The - figurative - champagne has barely dried from the FC Dallas Academy's U-16 and U-18 US Soccer Development Academy National Championship wins, but it's right back to work for Academy Director and U-16 head coach Luchi Gonzalez.
His newly minted U-16 class along with a few of the younger stars from last year's national championship team are in Mexico City this week to face the best from Liga MX and MLS in the Liga BBVA Bancomer Sub-15 International Tournament. FC Dallas will face Pachuca, Santos Laguna, UNAM Pumas and Club Tijuana from Liga MX as well as the LA Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes and Philadelphia Union in a seven-match, nine-day marathon with the top MLS team and top Liga MX team facing off in the final at Estadio Azteca.
" [This tournament is] extremely important, maybe the most important event they've been in so far in their young careers," said Gonzalez. "This is going to help them measure themselves, where they are individually and where we are as a group. It will help our staff to see where we are."
International competition is a major cornerstone of the FC Dallas player development model with the club perennially participating in tournaments like this one, Copa Chivas, Dallas Cup and Generation adidas Cup. By the time a player has graduated the FC Dallas Academy, he should have multiple tournaments against international teams played both domestically and abroad.
"That global consideration is what forms the program. If our players don't play international games, they won't be a professional player because they're not competing with the Dallas kid, they're competing with that kid in Colombia, in Brazil, in Argentina and in Mexico, and that's what they're going to face at the highest level," said Gonzalez. "That's who they're competing to earn a spot on this professional roster."
Starters from the U-16 national championship team traveling to Mexico include attackers Jesus Ferreira and Bryan Reynolds while most of the roster is comprised of last year's U-15 squad that advanced to the US Club Soccer NPL National Championship game. The group will open the tournament against Pachuca at 10:00AM on Thursday, August 4th and a selection of the matches will be available online and on Univision Deportes. Follow @FCDallasYouth on Twitter for the latest updates.