FC Dallas Homegrown midfielder Diego Garcia has been called up to the U.S. U19 Men’s National Team for its first camp of 2025 from June 2-10 in Marbella, Spain. The USA will play host Spain on Saturday, June 7, and Ukraine on Tuesday, June 10. Both matches will be played at Estadio Guillermo Amor in Benidorm, Spain.

He will depart for the national team following the club’s weekend home game on May 31 against the Philadelphia Union.

Garcia made his FC Dallas debut on May 7 in Dallas’ U.S. Lamar Hunt Round of 16 matchup versus AV ALTA FC after entering the match in the 75th minute. Garcia signed as the 38th FC Dallas Homegrown player on Nov. 16, 2022. 

The 18-year old saw a productive year in 2024 with North Texas SC. The club went on to win MLS NEXT Pro Cup and Garcia was a big part of that team. He scored eight goals and seven assists through the regular season and playoffs, including two game-winning goals and two game-winning assists. Garcia set a club record as the youngest player to reach 50 appearances (18 years, 4 days).

A new year means a new sense of optimism surrounding the Dallas Cowboys. This past season is one that everyone would like wiped clean of their memory.

The final year of the Mike McCarthy era ended in a whimper. Although, we hate to use injuries as an excuse, but the Cowboys’ sideline looked like the Tune Squad after the first half of their game against the Monstars in ‘Space Jam’.

However, it is a new year, new me mentality with America’s Team, and the hope is that first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer will right the ship.

Brian Schottenheimer taking extra measures to strengthen bonds off the field

It won’t be easy getting the Cowboys back on top. The NFC East grew leaps and bounds last season, with the NFC Championship being between two teams from the division.

Recently, Loc Scataglia from NFL Spin Zone ranked every NFL division heading into the 2025 season. To no surprise, the NFC East was one of the top divisions in Scataglia’s rankings.

“The 2024 NFL Season saw the NFC Championship Game played by two teams in the NFC East, but the main issue here is that the two other teams are quite bad. The Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants have to figure themselves out, as this division is obviously only a two-horse race with the Eagles and Commanders,” wrote Scataglia, who has the NFC East as the fourth toughest division heading into the 2025 season.

If healthy, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Cowboys have a great first season under Schottenheimer.

However, winning this division will take more than health this season.

— Enjoy free coverage of the Cowboys from Dallas Cowboys on SI —

3 Cowboys players who could play Olympic flag football for Team USA

CeeDee Lamb gets head-scratching label ahead of 2025 NFL season

NFC East QB rankings place Cowboys, Dak Prescott below Giants

Cowboys All-Pro lineman Tyler Smith could break NFL record very soon

PHOTOS: Meet Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Victoria Kalina

First Shift 🏒

Maybe the best thing about the Stars’ ability to deal with adversity is that they handle change very well.

Heiskanen in? No problem, we’ll try seven defensemen. Seguin back? Shuffle the lines. Robertson trying to find a niche when his spot gets taken by Mikael Granlund during a playoff injury absence? Well, we’ll work it out.

So with Roope Hintz possibly returning for Game 4 after missing Game 3, the Stars seem more than equipped to handle whatever happens. Hintz skated in warmup for Game 3, but didn’t play. As a result, Granlund moved to center and Robertson jumped from the fourth line to the first. While Dallas lost a 6-1 game, the analytics of the moves were surprisingly successful. Robertson had five shots on goal and tallied his first goal of the playoffs. Meanwhile, the reshuffled fourth line of Steel with Colin Blackwell and Oskar Bäck combined for eight shots on goal in about 13 minutes of ice time.

“It’s next man up,” said Granlund. “You just adjust.”

Hintz skated at practice Monday in Edmonton and looked good. However, he still has to go through a morning skate on Tuesday and the Stars then probably won’t make a final decision until after the pregame warm-up.

“Heal and get better and cross our fingers and try it again in warmups,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said Monday.

Hintz, who received a slash from Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse in Game 2 on the top of his skate and suffered a “lower body injury,” said he is optimistic.

“The biggest thing right now for me is to just worry about what I can do that I can be able to play tomorrow,” Hintz said after practice. “You want to play every game, especially in the playoffs. Every game is so important. Sometimes sports are what they are. I’m now trying everything that I can so tomorrow I am able to play.”

If Hintz comes back in, there is the thought he would center Granlund and Rantanen, as he has for much of the playoffs. Could that change what Robertson is doing? Would the coaches put Robertson back on the fourth line or is there a better spot for him?

“They just made that adjustment and I had to step up,” Robertson said of Game 3. “It’s up to everybody to step up.”

In addition to finding a spot for Robertson if Hintz returns, DeBoer and company will have to look at the fourth line. Because of the health of the team in recent games, the traditional fourth line hasn’t been together as much. But the trio of Steel, Blackwell and Bäck had some real success during the regular season and early in the playoffs. Could they earn a spot in Game 4 while a more regular forward gets a healthy scratch?

“They were great last night,” DeBoer said. “If every time we got them together and played them, they played like that…we wouldn’t have broken them up. They gave us some great juice last night and if we get them back out there together, whether that’s tomorrow night or the next night, we need the same thing.”

And while the fourth line can help tilt the ice, the Stars do need someone to score goals. They have one in the past two games against Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner and have scored just 10 in seven road games (1.42 per game) in the postseason. So whatever they do with the potential return of Hintz, they have to find a way to score more goals.

“I think last night was one of our better games,” said forward Wyatt Johnston. “We can do a better job of finishing. No matter who you are playing, you want to get bodies in front of the goalie and make life difficult for him.”

The Stars have done that before. They won Game 7 against Colorado with a four-goal third period and had five goals in the third against Edmonton in Game 1. They have been able to raise their offensive game when the need has been there.

“It’s 2-1 in the series and we still have an opportunity to get one on the road,” Robertson said. “So I don’t think there’s any frustration. We know what we have to do.”