Our 2024 FC Dallas player recaps continue with goalkeeper Maarten Paes.
Paes returned for this third season with FC Dallas in 2024. He became an MLS All-Star for the first time and helped guide FC Dallas to the quarterfinals of the 2024 US Open Cup.
Stat breakdown
Paes appeared in all but four games this season, which was the same number of games he appeared in during the 2023 season. If you are curious about the difference in minutes between the two seasons, he was red-carded in a game last year in St. Louis. There you go.
Breaking down a goalkeeper is always a tad different than a field player. Paes saw his save percentage go down about 4% from 2023 to 2024. He gave up more goals (52 in 2024 to 29 in 2023). He also faced about 50 more shots in 2024 than he did in 2023. Because of that, he had a career high 117 saves.
At the end of the season, Paes had five clean sheets with ten wins. That was two fewer clean sheets than the previous year and one less win (he did have 10 draws in 2023 to his six in 2024). He also saw eight penalty kicks (!) in 2024, five more than he faced in 2023. He saved three of those attempts.
But let’s focus on his passing. FC Dallas did a lot more short goal kicks in 2024 than they did in 2023. Paes was more involved in the passing game with the club as they worked to build out of the back. He was a perfect 236 for 236 in short passes, had a 96% passing percentage for medium-length passes, but his long-range passes had a 49% completion percentage.
The one stat that truly stood out to me for Paes had nothing to do with what he did in goal. He actually had one throw-in completed in 2024 (during the club’s loss to Montreal back in March). You don’t see a keeper do a throw-in often these days.
Highlight
He won the league’s Save of the Year with this double save against the LA Galaxy. It is hard to argue another save from this season over this one.
What should we expect from him in 2025?
Next season is going to be very interesting to watch with Paes. Part of that is because of the expected rebuild of the club’s defense. The other, and possibly more intriguing part, is his run with Indonesia as they look to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
I think we’ll see a few more games without Paes next year as he deals with international duty. There are dates in March and June next year to keep an eye out for.
As of this writing, Indonesia is currently third in their group. The top two automatically qualify for the World Cup, while the third and fourth teams move to the fourth round of qualifying. Japan leads their group and has already clinched a spot in the World Cup, so Indonesia can only leap over Australia in the standings.
If Indonesia moves into that Fourth Round, they’ll start playing those games in October. Winning their group there would put them in the World Cup, but a second place finish would push them to a fifth round of qualifying next November.
Final thoughts
I didn’t think I would spend so much time on Paes and his international duty here but it was all worth pointing out for next year. From what we can see, he is very motivated to get Indonesia to the World Cup.
From an FC Dallas perspective, all Paes needs is a better defense in front of him next year. I know I am stating the absolute obvious here but just comparing his 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons today, it’s pretty clear that when the defense is on top of their game, Paes is even better.
I always say with Paes that he makes the saves he is suppose to and then a couple of additional saves a game that you don’t understand how he does it. In 2024, he was under more of an onslaught with shots and shots on goal. As good as he is, he can only do so much. I believe an improved defensive group in front of him back in the discussion as one of the league’s best keepers.
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