Columbus Crew SC heads to the Lone Star State this weekend for a showdown in Frisco, TX with FC Dallas. They are a side that has thrived in recent years under the leadership of head coach Oscar Pareja. Much of that success is due to his philosophy regarding youth development and heavily utilizing the academy system as a pipeline to the first team.
FC Dallas Coach Oscar Pareja Embracing “Play Your Kids” Philosophy
It shows in the makeup of the FC Dallas roster. Seven current players have come up through the club’s academy. That means over a quarter of their 2016 senior squad have been a product of their youth system.
And rather than riding the bench, a few contributed significantly to last year’s stellar campaign. The club finished tied with the New York Red Bulls for the best regular season record in the league. They would lose out on the Supporters’ Shield only due to goal difference. And they made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before losing out to eventual MLS Cup champion Portland.
Three FC Dallas Homegrowns stand out in particular: goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez as well as defensive midfielders Victor Ulloa and Kellyn Acosta.
Jesse Gonzalez, goalkeeper
Gonzalez burst onto the scene late last year. He made his first start in goal August 22nd against Vancouver, replacing regular starter Dan Kennedy who had injured his knee. But he would pitch a shutout in the 1-0 win and wouldn’t look back. He would eventually be named the permanent starter and play in all ten of FC Dallas’ remaining regular season games. His 78.7 percent save percentage was the best in the league among players making a minimum of ten starts.
At 6’4″ and 180 pounds, the Dallas native has the build of a prototypical goalkeeper. He has made seven appearances for the Mexico under-20 team, including two at last year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup. Despite his experience at youth level with El Tri, he remains eligible for the United States. He was rumored to have been invited to January’s USMNT camp at one point. But he had a change of heart and eventually was named to Mexico’s preliminary under-23 roster for the 2016 Olympics.
The Black and Gold will find it difficult on Saturday night to get shots past this immensely talented goalie. And it seems as if he will eventually figure prominently at international level as well. From a senior level standpoint, it remains to be seen whether that will be with the United States or Mexico. But it seems as if he’s leaning towards the latter at the current time.
Victor Ulloa, defensive midfielder
Ulloa saw little playing time in his first three seasons with the club after signing a Homegrown contract in the summer of 2010. But that began to change in 2014 when Pareja took over. He would make 26 starts and become the first Homegrown in club history to play more than 2,000 regular season minutes. A year later, he started all but one game and led the team in minutes played.
The Wylie, TX native who was born in Chihuahua, Mexico has a role on the field akin to Crew SC’s Tony Tchani. His ability to win the ball in central midfield and effectively distribute it around the pitch is a crucial component of the club’s buildup play. But he also has much more latitude in venturing around the middle of the park in true box-to-box midfielder fashion.
A great way to track quality play from defensive midfielders is through usage rates related to ball-winning defensive actions. For those who aren’t familiar, a usage rate is basically the percentage of a player’s contribution to a given stat over 90 minutes of play. With respect to Ulloa, the two stats we’re concerned with are interceptions and tackles.
And in 2015, Ulloa proved himself to be quite an industrious player at wresting possession away from the opponent. His 11.61 percent interception+tackle usage rate was third on the team behind Matt Hedges (15.46 percent) and Zach Loyd (14.40 percent). For a team like Crew SC that loves to possess the ball, players such as Ulloa can prove a nuisance in disrupting the fluidity in ball movement necessary to do so.
Kellyn Acosta, defensive midfielder/fullback?
I’m a confessed fan of the two-way wing back. The position is about as pure an embodiment of modern soccer as there is. Not only are you required to defend in the traditional sense. You also have to opportunistically push forward and contribute to chance creation in the attacking third of the field. Crew SC has two talented players performing the role very well in Harrison Afful and Waylon Francis.
Kellyn Acosta became a Homegrown player for FC Dallas at just 16 years of age in July of 2012. And in the three full seasons since, he has slowly evolved into a regular contributor. Last season saw him play in 21 games, starting 19. Most of that came in a defensive midfield role alongside Ulloa. However, he was used as a fullback for the US under-23s during the recently completed Olympic playoff. He also saw time there in the two senior team friendlies in January. Though it’s likely he’ll be used once again as a d-mid against Crew SC, could his future be elsewhere on the pitch?
I’ve felt for quite a while now that US soccer has lacked capable fullback play at international level. And perhaps the most prominent American at the position (DeAndre Yedlin) gets employed as an attacking winger way too often by Jurgen Klinsmann. Acosta possesses the speed necessary to make those overlapping runs in the final third while being able to track back defensively.
Though he’d certainly be a work in progress, ideally his play could eventually resemble that of Alvas Powell of the Portland Timbers. Powell melds together the positional discipline and quickness of a wing back with a high defensive work rate. With Acosta still yet to turn 21, there’s plenty of time for the Plano, TX native to evolve his game into that of a versatile, do-everything outside back.
In his short time as FC Dallas head coach, Pareja has established himself as one of the great developers of talent in MLS. His ability to get the most out of the young players on the roster while playing them regularly makes this one of the more unique and exciting sides in the league.
And it’s not just the Homegrowns.
Young players such as attacking midfielder Fabian Castillo and forward Michael Barrios have seen their careers blossom under Pareja. Castillo’s playmaking skills as a number ten are well documented. And Barrios has the acceleration and speed up top that is such a dangerous weapon for a counterattacking team like FC Dallas. Both are in their early 20s and so crucial to what this team does in the opposition’s 18.
The Black and Gold have their work cut out for them if they want to register their first win of the young season Saturday night in Frisco. FC Dallas poses challenges all around the pitch. And it’s made possible by their core of youngsters commanded by one of MLS’ more innovative coaching minds.
