Three Players to Watch as FC Dallas Preseason Ramps Up
The 2026 FC Dallas season has officially begun with preseason kicking off in Frisco earlier this week and the team set to travel to Portugal soon.
As the team gears up for the season, let’s look at a few players to keep an eye on over the course of preseason.
Ran Binyamin
FC Dallas’ newest U22 signing is the player I’m most fascinated to see in preseason. He has not actually joined up with the team for preseason yet; he is apparently still waiting on his visa, but he should be able to join the team in Portugal, along with fellow new signing Herman Johansson (for the record, I’m also very intrigued and excited about Johansson, but he seems like more of a sure thing).
Binyamin is an interesting signing because he is a central midfielder, primarily a box-to-box midfielder, something that Dallas really has no shortage of in the senior roster or coming up through the academy. Of players signed to the first team: Christian Cappis, Paxton Pomykal, Ramiro, Kaick, Diego Garcia, Patrickson Delgado, Caleb Swann, and now Binyamin could all play in his position. Two of those listed players are fellow U22 signings, and two others are young homegrown players. With that in mind, I’m intrigued to see what the club sees in Binyamin to bring him in and allocate an international roster spot to him, in addition to the U22 spot.
There’s certainly promise there. He was a major part of Israel’s surprise third-place finish in the 2023 U20 World Cup, and he already has quite a bit of pro experience for a young player. The questions will be how quickly he can adjust to MLS, how he fits into such a crowded midfield, and how his presence affects the rest of those players (maybe a USL loan for Diego Garcia?). It all adds up to make him the player I’m most interested to see in preseason.
Nolan Norris
Next on my list is a player I’ve wanted to have a bigger role in the first team for a few years now, but who finally looks set to make that jump. With Eric Quill basically confirming that FCD will return to the 3-5-2 that served them so well to close out 2025 and Andre Zanotta also confirming that FCD doesn’t plan to bring in any new center backs, it opens up a very clear opportunity for Nolan Norris to take the left center back spot in the back 3.
In 2025, Norris played as a left back in the back 4 and a bit of time in midfield, but got a start in Dallas’ final game of the season in game 2 against Vancouver on the left side of the back 3 and had a standout game. As much as that is a bit of a “one-off” (Norris didn’t start any other games in that spot the entire season), playing him there in such an important game also feels like a bit of a statement and coupled with the reveals in the postseason press conference seem to point towards a clear pathway for Norris to make that starting left center back spot his in 2026. I’m excited to see him really take advantage of that opportunity over the course of the preseason.
Geovane Jesus
I’d imagine a lot of even very devoted FC Dallas fans had sort of forgotten all about Geovane Jesus. The young Brazilian suffered a knee injury way back in September 2023, then had a major setback as he was coming back in mid-2024 that kept him out of both the 2024 and 2025 seasons in their entirety. But after all this time, Geovane looks to be set to make his comeback.
He is still going through rehab, so it is hard to say exactly how much he’ll be able to play during preseason, but he is at least a partial participant in the early training sessions. It’ll be interesting to see if he makes the trip to Portugal (I suspect he will, even just for team integration) and how much he’s able to play. If he is able to get on the field, he should factor in at both right wingback and right center back in the 3-5-2, and it’ll be fascinating to see where his game is at and how he adapts to either of those positions.
If FotMob formations are to be believed, he has a history of playing both spots back in 2022, when he was with Cruzeiro in Brazil. If everything works out, he could practically function as a new signing for Eric Quill.
Who are you most interested in seeing in the preseason this season?
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Categorized:FC Dallas