ESPN

When FC Dallas faces DC United at RFK Stadium on Friday night, there figures to be two names pretty familiar to Dallas fans in the first 11 for the Black-and-Red in forward Maicon Santos and midfielder Marcelo Saragosa.

Santos logged 11 games with FCD and scored two goals after coming over in the trade for Eric Avila with Toronto FC early last August. Saragosa was in Frisco between 2006 and 2009, seeing time in 54 total games. The Brazilian midfielder returned to MLS this year after spending his last two seasons in Azerbaijan.

Of course, these are two players Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman knows well, so it’s natural that he offered some kind words about both of them.

“Those are two really good guys. Marcelo Saragosa is one of my all-time favorite players that I’ve coached, just a wonderful human being, hard worker, real competitor,” Hyndman said. “Maicon Santos, he went through it with us last year and a very good player that we were unable to continue to keep but has the technical ability to be a very good striker, so it will be good to see both of them.”

It appears that former FC Dallas midfielder Marcelo Saragosa has returned stateside as the 30-year-old Brazilian recently caught on with DC United. If you’re wondering where he’s been the last few years, you’re not alone.

That’s because Saragosa has been playing professionally in Azerbaijan for the last two seasons, yes they actually have professional soccer in that country neighboring the former Soviet Union.

Saragosa was with FCD between 2006 and 2009 and appeared in 54 games. He then saw action in 22 more games with Chivas USA but hasn’t been in the league since 2010, when he went into the MLS Re-Entry Draft but found no takers.

He was always a likeable guy off the field during his time with FCD but had his share of injury issues. Current Dallas manager Schellas Hyndman traded him to the Red-and-White in July 2009 and while his time here was definitely up and down, it’s nice to see him back in MLS if not for the mere fact that he’s really close friends with some guy named Kaka.