The Homegrown midfielder saw more time with North Texas SC in 2021.
FC Dallas made a bold move ahead of the 2021 MLS SuperDraft to go out and snag a Homegrown player from the Philadelphia Union academy in midfielder Kalil ElMedkhar. The move was a first for the club to reach out to another team and trade for an HGP product.
ElMedkhar didn’t see a ton of minutes with the first team in 2021 as the club opted to take a route with him similar to other past Homegrown players by sending him down to North Texas SC for most of the season while bringing him in for some minutes off the bench at random points in the year.
* During his time with North Texas, he scored four goals and led the team with five assists.
Gif that explains their 2021
I feel like ElMedkhar is just slowly lurking in the shadows of this team right now but we should see more of him in 2022.
Best moment of 2021
28′ – OH MY GOODNESS Kalil ElMedkhar from wayyyyy out!!
2-0!#NTXvGVL pic.twitter.com/7OzcXbIq1L
— North Texas SC (@northtexasSC) June 13, 2021
There weren’t many options for his time with FC Dallas, so we’re going to focus a bit on his time with North Texas. Like we mentioned above, he scored a few goals and this one back in June was a ridiculous one against Greenville. This is the kind of goal that you want to see a young player get too. It is one of those great confidence boosters and from that, it did lead to some minutes off the bench with FC Dallas.
Final Thoughts
The little bit we got to see of him in 2021 with FC Dallas was positive. He came off the bench six times with most games being in the final ten minutes or so. There was one game that he got a full half-hour of play, in the 3-2 loss at Houston on Luchi Gonzalez’s last game.
Still, his time with North Texas SC was the right place for him in 2021. He showed well during those games with that side as he looks to be another player from that line of Homegrown players to get minutes there and then make an impact the following year with FC Dallas. I see that route for him in 2022.