I’m Dustin “El Jefe” Christmann, and I am an FC Dallas fanatic from Day One of the Dallas Burn. I’m also a hater. I used to yell mean, hateful things from the stands at the Cotton Bowl and Toyota Stadium, but now, I’m sharing my id with you to help guide you, my fellow FCD fans, in your enjoyment of Major Soccer on TV.
Musical accompaniment
Last week
It’s over for 2025. For about 92 minutes, it looked like I’d be writing about FCD in this week’s column, but alas.
But I’d like to give full credit to the guys who responded to a humiliating loss in game 1 by some coming out and playing like a pack of rabid animals in game 2. They were determined to turn the game into a street fight, and they did. Tori Penso helped with that. While she pulled the yellow card multiple times, she appeared to be of a mind to not pull out the red card unless there was a bone protruding through the skin. (So maybe it was smart of Eric Quill to not send Paxton Pomykal out there.)
In the end, the more talented team won. Vancouver has as their star one of the best German players of our generation, and surrounded him with players who aren’t as well-known but are of a high caliber. There’s a reason why they finished with more points this season than FCD has ever accumulated in any season, even when they won the Supporters Shield.
If a team that is in a crummy stadium situation and that is currently for sale is doing that, why not FCD? That’s the question that we should be asking the Hunts and their minions right now.
EL SUPERCLÁSICO DEL SIGLO (de la semana)
East #2 FC Cincinnati vs. East #7 Columbus Crew (Apple TV free game, Saturday at 5:00)
This is the only game in the column this week. All the other series that I talked about last two weekends? Two-and-barbecue:
- LAFC smoked Little Brother Green in Austin. (Congratulations to the little brother on doing something that FCD has never done in 30 years: Getting beat by three goals or more in a home playoff game. Really delivering value to your fans, aren’t you?)
- Philly likewise smoked the Fire in Bridgeview.
- Vancouver did all the smoking up at their place and got the hard-fought penalty shootout win in Game 2 in Frisco.
So that leaves this game. Oh sure, I could fill this column with the other series, but that feels dishonest to me. If I haven’t told you for two weeks that a matchup is worth watching, why should I tell you that now? I’m not about to pretend that I suddenly care about CLTFC vs. NYCFC. (However, if Nashville beats Inter Miami at Son of Lockhart Stadium on Saturday night, it will be EXTREMELY funny.)
And let’s face it, this series has been delicious. To start off with, it’s a rivalry. But outside of that, both teams have been delivering value for viewing time. In Game 1, FCC’s Kévin Denkey delivered a late winner in Cincy that could’ve demoralized lesser teams. But not the Crew, who responded in Game 2 with a hide-tanning of the highest order, winning 4-0 in Columbus.
So now the series shifts back to Cincy for the decisive Game 3. All of us old heads who were around for MLS’ early years that had best-of-three series (or its close cousin, first-to-five, from 2000 to 2002) know that losing Game 1 was usually meant losing the series, because it required winning Games 2 and 3. But my belief in the Columbus Crew under Wilfried Nancy is such that I think that they can pull this out, especially when you look at the tremendous response in Game 2…
Oh yeah, that’s right, that did happen. Well, I’ll just forget that tremendous response and go with my long-standing mancrush on Nancy, give you some dumb cliche like “Nobody circles the wagons like the Columbus Crew!” and call it a day.
Jefe the Hater’s rooting pick: Columbus. I’m still not jazzed about that $5 million bag of beans.