Welcome back to the Thursday Q&A series, where we focus on one particular topic – today's being FC Dallas' prolonged and potential-laden youth movement – and ask you to react, share, and discuss in the comments section. However, feel free to ask about anything game-related (MLS, USL, NASL, USMNT, CanMNT, etc.) over the next several hours.
When FC Dallas draw attention these days, it tends to be because Fabian Castillo has just done something like this:
Or it's because Mauro "the Magic Little Unicorn" Diaz – who scored the goal in the above clip – puts on his robe and wizard hat, like this:
Those two players alone are reason enough to watch FC Dallas on Friday night when they host the New York Red Bulls (9 pm ET; UDN | UnivisionDeportes.com). What makes Dallas even more interesting, however, is that Castillo and Diaz are emblematic of the team's philosophy in terms of roster construction.
Castillo is 22, and Diaz is 24. Other names written into the starting lineup in ink include center back Matt Hedges (the 25-year-old captain), left back Moises Hernandez (a 23-year-old Homegrown player), and central midfielder Victor Ulloa (a 23-year-old Homegrown). Other regulars in the game-day 18 include Tesho Akindele (23), Ryan Hollingshead (24), Kyle Bekker (24), David Texeira (24), Kellyn Acosta (19) and Walker Zimmerman (21).
Dallas have one of the best academies in MLS (and are in one of the most talent-rich areas of North America). They've drafted well. They've invested in young DPs like Castillo and Diaz. They've taken chances on discarded talents like Bekker, a Canadian national team midfielder. And with Oscar "el Profe" Pareja in charge, all of the above have gotten minutes.
What makes watching FCD exciting, though, is that they're not suffering from their reliance upon youth – they're thriving. Last season's team finished the playoffs unbeaten, and this year's sit second in MLS in points per game despite playing in the vicious Western Conference.
The only thing they lack now is the validation that silverware provides. Last year's MLS Cup-winning LA Galaxy team were old, and the Supporters' Shield/US Open Cup-winning Seattle Sounders were even older. Each had star youngsters (Gyasi Zardes and DeAndre Yedlin, specifically), but the bulk of the heavy lifting fell primarily to established, mononymous veterans like Keano, Landon, Deuce, Oba, Omar and Ozzie. Experience wins championships.
Maybe not this year, though. In Dallas we are, as a colleague put it, "watching in realtime the experiment of truly building a great team rather than assembling one." And because of the age of the Dallas group, there's every chance this team's greatness – if they achieve such – will last a half-decade or more.
It's a new blueprint, and maybe over the long-term, a better one.
Thanks for helping me kill another Thursday afternoon. Take a look in the comments section below for the back-and-forth.
