Our 2024 FC Dallas player recaps continue with defender Nkosi Tafari.
Tafari entered the 2024 season with a lot of expectations after a strong 2023 season that earned him a call up from the United States national team in January. But as the season wore on, Tafari struggled (like most of the defense) to make the new formation work and by the end of the season, he looked like the odd man out for interim manager Peter Luccin.
Stat breakdown
We’ve talked a bit about the decline in Tafari this past season and let’s first take a look at his stat chart from Fbref.com to see how it stacked up against his 2023 season.
I know Fbref.com isn’t the best for some things but I do think putting his charts up side by side like this does give us a good indication as to how Tafari saw his performances decline in 2024. The one that really sticks out to me is the percentage of aerial duels won from last year to this year. For a guy with as much athletic ability as he has, he shouldn’t be losing a ton of aerial battles.
From a numbers perspective, Tafari ended the season with 28 appearances, 25 starts (both down from his 30 appearances and 27 starts in 2023). He had three goals scored and one own goal against. Defensively, he had 22 interceptions, three blocked shots, 96 clearances, and 108 recoveries.
Tafari is still one of the more accurate passers on the roster (though that did decrease this season compared to last year) and I believe his long-ball crosses are some of the best in the league from a center back.
Highlight
I don’t think we discussed enough about how good FC Dallas was at set pieces this season and goals like this one remind me of that.
All three of Tafari’s goals in 2024 were like this, off a corner kick.
Should we expect him back in 2025?
I discussed this in our recent GM game results that I still believe you bring him back for another season. His salary is still very good compared to other center backs in the league and he’s still on the right side of being under 30 years old.
My gut still tells me this season was a blip for him and not a sign of things to come.
Final thoughts
The only thing that gives me a bit of pause in all of that is whether or not Luccin comes back as the full-time manager for the club In 2025. If you look at the nine games following the Leagues Cup exit, Tafari went from regular starter to playing 83 minutes in the final five games.
That tells me the coaching staff didn’t see stuff in training that they liked from Tafari down the stretch. And that is even when they fully switched back to a four-man defensive group for the final two games.
I still believe Tafari could be a top five center back in MLS if he has the right mentality and the right system to play in. He mostly had that in 2023 and 2023 under Nico Estevez but lost all of it in 2024. But does FC Dallas believe that to be the case? We’ll find out soon enough.
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