Sueño 18 to Play FCD U17s Today
March 21st, 2008 . By: Buzz CarrickShort notice, but if you are into Sueño they are playing FCD’s U17 team today at 2:30 pm at Pizza Hut Park. FC DALLAS U-17 TO FACE 12 SUENO MLS FINALISTS ON FRIDAYMajor League Soccer and FC Dallas today announced that 12 of the “Final 18” Sueño MLS participants in Dallas have been selected to scrimmage the FC Dallas Under-17 team on Friday, March 21 at 2:30 p.m. CT at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Tex. From this game, the FC Dallas coaching staff will select the first players invited to form the FC Dallas Juniors, the club’s newly created developmental elite team that will directly prepare players for the professional team. One of these players will be selected as the winner of Sueño MLS in Dallas, which will be announced live on Univision’s Republica Deportiva on March 30, 2008 from Pizza Hut Park. Built by The Home Depot, Sueño MLS is a six-week long quest to find the best undiscovered young soccer player in the nation. Hosted simultaneously by Chivas USA and FC Dallas, Sueño MLS kicked off President’s Weekend with four days of open tryouts at the Bell Gardens Sport Center, home to Chivas USA’s academy and youth teams. On the weekend beginning on Feb. 22, the stage shifted to Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Tex where four days of identical open tryouts took place under the watchful eyes of the FC Dallas Coaching Staff. The group in each market was narrowed to 60 participants, then to 18 players following consecutive weekends of tryouts, practices, and a game. Sueño MLS returns to Republica Deportiva every Sunday at 11 a.m. ET in what can be termed as a unique “reality show within a show” format. The show will culminate with the announcement of the Sueño MLS winner on Sunday, March 30, just hours before the start of the MLS season on Univision network TeleFutura between FC Dallas and Chivas USA live from Pizza Hut Park at 2 p.m. CT. Sueño 18 RosterName Age Pos. Hometown Notes Orlando Arzola 15 F Plano, TX Soph. At E. Plano HS; fan of Club América Bradlee Baladez 16 M Dallas, TX Houston native admires Cristiano Ronaldo Jael Barrera 17 M Dallas, TX Plays for Latino Americana club team Rodrigo Barrientos 17 M Dallas, TX older brother taught him how to play soccer Gabriel Funes 16 F Arlington, TX born in Argentina, brother also in Final 18 Jose Funes 16 M Arlington, TX born in Argentina, brother also in Final 18 Fernando Garza 18 M Garland, TX FCD Youth player’s main focus is soccer Noel Luna 17 F Ft. Worth, TX LA native has sacrificed vacations for soccer Rafael Martinez 16 M Dallas, TX born in New York, moved to Texas for soccer Francisco Moreno 21 GK Dallas, TX born in Michoacan, Mexico Alexei Reyes 16 F Dallas, TX born in Mexico City, started playing at age 2 Jorge Rodríguez 16 M Dallas, TX born in Monterrey, Mexico 4 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Can you provide more info (or will FCD be putting out a press release soon?) on the FC Dallas Juniors?
I knew something like this was coming from a conservation I had with Coach Chris Clarke back in December, during their winter youth camp. I had asked about FCD having a youth program associated with the pro team. He said that they actually had a program that had been operating “under the radar” for a while and that they would go public with it this year — something about having 5 teams/levels that could “graduate” (my words) directly into the pro team. He also said (something along the lines) that one of the difficulties in building a youth system has been the competition from Dallas’ other soccer clubs, such as the Dallas Texans, etc.
At any rate, I am happy to know that this program has been started and will be made public soon! Chris Clarke, btw, is an awesome guy and a great coach! It’s been neat to see him involved with the Sueño program and getting a bit of recognition.
FCD Youth has a specific team under the umbrella of the larger youth club that are the primary designated FCD Youth teams. This U17 team has played in several MLS tournaments already. There’s also a U19 team, and there will be if there is not already a U15 and u13 team. Within those teams FCD is able to tag “home grown” players that can be signed directly into the team bypassing the draft.
Someday there will be a U23 PDL team.
Any news on how the game went? Inquiring (work trapped) minds want to know….
FCD u17s won 3-1.