Latest Update|Roland Lamah Selection| Dec-11 3:22 pm
Coverage Dates: 12/1/2018 – 12/11/2018

Senior Team

Roland Lamah selected by FC Cinncinatti in the expansion draft

Roland Lamah was selected by FC Cinncinatti in the MLS Expansion Draft on Tuesday. FC Dallas will receive $50K in return from the league and FC Dallas will be able to be selected from in the next expansion draft.

While Roland Lamah was the leading goalscorer in the last two seasons, FC Dallas did not pick up his 2018 option.

Maxi Urruti and Tesho Akindele traded to Montreal Impact and Orlando City SC

Sunday was a half-day trade window in MLS and FC Dallas sent Maxi Urruti the Montreal Impact for $75K in TAM, Montreal’s first-round draft pick in the 2019 MLS Super-Draft (10th pick overall), and 50% of transfer value outside of MLS before the first game of the 2019 season with future considerations beyond that.

Tesho Akindele was sent to Orlando City SC for $100K in TAM in 2019 and $50K in GAM in 2020.

These are interesting trades and it suggests that FC Dallas is looking to really change things up this offseason. It was quoted that Dan Hunt said he would be surprised if there was not at least one new signing by Christmas. In the last offseason, we saw the remake of the defense and now it looks like there is a remake of the offense.

Tab Ramos is out of the running for FCD Head Coach

Alica Rodriquez from mlssoccer.com has reported that Tab Ramos is now out of the running for FC Dallas coach. Quite amazing how in the span of one day we went from Taylor Twellman saying that Tab was leading candidate to MLS saying that he is out of the running. On Twitter, it was quoted saying that there were some detail differences between Ramos and FCD. While the article from MLS provides no evidence as to why Ramos is out (aside from an eye-catching headline), Twitter seems to back this claim, though its all a grain of salt. You know, that amount of secrecy with this club on everything really makes you wonder what’s a better-kept secret: the workings of this club or the gold in Fort Knox (conspiracies)?

Dan Hunt has said they have received “…hundreds of inquiries…” and that their final choice is to come in the following days.

FC Dallas announces North Texas SC as it’s USL League 1 Team

On Thursday, December 6, FCD announced their USL League 1 team to be North Texas SC. Ricardo Pepi was also announced as the first player signed to the team with Matt Denny as the General Manager of the team.

The crest is very American when it comes to a soccer team and I think that it could grow on me. The name is… OK? I guess it gets the job done and that might be what the club was looking for. Thought, the most important thing is that the club did the right thing and signed Ricardo Pepi as their first player and that is a huge thing to have gotten. Matt Denny looks to have the right vision for the team and he truly looks excited and wants the club to do well. We have a USL team!

Luiz Muzzi to depart FC Dallas for Orlando City SC

Jeff Carlisle broke news on Wednesday that VP of Soccer Operations, Luiz Muzzi, would leave the club to become the President of Soccer Operations at Orlando City SC. The club released a statement stating that “Luiz Muzzi is currently serving as FC Dallas’ Vice President of Soccer Operations. Our club’s focus right now is building our roster for 2019.”

Dallas Soccer Show included a nice thread on what they could find out about the matter.

Read over on FB that Muzzi has still been very involved in player decisions and the decision to leave was a closely held secret that took most of the Front Office by surprise. Muzzi wanted to wait to make the announcement after other organizational announcements were made.
— Dallas Soccer Show (@DallasSoccrShow) December 6, 2018

Things just keep on getting more and more interesting with this club. No coach and no VP of operations now. This only makes this offseason even more interesting for this club. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this shapes out. It’s going to be interesting to see who takes over as this person has a lot of say into the players that the team as (aside from the coach). FC Dallas could also be okay with this as they might give their new coach more control the player acquisition process.

Bressan Linked with FC Dallas

On Tuesday morning, Gremio center-back is linked to a move with FC Dallas. He has been gaining minutes each progressive season at Gremio and for many Gremio fans, he had the highlight of his career this year: a handball that lead to a penalty leading to the elimination of Gremio from the Copa Libertadores. Turning 26 in January, he still has some room for growth and he could possibly be used as center-back depth. Fun fact: Bressan and Pedroso were both at Gremio at the same time back in 2014. Similarly, he is a dual citizen of Brazil and Italy.

First things first take all of this with a grain of salt, it is silly season so it may not be true. Though he is a solid defender and would be a great addition to the backline. He could easily challenge Hedges and Ziegler for the starting spot. This could also provide rotation for Hedges and Ziegler throughout the season.

Questions after the departure of Papi and possible replacement

One cannot undervalue the impact that Oscar Pareja had on this team and it will be hard to replace. He has touched every aspect of the club It will quite the task in trying to replace Papi but there are some names put out there for a possible replacement. This will most likely take the front page of this offseason’s story.

Carlos Gruezo to follow Oscar Pareja?

Some sources coming out of Mexico are saying the Carlos Gruezo would follow Pareja and go to Tijuana Xolos. I feel like this was expected but a fan of Gruezo, I don’t think that this is the right move for him. At 23 years old, I think that this might be the time for him to have another go at Europe. Though if you take a look at his Wikipedia page, he hasn’t stayed at a team for more than 2 years so this may be the season for him if one goes off of trends. I think that a more sure thing is that Gruezo does leave this offseason.

Fan Questions

Academy

First off, congratulations to Reyna Reyes for getting second in the U-17 Women’s World Cup with Mexico. Not an easy accomplishment at all. She was crucial to the team’s success with playing in 5 of the 6 games (served a suspension) and bolstered the backline.

Ricardo Pepi, in his first call-up to the US U-17’s, played in all 3 friendlies against Portugal, Turkey, and Brazil in the 2018 Nike Friendlies. Pepi scored his first goal for the US U-17’s in the 1-0 win over Turkey. Much congratulations to him. Jonathan Gomez was also called up but was, unfortunately, didn’t get to see minutes.

Los Ninos

The U-19’s and U-17’s took part in the USSDA’s winter showcase and went undefeated in their play.

U-19 Academy

Nov. 29 NYCFC W, 5-2
Nov. 30 Montreal Impact D, 2-2
Dec. 2 Pateadores W, 5-1

U-17 Academy

Nov. 30 Baltimore Armour W, 2-0
Dec. 1 D.C. United W, 3-0
Dec. 3 Philadelphia Union W, 3-2

Las Ninas

The girls took on Lonestar SC Academy and here were the found results

FC Dallas U-19 vs. Lonestar SC Academy U-19: 3-1, W
FC Dallas U-15 vs. Lonestar SC Academy U-15: 1-1, T
FC Dallas U-14 vs. Lonestar SC Academy U-14: 2-0, W