And then it was the big one, the FC Dallas U19s capped off a fantastic run reaching the U19 Super Group final on Sunday. This was quite an entertaining game.
FC Dallas U19s 2 – Sao Paul 3
The U19s, under the direction of Coach Chuy Vera, played for each other, fought to the end, and had a fantastic Dallas Cup far exceeding my expectations coming into this tournament.
They finished 2nd in their group and advanced on a tie-breaker. They then upset Group C Winners Botafogo in the Semi-final earning the right to face Sao Paulo FC in the Final.
The U19s rolled out the same formation they have used since at least game 3 of group play. It’s a very fluid tactic on the offensive end, quite impressively so. 40 Ishmael Neived works his tail off and has almost complete freedom in the offensive end.
30 Jared Salazar converted a PK earned by 10 Dylan Lacy and 33 Daniel Baran scored off a feed from Lacy for the two FC Dallas goals.
Thoughts and Notes
For 60 minutes or so, FC Dallas did well containing the two most dangerous Sao Paulo players 10 Lucas Ferreira (game MVP) and 7 Ryan Dos Santos. But as FCD tired the Brazilians began to fund space and assert control. Perhaps just a couple more quality bodies on defense in the rotation (Like the out-for-the-season Mason Grimm and Toro Brandon) would have made the difference.
Coach Vera’s system was quite advanced, more so than I’m used to seeing from the Academy. I think it was devised to give 10 Dylan Lacy the freedom to pull the strings.
40 Ishmael Nieves was given the freedom to roam and help cover gaps. His motor was impressive.
51 Anthony Ramirez took up the deep playmaker role Lacy had last year and made some nice line-breaking passes from there.
62 Rey Marquez did all the dirty work and water-carrying in midfield to free up Lacy and Ramirez.
47 Aiden Bazzell and 35 Luke Shreiner combined to make a pair greater than the parts. Both had strong tournaments.
22 Daniel Baran‘s directing running was putting pretty much every defense under pressure and creating lots of gaps to be exploited. I really want to see how he looks in MLS Next Pro.
Both outside backs 22 Cristian Gallo and 3 Adrian Anguiano put in immense shifts working the outside lanes quite well.
32 Victor Gomez in net has terrific feet that matter more when you are playing a build-out game like the 19s do. I assume that’s why he was the choice most of the week. He made several strong saves in this one and controlled his box fairly well. I got $1 says he ends up in the MASL at some point.
30 Jared Salazar did a lot of linking play as he drifted around the midfield, he too was given a lot of freedom because of Nieves’ work.
I look forward to seeing how this group fares in the MLS Next playoffs.
Other Championships
U17s
Tigres 3, La Roca 0. The Mexican side brought Tigres their All-Time Dallas Cup leading 17th Golden Boot with the win.
U18s
FC Dallas Youth ECNL White 06/05 knocked off SoCal Elite 2-0 to give FC Dallas its 15th (and closing fast on Tigres) Championship.
FCD Youth ECNL won four titles at this year’s Dallas Cup – Two on the boys’ side and two on the girls’ – while the FC Dallas Academy was shut out. It’s the same club, but it’s still remarkable.
FC Dallas ECNL Red 08 was the other boys’ team that brought home a title, winning the U16s on Saturday. ECNL 07 won the Girls’ U17s and ECNL 09 won the Girls’ U15s
U19s
Dallas Texans U19 Boys Academy ECNL knocked off El Paso Locomotive 1-0 to bring home the 19s.