FRISCO - As a crowd of reporters gathered around a smiling teenager in the FC Dallas locker room on Tuesday night, chants of “Cafuuu” came from across the room.
The teenager was Homegrown Reggie Cannon. The chants were the doing of a teammate nearly twice his age - Maynor Figueroa - bringing praise on the 19-year-old, drawing early comparisons to the legendary Brazilian right back, Cafu.
The defender’s incredible potential is a sentiment shared by many players in the Dallas room and, maybe most importantly, by the head coach.
“He put himself into a very serious equation to be in the lineup for the following games,” Oscar Pareja said after the match. “That tells you how much we prize his performance. I am not surprised, Reggie is a great player.”
In just his second professional start, Cannon picked up his first assist, crossing a perfect ball across the face of goal to a wide-open Ryan Hollingshead. It was just one of his many forays into the FCD attack during the match.
“I just want to put my name in Oscar’s mind. I mean, as bad as it sounds, I want to make his job difficult,” Cannon said, acknowledging he still has room to improve. “The modern-day fullback is not an easy position. It’s evolved over the years and it’s a very hard position to play. You need stamina. You need technique. You need all of it.”
Yes, he’s just 19 years old. And, yes, his name is in Pareja’s mind.
“What happened is, we all think [these young players] need games and games,” the coach added. “But then they show us and prove [us wrong], that they are ready to compete. I am very happy for Reggie.”
As the rookie works towards his MLS debut, it’s the very player’s spot Cannon is trying to take, Hernan Grana, who is giving him the most encouragement.
“He has been encouraging me and telling me the stuff I need to do on the field,” Cannon said. “Studying Grana, and Atiba [Harris], they’ve both been giving me good hints on how to play better and what I need to do to improve my game to get on the field. It really showed tonight.”
Grana hasn’t played much center back or left back in his career, and neither has Cannon, but the possibility of playing both is at least a discussion that’s being had amongst the technical staff - because Reggie Cannon is ready to play.
