“Are you hungry or do you just want to eat?”
That’s the tried-and-true maxim of North Texas SC’s interim head coach Michel Garbini.
His players hear it almost every day. For them, it’s simple: Do you just want to win or do you need to win?
Michel is a native of Brazil and – like many of his countrymen in the sport – is known simply by his first name. Michel knows the importance of winning. Success on the field took him from a small but populous island on the south coast of Brazil to Belgium, Greece and eventually the United States.
His longest stop in the U.S. was with FC Dallas, where he played three seasons and became renowned for his magical left foot.
Following his nearly two-decade playing career, Michel resettled in Dallas to become assistant coach for the newly-formed North Texas SC—the second team of FC Dallas. In a team of constant roster and staff turnover, Michel was the one constant. He was the man behind the scenes on matchday but in training he was front and center. Whether it was position-specific drills, small-sided games or full 11v11, Michel was in the mix, leading by example with and against players 20+ years his junior.
That all changed this June, midway through North Texas SC’s sixth season. The club’s head coach, John Gall, was called up to be part of FC Dallas’ coaching staff as an assistant to Peter Luccin. Finally, Michel got his chance.
“John moved up and that was a good thing for him,” Michel said. “And all these years, I’ve been getting ready for this. My time came. I think we’ve been doing a decent job right now, driving the team to the playoffs. I’m super happy to be in this moment right now with the players and the staff.”
Michel is being modest. His North Texas side earned the most points in MLS NEXT Pro (62, six more than anyone else), the best goal differential (+24, six more than anyone else), while clinching the #1 seed and home-field advantage for the entirety of the postseason. Under Michel’s sole leadership, North Texas went 9-3-4 and won three of four extra-point shootouts.
“He's bringing out the best in the players and that shows up in the results, so the transition was quite smooth,” said Nico Gordon, North Texas’ captain who earned a place in the league’s Best XI. “He's really good, honestly. He likes to play. He's very passionate about the game. He stays on top of the guys so he knows what the guys can give. He's been with us for a long time and he pushes us every day.”
Success in the regular season is one thing. The playoffs are another. Michel knows this better than anyone having helped the club win a league title in its inaugural 2019 campaign as assistant to head coach Eric Quill. Seven players from that side have gone on to play for FC Dallas, three have become regulars for the U.S. Men’s National Team (Ricardo Pepi, Tanner Tessmann, Bryan Reynolds).
“That team had a lot of talents,” Michel explained. “We can see they still play at the highest level. And this year is going to be the same thing here. In the future, we're going to see some of these players at the highest level. (In 2019), we said ‘okay, this group has something special.’ We felt that way. (This year), we feel that way again.”
To reach the heights of 2019, Michel’s team will need to improve even further. Individually, collectively, they’ll have to be at their best every day for the next month. But they can’t look too far ahead either. They begin their playoff campaign this Sunday, Oct. 20 at home against seventh-seed Whitecaps FC 2. The key, for Michel, is to have the right mentality.
“It's my question to the players every day: Are you still hungry or do you just want something to eat?
“I think we’re still starving.”
