Cisco! Dynamo sign second Academy product

Well, if you haven't heard by now, you need to head directly to HoustonDynamo.com for full coverage of the signing of Francisco Navas Cobo today, the second Dynamo Academy product in team history.

It was a pretty emotional press conference, with Francisco's family - including his grandfather, to whom he is very close - in attendance, plus a lot of people from the Dynamo Academy and the whole organization anxious to see him make the next step. He's wearing No. 13, by the way.

HoustonDynamo.com coverage includes:
Video highlights
Video from press conference
Path to the Pros photo gallery
Signing Day photo gallery
Press release
Story on the Cobo name on his jersey
Story on his path with the Dynamo Academy

We also had some extra quotes that didn't fit into any of JY's stories for now, so we thought we'd post them here:

Dynamo Chief Operating Officer Chris Canetti

“This is a big moment in Dynamo history. More than three years ago we officially launched the Houston Dynamo Academy, and our vision was to find home-grown players from the Houston area and develop them into professional prospects and sign them to professional contracts. We’re proud to announce the second signing of that kind in our history in Francisco Navas Cobo.”

“A vision of our academy was to give young men the opportunity to showcase their talents and develop in our system, the Dynamo Way, and for our first-team coaches to have an opportunity to see them and for players to be exposed to them. The system has worked in this case in Francisco. We believe our Academy has given him this platform and opportunity, one that probably wouldn’t have existed without the Dynamo Academy, but in all reality, a lot of the credit has to go to Francisco. He quickly became somebody that James [Clarkson] recognized as a talented player in our academy. He did everything right at the academy level to earn the opportunity to join the first team.”

“He’ll probably tell you that when he first came in and started training with the Dynamo day in and day out, it was a little bit harder, a little bit faster, a little bit more intense than maybe he expected. But again, credit needs to go to him to be able to adapt and change and grow and develop, and he proved it. Dom [Kinnear] and the organization are not handing out anything here to be nice guys or because he’s a local guy. He deserves this and has earned it, and we look forward to a long-term relationship with Francisco and watching him grow over the next two, three, four years, and helping his career grow as a member of the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer.”

Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear

“About two weeks into preseason, Francisco and I had a conversation. We played a college team, and there were college scouts at the game, and a couple people asked what he wanted to do. After the next practice, I asked him if he had any interest in going to college, and he said, ‘Well it’s up to you.’ I said, ‘No it’s not up to me at all. It’s entirely up to you.’ His desire was to stay with the team and to try and prove that he belonged in that locker room on a day-to-day basis.”

“In the conversation we had with him after we offered him the contract, the message to him was: ‘Now the hard work really begins. It’s easy to impress, but it’s harder to stay and fulfill the potential you have.’ He’ll be given every opportunity to succeed and every opportunity to make everyone in this room happy, whether it be media, family, coaching staff past or present.”

“Technically, he’s a very good player. One thing we wanted to see was his ability to learn, which he did. Physically, he has great pace on the ball. A couple of times he ran 40 or 50 yards with the ball with people close to him, and these weren’t slow players, so we thought if he can run with these guys, then it makes it a lot easier for him.”

Dynamo Director of Youth Development James Clarkson

“For us to have a successful academy, we need two things: skill and opportunity. Fortunately Francisco’s got the opportunity, and he has the skill. … Hopefully he works at it every day and proves to Dominic that he deserves to be here, and he can get in the first team.”

“Any kid in Houston that has any aspirations or dreams of becoming a professional soccer player – they need to be playing for the Houston Dynamo. This is the only organization in town that can provide a clear path to the pros. This justifies the importance of the youth program. With the vision of Dominic, these young players are being given a chance. It gives everybody in the program something to strive for, and he’s a role model for the whole community.”