CARSON, California - By any measure, a well-run academy system should mirror the first team that they're charged with developing players for. With that in mind, it shouldn't come as a surprise that FCD's U-16 and U-18 teams showed the grit, determination, flair and countless other qualities of Oscar Pareja's first team en route to the historic dual national championship wins.
The U-16s came into the match with a dominant 28-2-0 record, and despite playing in front of a heavily pro-LA Galaxy crowd at Glenn “Mooch” Myernick field, played like anything but a “road” team.
“We have some boys who are physically strong," said coach Luchi Gonzalez shortly after the team was awarded their gold medals. "We showed that we have some warriors and together they’re an army, and they’re aggressive and pushed the game. There are moments where we had to be patient, but we feel our best attack is pressing and that our best defending is attacking,”
Gonzalez was very complimentary of their opponents in a match that will no-doubt feature players on both sides that will one day represent their MLS parent clubs.
“[They] are excellent…because they’re very good on the ball, they’re very technical, they’re organized," said Gonzalez. "They also apply pressure.”
FCD took home the championship thanks in large part due to an hour of unrelenting pressure starting at the top from forwards Jesus Ferreira, Also Quevedo, and Bryan Reynolds, who was recently brought up from the U-14s to play in the tournament. The trio regularly swapped positions up top, and this seemed to bewilder Galaxy and inhibit their ability to play from the back.
“Our front 3 positions change a lot, but we have a model that you can be as flexible as you want offensively in your interchanging- even with midfield, even with outside backs- but defensively you must immediately have structure in the transition when you lose the ball,” replied Gonzalez about his team’s positional flexibility.
For the U-18s, there was much more drama. If the U-16s performance was reflective of the senior side’s attacking menace, the U-18 mirrored the resilience and ability to grind possessed by the current leaders in the MLS table. After cruising through the group stage, the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals were all closely-fought with FCD coming from behind in the final two matches.
They came into their championship game having come from behind to secure a 2-1 victory over Nomads SC on Thursday. They faced off with the Vancouver Whitecaps U-18 side who entered the championship on a 34-match winning streak and quickly found themselves a goal behind. With injuries piling up including both starting forward Giovanni Montesdeoca and starting goalkeeper Ben Hale forced off, Dallas found another gear to outlast the Whitecaps after 120 minutes.
“We give credit to [Coach Molina for the preparation]. He knows we’re going to get into situations like that. We did that against Sporting Kansas City [in the quarterfinals]. Whitecaps are great. I have total respect for them, but we played a similar game with Sporting Kansas City," said winger Devin Vega. "They’re very physical, and we went to extra time with them, too. We knew we’d find an extra gear there, like we did today. Both teams wanted it badly. We wanted it just a little bit more. We wanted a two-peat.”
In pulling off the double, the U-16s and U-18s reflected different qualities of the senior team crucial to their success. By any measure, July 16, 2016 was a banner day for the present and future of FC Dallas.