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Texas United

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Texas United
Full nameTexas United Football Club
Nickname(s)Texans, Los Tejanos
Founded2017; 7 years ago (2017)
StadiumJohn Clark Stadium
Plano, Texas
Capacity14,224
OwnerKiran Devaprasad
PresidentVacant
Head CoachVacant
LeagueUSL League Two
20231st, Mid South Division
Playoffs: Conference Semifinals
WebsiteClub website

Texas United is an American soccer club that currently competes in USL League Two,[1][2] the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The club plays its home games at the John Clark Stadium.

In March 2017, it was announced that the club had been granted a franchise license for USL League 2, to operate in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area.

The team is owned by Neltex Sports Group who are also owners of the Texas Airhogs and co-owners of the NBA G League franchise the Texas Legends.[3]

History

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2017 season

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The club was founded in March 2017 and announced Ryan Higginbotham as the club's inaugural head coach. The Texans finished the season with a respectful 5–8–1.

Arez Ardalani Era (2018-2022)

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In January 2018 Neltex Sports Group hired Arez Ardalani as the new head coach of Texas United. Signings of new players saw plenty of FC Dallas college based players added to the roster.[4] The Texans started the season very strong with a 5–0 victory against FC Cleburne at home and a 3–2 victory against OKC Energy U23 away. After multiple away games and a tough schedule the Texans were able to set the franchise record at 5–6–3, with multiple team and individual honors. As a result of the successful season many players were invited to or signed professional contracts with USL organizations such as Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC[5] and North Texas SC.[6]

Texas United started its 2019 season with early spring exhibitions against USL Championship clubs such as El Paso Locomotive FC,[7] OKC Energy, and Swope Park Rangers.[8] After the spring season Texas United moved forward with signing multiple trialist that impressed during the exhibition matches.[9] The club had its 2019 season opener against Houston Dynamo USL 2 franchise Brazos Valley Cavalry FC.[10]

Spring season play began in January with Texas United playing El Paso Locomotive FC.[11] Before the beginning of the 2020 USL Championship season the squad went down to play the Austin Bold FC.[12] The USL League 2 season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

2021 was a historic season for Texas United. The team made playoffs for the first time in club history and posted a franchise record of 6–5–3.

Texas United won their first trophy in 2022 by clinching the USL2 MidSouth Division championship in historic fashion. The club went undefeated with a 9–0–5 record, the only non-MLS club to do so in the division's 20-year history.[13] Texas United finished the season ranked 12th out of 113 clubs in the regular seasons final power rankings. Arez Ardalani left the club after the season, ending his era which took the Texas United project from a low tier USL 2 club to a top 15 tier 1 club.

Dave Jacobs One and Done (2023)

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After Ardalani's departure to Vancouver FC of the Canadian Premier League new ownership decided to hire Dave Jacobs as the new head coach. The season ended in another MidSouth Division championship, however due to the owners record high financial spending for the 2023 season and only doing marginally better than last season the club could not return for the 2024 USL2 season.

Players and staff

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Team management

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Coaching staff
Head Coach & Technical Director Vacant
Associate Head Coach Vacant
Assistant Coach Vacant
Assistant Coach & Goalkeeper Coach Vacant
Head Athletic Trainer Vacant
  • Last updated: 1 January 2023
  • Source: [1]

Record

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Year–by–year

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Year Division League Regular Season Record (W-D-L) Playoffs Open Cup
2017 4 USL PDL 4th, Mid South 5-1-8 Did not qualify Did not qualify
2018 4 USL PDL 5th, Mid South 5-3-6 Did not qualify Did not qualify
2019 4 USL League Two 5th, Mid South 2-1-11 Did not qualify Did not qualify
2020 4 USL League Two Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 4 USL League Two 3rd, Mid South 6-3-5 Conference Quarterfinals Did not qualify
2022 4 USL League Two 1st, Mid South 9-5-0 Conference Quarterfinals Did not qualify
2023 4 USL League Two 1st, Mid South 10-2-0 Conference Semifinals Qualified but rejected invitation to participate

Head coaches

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  • Includes USL 2 Regular season
Coach Nationality Start End Games Win Draw Loss Win %
Ryan Higginbotham  United States April 1, 2017 July 30, 2017 14 5 1 8 035.71
Arez Ardalani  United States January 29, 2018 December 15, 2022 52 22 12 18 042.31
Hassan Nemati (Interim)  United States June 10, 2019 June 24, 2019 4 0 0 4 000.00
Dave Jacobs  United States January 1, 2023 December 1, 2023 12 10 2 0 083.33

Honors

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USL League Two

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  • Division Champions (1)
    • MidSouth Division Champions: 2022, 2023
  • USL League Two Playoffs (2)
    • 2021, 2022

Stadium

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Main article: AirHogs Stadium

The club played in AirHogs Stadium, a baseball park that was also the home field for the Texas AirHogs of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. The venue featured a 17,000 square-foot Wide World of Parks Kids Zone, restaurant/sports bar, cigar bar and swimming pool. It seated 5,500 and offered 13 luxury suites.[14]

The facility had housed a number of minor league franchises, college sporting events and concerts such as the Dallas Desire, NJCAA College Baseball, High school Baseball, WAC Baseball Tournament and the NCAA Division II Baseball World Series in 2017.

With AirHogs Stadium being bought for conversion to a cricket-specific stadium,[15][16] the club's home games were played primarily at the University of Texas at Dallas beginning in the 2021 season, though their schedule also showed home dates at two public schools: Arlington Heights High School and Gateway Field at Gateway Charter Academy.[17][18]

References

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  1. ^ Texas United at www.uslleaguetwo.com
  2. ^ City, Sporting Kansas. "Rangers scrimmage vs. Creighton cancelled due to inclement weather in Nebraska". Sporting Kansas City.
  3. ^ "Sports — Crossover Entertainment". www.crossoverentertainment.net. Archived from the original on 2019-03-01.
  4. ^ "Who's in FC Dallas' Homegrown college player camp". Dallas News. June 11, 2018.
  5. ^ Staff, Riverhounds (February 22, 2019). "Hounds sign defender Caleb Smith". Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC - USL.
  6. ^ "North Texas SC practice observations: first ever session". Dallas News. February 5, 2019.
  7. ^ Chalvire, Patrick (January 21, 2019). "Locomotive FC kick off first day of practice". KFOX.
  8. ^ City, Sporting Kansas. "Swope Park Rangers announce 2019 preseason roster". Sporting Kansas City.
  9. ^ Reed, Matt (March 13, 2019). "Path2Pro Earns New Meaning With Texas United's Preseason Tour". USL League Two.
  10. ^ "Texas United 2019 schedule". Dallas News. April 9, 2019.
  11. ^ FC, El Paso Locomotive (January 21, 2020). "El Paso Locomotive unveil 2020 preseason schedule". KFOX.
  12. ^ Bils, Chris. "Soccer notebook: With Twumasi back, Bold roster complete for opener". Austin American-Statesman.
  13. ^ "Playoff Preview: The stories of League Two". www.uslleaguetwo.com. USL League Two. 21 July 2022. Archived from the original on July 22, 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  14. ^ "AirHogs Baseball". Visit Grand Prairie, Texas. City of Grand Prairie, Texas, Tourism Division. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020.
  15. ^ "Grand Prairie approves stadium redevelopment plan that could make the city a premier U.S. cricket destination". The Dallas Morning News. November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  16. ^ "Former Dallas baseball stadium to become 'new home of USA cricket'". ESPNcricinfo. November 20, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  17. ^ Carrick, Buzz (April 12, 2021). "Texas United 2021 home field and schedule". 3rd Degree. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  18. ^ "Game Schedule - 2021 Regular Season - Texas United". uslleaguetwo.com. USL League Two. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
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