FC Dallas Roster Breakdown: Forwards

Here’s the final part of the roster breakdown as we take a look at the forwards and those who should be putting FC Dallas on the board.

Ema Twumasi

We got to see moments of his brilliance this preseason and it does leave fans wondering what is to come of Twumasi. A winger drafted in 2018 who is a Generation Adidas player, Ema and his fellow friend Francis Atuahene are ones to keep an eye out. Ema does have the raw talent that can be developed with the help of the coaching staff into a player that could be beneficial for Dallas. He did have a loan spell with OKC Energy where he had only 6 appearances. North Texas SC will be a big help for his development and give him some consistent play time as well. I would like for him to be a regular with NTXSC.

Francis Atuahene

Francis Atuahene was also drafted in 2018 as he is a winger and generation Adidas player. Atuahene also went on loan to OKC Energy where he got 8 appearances and scored 3 goals. He has unfortunately been injured for quite some time during his time with FCD. He has the potential to be a good player, but injuries have not been too kind to him. Similarly, to Twumasi, North Texas SC is where I see him playing much of the time granted that he does stay injury free

Bryan Reynolds

So by the end of 2018, Reynolds was being played at right-back but I am putting him with the forwards based off of the FC Dallas Roster dichotomy. Daniel Robertson was rather favorable of Bryan Reynolds and we got to see a bit why. He is very tall at 6’ 3’’ at 17 years old. He does have the skill set to be a pro, he just needs game time to develop those skills and North Texas SC will help with that. My goal for him is to make regular appearances with NTXSC and let’s watch his talent grow.

Jesus Ferreira

Son of former FC Dallas great David Ferreira, Jesus went on loan to Tulsa Roughnecks where he made 14 appearances and scored 6 goals. Ferreira came in at number 13 in the USL’s 20 under 20 and for good reason as well. He is one that FCD fans can get excited for as his skill set only keeps growing. We have seen him play up on the wing which is a bit interesting, but we’ll see how that pans out. I’m a little torn as to what I think what a good season for Jesus would be. At the bare minimum, playing him consistently is a must. That can be accomplished with North Texas SC though I do think that we can see him in the 18 quite a bit this season. Let’s shoot for 10 appearances this season with the first team and I think that we could say that this is a good season for him. A goal or few would also not be bad at all.

Cristian Colman

Cristian Colman is quite the lightning rod for FC Dallas fans. It seems that you either love him or you hate him. I would be what some consider a “Colman Apologist.” Towards the end of the 2018 season. Papi seemed to have figured out how to play Colman in the team but he came down with an ACL tear ruling him out for quite some time. Colman has the work rate, the mentality, the positioning, the heading ability, the spirit, and will, but not the final product: putting the ball in the net. He is such a good guy though, always the first to celebrate with the team and celebrating other people’s goals, but you can see that he does get frustrated with himself. Papi put him in as a “holding 9” where he would occupy space up the field and be a presence to draw defenders and win headers. For this season I would say, first get healthy, and if he will be coming off the bench as a goalscoring threat, be a threat in front of goal and let’s aim for 5 goals

Dominique Badji

Badji came in mid-season and it looked like he never got quite settled. Now that he has gone through an offseason with the team and finding his footing, I think now it is fair to talk about what we can expect from him. Badji has looked well in preseason talking on the Colman role that I just finished talking about. He has been drawing in defenders to him which helps open space on the top of the box. He is also finding space in between the defense and scoring as well. It will be interesting to see who gets the nod at striker given the formation that Luchi has run as of late (though I still think a two-striker system of Badji and Ondrasek would be fun to watch). I would ask Badji to try to hit the 10-goal mark for this season.

Zdenek Ondrasek (The Cobra)

Hopefully many are familiar with The Cobra or as Arman Kafai suggested, “The Czech Cowboy.” Here’s why:

So to be honest, the first few looks that we got of The Cobra have been alright but that is too be expected. You got to give the guy a chance to get used to a new team and culture as well as find his rhythm with how the league is. He does well in holding up space up top and his off the ball movement is good. He does have the knack and know for where the goal is. I would still like to see a large sample size of what he has to offer but as the newest member of the team, he does have some weight on him to help provide. Looking back on the most recent strikers for FC Dallas (Maxi Urruti and Blas Perez) for some guidance as what to expect, it looks like that we could expect about 8 goals. Though, Blas and Maxi were younger than what Ondrasek is when they came to FC Dallas.

Who do I think will get the starting job? I think that is the million-dollar question, but I would have to deal towards Ondrasek. Here’s why: there is hype around him, and the club spent money (I would assume in his salary as he came in on a free transfer) for this guy so they want to see what he can do.

So that’s the squad breakdown. I can’t wait to see how this season unfolds but I am excited with the group of guys and for what Luchi and his staff can bring.

Read about our keepers and defenders along with our midfielders