North Texas SC to FC Dallas? The names to watch
Which players from FCD's developmental arm can find the next level? Let’s take a look
Scenes of joy poured from Toyota Stadium late Saturday evening as North Texas SC finished an outstanding season with a stirring, dramatic comeback victory in the MLS Next Pro Cup Final. (Highlights of the 3-2 win here.)
NTSC manager Michel and his young club, the developmental arm of FC Dallas, deserved that moment for finishing atop the 29-team feeder league not just in the regular season, but winning the four elimination matches in the playoffs necessary to be crowned MLS Next Pro champs.
A developmental league isn’t there just to be a finishing school established to refine skill sets. It’s also about teaching players how to win, how to push further and persevere, how to manage the do-or-die contests and how to fight hard for starting spots so they can be part of the plan come the big moment.
So they should be lauded for doing all that; the accomplishment stands on its own, for doing it better than 28 other MLS Next Pro clubs.
But …
It IS a developmental club. As such, the ultimate goal is vertical integration, about identifying and preparing players for the first team, which is FC Dallas.
With that in mind, here are the players you’re most likely to see in an FC Dallas shirt, some in the 2025 season, which kicks off in February.
Wingback Herbert Endeley
No player impressed me more over the four-game playoff stretch than NTSC’s right-sided wingback. (The FC Dallas radio crew broadcasted NTSC’s playoff run, so we saw every minute and did all the re-watch homework and research, etc.)
His speed and work rate were absolutely indispensable to the way Michel set up his team. Game after game, Endeley was a threat on the wing without ever “taking a play off” in his defensive duties. Push the attack! Then haul ass back and defend! Over and over again. His industry was nothing short of inspiring. Tyshawn Rose on the left side did the same, although he didn’t produce the same end product as Endeley.
Endeley, 23 years old, didn’t just score and assist through the foursome of post-season victories; he scored and assisted on important goals. Like scoring on a sweet far post strike for the playoff opener to begin the run (a convincing win over Vancouver Whitecaps 2). Or driving purposefully down the right side to provide the game-winning assist in the second playoff win. And in Saturday’s championship match against Philadelphia Union 2, it was Endeley again endeavoring down that right side, first to provide a great far post assist on NTSC’s equalizer and then opening up the defense to provide the secondary assist on Pedrinho’s stylish championship winner.
Endeley was FC Dallas’ starting wingback to open the season (filling in for injured players ahead in the pecking order). The 2023 MLS SuperDraft selection (the 24th overall pick) will likely land on the FC Dallas roster again in ‘25. His ability to stay there and collect meaningful minutes depends on two things:
If FC Dallas plays with wingbacks (rather than fullbacks in a four-man back line) it will better fit his skill set. He was the ideal suit for a wingback in MLS Next Pro.
The second factor: Michel told me recently that Endeley made a big jump this year in learning to apply his speed and relentless, indefatigable engine. If he can nail that part, he’ll be a useful presence around Toyota Stadium next year.
Defender / midfielder Nolan Norris
Norris will be in an FC Dallas shirt sooner or later, and quite possibly in ‘25. He’s got a lot that you want at top level: calm on the ball, a solid passing range, good awareness, tackling intent that borders on the criminal (it’s a good thing), and a leader’s mentality. The question with Norris for two years now around Toyota Stadium: how best to deploy those assets.
He’s been a left back. He’s been a center back. And he’s been a central defensive midfielder – a “CDM” in some teams’ parlance.
He’ll have to learn to calibrate that aggression so that he doesn’t pick up so many yellow cards – but that’s not a terrible thing. Good coaches can take a hard-nosed player and help them develop a better understanding and application of force. On the other hand, it’s next to impossible to take a technically proficient player and somehow infuse that level of desire and physicality. It’s either in a player’s DNA or it isn’t.
Norris is just 19 years old and already has played meaningful minutes for FC Dallas. Here’s betting he’ll see a lot more in ‘25.
Defender / midfielder Carl Sainté
Here’s how you know a guy has a ton of value to a coaching staff: when they build a system with you in mind. Which is what Michel and the staff did with Sainte. (Say it like this: “SAINT-ee”.)
Like other coaches around Toyota Stadium, NTSC’s Michel couldn’t exactly make up his mind where Sainte would be more effective, as a center back or defensive midfielder. So they thought up a way that he could be both.
Sainte generally lined up as the central defender in a 3-man back line (a 3-4-3). In possession, he slides into the midfield; the team looks best when playing through Sainte. The two defenders on either side of Sainte slide to the interior as the build-out shape becomes (something like) a 2-4-1-3. Out of possession, Sainte retreats back into the middle as the anchor of a five-man back line or holds a higher position as a defensive midfielder, depending on the opposition set-up.
Wherever he is, Sainte’s tackling is so intimidating that his teammates learn quickly to get the ball off their feet in training when they sense that he’s near. Or so I’m told. A midfield presence like that who can also dictate tempo and consistently ping an accurate switching ball is a valuable asset.
Can he do it with speed and acumen at the next level, when the match is faster and the opposition is older and wiser? I hope we get to find out. Here’s the issue:
Whereas Endeley and Norris are American born-and-raised, Sainte is a Haitian. (He already has 19 caps at full international level for Haiti, in fact.) When you are bound to occupy an international slot on the MLS roster, you have to do a little more to justify your spot. So we’ll see.
Goalkeeper Michael Collodi
The MLS Next Pro Goalkeeper of the Year demonstrated precisely what you want from a goalkeeper during NTSC’s playoff run: he was solid in all the little actions and delivered the huge, game-changing save here and there, the kind any successful playoff drive will require.
Collodi, however, is the textbook example of how professional sports can often get way too caught up in looking for prototypes. He’s listed at 6-foot even. There are plenty of examples that remind us longer and taller doesn’t mean better. Nick Rimando, for one, was a top MLS goalkeeper for years; he was maybe 5-11 on his best day.
But if a personnel director misses on a 6-foot-4 ‘keeper, everyone shrugs. But the fear is that if you miss on a 5-11 ‘keeper, everyone will give you side eye and question whether you know what you’re doing. It’s silly, of course. But so are a lot of things in our imperfect world.
He’s a quality shot stopper who is good with his feet and a leader in the locker room. There’s room for him somewhere at a professional level. Will it be for FC Dallas? Well, a lot of that depends on other assets at a position where FCD is pretty well stocked right now.
Midfielder Diego Garcia
Although there are a couple of others with intriguing potential – playmaker Pedrinho, for instance, who can turn a match in a moment but can also be quite inconsistent – we’ll end this list here with Garcia.
He is just barely 18 and still has some physical development ahead. But barring injury or some inexplicable stall in progress Garcia seems destined to find the top level within the next couple of years. He’s a savvy, skillful midfield connector who covers an enormous amount of ground and leads the press like a determined, fearless warrior. There’s a lot to like.
He was just called into the latest U.S. under-19 training camp. NTSC GM Matt Denny posits when all is said and done, Garcia may be the best player to come through NTSC. That’s high praise indeed for a club that has already seen Ricardo Pepi, Bryan Reynolds, Bernie Kamungo and others work their way through the system.
Great article Steve! One thing, Sainte has 19 Haiti caps.