From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
Mohammed Sofo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FC Dallas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match16 Oct 2027
A 2-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match13 Oct 2027
1-2 to Vancouver Whitecaps, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A season average of 7.24 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Ran Benyamin gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market18 Oct 2027
The Kaick talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FC Dallas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market18 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nathan Crockford may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match23 Aug 2027
FC Dallas are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 38 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match21 Aug 2027
It finished 2-2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A season average of 7.26 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad23 Aug 2027
No place for Kaick on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at FC Dallas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Ronald Donkor
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match19 Jun 2027
A 2-0 win over San Diego Football Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market21 Jun 2027
Petar Musa linked with a move away
The name of Petar Musa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FC Dallas say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Herman Johansson has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. FC Dallas know, and have known for weeks.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Mar 2027
A one-man rearguard from Emi Ochoa
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market22 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Dallas can pretend not to have heard.
Market22 Mar 2027
The bid was some way short and FC Dallas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Brooks Lennon
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Riquelme signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Riquelme commits to FC Dallas for another 4 years.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A new face in his position, and Santiago Moreno suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. FC Dallas have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
In brief
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The terraces
The press have found their man in Petar Musa
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The terraces
The stand has a song for Petar Musa