 (+8) | Kyle Zobeck High: 26 | Low: 45 | If the weird Jimmy Maurer is/isn’t injured thing gave us anything, it was the notion that an unfit Maurer is preferred to a fit Zobeck. – Dan |
In Reserve:
| 34 (+12) | Mark Salas High: 34 | Low: 46 | He’s started 8 of 13 games since signing this summer. Another solid, dependable player who can play anywhere in the backline. – Buzz |
| 35 (-9) | Thomas Roberts High: 21 | Low: 35 | Only getting reserve games is not making for a great loan in Austria. – Dan |
| 36 (-6) | Bernard Kamungo High: 30 | Low: 36 | The run of starts is over for now but he’s still a high-impact sub. At 18 this kid is one for the future and has such a big upside. No rush here. – Buzz |
| 37 (-3) | Mikey Maldonado High: 34 | Low: 46 | The period began with a decent run of starts, but those are turning into late cameos. – Dan |
| 38 (+12) | Lucão High: 38 | Low: 50 | He’s started 4 times now in the back but is still getting used to the new team. He’s really a signing for 2022, I think. – Buzz |
| 39 (+5) | Collin Smith High: 39 | Low: 44 | Ten straight starts. Good minutes for a player looking to prove he could potentially make the MLS jump eventually. – Dan |
| 40 (-) | Devin Benton High: 40 | Low: 40 | 1 start and 5 sub appearances since signing about a month ago. An attractive athlete with some potential. We need to see a lot more of him before any real determination is made. – Buzz |
| 41 (-8) | Rio Ramirez High: 33 | Low: 48 | No minutes for close to a month now. – Dan |
| 42 (+1) | Hope Kodzo Avayevu High: 29 | Low: 43 | PT is dropping off but this is a kid with immense upside who needs a TON of coaching. He’s got a long-term deal because of how much upside there is and how much work he needs. – Buzz |
| 43 (+4) | Gabriel Morais High: 43 | Low: 47 | The #9 shirt and now pushing ahead of Alex Bruce and Thibaut Jacquel in minutes. – Dan |
| 44 (-2) | Alex Bruce High: 36 | Low: 44 | Only 5 starts in this his second season with NTX. Time is running out on Bruce it seems. – Buzz |
| 45 (-) | Thibaut Jacquel High: 23 | Low: 45 | The Frenchman hasn’t played in over a month. – Dan |
| 46 (-9) | Colin Shutler High: 27 | Low: 46 | He’s been dropped from the 18 twice now to make room for Academy keeper (and future Homegrown?) Antonio Carrera. Since Shutler’s not hurt (I asked), that’s not a good sign. – Buzz |
| 47 (-26) | Johnny Nelson High: 11 | Low: 47 | That 6-8 month timeline leaves Nelson returning a couple of months into the 2022 season. – Dan |
| 48 (-10) | Beni Redzic High: 29 | Low: 48 | What we expected to be a short injury has turned into a really long one. There’s no clue when he might be back and he’s in a walking boot these days after surgery. – Buzz |
| 49 (-10) | Alejandro High: 33 | Low: 49 | Missing for a long time. – Dan |
| 50 (-1) | Alisson High: 34 | Low: 50 | He’s been out long-term with an injury and is on the verge of return… But it’s not going to be in time to help NTX this year. His run here is probably up. – Buzz |
Notes and Comments
No surprises, Ricardo Pepi moves to number one as we come towards the end of his breakout season.
North Texas SC duo Lucão and Mark Salas share the spoils after both moving up 12 places in their second rankings. Both started near the bottom before proving themselves quickly in the development team.
Injuries have shaped the other end, as three of the four biggest drops all came with ouchies attached. Johnny Nelson’s back surgery dropping the left back furthest as the only first-team player to see their season ended prematurely. Here’s to a group of successful recoveries!
Nkosi Tafari was the uninjured player. After putting a string of solid performances in, he was dropped by Marco and even played for North Texas SC recently. Tafari dropped 12 spots.