Our 2024 FC Dallas player recaps continue with midfielder Tsiki Ntsabeleng.

The South African saw the field 25 times in 2024, with 11 of those games coming from a starting position. When Nico Estevez was in charge, Ntsabeleng struggled to see the field both due to injuries and form. Under Estevez, he only appeared in nine games with one start. Then under interim manager Peter Luccin, Ntsabeleng thrived, starting 10 games.

Stat breakdown

I felt as the season went on, Ntsabeleng went from being a fringe guy on the roster to a solid depth piece. The fact that we saw him start so many games in a row during the summer months and even into the fall when the team was almost back to full health, showed that the coaching staff had faith in the guy.

He was mostly deployed as an attacking midfielder, typically buzzing around the field with his speed.

Ntsabeleng ended the year with 31 shot creation actions and three goal creation actions, to go with his one goal and one assist this season.

As you can see from his chart, he also had some decent defensive numbers. He wasn’t afraid to get in a tackle other players. Of his 23 total tackles, 14 came in the middle third of the field. He also had nine interceptions, six clearances and nine blocks in 2024.

Highlight

It took him a while to find his only goal this season, during the club’s only road win in Washington, D.C.

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I believe most called this a Luccin-ball type of goal. I would love to see more of this in 2025.

Should we expect him back in 2025?

Given that he is still on the supplemental roster, which doesn’t count against the salary cap, I think he gets one more season.

Even if the club opted to move him to the senior roster in 2025, his salary cap hit isn’t high as he makes the minimum a player can earn ($89,716.00).

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Final thoughts

Saying that, I do think his roster position could be dependent on who the next manager is for this club. If Luccin earns the job in the next couple of weeks, I believe Ntsabeleng’s spot for 2025 should be safe.

But if a new manager comes in and wants to work with Andre Zanotta and Dan Hunt to clean house, then maybe he didn’t do enough this season to earn that final year of his rookie contract. There are younger guys currently at North Texas SC that have done very well this season (we’ll dive into those at a later date) that could easily slot into his spot on the roster in 2025.