Updated at 4:10 p.m. Monday: This story has been updated with a comment from U.S. soccer.

Updated at 2:30 p.m. Monday: This story has been updated with more background on U.S. soccer's national-team vacancy, as well as a statement from FC Dallas.

Óscar Pareja is being considered to lead the U.S. men's national soccer team, three sources with knowledge of the process told Al Día. The FC Dallas coach was interviewed this weekend in Vancouver, British Columbia, by representatives of U.S. Soccer, the sources said.

Pareja, who was in Canada with FC Dallas ahead of the club's 2-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps Sunday, recently told Al Día he was excited about the notion of being a candidate for the vacant national team job.

"For us, that'd be a project we've been striving for so hard, to keep contributing to this country from our chairs to the best of our capabilities," Pareja told Al Día before he was informed he was one of the candidates for the job. "And for that level, that'd be putting ourselves in a privileged position to make things happen instead of watching from the sidelines."

U.S. soccer did comment on Pareja's interview, releasing a statement to Al Día: "We are continuing the policy of not commenting on individual candidates during the process."

FC Dallas released a statement to Al Día on Monday afternoon, saying that the organization is focused on this season and adding that there would be no further comment.

"The entire FC Dallas organization, including Oscar Pareja and his coaching staff, is solely focused on finishing the MLS regular season strong and putting us in the best position possible for a long playoff run," the statement reads.

Pareja, 50, is a candidate for a job that has been without a permanent manager since the national team failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. A shocking 2-1 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago in October 2017 snapped a string of seven straight successful World Cup qualifications for the Americans, who last failed to qualify for soccer's most important international competition in 1986.

Fresh off back-to-back knockout-stage appearances in 2010 and 2014, the team was in chaos after a poor start to the final stage of qualifying under Jurgen Klinsmann, who was fired just two games into the final hexagonal.

The team was then placed under the guidance of Bruce Arena, who led the U.S. to the World Cup quarterfinals in 2002, but the Americans picked up only 12 points in the final eight games of group play. Arena resigned three days after the loss to Trinidad and Tobago.

Dave Sarachan, who is emphasizing the selection of younger stars domestically and internationally, leads the national team on an interim basis. His contract expires at the end of this year.

Earnie Stewart, a former national team stalwart, took over as general manager Aug. 1 and is leading the search for a new head coach. Last month, Stewart told Sports Illustrated that he expects to have a decision made by the end of the year. He told the publication that knowledge of the MLS and American soccer culture were preferred but not mandatory.

Is Pareja a serious candidate?

FC Dallas' competitive consistency during the last five seasons is Pareja's -- and his coaching staff's -- calling card with USMNT.

This MLS season, FC Dallas is ranked atop the the Western Conference with 53 points after posting 15 wins in 29 matches. The club won the 2016 U.S. Open Cup, its first title in 19 years.

He is the ninth coach to reach 100 wins in MLS history, and the third fastest to that mark.

Only Arena (188 games) and Bob Bradley (199) reached the milestone faster than Pareja (228 matches).

Pareja's experience on the bench dates back to his work with the FC Dallas academies before joining the Colorado Rapids, where he debuted as an MLS coach in 2012.

"I think the national team is in need of renovation. But I think it must get revamped under coaches who are knowledgeable of the system", said Pareja, who worked in U.S. Soccer from 2006-07. He served on the coaching staff of his fellow Colombian Wilmer Cabrera -- current Houston Dynamo head coach -- when he led the U-17 national team.

"I'm convinced the national team needs a coach who knows the culture and the American player. Whoever is chosen, he must know the roots and the history of the North American soccer.

"We make a lot of mistakes trying to emulate other styles or bringing in coaches from countries who don't know us, people who don't have a handle on the league, who have repeatedly said that the league is bad. And they bring them in, coaches who don't know the American player, and that's when mistakes are made," he said.

Pareja has a vast experience in young player development, including bringing up former FC Dallas midfielder and Plano native Kellyn Acosta, who seemingly has a bright future ahead with the national team.

Pareja was chief of FC Dallas player development academies from 2008-11, when U.S. Soccer named FC Dallas the country's best academy among 70 evaluated programs.

Pareja, the MLS Coach of the Year in 2016, said he knows the American player well.

"The American player is disciplined, he's intense, physical, he's generous and he's like society; he loves verticality. You can't get American players make 25 passes before reaching the middle of the field. They don't like that because they don't experience it that way," Pareja said.

What about his staff?

Pareja could take over the national coaching position with the current FC Dallas staff: assistants Marco Ferruzzi and José María Bazán, and strength and conditioning coach Fabián Bazán.

"For us, it'd be very cool being able to be in the national team. We went though every division, from 11-year-olds to professional level. It would be the final touch being considered and the best that could happen to us," said José María Bazán, who trained a number of youth soccer teams in Dallas for almost 20 years before joining the FC Dallas first team in 2014.

For José María Bazán, who is from Argentina, the knowledge gained during his work with the academies would come very handy in a higher league.

"I think we can infuse it with the element of being familiar with the lower leagues, those kids who we saw grow up knowing their strengths and weaknesses, knowing where to push them," he said. "Our success could depend on our knowledge of the individual, the American soccer player."

"We have a structure, an order, a methodology we applied to our development."

For Pareja's second assistant coach, the soccer being developed by FC Dallas can be applied to national team level.

"I think it can be made. I also think we can improve the system because the system is run by the players, and we must teach those young players coming into the national team to play soccer well -- knowing how to defend and how to attack," Ferruzzi said.

Ferruzzi said their goals as a coaching staff would focus on empowering a generation of players with a high level of skills.

"We feel part of the progress this country's soccer has had is because of everything we have been able to do in every academy level here at FC Dallas," he said. "Now, if it comes to talking about the national team, I think it's clear it would be a honor capitalizing on the number of players with a good level to achieve the goal we set for ourselves as a team."

Fabián Bazán, who was part of Venezuela's coaching staff from 2007-13, said if named to help lead the U.S. national team, the international experience they have gained during their career would be key.

"International experience gives you very valuable and positive perspectives in the selection processes," said Fabián Bazán, who also worked with Liga MX's Xolos de Tijuana from 2013-14. "That, and the knowledge each individual staff member can contribute.

"We have the background to be up to the challenge."

For Pareja, the next U.S. Soccer head coach's success will depend on the value he puts in player development.

"You need to know the American society. You need to know the player in a deep way -- what does he like, what he does, what's natural to him, what's his way of developing," he said. "The head coach who first values those criteria and understands that's the starting point for the development of American soccer.... will succeed."

FCD under Pareja

Óscar Pareja is in his fifth season leading FC Dallas. A look at his tenure in Frisco:

*-Western Conference

^-FC Dallas advanced to the semifinals of CONCACAF Champions League in 2016-17 and the Round of 16 in 2018.

#-Through 29 regular-season games.