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Edwin Cerrillo completed his third season with FC Dallas, building off a 2020 campaign that saw him play more with USL League One side North Texas SC. As the season went on, Cerrillo’s involvement in the FC Dallas midfield grew with more minutes and by the end of the years, a full-time role as a starter.
The 21-year old began the year with a trip to Germany with a small group of academy players to train with Bayern Munich. That trip helped give Cerrillo the confidence he was needing to make it in MLS.
Season Stats
| Games Played | Games Stated | Minutes Played | Goals | Assists | Total Shots | Shots on Target | Total Passes | Successful Passing % | Yellow Cards | Red Cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games Played | Games Stated | Minutes Played | Goals | Assists | Total Shots | Shots on Target | Total Passes | Successful Passing % | Yellow Cards | Red Cards |
| 22 | 16 | 1391 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 888 | 89.4 | 6 | 0 |
Gif that explains their 2021
Cerrillo started the year down in the depth charts but by the end of the year, he found his way back into the lineup, earning lots of minutes.
Best moment of 2021
There were a few moments that you could easily point out with Cerrilo as he grew into an every-game starter for the club. Not only did he pass up Facundo Quignon as a starting #6 for the team down the stretch (injuries to Quignon played a role in that too) but you could see him gain more confidence in his passing game as well as some flare that we didn’t see too often in his rookie season back in 2019.
Posting this little spin out of pressure to state that Edwin Cerrillo has been stepping up his game the past few weeks. Important to remember he's still only 20. pic.twitter.com/XJoDFIoFwU
— CONCACAF NATIONS LEAGUE STAN (@JordanDunathan) August 5, 2021
Along with that flare, he also has some moments of being just a subtle villain against some teams, especially the two Texan teams. He’s not an in-your-face kind of villain but more of a guy that is going to poke the ball away and act like he didn’t do anything wrong kind of villain. Honestly, I’m here for it.
Final thoughts
It was pretty well documented in 2021 that FC Dallas lacked a true #6 in the midfield a la Carlos Gruezo or Thiago Santos. Quignon was supposed to be that guy to help fill that gap but I think as the season wore on it may be that Cerrillo could be that guy down the road. I do think he is a few years away from truly being the main guy in the spine of the team but he is noticeably more confident on and off the ball than he was even a year ago when he only played in two games for FC Dallas.
The big question for him comes down to what his role will be next season. Will the new manager (or even Ferruzzi if he is retained) keep him behind Quignon on the depth chart? Or will he go into the preseason as the guy expected to be the starting #6? In a weird way, this is a really pivotal time in his career to get more and more playing time in that role too. If he has another season where he is stuck behind the main starter that is getting 25-30 of the starts, that isn’t good for his career.