The FC Dallas Academy is hosting a weekend of friendlies between three Major League Soccer Academy teams and three of their Mexican counterparts Saturday, Feb. 26 and Sunday, Feb. 27.

Tigres, Monterrey and Santos are sending U-16 and U-18 teams to face similar squads from FC Dallas, Sporting KC and Houston Dynamo.

“These international games are very important and special for the overall technical and tactical development of our players as well as a great way for them to gain international experience playing top teams from Mexico and MLS,” said Oscar Pareja, FC Dallas director of player development.

Mexico is hosting the U-17 World Cup June 18-July 10, while the U-20 World Cup will be played in Colombia July 29-Aug. 20. FC Dallas has 12 Academy players represented in current 2011 National Team pools for U.S. and Mexico:  Emerson Hyndman (U.S. U-15); Kellyn Acosta and Fernando Laverde (U.S. U-17); Richard Sanchez* (Mexico U-17); Moises Hernandez* (U.S. U-20); Bryan Leyva* and Ruben Luna* (Mexico U-20); Michael Ambrose, Jack Coleman, Jonathan Top*, Boyd Okwuonu and Daniel Garcia (U.S. U-18). Players with an asterisk are Home Grown players who have signed a professional contract with the FC Dallas first team.

A complete schedule of the weekend friendlies follows:

Saturday, Feb. 26

2 p.m. – U-16 FC Dallas vs. Santos (Field 5)
2 p.m. – U-18 Sporting KC vs. Monterrey (Field 6)
4 p.m. – U-16 Sporting KC vs. Tigres (Field 6)
4 p.m. – U-18 FC Dallas vs. Dynamo (Field 5)

Sunday, Feb. 27

10 a.m. – U-16 Sporting KC vs. Santos (Field 7)
10 a.m. – U-18 FC Dallas vs. Monterrey (Field 8)
12 p.m. – U-16 FC Dallas vs. Tigres (Field 8)
12 p.m. – U-18 Sporting KC vs. Dynamo (Field 7)