Just about four hours in the car, depending on traffic. 280 miles. That’s all that separates the Houston Dynamo academy from the youth setup at FC Dallas. It may seem like a long way to some, but in Texas, the land of big highways and bigger trucks, that kind of distance makes the Dynamo and FCD neighbors.



In the world of player development, though, Houston and Dallas couldn’t be farther apart.



FCD’s academy is the crown jewel of MLS, with the club signing a league-high 28 homegrown players since the roster designation was created in 2008. They’re more committed to playing academy products than any other club in the league, and, though they’ve yet to produce a bonafide MLS star, they currently have a few emerging talents in Reggie Cannon, Paxton Pomykal, Jesus Ferreira and Jesse Gonzalez. That list doesn’t even account for 21-year-old U.S. men’s national team midfielder Weston McKennie, who developed in the FCD...