Soccer: FC Dallas pays visit to Permian Basin again

For the third consecutive season, FC Dallas is making a trip out to West Texas to take on the West Texas United Sockers.

FC Dallas’s profile has been altered a bit in a year. Ranked second in the league and coming off of a heartbreaking MLS Cup loss to Colorado in extra time last season, FC Dallas has become one of the top teams in Major League Soccer.

 Reeling after two losses in Premier Development League play over the weekend to run their losing streak to four, the Sockers will be looking to make an impression at 7:30 tonight against an FC Dallas team mostly made up of reserves and promising youngsters.

Make no mistake about the level of competition, though.

FC Dallas will be bringing plenty of talent to Grande Communications Stadium.

“Every player we have is playing for a chance to be at that level,” West Texas United coach Warren Cottle said. “The ultimate goal of the Premier Development League has been to move players on to the highest level, and that’s who we will be playing.”

Injuries to Ben Everson and Dominic Furness — the only Sockers who have spent time training with an MLS team — will leave a couple of tough spots to fill in the starting lineup. Coupled with injuries to Ramon Martinez and Isaias Miramontes, the Sockers will be operating without much of the depth they’ve been building all season long.

But the Sockers will be more than a little amped to play FC Dallas.

“What we’ll be playing is a lot of the reserves,” Cottle said. “It’s a chance for our guys to prove they belong in one of those programs. The purpose of this program is to push players on. That’s the ultimate goal, to get one of our guys to that level.”

Following a brief hiatus, the MLS Reserve Division was started back up this season to give teams a chance to develop young talent without throwing their athletes into the fire of professional competition right away.

Building a solid base of talent at the lower levels isn’t easy.

But the Sockers are hoping to change all of that. Building off of a partnership that has already yielded three friendlies in two seasons — FC Dallas swept West Texas United in two 2009 games, but the Sockers picked up a 2-1 victory at Grande last season — the Sockers have already started preliminary talks with FC Dallas about taking the affiliation even further.

“FC Dallas has been able to extend their brand,” RockHounds general manager Monty Hoppel said. “One of the youth teams in the area, West Texas United, is already working on an agreement, I believe, to wear the FC Dallas colors and support their name. We think we can fit another niche.”

Hoppel expects to meet with FC Dallas representatives later this summer to figure out exactly what kind of partnership the two teams can form.

Premier Development League teams have not functioned as minor-league clubs for an MLS team yet.

What Hoppel and the rest of the Sockers staff envision looks a little different.

“We think that we can fit a niche between their reserve system and their youth programs,” Hoppel said. “FC Dallas has been a great team to work with. What we want to do is talk about whether or not there can be a fit, even a soft affiliation that could be good for both us.”

>> FC DALLAS PLAYERS TO WATCH

Maykel Galindo, forward: A Cuban defector who came to the U.S. in 2005, Galindo made his MLS debut with Chivas USA in 2007. Galindo promptly led Chivas USA with 12 goals in the 2007 season, but injuries have hampered him since that season.

Chris Seitz, goalkeeper: Picked fourth overall by Real Salt Lake in the 2007 MLS Draft after leading Maryland to the NCAA championship, Seitz became the second-youngest player to start an MLS match at 20 years, 49 days. A starter with both Real Salt Lake and Philadelphia, this is Seitz’s first season in Dallas.

Bobby Warshaw, defender: Drafted 17th overall by FC Dallas out of Stanford in the 2011 MLS Draft, Warshaw is coming off of a collegiate career that featured three All Pac-10 First Team honors and is being groomed as either a center back or holding midfielder of the future.