Roster Check: A look at North Texas SC in 2024

FC Dallas' second team is gearing up for a new season.

Photo via North Texas SC

FC Dallas began their regular season last weekend with a nice win over San Jose in the dying minutes of the match, thanks to a goal from Dante Sealy. But FCD isn't the only club worth spending time on here as their second team, North Texas SC, is also gearing up for the start of their new season.

North Texas SC manager John Gall will have his first full season in charge of the club and has been very busy at work this offseason, boosting the roster.

As of Tuesday, here is where the roster stands:

Goalkeepers (2): Michael Collodi, Victor Darub
Defenders (3): Nico Gordon, Malachi Molina, Tyshawn Rose
Midfielders (7): Diego García, Dylan Lacy, Leonardo Orejarena, Pedrinho, Anthony Ramirez, Carl Sainté, Abdoul Zanne
Forwards (3): Leonard Londe, Diego Pepi, Lautaro Taboada

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Players to watch out for in 2024:

Nico Gordon - I want to see NTSC do more of this type of international signing going forward. Find guys with some experience with bigger clubs but couldn’t break through. They got Gordon from English side Birmingham City F.C., where he developed through their academy teams. Gordon also had one appearance with the first team at Birmingham.

Diego Garcia - The young midfielder spent all preseason with FC Dallas, including their trip to Spain. He had a few nice appearances in the preseason, too, which should give him the confidence to do well this season. I would imagine FCD has him earmarked for a hybrid deal at some point if his play this season continues to improve.

Anthony Ramirez - The 18-year old midfielder signed with North Texas this week. He may be the most intriguing prospect to watch out for, too. As an Academy player, he had 14 appearances, 633 minutes, two goals, and two assists during the 2023 season with NTSC.

Diego Pepi - We all know the name as Diego is Ricardo's younger brother. He earned a contract with NTSC late last year, and if he can begin producing goals like his older brother, I think we could see him take a similar path to FCD.

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FC Dallas players to earn minutes with NTSC in 2024:

Even though it is preseason for NTSC, we’re already seeing several FC Dallas players earn minutes with NTSC on days they don’t make the FCD gameday roster. Last weekend is a good indication that early on, we’ll see the following guys earn minutes with NTSC:

Enes Sali: From what we could gather, Sali played the full game in the 2-1 win over Austin II last weekend. Sali is a project for FC Dallas, and getting him these runs with NTSC early on will help him develop more.

Tarik Scott: The Homegrown forward helped set up a Diego Garcia goal against Austin. After dealing with a knee injury that kept him out of his entire rookie season in 2023, Scott needs minutes like this with NTSC to get his game fitness back to 100%.

Isaiah Parker: Parker still seems like an odd man under Nico Estevez. Before the team’s trip to Spain, the Dallas manager discussed that he needed to be with NTSC this season to reset his development after struggling to earn playing time with San Antonio FC last year on loan.

Aljenadro Urzua: Another Dallas Homegrown that will likely continue developing with NTSC early this season. Urzua’s midfield position with FC Dallas is pretty clogged at the moment, so allowing him to continue his development with NTSC this season seems like the right move.

Tomas Pondeca: I feel we’ll see Pondeca go back and forth between NTSC and FCD a lot this season. From what I can gather, he played the full 90 against Austin before spending the evening on Saturday riding the bench with FC Dallas in their win against San Jose.

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NTSC has three more preseason games, including one this Saturday against SMU. Their regular season kicks off on Friday, March 15, against Vancouver Whitecaps 2.

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Note: I’ll admit that covering FC Dallas and North Texas SC sometimes feels like a full-time job. As you all know, I do a lot to cover FC Dallas, but my NTSC posts are lagging behind. I’m trying to get better at that in 2024.