FRISCO, Texas - FC Dallas announced today that midfielder Arturo Alvarez has re-signed with the club. Per team and league policy, terms of the deal were not released.
In 2007, the 22-year old Houston, Texas native set career regular season highs in games played (27), starts (21), and minutes (1,898). He played in 36 of the teams 39 total games in all competitions, scoring eight goals and adding four assists.
"We are delighted that Arturo has re-signed with FC Dallas, given that he was out of contract and had other options," said FC Dallas Head Coach Steve Morrow. "He had a big year in 2007, and began to show his true potential. We believe he'll have an important role to play in the future".
Besides his play in MLS games, he also had break out performances in the SuperLiga and U.S. Open Cup tournaments, scoring five goals in seven combined games. On July 24, he scored the first goal in SuperLiga history with his 56th minute strike against Guadalajara in the team's 1-1 draw. His three SuperLiga goals lead the team and tied him for second in the tournament (Landon Donovan, four goals).
Arturo also scored key goals for FCD in the U.S. Open Cup: converting the winning penalty kick in the team's 4th Round win over Atlanta; the game-winning goal in the team's Quarterfinal win over Charleston; set up the go-ahead goal in the Semifinal win over Seattle; and scored a goal in the team's 3-2 loss to New England in the Open Cup final.
Alvarez joined Major League Soccer as a 17-year old, selected by the San Jose Earthquakes in the Second Round (13th overall) of the 2003 MLS SuperDraft. After two years with San Jose, he was traded to Dallas on January 14, 2005 along with midfielder Richard Mulrooney, and SJ's 6th and 29th overall pick in that year's SuperDraft in exchange for midfielder Brad Davis, an allocation and the 4th overall pick in 2005.
Alvarez is currently with the U.S. U-23 team in Florida preparing for the final round of the 2008 CONCACAF Men's Under-23 Championship, which will qualify two countries for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
2007
REGULAR SEASON - GP: 27 GS: 21 MIN: 1898 G: 3 A: 3
U.S. OPEN CUP - GP: 4 GS: 4 MIN: 429 G: 2 A: 1
SUPERLIGA - GP: 3 GS: 3 MIN: 269 G: 3 A: 0
MLS CUP PLAYOFFS - GP: 2 GS: 2 MIN: 137 G: 0 A: 0
TOTAL - GP: 36 GS: 30 MIN: 2733 G: 8 A: 4
