<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0hjDTH_0wLwl79h00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0hjDTH_0wLwl79h00" width="1062" height="708" ><p><b>FC Dallas’ 2024 season came to an end with a win at home over Sporting KC. This week, let’s start the offseason by looking back at the 2024 season and give each player a grade for their performances. We’ll start with goalkeepers and defenders.</b></p><h2>Goalkeepers</h2><h2>Maarten Paes: A-</h2><p>It was quite a year for Dallas’ starting goalkeeper. After a lengthy process, Paes finally got his clearance to play for the Indonesian national team and played his first games in World Cup qualifying near the end of the MLS season. The boost the entire club received from this can not be understated, Dallas has gained a huge number of followers from Indonesia with the Indonesian fans carrying Paes to an all-star selection from the fan vote and generally making a huge presence across FCD’s social media channels.</p><p>As for Paes’ MLS season, he was mostly very good, though there was a slight regression from his 2023 season, which is probably his best in a Dallas jersey. Paes certainly faced far more shots in 2024 than he did in 2022 or 2023 as FCD’s defense regressed as a whole, particularly once things were opened up offensively under Peter Luccin. But Paes was largely very good when called upon in his shot stopping and command of his penalty area. His distribution still needs work as his passes, especially mid range aerial balls, tend to be under- or overhit. If he can make marked improvement in that area of the game, Dallas is likely to end up with an offer they can’t refuse for the fan favorite goalkeeper.</p><h2>Jimmy Maurer: A</h2><p>From the start of the season, it looked like this would be Jimmy Maurer’s final season as a professional, with him taking a reduced contract that included work in the front office in 2024. For the vast majority of the season, Maurer simply sat on the bench behind Paes game after game, even in the Open Cup. But with Paes being called up to Indonesia in September for the first time, Maurer was thrust into a crucial game away to Vancouver in what looked like it would be his swan song. And what a final game it looked to have been, as Maurer made a number of massive saves to preserve what was, at the time, an important 0-0 draw.</p><p>Ultimately, Maurer would end up playing three more games, the final three of the season, as Paes suffered a minor wrist injury that held him out of a must win game in San Jose (that FCD lost 3-1, their worst of the season) and the final two post-elimination games against Portland and SKC. Maurer put up strong performances in every game, the 3 goals shipped against San Jose didn’t fall on him, he kept another clean sheet against Portland and would have had a third against SKC if it wasn’t for a poor backpass from Asier Illarramendi.</p><p>If Jimmy does end up retiring, it was a nice final season for him where he proved that he very much still had what it takes to perform at this level. Here’s hoping he sticks around the organization for years to come.</p><h2>Antonio Carrera: B</h2><p>It was a strange season for FCD’s young homegrown goalkeeper. After a solid showing for North Texas in 2023 and a good preseason in 2024, he was sent on loan to North Carolina FC in USL Championship, which seemed like the logical next step to continue getting playing time but increasing the level of competition. But things didn’t go quite right as Carrera just couldn’t land consistent minutes, he only started about half the games during his time on loan. He did have one big moment, a penalty save in one of NCFC’s Open Cup games that made him the hero for that match, but besides that it wasn’t the outcome anyone involved had hoped for and FCD ended up terminating the loan early and recalling him.</p><p>From there Carrera trained with the first team and played a handful of games for North Texas, where he once again played well. With Jimmy Maurer’s status for 2025 up in there, Carrera may be looking at the backup goalkeeper position in 2025. No matter what happens, it is going to be a big moment in his career.</p><h2>Centerbacks</h2><h2>Sebastien Ibeagha: B-</h2><p>For a second consecutive season, the veteran centerback set new career highs, this time in minutes played, games started and goals scored. For both Nico Estevez and Peter Luccin, Ibeagha was basically written in ink in the starting lineup, only missing a couple games at the start of the season due to a minor injury under Estevez and being excluded for the squad for rest in the game before FCD’s US Open Cup quarterfinal against SKC. He was only subbed off early one single time in all competitions, coming off early against Tampa Bay in the Open Cup.</p><p>At this point in his career, Ibeagha is a known and consistent quality. He is a solid defender, leading the team in clearances, but isn’t at his best isolated in one-on-one situations. He isn’t very good at progressing the ball with his passing, often electing for the safe sideways or backwards option, and generally doesn’t look particularly comfortable with the ball at his feet.</p><p>In my opinion, Ibeagha is often criticized too harshly by the broader FC Dallas fanbase, with criticism that should be geared towards the overall roster construction geared towards him. As a third centerback or even as a starter alongside an all-star level centerback, Ibeagha would be better suited, but he is seemingly Dallas’ “CB1”, which doesn’t seem to be the best fit. He also makes almost $700k, which is not an ideal salary situation. He is one of the most fascinating question marks in the offseason as he has an option for 2025. I think most fans and pundits would say the FCD should decline his option, but Dallas seems to highly value Ibeagha, making him the biggest question mark of all the contract options going into 2025.</p><h2>Nkosi Tafari: C+</h2><p>After an excellent 2023 season, 2024 did not go the way anyone would have hoped for fan favorite Nkosi Tafari. He was used in the center of the back 3 to start the season under Nico Estevez and the defensive unit struggled to limit chances and goals the way they had in 2022 and 2023. A brief shift to the back 4 resulted in a couple mental lapses in Austin for Tafari that saw him drop to the bench for a few games before being restored to the starting lineup for basically the remainder of Estevez’s tenure. Peter Luccin initially kept him in the lineup when he took over, typically still playing in the center of the back 3. After Leagues Cup, there was a tweak to this that saw Ibeagha move to the center and Tafari move to the right side, which often saw him flexing to basically playing at right back. In the last 5 games of the season, Tafari only started once, in San Jose, and things didn’t exactly go well.</p><p>When prompted, Luccin explained his defensive selections that omitted Tafari were down to consistency. Tafari was never outright bad in 2024 but he often had swings, even within games, from finding the excellent form from 2023 to some mental lapses that saw him drop to the bench. Tafari still has huge amounts of talent and a ridiculous amount of athleticism, but both he and the club need to figure out how to best utilize him moving forward and how he can get back to consistent showing his best game.</p><h2>Omar Gonzalez: B</h2><p>No one expected a whole lot out of Omar Gonzalez when FCD signed him to what was reportedly a “team-friendly” deal (it sure was, he only made $114k in 2024). The hope was almost certainly that Omar would be rarely used, his previous season in New England had been okay but there were clear signs of slow down.</p><p>In the end, started 10 games and made 15 total appearances. In Omar’s 10 starts, Dallas earned 9 points through 2 wins and 3 draws, so decent enough, especially considering Omar ended up starting games such as LAFC away. Generally, he was really sure footed and showed why he’s still going at 35 years of age and why he was such a highly touted defender for so long. He reads the game excellently and is clearly a fantastic locker room presence.</p><p>I’d be willing to bring him back for another year on a similar deal, but I’d probably want him making about half the starts as he did. Not so much due to his personal performances but because Dallas needs to bring through a younger center back as they look to retool and rebuild. But Omar would still be a fantastic locker room presence and example for young players to follow.</p><h2>Amet Korca: C-</h2><p>Look, this is going to sound harsh, but I’m not sure why Dallas ever brought Amet Korca back in 2024 in the first place. Korca made a handful of appearances in 2023, one solid appearance against DC and a disastrous outing in Colorado (where Nico Estevez bizarrely deployed him as a hyper defensive right back, he unsurprisingly got cooked by Kevin Cabral and was hauled off at halftime). He made more appearances for North Texas but never really looked to be a guy who was going to make some significant jump to be a regular in MLS.</p><p>He does have a Croatian background, which may not have hurt with getting Petar Musa comfortable, and, if that was the case, maybe his low salary was worth it. But even at North Texas, where he exclusively played in 2024, he was outplayed by just about every other regular centerback: Nico Gordon and 2024 SuperDraft picks Turner Humphrey and Mads Westergren. It would be truly shocking to see him return for another season.</p><h2>Fullbacks/wingbacks</h2><h2>Marco Farfan: B+</h2><p>Dallas’ stalwart left back of 2022 and 2023 could have easily been placed in the centerback section for 2024, as that’s where he ended up playing most of his minutes. Farfan missed a number of games at the start of the season and didn’t make his first strat until April 27th against Houston. Under Nico Estevez, he played almost exclusively as a left wingback, coming into the team once Estevez finally gave up on the Dante Sealy experiment. Farfan performed admirably there but never looked particularly comfortable at wingback and it didn’t feel like it was getting the best out of him.</p><p>Under Peter Luccin, Farfan initially continued playing some wingback but pretty quickly shifted to playing more as a left center back, swapping roles with Sam Junqua. Once again, Farfan didn’t look particularly comfortable playing as a left center back in a back 3, but he, unsurprisingly, adapted well over time and was more or less written in ink in the starting eleven, even late in the season when Luccin moved the team back into the back 4, he continued playing left center back.</p><p>Overall, I don’t think many fans will have complaints about Farfan, but I sure hope he’s able to get back to his best position in 2025.</p><h2>Ruan: B</h2><p>Ruan was a late season trade, meant to bolster the squad in the push for the playoffs after Leagues Cup. It was a shrewd piece of business as he fit the back 3 perfectly as a right wingback and very quickly fit into the team as he started right away and provided an assist in his first game. But he only ended up playing in 6 games as he dealt with some injuries that kept him out of games down the stretch. Quality wise, Ruan would be good to have back if Dallas plans to stick with the back 3 moving forward, but he’ll turn 30 in 2025 and is a player that relies a lot on his pace. Dallas may end up making the decision to just let him go in free agency.</p><h2>Ema Twumasi: C</h2><p>Fun fact: Ema Twumasi is FCD’s fourth longest tenured player, only Paxton Pomykal, Jesus Ferreira and Jimmy Maurer have been with the team longer. Unfortunately, 2024 is looking like it might be Ema’s last with FCD as he had his lowest numbers of games played, games started and minutes played since he became a first team regular back in 2021. Ema struggled with injuries throughout the season that kept him out of the lineup at various times and the switch to the back 3 really didn’t do him many favors. He’s done an admirable job in his career at shifting from a winger in college into a right back in MLS but wing back didn’t seem to suit him very well. He played more frequently under Nico Estevez than Peter Luccin, even playing a game at right center back under Estevez. Luccin mostly dropped him from the team, he only started 4 games under Luccin and made a total of 8 appearances under the interim manager. Twumasi was a good player for the team and I’ll be sad to see him go if he does go, but the writing looks to be on the wall for his time in Dallas.</p><h2>Sam Junqua: B+</h2><p>In 2023, Sam Junqua was FCD’s utility man, being deployed all over the field: left back, right back, center back and both wings, more or less becoming the new version of Ryan Hollingshead. So it was a bit strange in 2024 when Junqua seemed to be completely anchored to the left center back spot to start the season under Nico Estevez. Junqua actually started all 16 games under Estevez with almost every single one of those starts coming at left center back. As far as I can tell, this was two fold: 1) Junqua is left-footed, something that both Estevez and Luccin seemed to highly value in their left center backs and 2) Junqua is taller than Marco Farfan. Beyond that, the decision felt a bit backwards as Junqua always seemed to have a more offensive minded game than the more defensive Farfan.</p><p>As players recovered from injuries and Luccin took over the team, Junqua’s role diminshed, he only started 10 of the last 18 games under Luccin and most of those starts were at left wing back or left back. But it was undeniably a hugely successful season for Junqua as he set career highs in games played, games started, minutes played and assists. He is maybe one of the most obvious of all the contract options for 2025 that FCD should activate and they really should give him a new contract with a nice raise.</p><h2>Herbert Endeley: B</h2><p>It was a weird season for Herbert Endeley, who actually played in fewer games and fewer minutes than he did in 2023. In my opinion, Endeley was the stand out performer from preseason, scoring a number of goals and playing really well as a right wing back. Dante Sealy got a lot of the attention due to his free kick goals but, from what I saw, Endeley looked like a more complete player at wing back and he got the opening day start against San Jose. He played…okay, he certainly looked a bit nervy but it wasn’t any kind of disastrous performance or anything. But apparently Nico Estevez felt differently as he more or less banished him from the team after that first game and only gave him a few more sub appearances after that game.</p><p>He did start both Open Cup games under Estevez and played well in both games. After Luccin took over, he was almost exclusively relegated to playing with North Texas SC, besides a single sub appearance against SKC in the Open Cup. To his credit, Endeley played very well for North Texas and was a standout performer in their road to the regular season title. With a super low salary and some question marks around who is staying at right back in 2025, I’d keep Endeley around for another season and actually give him a proper opportunity with the first team.</p><h2>Dante Sealy: D</h2><p>Oof. Not a whole lot else to say about Dante Sealy’s 2024 season. He was the most talked about player coming out of preseason and won the starting left wing back job. He had the game winning goal in the season opener against San Jose…and it was all down hill from there. Sealy was regularly caught out defensively and showed little of the work rate required to be a starting caliber wingback in MLS. Bluntly, Nico Estevez stuck with him for way too long, handing him 8 consecutive starts before finally dropping him.</p><p>Peter Luccin didn’t have much time for him, he gave him a couple substitute appearances early on, but a disastrous showing as a sub against Seattle that directly contributed to a loss saw him only play 65 minutes the rest of the season, with his only start coming in the heavy rotation game in Kansas City before the Open Cup game. Sealy needs to find his level and it doesn’t seem that will be in Dallas.</p><h2>Geovane Jesus: N/A</h2><p>The hope before the season was that Geovane would make his return from his ACL injury in 2023 some time around Leagues Cup. Ultimately, the U22 initiative right back suffered a set back in his recovery that required another surgery and he never made it back to the field in 2024. Hopefully the offseason will give him enough time to get things right and he can get back to contributing in 2025.</p><h2>Isaiah Parker: ???</h2><p>Poor Isaiah Parker. Nico Estevez seemed to have a bizarre dislike for him and essentially banished him from the first team in both 2022 and 2023. In 2024, he looked to be making some strides and was playing really well for North Texas before an injury ended his season before he even got a chance to potentially get into the team under a new manager. For his sake, Dallas should really consider letting him go and find a club that will value him more, but he’s still only 22 and going into the last year of his Generation adidas deal, so don’t be shocked if they keep him around for one more season to see what a new manager might think of him.</p><p><b>What are your thoughts on FCD’s goalkeepers and defenders in 2024? Was I too kind or too harsh? Let me know in the comments below!</b></p></div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Grading the 2024 FC Dallas Season: Goalkeepers and Defenders

Maarten Paes: A- It was quite a year for Dallas’ starting goalkeeper. After a lengthy process, Paes finally got his clearance to play for the Indonesian national team and played his first games in World Cup qualifying near the end of the MLS season. The boost the entire club received from this can not be understated, Dallas has gained a huge number of followers from Indonesia with the Indonesian fans carrying Paes to an all-star selection from the fan vote and generally making a huge presence across FCD’s social media channels.