North Texas followed up their MLS Next Pro Championship from last season with a 3-1 victory against Liga BBVA Expansión MX Champions, Club Deportivo Tapatío.
For this MLS Next Pro Invitational, North Texas SC brought back some familiar faces to host their Liga BBVA Expansión MX counterparts. In goal, Michael Collodi got his third start of the season. In the backline, both Nolan Norris and Augusto Alvaro returned to Los Toritos after having spent the majority of the season with FC Dallas.
In the midfield, Tsiki Ntsabeleng started alongside Aaron Essel. Up top, the goal-scoring duo of Tarik Scott and Sam Sarver started on the left and right wing, respectively, with Pedrinho seeing his first minutes for North Texas since 2024, at striker.
The reigning Liga BBVA Expansión MX Campeones sported a 3-5-2, with Erick Montiel in goal. Captain Francisco Mendez and Diego Delgadillo started at LB and RB, respectively. Defender Abraham Freyfeld started at CB.
In the midfield, Cristian Inda and Ariel Sevilla held the center of the field, with Saul Romero dropping back at times into the CDM role. Leonardo Jimenez and Christian Torres were out on the wings, with Sergio Aguayo and Vladimir Moragrega up top as the team’s strikers.
It was all North Texas early on. In the 9th minute, Ntsabeleng cut off a pass from Montiel. Ntsabeleng quickly found Pedrinho in the box off the turnover, who curled it past a diving goalie to give North Texas the lead, 1-0.
Pedrinho wasn’t done yet. In the 22nd minute, North Texas doubled its lead after a set piece from outside of the box somehow found its way past the goalie, who may have thought that Gavin Gall was going to get a touch on it. Albeit, he did not, and North Texas extended their lead to 2-0.
CD Tapatio grabbed one back minutes later. In the 25th minute, Sevilla took a touch around Malachi Molina and curled in a shot into the top right corner. A shot that was almost identical to Pedrinho’s 9th-minute goal. North Texas still held the lead at 2-1.
Scott found his way onto the score sheet in the 67th minute. After Sarver took the ball up the right side of the field, he threaded a pass to Ntsabeleng in the box. Smartly, Nstabeleng took a dribble and opted to lay it off to Scott for the easy goal. 3-1, NTSC.
After a hard-fought twenty-three more minutes, including five additional minutes of stoppage time, North Texas would be crowned the MLS Next Pro Invitational Champions! A well-deserved victory for a dominating performance from the home side.
“I am super proud of the players. They stuck to the game plan. We knew what Tapatío were going to bring tonight, and I thought that we dealt with them quite well. I think we could have been 3-0 up before it was 2-1,” Head coach John Gall said after the game. “We’re just super proud to be able to call ourselves MLS NEXT Pro Invitational champions.”
A number of players looked sharp tonight. Michael Collodi had a number of big saves. Tsiki Ntsabeleng had two assists on the night. Tarik Scott scored again. However, Pedrinho was our Man of the Match.
For the first time all season, someone outplayed Mr. North Texas SC himself, aka Sam Sarver. With his two goals on the night and the number of scoring opportunities created, Pedrinho was simply too good for CD Tapatio. Probably in large part, why he has been with the senior team for the majority of this season.
North Texas SC midfielder Pedrinho had this to say after the game, “It was a very difficult game. We knew that the Mexican side was very good, and we did everything that coach John Gall asked us to do. I think that was the result of our work during the week and throughout the season. I think we trained very well this week, played well, and came away with the victory.”
Up next, North Texas SC returns to their regularly scheduled MLS Next Pro action and hosts Colorado Rapids 2 at Choctaw Stadium on Saturday, August 2nd, at 7:45 pm. Rapids 2 are currently 9-6-4 on the season, with one shootout victory.
