Last week, North Carolina FC announced that their front jersey sponsor for 2020 is the J. Cole-conceived Dreamville Festival. While speaking at a media event to reveal the new kits and preview the upcoming season, club owner Steve Malik gazed out the 10th floor picture windows of a Glenwood Avenue highrise, casting a wistful eye at the empty acreage sitting about two miles south where he wants to build the soccer stadium that will house his teams and anchor the gestating Downtown South development project.

Call it his own private Dreamville.

Malik began ruminating over pending feasibility studies, rezoning, land acquisitions and the composition of local government boards. Perhaps sensing himself slipping down a rabbit hole, he paused to remind the audience – and maybe himself – that “we’re here today about the soccer.”

Ah yes, the soccer. While headlines gravitate to stadium proposals and MLS bids, the team that will be wearing those Dreamville jerseys is entering its 14th consecutive season of professional soccer.

North Carolina FC opens its 2020 campaign this Saturday when it hosts Louisville City FC. The team also enters its second season under head coach Dave Sarachan full of the optimism that admittedly accompanies every preseason. The team returned to postseason play last year for just the second time since 2012. More importantly, the second-division USL side shored up a reputation in the wider soccer world that had faltered in recent times.

“Having the right environment is a big part of it,” Sarachan says. “At the end of the day, it's a game. If you talk to the guys, they enjoy coming to work, they enjoy the training, they enjoy the culture of the locker room. So the word gets out a little bit.”

One of this year’s new player additions is 23-year-old defender Akeem Ward, who spent time with three teams in 2019 after being drafted by DC United. After getting a taste of the “cutthroat business” of soccer last year, Ward says North Carolina FC was one of his choice landing spots.

“I know, especially when I was in MLS, a lot of guys were saying, ‘If you want to get loaned out to any USL team, you want it to be North Carolina,’” Ward says. “The coaching staff has the ability to make you better. I'm not saying other teams don't do that, but I think [Sarachan’s] resume speaks for itself: national team, MLS for many years, etc. And then this field is the best field in USL, without a doubt. The facilities are perfect. You get treated like a pro here; not saying other clubs don't do that, but I've been with three different clubs already. Everything here allows you just to play.”

North Carolina FC scored the seventh-most goals in the USL Eastern Conference last year, the same place they finished in the conference table. They also allowed 37 goals, the fifth lowest in the conference and 14 fewer than the previous year, when their 50 goals conceded was the fifth most.

Still, North Carolina FC suffered wild streaks of inconsistency last year. After losing just two of their first 17 games, the team lost eight of their next 17. NCFC lost only four of 12 games against the six teams that finished ahead of them in the standings, but they won just nine of 23 matches against the 11 teams below them in the table, including a disappointing home loss to Birmingham Legion in the opening round of the USL playoffs.

Sarachan says he and his coaching staff engaged in some “self-reflection” over the off-season over those inconsistencies and diagnosed several causes, chiefly league parity coupled with a lot of young players who hit a wall as the long season dragged on.

“Part of the off-season to get this group going the right way this year was to add a few more guys with experience and retaining more of the guys from last year so they have a year under their belt, in some cases more, and try to build in more consistency,” Sarachan says.

Sarachan enters the 2020 season with 19 players under pro contract. Still, while the quantity of his roster remains limited, he believes its quality has deepened.

“We have fewer numbers going into the opener this year, but I think we have more guys that if one guy steps out another guy can step in and not the drop-off wouldn't be great,” Sarachan says. “Last year at the bottom end of the roster, those guys were going to be hard to get on the field on a day-to-day basis. With this year's bottom end of the roster, the margin between those guys and Naz [Albadawi] or Steven [Miller] or the veterans is much less. There's not much of a drop-off.”

Sarachan also signals that he intends to curtail his reliance on loan players this year. North Carolina FC utilized at least eight loaned players last year, many of them were key contributors like Tommy McCabe, Ben Speas, Donovan Ewolo, and Nazmi Aldabawi, who returned to NCFC midseason. Entering the 2020 campaign, there is only one loanee on the roster: Manny Perez, who begins his second season with NCFC after signing last year with Celtic FC.

“[Player loans] are great because they help us with our budget, and I'm not opposed to it and we still have a couple guys out there who we might look at as loan players, and that will help with our numbers,” Sarachan explains. “But the more guys you carry the more you have to manage, so you don't want it to carry 26 players and now you’ve got 10 guys who are pissed off all the time.”

After an ill-fated stint with FC Cincinnati, Albadawi is back full-time with NCFC and begins his third stint as team captain, the first term being back in 2016.

“The first time I was made captain I was the second-youngest player on the entire roster,” Albadawi says. “I had to adjust. My whole life growing up I was taught to respect your elders. Then I was thrown into a locker room that had a lot of veteran players and egos, and then I’m the one telling them what to do and when to do it … Now that I’m a little bit older, I have more experience. I’ve worn the armband for two years, and I went away (to MLS) and learned different things, as well.”

After becoming a first-time father over the off-season, Albadawi is all-in with the team of his youth, keenly aware of which statistics he lacks to claim several team records and eager to win the trophies that have long eluded the club.

“It’s not a business to me. I actually love what I do,” Albadawi says. “I love training; I love everything that goes with it. That's not something I think I'll ever lose. Obviously having my son is the most important thing in the world to me now. But I want to make him proud. I am so excited to have him come to games and see his dad play or be able to run on the field after games and stuff like that. That's something that drives me even more to be successful.”

Forwards

Notable returnees: Robert Kristo

Notable additions: Hadji Barry; Daniele Proch

Notable departures: Donovan Ewolo; Marios Lomis; Yamikani Chester

For the first time since 2017, North Carolina FC’s leading scorer from the previous year did not leave during the off-season. But that does not mean the team is not looking to replace lost goals. When the dust settled on 2019, NCFC’s top-scoring striker was Robbie Kristo, who returns for 2020. However, the next three goal-scoring forwards are gone: Marios Lomis signed with El Paso, Yamikani Chester left for Las Vegas, and Donovan Ewolo is in limbo.

The task of making up their collective 19 league goals falls primarily to 27-year-old Hadji Barry, whose speed and dexterity has already turned heads in NCFC camp.

“Hadji gives us something we didn’t have last year,” Albadawi says, “He’s lightning quick. He’s so fast, and we’re hoping he’ll score a lot of goals for us this year … We’ve had fast players before, but when I tell you this guy is fast, he is FAST. If I don’t get the ball off my foot quick enough, he’s going to be offside. He’s probably one of the fastest players I’ve played with.”

After beginning his pro career with Orlando City, Barry enjoyed standout USL seasons from 2016-2018, netting 14 goals in 29 appearances for Orlando’s USL reserve team and 16 goals in 33 appearances for Swope Park Rangers in 2018. He played for Ironi Kiryat Shmona in Israel and the Ottawa Fury in 2019, joining each team midseason. That deprived Barry of the preseason preparation that he believes will aid him with North Carolina.

“I never got the chance to actually get a full preseason down and get to know my teammates,” Barry says. “Even the Swope Park year, by the time I reached my best we were in the middle of June or July, which was almost halfway through the season.”

Sarachan says another benefit is that Barry is adept playing throughout the front line.

“I'm not totally convinced that he's a comfortable no. 9 where he's a target guy and takes a pounding,” Sarachan says. “But he could play up high, underneath, left side, right side—he's got a good soccer brain and he's good running off the ball. In the attacking third he can provide us with some goals, whether by assists or scoring.”

“That's the positive asset I have in my ability,” Barry adds, “because when we play three strikers I can play wide or the middle or both sides of the field.”

The other forward addition is 23-year-old Italian rookie and Duke product Daniele Proch. He scored 28 goals in three seasons with the Blue Devils.

“He's got some real soccer in him,” Sarachan says. “He’s clever, he knows how to create space, he's crafty in terms of his ability on the ball by cutting it left and cutting it right. He can finish, he can slip passes, and he's quick. He's got a lot of the components where I think he could succeed. He's just young, and so the speed and physicality of USL is something he’ll have to adjust to. But he's a young guy who I think can see significant minutes for us.”

Midfields

Notable returnees: Nazmi Albadawi; Ben Speas; Steven Miller; Manny Perez; Graham Smith; Dre Fortune

Notable additions: Pecka

Notable departures: Austin da Luz; Victor Igbekoyi; Duval Wapiwo; Austin Panchot

“Our center midfield depth is very strong,” Albadawi says. “That’s something I’m interested to see how it plays out throughout the season, because we have a lot of really good players competing for two or three starting spots, depending on what formation we play.”

An emphasis for Sarachan was retaining as much of his midfield core from last year. Notwithstanding the retired Austin da Luz, Sarachan largely accomplished his aim, bringing back Albadawi, Speas, Perez, Dre Fortune, and co-leading scorer Steven Miller.

Albadawi admits that his fitness was not adequate when he came to North Carolina FC from FC Cincinnati last year.

“I came back [to North Carolina] and I wasn't fit,” Albadawi admits. “That's a big component of my game, being able to run a lot and get in good spaces. I'm not the fastest guy, but normally I'm one of the fittest. That was missing last year, so I’d get frustrated with myself because there were things I'm capable of doing that I wasn't able to do because I was tired. So the biggest thing for me this off-season was saying, look, I'm home, I know I'm gonna be here this year, so get fit and get back to what you do best. So I put in the work in the off-season.”

Firmly slated as a midfielder winger this year. Perez, the former NC State standout, returns on a year-long loan from Celtic FC, although he hopes to train with Celtic over the summer.

“I've come in stronger than I was last year,” Perez says. “Obviously I was out of college, and from college to professional is a really big jump, especially the level in Scotland where Celtic is at. So coming on loan here, I was a little frustrated at first because obviously I wanted to be over there. But I think it was good for me because I got injured here and went through it here, and it’s brought me closer to the guys and made me more comfortable. I feel like my soccer and the form I'm in right now is really good.”

The lone addition to the center midfield is a significant one. Pecka played most of his early pro career with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, frequently visiting Cary to face the Carolina RailHawks. He played the last three seasons with San Antonio FC, serving as team captain last year. He gives NCFC an outright defensive midfielder to complement his attack-minded cohorts.

“I arrived here to help my teammates, and my teammates are helping me,” Pecka says. “Our team has 3-5 leaders, and each one is experienced. I’m here to add and pass on my experience, my passion for soccer, and the good thing is I don’t like to lose. You’ll see our team fight for everything.”

Pecka is nursing a tight hamstring, so his status for the season-opener is uncertain. Nonetheless, Sarachan sees Pecka as a key cog to his team’s fortunes.

“For a little guy he still has a lot of presence in the middle of the field, and he has a little bit of a bite,” Sarachan says.

Defenders

Notable returnees: DJ Taylor; Sam Brotherton; Alex Comsia; Caleb Duvernay

Notable additions: Conor Donovan; Akeem Ward; Malick Mbaye

Notable departures: Aarón Guillén; Timmy Mehl

The team’s improved defense last year rested primarily on the versatile shoulders of Aarón Guillén, who played outside and center back on his way to being named NCFC’s defensive player of the year. Guillén is gone to Tampa Bay, leaving big boots to fill.

What remains is an exceedingly young back line. The oldest defender is newcomer Conor Donovan at age 24. The former NCFC Youth product left NC State after his freshman season to sign a Generation Adidas deal with MLS in 2015. Early promise segued into disappointment when Donovan tore his left ACL during his MLS debut. After bouncing around MLS development teams for several years, Donovan decided to return home, where the front office has long sought to lure him back.

“When we were talking in the off-season, trying to get better at center back and add a little more cover, his name popped up that he could be available,” Sarachan says. “[Donovan] was on our radar more from the club's perspective than mine only because I didn't really know him. I asked, ‘So what's he like?’ And everybody who knew him said he's a leader, he's a vocal competitor, great in the air, his feet are OK but could be better. Then Conor showed interest.”

The other six defenders on the roster are all 22 or 23 years old. The senior member of the back line is its youngest, 22-year-old DJ Taylor, who begins his third full season with NCFC after enjoying a bit of a breakout season in 2019. Sarachan hopes a year of experience will help Alex Comsia and Caleb Duvernay following their rookie pro campaigns.

This year’s other newcomers are Malick Mbaye, last year’s ACC Defender of the Year with Clemson, and Akeem Ward, an outside back who was drafted 14th overall by DC United in 2019 before spending time with Loudoun United and Birmingham City—he actually played in Cary with each team last season, including Birmingham’s playoff win over NCFC.

Ward signed with NCFC after an unsuccessful trial with the new San Diego USL team and a promising phone call with Sarachan. He brings some much-needed depth at outside back, where he is equally adept at playing on the right or left sides.

“I wanted to bring in a guy who you could plug in right away and who's not afraid,” Sarachan said. “[Ward] has got confidence. He's not the finished product yet; there's a reason why he's bounced around a little bit. But we have a good locker room culture here, and he's got personality and some experience, so I felt that for the timing and the window of opportunity to get him it was an easy decision for me.”

After joining MLS as a wide-eyed rookie last year, a season of uncertainty lent Ward a new sober outlook.

“It's kind of hard to adjust coming out of college, when you’re, ‘Oh yeah, I'm just happy to be here,’” Ward says. “Now my mentally has shifted to, this is my career, I'm fighting for a spot and fighting for minutes because if I want to move up the ladder and hopefully get back in MLS, eventually I have to be playing, getting minutes, and contributing any way to help the team. If I do that and I do well and the team does well, then we all grow from that.”

Goalkeepers

Notable returnees: Alex Tambakis

Notable additions: Paulo Pita

Notable departures: Darrin MacLeod

Team supporters presumed that after two standout seasons, starting goalkeeper Alex Tambakis would move on to greener goal areas. Sarachan apparently thought so, too, but after extended negotiations, the team was able to secure the Greek keeper for another season.

“In order to retain guys you have to reward them,” Sarachan says. “A guy like Tambakis, I thought we'd lose him. But we made him a good offer, and he didn't really have anything concrete elsewhere. Whereas in the past, you would go to a certain point and say if he's not accepting that we'll move on. So there's been some wiggle room.”

Meanwhile, the club hopes its penchant for scouting new goalkeeping talent continues with Paulo Pita. The 6-foot-3, 25-year-old Brazilian just completed two standout years at Marshall University. LAFC chose him as the 24th pick in the MLS SuperDraft, but after failing to secure a roster spot, Sarachan came calling.

“[NCFC goalkeeper coach] Nic Platter last year kind of found and followed Paulo when he was playing at Marshall,” Sarachan says. “Nic said, ‘You know, there's this Brazilian kid who I think might be available next year.’ Fast forward to this year, Paulo is a senior and he was on our radar for young guys we were going to bring in, have a look, and maybe sign. Then he got drafted and went out to LAFC. When that fell through, I knew his agent and we talked. Paulo came in and he’s good … I think he'll be a good addition to the goalkeeping competition.”