FRISCO, Texas – FC Dallas and Tigres UANL have more in common than just their friendly Rio Grande Plate rivalry. Both feature young, up-and-coming players by the name of Moises who have each recently started establishing their national careers with the U.S. U-20s. The careers of FC Dallas defender Moises Hernandez and Tigres forward Moises Orozco have been intertwining from across the Rio Grande for nearly two years now.
Buy Tickets to FC Dallas vs. Tigres UANL: Saturday, September 3 at 7:30 p.m. CT
Hernandez and Orozco were born just four weeks apart in early 1992 in Dallas, Texas and Oxnard, California respectively. Both started playing soccer at an early age, and while Hernandez chose to stay close to home by joining the FC Dallas Academy team, Orozco opted to try his luck south of the border and earned a trial with the youth team of Tigres in Monterrey in January of 2010.
It was during that trial that Hernandez and Orozco first crossed paths. Hernandez was part of the U.S. U-20 squad that took part in the Copa Chivas tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico. In their second game of that tournament, the U-20s dropped a 1-0 decision to the Tigres youth team on a late free kick scored by an on-trial Moises Orozco.
After a successful trial, Orozco officially joined Tigres’ youth team and quickly caught the attention of then-U.S. U-20 coach Thomas Rongen. That March Orozco was selected to compete with the U-20s in the prestigious Super Group of Dallas Cup XXXI. The FC Dallas U-18 Academy team – featuring Moises Hernandez, of course – was also featured in the Super Group that year.
Orozco showed his scoring touch again for the U-20s at Dallas Cup when he scored the team’s lone goal of the tournament in a 1-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. But the Moises’ failed to face each other in that year’s tournament, as FC Dallas and the U-20s were in different brackets of the Super Group, and neither team advanced past the Group Stage.
Orozco remained a regular with Rongen’s U-20 squad throughout 2010 while Hernandez signed a professional contract with FC Dallas in July of that year and made his professional debut in August in a friendly against 2010 UEFA Champions League winner Inter Milan.
By January of 2011, Hernandez found himself back in camp with Orozco and the rest of the U-20s as they prepared for the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship at the end of March.
“I met him at U-20 camp and we were roommates at every camp I’ve been in, so I’m really good friends with him,” said Hernandez. “He’s one of my best friends on the U-20 team. He’s a really good guy and a real humble person.”
Before leaving for the regional tournament in Guatemala, the U-20s, including Hernandez and Orozco, trained in Dallas for a week. The training camp took place at the same time as the first leg of the Rio Grande Plate in Monterrey, keeping both Moises’ out of the club competition.
Rio Grande Recap: Tigres UANL 2, FC Dallas 1
Both players featured for the team throughout its run at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship, ending with a 2-1 quarterfinal elimination at the hands of hosts Guatemala on April 6. Just two and a half weeks after leaving Guatemala, the Moises’ met again on the pitch at Pizza Hut Park in the semifinals of the Gordon Jago Super Group at the 2011 Dallas Cup when the FC Dallas U-18 Academy team faced Tigres.
Dallas Cup Recap: FC Dallas 0, Tigres UANL 5
Orozco once again showed a knack for scoring at PHP, tallying Tigres’ second goal in a 5-0 victory over FC Dallas and the Mexican club’s only goal in the final. Tigres went on to be named co-champions of the tournament after their final against Eintracht Frankfurt was rained out in the 65th minute with the score tied 1-1.
Since then, both players have been working towards breaking into the first team with their respective clubs. Hernandez has gone the full 90 in all but one Reserve League match for the FC Dallas first team this year, and has also managed to crack the 18-man game day roster a handful of times. Orozco meanwhile is currently rostered on Tigres’ Second Division team and is still striving for a professional contract.
Whether or not the two friends will face each other again in the second leg of the Rio Grande Plate won’t be known until the two teams meet this Saturday evening at Pizza Hut Park (7:30 p.m. CT, Buy Tickets). But Hernandez says Dallas Cup revenge won’t be on his mind if he gets to take the field against the other Moises this weekend.
“It’s a new start with the first team; that was with the Academy,” Hernandez said. “Hopefully we can win this match and show the Dallas fans a good game.”
