After last night’s penalty-kick victory over Tigres UANL of the Mexican First Division, the Rio Grande Plate rests with FC Dallas for the second time in this short rivalry and the first time since 2006.

But one of the more discussed things from that game was that in this game, George John’s first game back in front of the home crowd (well at least what part of it wasn't cheering for Tigres, which was a very small part), he was wearing the captain’s armband.

Along with Andrew Jacobson, whom he shared center back responsibilities with, Big George was the only player on the field who is a normal starter for FCD. The mere fact he donned the armband seems to have some misguided souls thinking it’s a sign of bigger things at play here.

It’s not and here’s why.

Schellas Had No Other Option for Captain

If Dallas gaffer Schellas Hyndman is anything, he’s consistent in his thought process and that definitely applies to choosing a captain. Not to throw the previous regime under the bus, but there is no way Hyndman would have ever named a newcomer, yes we’re talking about the former Traffic Cone from Mexico named Davino, as the captain.

Sure, Schellas was basically stuck with Davino as his captain once he took the job back in June 2008. Hyndman figured reversing ship in the middle of the season was a bad course of action and besides, the guy he envisioned wearing the armband in the future, Daniel Hernandez, who he has known for decades, was still several months away from joining the team.

So Hyndman rode it out with Davino. But notice the first chance he had to choose a captain, he made the no-brainer pick and chose Hernandez, a solid choice in anyone’s book. Well, there’s similar logic at play here.

John was the most experienced player in the first 11 for last night’s game, so he was really the only choice to wear the armband. That’s the main reason Schellas did it, case closed.

It Was Also a Show of Good Faith on Hyndman’s Part

There are also two other small factors to consider in this whole situation. First of all, it had to be pretty awkward for John to come back to FCD, especially considering how he headed to England in the first place. An email to Schellas 10 minutes before a training session he was expected at is enough to leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth and asking the gaffer about the whole situation, it was clear he was less than pleased with how this whole thing materialized.

Now, to be fair to George and his camp, it’s unclear whether or not that lack of notification was a mere oversight on his or his agent’s part or if that all came from his agent as far as how to handle the whole thing. But the fact of the matter is as up front as Schellas is with his players, he expects the same in return and he definitely didn’t get that.

Maybe he gave John the armband as sort of an olive branch, a way of showing him that there were no hard feelings that lingered from this whole Blackburn saga.

Some think that gesture shows that FCD is going to make a bigger offer to John in the way of a contract extension. Well, that’s mere speculation on their part.

Sure, it would be great for Dallas to extend Big George but that’s only if this is where he truly wants to be. And according to Schellas, that hasn’t been the case all year, so why would they want to extend a guy who doesn’t want to even stay with FCD and why would George agree to stay in a place where he doesn’t want to be?

From a logical standpoint, such speculation makes no sense. Also consider that with John’s normal center back partner Ugo Ihemelu out of Saturday’s match at New England on suspension, Hyndman had to see how AJ and John fared in the middle because it’s very likely that is the combination that will start in six days against the Revs.

All in all, they fared pretty well. There were several rough moments in the first half as Tigres really exerted a great deal of pressure on a very young Dallas team on the field. Still, as Hyndman shifted into the 4-4-2 in the second half, it took pressure off the back line and Jacobson and John looked like they got more comfortable playing together and fared pretty well.

So, there you have it, a look at why Hyndman made John his captain last night. No conspiracy theories or reading between the lines in play here. This was a case of him needing a veteran player to wear the armband, nothing more or nothing less.