Gabriel Funes wins Sueno MLS - Dallas

Prior to Sunday's game, FC Dallas and MLS announced that Gabriel Funes, a 17-year Argentine-born forward from Arlington, Texas, was selected as the Winner of Sueño MLS 2008: The Dream Continues. The announcement was made live from Pizza Hut Park to a national TV audience during Univision’s popular weekly sports show, República Deportiva. Click here to learn more about Gabriel...

Gabriel joined Chivas USA winner Briant Reyes on the show, both players having been selected from a talent pool of approximately 2,000 participants in each hometown as the culmination of a six-week-long quest to find the best undiscovered young soccer players.

Already a star at the high school level, the lanky forward led Arlington High to a 19-1 record, scoring 35 goals this past season. Gabriel made a final impression on the FC Dallas coaches when he scored the lone goal for the Sueño Team against the FC Dallas U-17 Team on March 21. His twin brother, Jose Funes, has also inherited talent for the sport, having reached the round of 12 at Sueño MLS in Dallas.

FCD's Arturo Alvarez presented Gabriel his FC Dallas jersey during the show. Gabriel, along with Alexei Reyes (Dallas), Noel Luna (Fort Worth), and Rafael Martinez (Dallas) were selected from the Sueño tryout by FC Dallas as the first players invited to form the FC Dallas Juniors, the club's newly created developmental elite team that will directly prepare players for the professional team.

We want to congratulate these four players and the many others that left an impression on the coaching staff (which, a few will be invited to the tryout for the new youth teams). We'll have more info on the forthcoming youth initiative in the coming weeks...