One on One with North Texas SC Defender Mohamed Cisset

The young defender, Montreal native and national team player for Mali, spoke with Afterburn Soccer last week ahead of the team's next matchup against Minnesota United FC 2 on Thursday.

When FC Dallas called his name 71st overall in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft, the news was a welcome surprise to Mohamed “Momo” Cisset.

The 6-foot-2 defender out of Penn State, originally from Montreal, had no idea that FC Dallas had been scouting him as a left-footed talent to compete for a future spot on the back line. The call to go professional, though, was a dream come true.

And it wasn’t his first introduction to the FC Dallas organization.

Growing up in Montreal, soccer had been central to Momo’s life, other than one year when his mom forgot to sign him and his brother up. They tried basketball, but football was his true passion. One day on Instagram, he noticed an advertisement for a combine for an academy down in Florida. Not only did he impress, he was one of five players who got invited to attend the school, Montverde Academy.

“At that time, I was kind of a troublemaker at school,” Mo said with a smile. “So my dad didn't even think twice. He accepted it. He let me go.”

Going to school at Montverde Academy was a challenge. It tested him mentally and physically. He had to spend most of the year away from his family with infrequent visits over holiday breaks. While sports were a focus, the prep school’s real focus was on the academic next steps of its students.

“We had a really strict schedule. Wake up early in the morning, go to school, and train. It could be really hard, but it did help,” Cisset said.

While at Montverde Academy in Florida for high school, he played as a midfielder, and his team competed against an FC Dallas youth team in a competition. In their first match, he recalls that his side dominated en route to something like a 4-0 victory, but when they faced them again in the final match, the score flipped the other way. He noted one tall midfielder for the FC Dallas team that impressed him, who is now playing in Europe — none other than Tanner Tessman.

“I was so shocked, because they were so good. It was the first American team that I saw that actually could play football,” he said.

While more and more young players are going through academy systems connected to Major League Soccer teams, and noting that he did spend one summer with the Philadelphia Union academy, Penn State was one of the programs that scouted Momo, not just for his athletic skills, but his academics. That jump from high school to the college level pushed him to grow in other areas as a young man. He logged 31 games in his two seasons for the D1 school.

“The soccer side wasn’t a big jump, just because our academy had good players and played good matchups. It was more life,” Momo said. “I was so used to this schedule of always being on the same campus, being in the dorm. Always having a dorm parent tell you it is time to get up. Penn State was a big school. You had to know your path and stick to your path. I had a coach, Jeff Cook and his wife. They took me like I was their son and helped with so many things outside of football.

“So I think that's why the impact that Penn State had on me was — of course, I got to develop as a soccer player — but more as a human and as a man. They helped me a lot to grow up more mentally.”

After the draft, Cisset went right into preseason camp with FC Dallas and then was signed by North Texas Soccer Club to his first professional contract. As expected, it was a jump from college to a professional environment, a rude awakening.

“So when I first got to preseason with FC Dallas, I saw the difference, like, right away,” Momo nodded. “Just the consistency of the players, the coaches, and the staff is always 100% or more, never less. So I think that definitely, like, shocked me.”

The heat of Frisco, though, didn’t bother him. It’s a challenge, but his experience training with the Mali national team in much warmer environments prepped him for high temperatures in Texas.

The other heat he might have felt was just the expectation of going to a North Texas SC side that had finished a dominant season and won MLS Next Pro for the first time. While the roster went through a radical transformation during the offseason, Mo doesn’t feel that such a legacy has added extra pressure.

“I haven't felt pressure because of what the team achieved last year,” he said. “I feel like I put pressure on myself because I have high standards. And John, our coach, has high standards for everybody.

“The team has changed a lot. It's a younger team, so it's more difficult to handle players and, like, tactics and stuff. So I think the pressure comes when you're not the oldest, but I'm one of the leaders of the team. I have to try to keep everybody on the same page so we can actually go and perform and give 100%. So I think that's the only challenge that we have this year because I think we're a team that is one of the youngest in the league.”

Indeed, with one of the youngest rosters in Next Pro, some of the early-season challenges for North Texas SC have been about weathering the emotions of a 90-minute match. Can this young team communicate well? Can they stay focused? Can they hold their own against older and more seasoned teams?

“Sometimes it is not about how good you are, how fast you are. It’s more about your emotional intelligence and how much you can give. Because a lot of the time, young players think that, yeah, I have talent. I have this. I have that. I'm gonna do all that,” he said. “But then you come to a 24-year-old who doesn't even wanna run, but he's just smarter than you, and then you can do nothing.”

Coming off of a draw and a loss on the road, both matches where North Texas SC felt like more points were on the table, that’s a lesson, even at 20 years old, that the young defender can teach those guys coming up from the academy. Succeeding at the next level requires a mental focus, an ability to grind it out, regardless of your athletic skill.

“Well, first of all, it's hard. I feel like, personally, I embrace it. That's why I play the sport, because it's an everyday thing. Like, people see the games and stuff, but before the games, there's training. And Coach John Gall is big on that. You can't perform on game days if you don't do what you have to do at training,” Mo said. “So when it's time to train, I always make sure I try to stay locked in for the whole training. Or if I don't, maybe one day I can play well for eighty minutes, and then eighty-six minutes, I have a lack of concentration, and then a goal happens.

“And, unfortunately, that's how football works. You know? If you're not focused for the whole game, something bad can happen. So I feel like for me personally, when I'm on the training ground, that's when I try my best to stay focused for the whole training. Even when it's time for a drink, to listen to the coach talk, I try to stay focused and not get distracted. Stay focused. Stay focused. Stay focused until the coach says finish.”

Mo has appreciated the intensity and presence of John Gall, North Texas’ returning head coach, and mentioned him several times throughout the interview. In particular, Gall’s approach can test a player mentally. If you aren’t able to weather the tough love, the direct words, and high expectations, you may struggle. If you can, you will persevere or even thrive.

“If you're someone with a lot of ambitions and someone who wants to go far, I feel like John is just the right guy to have on your side. Because even when you're doing so good, he's not gonna tell you, you're doing good. He's gonna find this little mistake and wake you up. He's always gonna find this little thing to keep pushing you. And I feel like that's why, personally, I love to have him as a head coach,” Mo smiled.

While the roster has been revamped, North Texas’ front office has continued to go out and find talent, even if it is taking some time to get everyone on the same page. Key to that project is to find talented youngsters who need some seasoning and who will also push academy players coming up and vying for minutes. It’s not an easy balance to create, but you can look at the list of North Texas alumni who, while maybe not all moving on to Major League Soccer, are playing vital roles in other leagues.

Mo values the talent around him on the roster, pushing him to go toe to toe with others who are just as hungry as him.

One of those is Aaron Essel, on loan from St Johnstone FC in Scotland.

“It's good that you ask this question because I just have a good example from today's training. Our training today was actually crazy. We got into it. People were going hard. It started with me and Aaron Essel. We went for a fifty-fifty ball. I hit him, then he got mad. He tried to hit me,” Mo said. “Then for the whole training, we just went at each other hard, hard, hard, hard, hard. And at the end of the training, I shake his hand, and we start laughing again. And I feel like that's what I needed in this team, someone who's here to, like, have a war with me.”

This intensity surely carries over into the locker room as this young team continues to try to build something of their own, especially when they experience a rough month like June with three losses and just one draw.

“After games, when we drop points like that, it's always quiet, and then people just are mad. People wanna say stuff. After a game, we think it's not a good time to start talking. But then, when we get to training, we always do a recap of why we dropped those points,” Mo acknowledged. “And then on the training field, as a professional player, you have to let it go and go find the other game. So far, I think that's a good strength of our team, because we can we can forget about the losses and go find the wins. I feel like every team goes through this path during the season, but I think we'll we'll bounce back and go get what we need to get.”

What’s crucial for FC Dallas fans who are catching some of the North Texas SC games is to identify the players who might be able to help the senior team in the long run. At 20 years old, adapting to the next level might be a stretch just yet for Cisset, but he’s making strides, starting 12 games thus far and growing into his leadership. He knows, though, that the year is an opportunity to make the case and show what he is capable of doing as a starting-caliber center back.

“I think at the center back, it's all of the aspects. I have to focus on everything. I have to focus on build up plays, how I deliver my balls, how I defend, how I jump for a header, but most importantly, how I communicate with the whole team,” Mo said about the areas he has been focusing on in his development. “Because, as a center back, it's all about your energy. If you're a center back who's ready for war, always talking is good. Everybody's gonna feel it, and you're just gonna help your team do more. And then you have to be good on the ball, run, defend, and help others. I feel like that's the expectation of me.”

Of course, that is his dream, just like his teammates and others across this sport hoping to prove they have what it takes.

“Man, it's my everyday motivation, honestly. If you were to tell me, yeah, just come play for North Texas for your whole life, that's your team — I don't think I would have been as much interested. But now that you have FC Dallas that is really connected with North Texas, it helps motivate all of us, because everybody on this team wants to at least get a contract with the first team one of these days. So that's my motivation every single day,” Mo responded. “And then I got to train a lot with the first team. I have a few friends on the team who, every time I talk to them or hang with them, I just get motivated even more. You see players with big houses, nice cars — people who are settled in their lives. And for me, I'm just looking at them like, yeah. One day I wanna be like that too. So, like, yesterday, after the FC Dallas team, Ozase, the center back, dropped me home in his nice car, and we got to talk. And I'm like, yeah. That’s what I want for my life too.”

Outside of the grind of being a professional soccer player in a long season, Momo finds his joy in keeping things simple. He’s a singer and songwriter. He enjoys a walk in the evening before getting some rest. Most of his days are just the same - a bit boring, but that is how he likes it.

As a last question, we asked what he wants to see in his performances when he looks back at the end of the season, regardless of a deep playoff run or more trophies for the North Texas cabinet.

“Personally, so I think first the first thing I'll look at is how many games I got to play, how many minutes I got. Then I'm gonna ask myself, did I give everything that I could? And then I'm gonna look at how much I grew as a center back and as a soccer player,” he said.

Mo Cisset will be in the mix on Thursday evening, July 3, as North Texas as they welcome Minnesota United FC 2 to Choctaw Stadium.