3rd Degree the Podcast #248

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Um, yeah. Ooh. Third degree. [00:00:11] Speaker B: The third degree nap, I guess. [00:00:14] Speaker A: Third degree, the third degree nap, I guess. Third degree nap, I guess. [00:00:22] Speaker C: Third degree nap. [00:00:25] Speaker A: Podcast, little degree. [00:00:26] Speaker C: The podcast is brought to you by Soccer 90. Com. You guys know they've been partners of ours for a while now. Listen, I do all my shopping for soccer stuff there. You should too. They got all the stuff from Europe, they got everything from MLS. They got teams all around the league. They got all that sweet Fcdowski soccer 90. Com. Use code third degree at checkout and get 20% off your order. That's code third degree, 20% off soccer 90. Com. Some exclusions may apply. [00:00:51] Speaker A: Well, hello there, FC Dallas Curious fan. Welcome to yet another episode and I'm kind of excited about this one. Episode number 248 of third degree, the podcast. Hi, it's me, Peter. There he is, Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:01:07] Speaker B: Hey, is 248 a significant number to you? [00:01:11] Speaker A: Maybe. We'll find out later in the podcast. And your hero, my hero, everybody's hero. Editor, founder, thirddegree. Net, and the original american soccer influencer himself, Buzz Carrick. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:26] Speaker C: Peter, I thought for a minute you would say the Dallas FC curious. In honor of someone that's been breaking. [00:01:32] Speaker A: News of late about FFL, we should absolutely do that. Real quick. Before we do anything else, I have to ask Dan, what is going to be the outcome of Giovanni Reyna to forest shit show. [00:01:48] Speaker B: Absolute shit show. [00:01:50] Speaker A: Buzz, what is your opinion of the future of Giovanni Reyna at forest? [00:01:55] Speaker C: I'm not going to go as far as the shit show but I think he'll end know not staying there very long. [00:02:00] Speaker A: Okay. [00:02:01] Speaker B: I'm excited for him to further tank their season and kind going to give us a hand helping hand. [00:02:06] Speaker C: I was going to say. I thought you were going to ask Dan about stomping Brighton. [00:02:09] Speaker A: Well, that was my next thing. Not that he's worried about it because clearly. What, have you guys picked up ten points in your last five games or something? That's a great run, Dan. [00:02:18] Speaker B: Somehow. Or I'm beaten in seven. [00:02:20] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, so Dan, you know what? I should throw this in here because you were kind enough to suggest this. Can you help me learn how to pronounce your player's entire name? Do you know how to do it? Because you were giving me shit about it. Do you actually know how to pronounce his entire name? [00:02:39] Speaker B: I don't know his entire name, I just know Elijah Adebayo. [00:02:44] Speaker A: Okay, well that's pretty good. No, I could say Elijah Adebayo. I couldn't say the entire 14. Name, 300 letter collection of consonants and vowels that his parents cruelly gave him so many years ago. [00:03:00] Speaker B: Adam will find it. I've got to get by the new japanese player whose name no one can also. No, no. Luton. We signed Daiki Hashi Koda Hashioka. [00:03:16] Speaker A: Very good. Sounds good to me. [00:03:19] Speaker B: But it is somewhere his name. Come on, Eli, where are you? [00:03:25] Speaker A: At Adabayos. [00:03:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. Elijah. Anu Luapo anuapo ranri tomikali makalekihai mikahani ho. Yes, that. [00:03:46] Speaker A: All right. [00:03:48] Speaker B: There's some nigerian person that's really pissed off for you right now. [00:03:53] Speaker A: What else is new? Excellent. Okay, here we go. I think it was time now to get into what is clearly the biggest story happening with football club Dallas. And that is, of course, Dan Crook once again nails his mockup of the new Dallas jersey. Congratulations, Dan. You've done it once again, my friend. [00:04:17] Speaker C: Yay. [00:04:17] Speaker B: I mean, we should probably wait till the kits released to see. [00:04:22] Speaker A: I am going to make an official announcement here on this podcast. I have seen a photo of the official jersey, and you have essentially nailed it, my friend. [00:04:37] Speaker B: Like, Paz's reaction, whatever. [00:04:43] Speaker A: You don't believe me? [00:04:46] Speaker C: I believe you. Yeah. [00:04:48] Speaker A: And I'm just telling you, Dan, you nailed it, my friend. [00:04:52] Speaker B: We're getting pretty good at these now. I mean, this, what, year? Eleven. [00:04:56] Speaker A: Now, yes. I have been told by somebody that has seen it themselves that it is correct. Or essentially, the quote was, they nailed it. And I have seen a photo of it, of a player standing in it. And from what appears to be, I'm going to guess, the media day session. And I think between those two sources, I can officially say, dan, you're about as close as you're going to possibly get without being officially an Adidas employee. Drawing it yourself. [00:05:27] Speaker B: Nice. Maybe we'll give someone a panic again. [00:05:30] Speaker C: Well, it's pretty impressive, considering that some other times that Dan has gotten really close, we've had things like a tiny piece of fabric or more visible pattern. This time, it was all just Dan's knowledge of templates and some of the stuff we'd seen on the social media in terms of color patterns and then occasional hints here and there. And to get it as close as he did is just incredible as you're saying he did. Peter, of course, say that again. As you're saying he. [00:05:58] Speaker A: Well, I. I mean, from what I've seen and what I've been told, I think you've done. And I. Again, there's a whole bunch of methodologies to this. I'm sure, Dan, that you have gone through to get to this point. So my question to you guys is, do you like it? [00:06:14] Speaker C: Well, I'm of two minds about it. I don't like that they continue to insist on not building a singular brand with whatever. In this case, they sort of have made half of a bed with hoops, but then not. So to go back and forth from that is, to me, just stupid. But in and of itself, I actually kind of like. Like, I'm not usually one for gimmicky jerseys, but I have to admit that aesthetically it does look nice, in my opinion. [00:06:44] Speaker A: I don't know if I would call it a gimmick, though, because, like, starry night was a. [00:06:49] Speaker C: Sure. Sure. [00:06:50] Speaker A: And the deconstructed Texas flag to me was a gimmick. This is kind of a spin on a traditional half panel design, right. [00:06:57] Speaker C: The gimmick for me is like the. I don't know what you'd call it, sort of the digital chunkiness as it gradients across. That's the gimmicky thing in it. But the way dad Dan has done it looks really nice. I mean, if it's as nice as this, I'll be relatively pleased. Other than the fact that I think it's just absolutely asinine to not stick with what people think is your mean at this point. There are people that call this club hoops all over the know you've made your bed. Stop screwing with. [00:07:28] Speaker A: Maybe the. Maybe the club's brand is not having a brand. [00:07:35] Speaker B: I mean, a lot of the feedback was, oh, yeah, I like it as a soccer jersey, just not as an FC Dallas jersey. And yeah, that's kind of how I like. If that's how it ends up being, that's cool. Know the back's a little bit weird, but that's MLS rules. Can't really do much about that. But yeah, I think it's cool. It kind of invokes that whole FC Basel, Caliari, Barcelona when they go back and do like, the centenary stuff. I like that. That's very visually appealing. Do wish maybe they could have done it top to bottom and then maybe that little stepped gradient could be like. That could be your kind of get out for hoops. But yeah, it'd be nice if there was some identity because they got rid of hoops and it was razor red. It's just going to be red. And now suddenly you've got kind of what people were saying about Austin. Right? How can you be Verde when you've got a majority black shirt, black shorts, black socks. Well, you're red, but your socks are blue, your shorts are blue, and half of your jersey is blue from the front. [00:08:46] Speaker A: I agree, and that's my biggest question about it. It's not that I don't like the shirt by itself, but I really wish they had put some consideration, and they probably did. But now it's essentially a navy kit. I know the back is red, but when you're looking at it from the front, it's essentially a navy kit between the socks and the shorts. And, man, I do think if they paired that with white shorts and red socks, I think that shirt would pop and look amazing. [00:09:13] Speaker C: Yeah, it would, but they won't. [00:09:17] Speaker B: Sometimes you see these in the actual fabric in person, especially because I thought the blue. Was it the powder blue or was it the burn, baby, burn? It was just kind of a night and day jersey up. Oh, no, sorry. It was the reunion jersey because it had that really subtle pattern. It was just night and day. It looked really cool up close, but then from afar, it was just a plain white shirt. Yeah, I think the powder blue one, same. You got up close, you saw those little red and blue details in. It looked really cool. But from afar, I mean, that's still my favorite color. I'm still going to like that. But it was just. That could have been a coventry shirt for you'd know if you took out the red piping so it doesn't scream FC Dallas. But maybe when you get the actual coloring in the fabric and that kind of pattern that they use within the fabric weave itself, something may pop. [00:10:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I don't know how you figured out the step gradient part, Dan, but do you agree with me that the reason for that is to avoid the illusion of what looks like purple? When you do a normal kind of blue to red or red to blue ombre or gradient? That's the only reason why I can think why they did that. Instead of just a natural fade between. [00:10:38] Speaker B: The two colors, the EAFC leak was kind of what made me think it's not a straight up gradient because there's a few with gradients. Montreal has that kind of, like, that strip where the crest is. It's got a pattern in it. Charlotte's got the blue Mountains, but it's done as, like, a white to blue stepped gradient. La Galaxy has a pattern in it, a white and silver pattern, which it looks as if it's kind of like a gradient, but really it's just a series of pinstripes that kind of rotate and move further out. So just a straight gradient on one jersey when there's several others that kind of have that as a feature, but not kind of straight up just seemed a little bit odd. So it was just trying to play around with something, see what kind of fits designs and what looks right. [00:11:32] Speaker C: I guess I would agree that part of that actually really helps make it not purplish in the transition. I mean, whether that's why they did it or why they wanted to do those gradients in general that way with that step look. But it definitely helps that, I think. But we'll see from the top of the stands, it still may look a purplish, muddy mess when you get far away or on tv. We'll have to see how that goes. And obviously, I think how much white trim there is will make a big difference. Dan's got a fair amount of white trim on. Know, I think, done in the right Adidas ways. Whether it's exactly the same or that, we'll find out. And I think that'll really help. If that trim is not popping all over the place like that, it's going to really make it muddy. [00:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Because for me, the white trim, the collar, I know what the collar is going to look like. There's a video of Hazy's ferreira, and that is the collar. The white stripes and the piping and sleeves is kind of just a guess of what goes with that collar. Bearing in mind we know what the trim on the shorts and on the socks looks like, that that's all white. They could theoretically do the reverse, right, have the red piping on the blue sleeve and the blue stripes on the red sleeve. It feels a little bit too subtle for what they've been doing this year. [00:12:49] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:12:50] Speaker A: White shorts, navy blue right sock, red. [00:12:56] Speaker C: Left sock, half and half sock. [00:12:58] Speaker B: Yeah, that'd be fun. One thing has been kind of funny since we dropped the prediction is people like it or they hate it. There's no love it. [00:13:07] Speaker A: I agree. [00:13:07] Speaker B: Kind of don't like it. No one's on the fence. It's like it or hate it. [00:13:11] Speaker A: And that's probably a good thing. Right? I can see why people don't like it because they want the club to keep with the hoop identity or whatever. But I do think just as a design for a soccer shirt, as you said earlier, I think it's a really interesting idea on a spin of a half panel, which I like. [00:13:33] Speaker B: Maybe when I'm back from the UK, we can do what we think they should have. [00:13:37] Speaker A: Okay. [00:13:38] Speaker C: Yeah. Very cool. [00:13:40] Speaker A: Very good. Well, I'm sure there are people frustrated that we started with Kit talk, you know, who you, uh, we will move on to the know, I guess. This is big news. Dallas signed like a legit striker for the first time ever in the history of the club. Some guy they just hired. I mean, I guess it's going to be kind of a big deal, but I don't know. [00:14:02] Speaker C: We have Kit talk to do. We don't have time for striker signings, honestly. [00:14:09] Speaker A: They went out and spent $10 million and signed like a 25 year old european up and comer and beat out a lot of european clubs who also wanted the guy to come play for them. And he's actually coming to play in Frisco. And I guess that's a big deal. I don't know. What do you guys think? [00:14:27] Speaker C: Well, let me first be clear is that I don't have any confirmation of this. This is just two people reporting. This, however, are very good and you can trust when they said that the paperwork has been done and this is happening, then I'm very confident to then talk about it. [00:14:42] Speaker A: I've watched buzz stuff. Yeah, this is a huge fucking deal. If it. In fact. [00:14:47] Speaker C: No, I know. [00:14:49] Speaker A: I want everybody to understand. I'm really pleased by this. And I think the three of us are like, holy cow. I can't believe this is actually happening. [00:14:57] Speaker C: Yeah, the reasons are exciting. Not because we've seen more than like a highlight reel on YouTube. I mean, I've never watched this guy in person. For all I know, the guy is know. We'll have to reserve judgment for how good he actually is, or I will. You guys can do what you want. I'm going to reserve judgment until I actually see him in person. But this is a different level for the hunts. This is a different place we've never been before. Because this wasn't contingent on them selling Jesus. This is completely independent of that. They've gone out and spend on a base, apparently 10 million ish dollars. And with possibly going up to 13 or 14, depending on what markers he hits. This is a prime of career player. He's 25, not 35 or 20. He's in the prime of his career. He's playing an elite league. He's the kind of body we've been talking about them needing for years now, ever since Blasprez left. The style wise, it takes their best player and moves him from a position he's good at to a position he's elite at and is very best at in Jesus Ferreira. So everything about it is phenomenal. And it's exactly the kind of absolute big boy pants ambition move that we talked about at the beginning of this offseason. Is this the season of ambition? So everything about it says that they're answering the question. Yes. So that's really exciting. Now, the proof, of course, is in the pudding. How good are they at scouting? Have they got the right player? They probably had to overpay a little bit because they had to outbid several clubs in Europe and they have to not just to get him to come to MLS, but then to come to FC Dallas because this ain't Miami or New York or LA. But that aside, on paper and on the hallmarks of this deal, this is absolutely phenomenal, game changing deal. Not the league, but for FC Dallas. There are other teams that have do deals like this. Dallas has never done a deal like this. So this is exciting. [00:16:43] Speaker A: It is. And I think to your point, the exciting part has nothing really to do with the player, how good he may or may not end up being. Because I think part of the conversation we're going to have is trying to set expectations for everybody. But it does speak. I mean, we started this entire offseason talking about how this was clearly a time for the Hunt brothers to establish their ambition for this club. And I feel like at least partially, this really begins to demonstrate that they do have greater ambitions than I think we all were very concerned about this time. What, a month? [00:17:25] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Messi's come into this league and change things and we wondered quite vocally and openly on this podcast and other places, are the hunts going to keep up? Are they going to show some ambition? They're going to have to change their spending ways if they're going to try and keep up with your lAFcs or your Seattle's or let alone Miami. And the money they're putting in for, you know, it's a different world. The MLS is moving into a new phase, whatever you want to call it. Somebody the other day said four. I think it's like seven. But whatever, it's a new era in MLS. Are you going to play or not? You see the things Colorado's doing, you see the things other teams are doing and you wonder if they were going to try and keep up in this league. And they know now we'll come back to how good we think he's going to be. But to see the Hunts spend this kind of money, break their record for a guy in the prime of his career, that fits an exact, I'm not going to say need, but fits in an exact way that everybody that sort of observer. This team thought this is how you most make this team make a leap forward and really compete. It's just super exciting to see them go for it. You got to love it. [00:18:30] Speaker A: Dan, have you ever felt this weird when both Luton and Dallas are making signings that I'm going to guess you're at least moderately excited about? [00:18:41] Speaker B: Yeah, it is very know. I think one of the guys that does a podcast with Luton called the Hashioka signing paradigm shifting because Luton doesn't have the infrastructure to bring in guys that aren't settled in an english speaking nation. So to bring a japanese guy who the closest has been is Belgium is a big deal. It means you've got that infrastructure in place. It means you've got that ambition and it's the same here. You've got a guy that Tom Bogot saying 9.7 up front with another 3.3 million in add ons. A guy who was sat on the bench for the UA for Nations League final recently. That's crazy. That's not jettison or any of the kind of bargain bin. Players that well not know Hara was a big sign and didn't work out. But you've had like your jettisons and players like that who they're found in some bargain bin somewhere and kick tires. Hope it works. If it doesn't, you're only out $3.50 in a twix. [00:19:51] Speaker C: I do have to question what Oscar Pereira thinks today when Nance just spent 10 million on a striker and he was about to lose his striker for like 4 million. Although that's a funny story too. [00:20:01] Speaker A: Well, you know what? That's funny. You bring that up because I do wonder how much of their decision to make this financial move has seeds planted from Oscar leaving. Because we all know a big part of the reason why Oscar up and left was because they wouldn't spend the money to get him a nine that he asked for. And so you do wonder if maybe being on an option year they were like, if we don't get this guy what he wants and we really like him as a coach, we got to do something to keep him happy. I mean, I do wonder if that's a part of this. [00:20:36] Speaker C: I think there's a small part of it that is not. Maybe even more than a small part. There's definitely the way the league is changing and reacting to Messi. They've seen the value of what a guy like Jesus can bring them and they've seen various players who are perhaps willing to leave because of a perceived lack of ambition, perception, even from the outside that you're not trying very hard, can actually even affect your ability to do anything in terms of player business. So I imagine that all goes into it. It's just a continued evolution. And we've talked about too, all these talk we hear and sources we have and even the hunts themselves talking about this stadium renovation that's coming too. So we've always said that the Hunts invested in this team in ways that other people might not do it. And people always lamented they didn't spend money on players. But we've always said, look, they've spending a lot of money, just not that way. But now they're going that way and that's exciting and new and maybe they've finally woken up a little bit to the way the world market works. Or also maybe they're awful, really confident that they're going to be able to make money on players as they sell them on, too. It's entirely possible they think of this guy at 25 as a dude who two or three years from now they can sell at 28 for even more money potentially. [00:21:54] Speaker A: You brought him up. I do wonder how much I would love to know what Jesus is thinking right now, because that's a guy who clearly was upset that the deal that he wanted to happen for reasons I'm still very confused about. But whatever I have to assume at this point, this has in some way has to at least make him feel better that he's got a guy to play off of. [00:22:17] Speaker C: I imagine he's excited about it. I'm sure they would have told him that they were going after somebody because otherwise he's been sitting around in the first couple of weeks of training very confused about why he's not playing nine anymore. So he must have a good point. Yeah, they would have had to have told him, hey, we're trying to get maybe not by name, but they would have had to have told him what the idea is behind moving him around or else he'd be, I don't think he's the guy that would quit on you, but he would be really baffled and confused and maybe not on his best game if he's not on board with the program. And basically what we saw from his play and what I saw the day that I was able to catch training is he doesn't look like he's not on board. He looks like he's on know. Like I said before, I feel pretty confident that rejection happened well before camp know or in the week before the camp opened and certainly before they'd gone to Spain. So by now he was probably moving past it. And hopefully he's excited about this new know to have somebody to play off of. It'll really free him up, theoretically. [00:23:18] Speaker A: Okay, Dan, so we're all on the same page. We're all legitimately excited about this news, both in terms of what it means for the hunt's ambition and for the actual player himself. Correct? We're all in agreement. Yes. Dan? [00:23:34] Speaker B: Yes. Are you going to piss on this parade now? [00:23:37] Speaker A: No, I'm not. But I feel like part of our buzz. Do you agree part of our responsibility for the curious is properly setting expectations? [00:23:46] Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah. [00:23:48] Speaker A: Right. And so you never know what's going to happen when a guy comes in from a foreign country. I mean, there are a lot of reasons to think this is all have the check marks of things we like. He's 25, he's played at a couple of other clubs, he's played outside of his regular, he's had to travel and move to a different country, et cetera, et cetera. But you just never know until you see a player. And I will also submit that one of the things that I always ask when a player with a pedigree or a name or coming from Europe back to MLS comes, I always ask this question, why is this guy in Frisco, Texas? What do I not know? And I don't think that's an unfair question to ask. I know it sounds a little self loathing, but I do think it's a fair question. [00:24:41] Speaker C: Well, we've always said in the past if a player didn't have a flaw, they wouldn't be in Major League Soccer. But I think that there is a caveat to that, that the landscape is changing because of people like Messi. But even in the couple of years before this, this league is becoming more and more accepted as a place that is legitimately competitive. And people have seen it now as a stepping stone if you're trying to get to the next level. These teams on mls are now competing with teams like second division or lower first division teams in the big five leagues or bigger teams in the next five or six leagues in Europe, MLS now competes with those teams. The amount of money that guys can come here and get paid is on par with those leagues. So it's a very viable option. Just over the last, even two or three years, this has started to happen, I think, and MLS has made itself viable. So you're seeing guys pass on the top of the second division or the bottom of the first division to come to an MLS team very confidently and very happy with the way it's going to end up going for them. It's new for FC Dallas to see that, I grant you that, but I think there's a little bit of that in this landscape. But I think you're correct in saying that obviously there was something at Benfica that made him willing to move. He wasn't quite getting in the lineups, perhaps like he wanted to. He does have a great goal ratio in the limited minutes he's been getting, but you always wonder at 25 why he's not the guy. So those are the lingering questions that are going to be out there. [00:26:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Let me throw this out because I did some research and ended up connecting with a sports guy who covers the portuguese league, specifically Benfica, which, by the way, last week I learned I've been pronouncing it incorrectly all this time. Somehow I magically inserted an extra letter in the word beneficiary and calling it beneficia. [00:26:35] Speaker C: I want to say anything and I. [00:26:37] Speaker A: Have no idea why I was saying it that way. Either I'm just an idiot and I made it up myself, or somewhere in the nascent years of my soccer learnings somebody called it that and I just picked it up on it. Anyway, it's Benfica, so this person is an expert in that particular club and this is what I got back from him as his scouting on Mr. Musa. Quote, he has his useful moments. Not good enough to be a Benfica starter, though, as in I'd rather even start Arthur Cabral. Good for Boa Vista and maybe good in MLS, but never looked like cracking the Benfica eleven decent against knackered and shit defenses. I treat the FBref numbers with caution. He's been getting sporadic minutes for a mega dominant team and I thought that was all really interesting insight because it does answer some of the questions that when you do look at his stats, like everybody immediately ran to FB ref and did that scouting chart where you get the bars and it's just filled to the max with green, but then you go and look at the minutes that he's played and you're like, wait, these two things don't match up. I do think, to be fair, we just got to wait and see what the kid does when he gets here in a few weeks, right? [00:28:02] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, the thing about stats is you can give him say whatever you want. I mean, if you go back a couple of seasons to when he was in a team, he started a lot. It looked pretty good, and certainly I think that two years ago when Reggie went to Boa Vista and they also took the kid from Houston who. Yes, Albert Elise, another fantastic player. They were bringing in some really quality talent at the time. Their whole inability to pay is a different question. So for him to be pretty key contributor into that particular team is probably a good sign. But yes, I 100% agree with you. You never know what you're getting if his girlfriend doesn't get her green card. We could be looking at that's a fun on the list story with Ned Yalkov. But there's a million things like that can derail a guy. He just doesn't like it here, doesn't speak enough of the language, doesn't fit in whatever these things happen. [00:28:52] Speaker B: Even just the whole. Nico is pretty big on this 5221 this year. Okay. Does he actually fit that role or does he theoretically fit that? [00:29:02] Speaker C: Yeah. You have to see how it all mean. We talk a lot about how Nico wants strikers that move pretty even their center channel nines that you still want them to move. How much does that guy want to move? We don't know. We haven't seen enough of tape on him. How does he hold up in heat? It is ridiculously hot here. This is one of the hottest fields, if not the hottest home field in the world. It's tough for some people that some people don't do well when they come here and they have to train this stuff every day. So there's lots of questions that will have to be answered with his play on the field, and we shouldn't be going crazy. Which is why I come back to the idea that it almost doesn't matter. Of course it matters what he plays like, but it almost doesn't matter what he plays like because it's a paradigm change, and paradigm shifts are noteworthy and important to talk about, even if it doesn't quite pan out like we want them to do. Maybe it's a bus. That doesn't change the fact it's a paradigm change. [00:29:58] Speaker A: No. And buzz, you were kind enough immediately after it kind of started to leak out. You went out and seeked out the dreaded YouTube highlight video package. [00:30:08] Speaker C: Yeah, the most recent one I can. [00:30:11] Speaker A: And you and I and Dan have all talked. Well, I don't know. I don't want to speak for Dan. I'm not a big fan of those things. [00:30:17] Speaker C: Yeah. In general, me either. [00:30:19] Speaker A: But I have to say I was impressed by this one, if only because of the quality and variety of the different types of skills that he appears to show off. Like he's heading goals in, he's beating defenders on the dribble, he's creating space for himself, he's hitting bangers from distance. At least in that video. It's just not the same thing over and over. He's got a tap in here, you know what I'm saying? I was really kind of impressed by that. [00:30:48] Speaker C: Yeah, no, it's a very good video. Very well mean. The video is good and then also the player looks good and all you can do at this point is just hope that that video translates into reality. Sure. To going back and digging out old game tapes, which I'm not going to bother to do, I'll just wait till I see them in. Um. Yeah, hopefully it works out. [00:31:08] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:08] Speaker C: Dan, what did you think of the. [00:31:09] Speaker B: Tape I haven't watched? Say, it's hard to put value in think, you know, it's one thing after it's know. After Logan Farrington was drafted, I went and looked kind of just to see kind of what his physicality was like, what his pace was like, could he head a ball, things like that. But it's always difficult, especially in this kind of system where Nico wants players to drop back. He wants them to kind of get involved with the build. Well, you're not always going to see that from that because those videos just kind of obsess over. Oh, he nutmeg, this guy. Oh, he scored. Oh, he set up a great opportunity, but then some guy fluffed it over. So we're going to cut the video actually before the shot. And fair enough, the whole point is it's a highlight video. You don't want to necessarily just see the highlights. You want to see how he handles different situations. So the only way we get to see that is in practice and in. [00:32:07] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:32:10] Speaker A: So I guess the word is that the deal, I guess Fabrizio and Bogart both have said the deal is essentially done and that he's joining the club in Spain. Is that correct? [00:32:23] Speaker C: Yeah. That's usually pretty normal for those guys that are in Europe to join because they don't need the visa to join over there. Then they can train and they can do their. They both said that the physicals tomorrow and the paperwork's been submitted and signed. So at this point we're just waiting for actual confirmation from the club, a press release, which probably won't happen until after he has his physical. So they'll probably put out some pictures or whatever later in the week. And obviously we won't see him because right now there's no word of any of the games over there being streamed, even though they told me they were going to be. So far they haven't said that any are. So we may have to wait until he comes back here to see him. So hopefully we'll get some good stuff. But by the end of the week, probably you might see an official announcement because they probably have to clear the paperwork through the league office before they'll announce it, I would imagine. [00:33:13] Speaker A: Before we get on to what this means tactically for the club and specifically for Jesus, I do want to comment my friend Lars Siverston, who comes on the kicker and pretty often he heard about this signing, and his comment to me was how impressed he is. He's like, wow, the dollars in MLS, really? I can't quote it because I don't have it in front of me, but basically what he was saying was that he was really impressed that MLS must seriously be increasing salaries because to get this guy, it's not coming cheap, not in transfer fee, but what they're going to end up paying him a salary on is significant. And if Dallas is doing it, that's a really clear indicator of a significant change. [00:34:02] Speaker C: Yes, the league is different now than it was even six months ago since Messi got here, and it was already changing in the last few years anyway. Before that, when we saw guys getting paid 10 million a year by Toronto, not that it worked, but we saw it. [00:34:14] Speaker A: What do you think he's making a year here, Dan? What do you think he's going to get when the salary thing comes out in whatever it is, may or whatever? [00:34:22] Speaker B: That's a good question. Supposedly he makes around a million and change in Portugal, so, I mean, I kind of figure that's one and a half, two at least. [00:34:36] Speaker C: I don't think it'll be more than Franco. Horror. [00:34:38] Speaker A: What was horror? Making three. [00:34:40] Speaker C: But part of his three, remember, was the fees that they had paid him up front. [00:34:44] Speaker A: Right. [00:34:44] Speaker C: But that doesn't mean it's not all part of his salary. It just got amateurized over the course of the, you know, it's hard to know exactly how this thing will be structured, but I imagine it won't. I don't think it's going to be like a five. It's still an FC Dallas team, so it's probably going to be, I would imagine based on how much the transfer fee is, it'll be above the line for what of a contract you can buy down. That means over 1.6 ish. So probably two. Probably less than three, but maybe two or more. Probably because I'm sure you had to give him a raise to get him to come here. Part of it. [00:35:21] Speaker A: He's going to have a bitching house in Frisco, isn't he? [00:35:23] Speaker C: Yeah. Or downtown, like. Yeah, I think Mindy lives down there, too, based on some photos he's put out. [00:35:31] Speaker A: Wow, that is crazy talk. How much of a sav is this, Buzz? This is such a. I mean, a promising number nine signing. How much of a sav is this over the fact that they didn't sign the center back we wanted them to sign? [00:35:51] Speaker C: Well, not a lot, because to me, the center back problem speaks to a failure to evaluate the centerbacks you have on your roster. I know they like to talk about how great this defense is, but for me, the last two years, Martin Paws has propped this defense up a little bit. So I don't think the defense is a collective is quite as good as they think it is. And the depth at center backs is obviously a real problem. Listen, I get all this talk about Omar and how healthy he was or whatever, but that wasn't the problem. The problem is that I don't want Ibiaga, at 32, to be starting, be your number two starting a bulk of the game's player. I want him to be a reserve player. I wanted to upgrade at left center back so Nicosi can be the right center back. So the fact that there's a lack of recognition that that was what needed to happen is still worrisome to me, that they're willing to go with what they are now. So it doesn't help with that. It does help with the idea that they just went out and got a reserve six and didn't look to upgrade that spot, but that at least was a solid, it looks like on paper, a solid move, too. So I'm not complaining about that move, per se either, but I still am really bothered by this evaluation of their defense. [00:37:06] Speaker A: Well, especially if they are going to play three in the back a lot. And we'll talk about some of the other news here in a little bit. But what I wanted to ask now is knowing what we know about this particular player, buzz, and obviously you haven't seen him in person, et cetera, et cetera. But what does this mean in terms of what the offense is going to look like under Nico with this proper number nine in place? And what does it specifically mean for Jesus? [00:37:32] Speaker C: Well, it means that Jesus won't be playing nine, because obviously you want Jesus to start. And if you're going to pay 10 million for a guy, he's starting two. So it means that you're going to play. There's really three options. Well, there's actually four. You can play a two striker system which gives you two of those options. There's a four four two or you can play a three five two. Both of those things give you two strikers where you have Musa and Jesus as your two guys. You could continue to play coach Nico's favorite four three three. It just means that Jesus is a wing, which is sort of his instinctual status thing to do anyway, and is where he broke in with his team to begin with. He's perfectly capable of being as a wing in a four three three. That's no problem. So that'll look much like last year, except he would be where are. Velasco was for most of the year. And then the last option is the thing we've seen a lot lately, which is what I call the three four three. And they insist on calling a five two one. It's the same thing. They're just trying to communicate the point. We talked about this last week, this point of that. The wings have to become these underneath players. They can't be wide wings. Right. That's the whole thing. So they use that more involved nomenclature. It's a three four three. It's just not all of them are the same. So it's the formation that they've used against Miami and against New Mexico now in two games. So that's an indicator that they're leaning that direction. But specifically, coach told me that he was not abandoning the four three three and they were definitely trying a four four two in training and they definitely tried this three four three in training and that he was going to switch that tactics all the time like he did last year. So I don't think you're going to see the team married to any one of these systems. I think you'll see them rotate in and out of these systems from game to game or even in one game. We saw that multiple times last year where coach would sub in guys and they would do two or three different formations in the context of one game. I think they'll continue to do that. This coach in particular really likes that versatility. So all it really means is that most of the time when you have Musa and Jesus on the field together, you're going to see Jesus play off of Musa either in a Graziani Christ nine and ten style, or in a wing style, or in this three four three style, something like that. So it means Jesus is not a nine. Except, of course, that maybe there are occasions in teams that you play against where you might think to yourself, oh, a really mobile false nine might do wonders in this game. I'm going to give Musa this game off, or vice versa, where Musa, Zan and Jesus gets a game off. Both those two guys are not going to start 34 games. So when you throw in a cup and league's cup and all this other stuff, there's going to be lots of versatility. But that'll be the primary component is to take advantage of your best player in his best position, which is off of a nine. [00:40:27] Speaker A: I also had an epiphany when thinking about this is that it's kind of amazing that signing Musa to play the nine in some ways oddly solves the missing Velasco situation. Because we all thought Velasco was going to end up kind of playing more of a center of that three middle of the three midfielders, that kind of attacking. Well, now that he's not available, this allows Jesus to play that role. And now you don't have to worry about replacing Velasco as much. [00:40:55] Speaker C: Yeah, you can play Jesus deeper in like a pure ten kind of thing, but that's not quite his game. Steve Davis jokingly called it a 9.5, which is the idea of a four four two is then you have Areola, who can for sure play wide in a four four two. It's a minor four four two. He ain't going to be back there sitting flat on top of the outside back, but you might see a little less of the four three three at the beginning of the season until Vlasco comes back. Because if you're going to play that way, then you're looking at legit and Paxton as those inside half space players underneath. And then all of a sudden, Jesus is pushed way outside like Bernie and like a regular sort of four three three. So I think you might see less of that up front and more of this three four three where Jesus, as we've seen in the two games where Jesus and Areola are underneath a spot legit could field as well, a spot that probably, like a Bernie is not so much. We saw him go wingback, but some other guys they've signed can fit into those slots, some of these kids and stuff. So it allows you to go double pivot to more. Because if you do want to use Jesus in that spot, like you talked about, you can go pure double behind him. [00:42:10] Speaker A: And how much of this applies to or impacts the question at center midfield between who's going to play it as six or eight, or having to have two eights and a six or two sixes in an eight, how much does that change this? [00:42:25] Speaker C: Not really. That doesn't have much effect because those things all hold the same because I don't think you're going to put Jesus back into that combo. So you're still missing Velasco, so you're still relying on the same guys. How many sixes versus eights you're going to field will depend on who you're playing, how physical you want to be, which one of those tactic shapes you're going to use. We saw games last year where you might default to where Yaramini is your six and Paxton's year eight in a double. Look. But there were times last year where coach said, I really want this physical presence in there. So, okay, Liam Fraser is starting and now Irmandi is at the eight, and maybe Paxton has a game off. We don't want to start Pax in 34 games either. We want him to start 20 something games until he proves he can do it. So the mix is still in. Midfield is still going to be the same. Having a nine for Jesus to play off just changes the front. It doesn't change the whole thing, because the styles, the way they want to play is the same. This modern idea of the fluidity of tactic, of getting that five across with the half spaces occupied, those things are still true no matter what the base shape is you're using. The base shape just gives us a structure as we flow forward and backwards and watch, it's. You're still going to end up with people in the same situations and that won't change. [00:43:45] Speaker A: So, Buzz? [00:43:46] Speaker C: Yeah? [00:43:46] Speaker A: We need your official. What's the word? I'm trying to think of Dan Buzz's official opinion of all of this. Like how excited, on a scale of one to ten, how excited are you about the signing of patter Musa? [00:44:03] Speaker C: Well, I'm as excited as I can be until I see them on paper. It's exactly what they needed to do. It's easy for me to say this because they're following, literally the plan I wrote. I mean, they're not literally following it, they're figuratively following the plan that I wrote. So all my reputation, if this sucks, I'm going to be looking like mud on my face. Although if he sucks, that's not my fault. I didn't scout him. But we've talked about last year, all the time we talked about, they stood Pat, they didn't do anything right. They just. Ibi was the only thing they did different, and I was like, you're going to go backwards. And sure enough, they went backwards. So at the beginning of this spring on this podcast, and then the stuff I wrote, and Dan, you were here too for this. We're like, where's the ambition? Are you going to get better or not? And they did exactly like the number one big money. Are you going to play in this league or not? Move. And that's really exciting. So I'm as excited as I can be about this particular player and what's going to do up front. Now, would I have liked a pure six? Yes. Would I like to center back? Yes. But short of really mostly more the center back than anything else still annoys me. But other than that, I'm as excited as it could be. [00:45:11] Speaker A: Dan, if they don't make any other moves this offseason, is the 2024 edition of the Burn better or the same or worse than the 23 edition? [00:45:24] Speaker B: I mean, it'd be, at worst it would be better just on the fact that you haven't really lost anything significant. You've kicked away what's his name always, frequently went to Austin. [00:45:38] Speaker C: Obrion. [00:45:39] Speaker B: Yeah, Obrion. Martinez. [00:45:43] Speaker A: We have some names to choose for that. [00:45:47] Speaker B: Well, I mean, honestly, out of those, Faku is the biggest loss. And I think Frazier was just phenomenal late in the season. And, yeah, you've kind of made that kind of a moot point. It would be great to sign another center back. Gonzalez has looked really good in the two games so far. If this is a change of scenery and everything, that kind of gets him going the same way it kind of did. Forget. Cool. Yeah. It'd be interesting to see how that part pans out, but I think that actually links towards something else buzz was going to talk about later on. [00:46:35] Speaker A: Your ruling is this is a better team this year on paper than last year so far? [00:46:42] Speaker B: Yes. [00:46:43] Speaker A: Okay, just real quick question, buzz, because I just thought about this. When Velasco comes back and he's healthy, where does he fit in this new team? [00:46:57] Speaker C: Well, at the end of last season, I was said 100% clearly as that free eight role that was working so well for him. But we'll have to see what the dominant formation is at that point. At that point, they'll have established their normal operating lineup. Now, it's been a four three three for two years now, and it may be that it still is by the time we get deep into the season. So we can only say what it'll be when we watch it happen. So if they're still in that four three three, then it would be that underneath a free eight role. But if they're playing a different formation, then if they're playing at that point, if they've established this three four three, the new one, well, then it would be like in the role we saw Jesus Ariel playing, that underneath the striker, which is theoretically sort of a wing, but it's not really. It's like two false wings, kind of. So it would be back to that spot because you wouldn't play him deep in a double pivot, or you wouldn't put him at wing back. Right. So it's like maybe the formation at the beginning of the year is not the formation at the end of the year when he comes back, depending on how healthy he is, too. So it really is impossible to say until we see the circumstances when he comes back. If you pick any given formation, I could tell you where I would play him, but that doesn't mean that that's what's going to be. What's going to be happening in terms of the team's tactics at that point. [00:48:18] Speaker A: Okay, so moving on, we were talking about the center back situation and the fact that they've been playing three in the back, which really begins to expose the thinness of that position for the team. And hence, despite the fact that he told you, looked you right in the eye in the face, and told you they were done signing center backs, the club has recently been linked with another center back. [00:48:42] Speaker C: Well, the thing about that in general is that if you are going to play three center back formation, whether it be this current one or a three, five, two, or whatever it's going to be, then you absolutely have to add some more center backs. They don't have enough even. You use injunka in there, and theoretically, you can use Farfan in there, and we've even seen imitomasi do it. That's not what you want. You at least need one, if not two more if you're going to make that your primary. You know, the fact that this one particular guy was linked. It was a name I liked. It looked nice. It was a pure lefty, left footed center back. So he would play over there on the left side. Position of need. That'd be great. Sounds perfect. [00:49:18] Speaker A: Can you say who it is? [00:49:19] Speaker C: Yeah. Kobayashi, right. Wasn't that his name, the kid from Celtic? Is that where he is? [00:49:26] Speaker A: Was it at. [00:49:29] Speaker C: He's. He did. He's not getting into their lineup, and they want to loan him to get some playing time. So if you really are going three at the back. That'd be a great pickup. Everything about it's awesome. The point to consider in terms of them telling me they were set at center back was when they were playing a four three three. And then they get into camp and they start playing Jesus at these other positions and they start playing. Logan Farrington is a high striker and Anson is a high striker and now they're going to go out and get this high striker and maybe coaches really liking this three man back. So it's entirely possible that what Zaha told me now two and a half weeks ago has changed. I mean, that's what these preseason games are for, is to analyze that stuff and they decide they really like it. They may have reevaluated that idea and say, okay, we got to go get a center back now. And so those things have resurfaced. So what was true two months ago, not two months ago, two and a half weeks ago could not be true now. And that's why you could see it again. So even if, even if it's not that guy, if we continue to see more centerbacks linked, that might tell you that they have indeed changed their mind about that idea that they were going to get a center back. We still thought there should be one anyway. Right. So it's only that he said that they weren't going to. That we thought that they weren't going to because we all thought that they would. Just based on talent. [00:50:42] Speaker A: Maybe the one time. I really hope they lied to you. [00:50:45] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it would be the first time I've caught them outright, but again, it's been enough time now that. It's hard to say that really it would be. It would just be that things. [00:50:55] Speaker A: Uh, also, you got word from Nico that he's made a decision on Nolan Norris's position. [00:51:01] Speaker C: Oh, that was a Dan thing. Dan on that one. [00:51:03] Speaker B: Yeah, that was actually Steve Davis. Oh, there you the. [00:51:07] Speaker A: Hey, Steve. [00:51:09] Speaker B: That was the scrum after the New Mexico game. [00:51:12] Speaker C: Yeah. So the point of it is that coach says that Norris for them now is a six and they sort of decided that's where he's going to play. So the fact that they went out and got another six makes me think that almost certainly Norris will play the bulk of this season at North Texas, which is fine. He's probably not necessarily ready to be like a big time player in MLS level. He is only 19 years old. He probably is going to be involved. This is a topic for later in the podcast. It was going to be, but he'll be involved with the U 20 team, I'm pretty sure through the CONcaCaf championships which are in February, the idea that leading up to the U 20 World cup next year, which is two thousand and five s and two thousand and six s, I talked to somebody who's a lot more familiar with the youth national team program than I am and they said that left back is really bad in that 506 group and that Norris is basically the deadlock left back starter. He plays 90 minutes every game because there's nobody else, which is funny because Dallas won't play him there. He's not going to be a left back for Dallas. He's going to be a six. So he'll be gone a fair amount this year, probably certainly for the Concordcraft championships and maybe for more of that as the U 20s head towards next year's U 20 World cup. [00:52:25] Speaker A: All right, and because you promised people on twitter you would explain this news and you promised that it was good news. Yes, there's something happening with Antonio Carrera. [00:52:36] Speaker C: Yeah, he's going to go on loan, as I suggested he should a month or two ago and have brought up a couple of times to a USL championship team. I can't say which one I've been asked not to say, but why it's a good thing is that when you have, and I actually even asked coach about this and he told me that they were considering it because they want to invest in Antonio Carrera. This is a young player they want to build up for the future. This club will from time to time send players out on loans for this very purpose. I've mentioned before, Jesus Ferreira went to Tulsa. Brandon Sylvania went to Tulsa. Emo went to Oklahoma City. Jesse Gonzalez went to Pittsburgh. I think various guys have gone to these USL championship loans that they're trying to invest in and so the decision with Antonio has to be built around starts. So whoever it is, and I'm not going to say there has to be some level of commitment to starts. I don't know the detail, but I'm sure it's there. And I would assume probably that there's a right of recall because if there's not a right of recall then you have to go get a third keeper. You can't go through a memoir of season with just two, whereas if you have a right of recall, then you can just go with two. You can go with paws and Mauer. Potentially you could, and just call Antonio back like you did Colin Smith last year, if you need know. That's not so like it may be that you may see them sign some sort of journeyman third keeper, possibly like when they went and got Zobeck, for example, just to have a body while Antonio's gone, you know. So that'll be some detail to look for because that part I don't know whether there'll be recall or not or whether they'll have to go get another keeper or. But. So that's a minor detail to watch out for. But it's super exciting that you're going to because Antonio started enough in north Texas that he's kind of moving past that in terms of its value. The value to him staying here is working with Drew Keyshawn, not playing for north Texas. It's better to get him challenged at a slightly higher level again. Taking kids out of their comfort zone, taking them away from their families, taking them away from the coaches they know, putting them in a heat of competition, one where they're going to get some games in unfamiliar territory. That's all how you make better players. [00:54:47] Speaker A: So it's weeks now we can say that he will not be going to the Austin bold or San Diego l'Oreal. [00:54:55] Speaker C: Yes. Because those years don't exist anymore. Yeah, those teams don't exist. No. [00:55:05] Speaker A: Okay. In other related news, let's see. Leagues cup got announced. Dallas knows the teams in their group. How are we feeling about St. Louis City and Juarez? [00:55:19] Speaker C: Well, the funny thing is they changed the way they determine these groups. So it was supposed to be Tigris and now it's. [00:55:27] Speaker A: Do you know why? [00:55:29] Speaker C: I don't know. MLS, going to MLS. Part of this new system. They have three tiers of teams and then they group the teams up in a way to, quote, take advantage of geographic locations and competition balance. Aka they can do whatever the hell they want. Which is why, you know, the group that enters in is against two really high profile teams and then Chivas USA and Chicharito are going back to play the galaxy. [00:55:59] Speaker A: Who did Houston get? [00:56:01] Speaker C: I don't remember. But Austin got two mexican teams. They and inter Miami the only teams that got two mexican teams. So that's funny. So Dallas is the second seed in their group, St. Louis is one and they're two and juarez is the tier three group. Which means that if the method follows, they didn't announce this, but the method follows that Dallas will play at St. Louis city and then we'll host FC juarez here. And the other change they made is that some of the high profile, highly ranked mexican teams get to be a hub city, like a host city, but here. So I don't know. For example, like Pachuka could say we're going to play our games in Vegas and you guys got to all come to Vegas so they don't have to travel as know that kind of thing. They're kind of making them host here. [00:56:46] Speaker A: In a, uh, Houston got Salt Lake and. [00:56:51] Speaker C: Salt Lake's decent. [00:56:52] Speaker A: But you know, and you said I'm. [00:56:56] Speaker C: Looking at the Austin has two mexican teams. [00:56:58] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm looking to see who they are. [00:56:59] Speaker C: Yeah. Because I think they were the third tier. [00:57:02] Speaker A: They got Monterey and pumas. [00:57:03] Speaker C: Yeah. They might get eliminated early. Yeah. That's a tough group. And then enters. Got two really good teams or really famous teams. I can't remember who they are, but. [00:57:13] Speaker A: I just remember talking about, let's see, Cincinnati, NYCFC, quintaro. Hmm. [00:57:21] Speaker C: Yeah. So most groups are two MLS teams and one, you know, still it'll be fun. I enjoyed it last year. It'll be fun this year. And I just thought it's funny that MLS figured out a way to line up some of these fun, really high profile marquee games because it's not real competition, quote unquote. If you want, you can pretend know. So they allowed themselves some leeway. Stack the deck a little, I guess. [00:57:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Puebla and Tigris got Miami. Orlando's got some traveling to do because it's Orlando, San Luis and Montreal in that group. [00:57:53] Speaker C: Yeah, but Orlando is probably the high seat. Those seats probably come to. Oh, there's a seating. [00:57:59] Speaker A: Oh, I see what you're. Yeah. [00:58:01] Speaker C: Which is why Dallas should have to go to St. Louis and then they'll have Juarez come to. But you know, if you're going to get a mexican team, Scuarez is at least intriguing. Right there across from El Paso. There's sort of a connection there. I get know I thought it would be. And Juarez has no fans so like there'll be like five people in the stands for that game other than the FC Dallas fans. It's not like if Tigris or Monterey come here you'd have lots of people. Right. So it's actually a real benefit to Dallas that it's fcuares. [00:58:29] Speaker A: All right. Those games will take place when the league stops down for it from the 26 July through the 25 August. [00:58:35] Speaker C: Yes. [00:58:36] Speaker A: Okay. It says here on the famous red crayon run sheet, U 20 Concoct championships and World cup update. [00:58:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Norris was a part of that. Just to mention that Carrera would not be, he should be part of the next U 23 cycle, potentially the Olympic team. He's been high in that mix. Whether he'll still be high in that mix going forward, I don't know. It'll depend on his development. So really, the new World 20 World cup will be the sixes. So we mentioned that Tariq Scott and Malachi Molina, who plays for North Texas, both are in the Jamaica team. Anthony Ramirez is involved with Mexico. Still at that age bracket, all academy guys. And then you get into the 2000 and sixes, which is the younger guys. That's where I. Stone could come in possibly on the U 20 team, maybe if he develops some more in the short run. And then if you think about Dallas guys, it would be Alejandro Zura and Diego Garcia, guys that are doing really well in camp right now, but not necessarily big in the mix yet. And then, of course, Matthew Corcoran, who is a starter for that group, actually, even though he's not here anymore. He plays for Birmingham, of course, but it's a guy I will always keep an eye on because you remember how highly I spoke about him when he was an academy kid here. The club didn't seem as nearly as fussed as I was that he left. I mean, I was pissed. Not at him, just that they've missed on him. And then he's playing for Birmingham. He started the bulk of their games last year, and he just started for the U 20s, basically. [01:00:01] Speaker A: Is Knight Pickering playing there, too? [01:00:04] Speaker C: He's at Memphis 901, but he doesn't start very much. He's mostly an off the bench late spark player. Listen, it was him or Tariq Scott, and I would have taken Tariq Scott ten times out of ten. We didn't get to see him because he was hurt all last year, but I would have him all day, every time over night. Pickering Knight's a good kid, but he's not a project, not a potential star like Turk Scott is. Okay, Tarek Scott. Goodness, I got to say his name, right. [01:00:32] Speaker A: And you also mentioned I. Stone. Did you happen to notice online he put some sort of highlight reel video put together by his new agency, Spartan? [01:00:41] Speaker C: I did, yeah. I don't. I mean, I know that agency. I know a lot about him. They put together that reel and put it there. [01:00:48] Speaker A: Any. Does that give us any indication of where he's going to end up signing? [01:00:52] Speaker C: No. [01:00:53] Speaker A: Okay, well, just thought I'd ask. [01:00:56] Speaker C: No, it means nothing. Yeah, Europe. Does that help? [01:01:02] Speaker A: All right, we have come to the Dan Crook portion of this episode of Third Degree, the podcast as Dan was in attendance for Dallas's preseason game against New Mexico, which, from all the sounds and reports and reading about it. Looks like it went pretty well. For football club Dallas. [01:01:21] Speaker B: It went okay. A four one win over New Mexico United. They were in their first week of preseason, so a little bit of chopping and changing on their part. Eric Quill had to borrow a few north Texas SC players so they could do 30 minutes shifts. FCD Dallas went with the same as against Miami. They just switched the lineups around to have the reserves start. We did get to see Nsali start, which was quite a nice bit there. Good little run out for him. [01:02:04] Speaker A: What's your review on him so far, Dan? Do you have a feel about it at. [01:02:13] Speaker B: I mean he gets about a, uh. Nico said he's very vertical. Definitely saw a fair bit of that. I liked what I saw. I thought he was very clean in passing. He has a really nice left foot on him. He did have the kind of iron Robin mirror moment. I think it was like eleven minutes in. Kind of cut inside a defender, got it on his left and just kind of tried to hook around the keeper. Really nice curling effort, but the keeper made a great save from it. It'd be nice to see him against for one better know, New Mexico wasn't great. They were very physical at the back, which gave Farrington a pretty tough time. But it'd be good to see kind of against a better midfield because FC Dallas really just kind of dominated the middle of the field. Particularly you get to 30 minutes, suddenly they change the entire lineup. The New Mexico players are kind of just trying to spend those last 15 minutes figuring out everyone else. So it'd be good to see that, particularly when they get back from Spain. He's had a good chance to really gel with the team. [01:03:25] Speaker A: And you also officially found out that the pronunciation of his first name is anise. [01:03:33] Speaker B: It's Ennis. Same as they misprinted it on the preseason lineup. It's always been Ennis. [01:03:43] Speaker C: Those dirty preseason lineup. [01:03:45] Speaker A: It's not Enos though. [01:03:47] Speaker B: No. As we were speculating from Alabama. [01:03:50] Speaker A: Okay. [01:03:51] Speaker C: I prefer Enos. [01:03:52] Speaker A: Well, of course you do. [01:03:56] Speaker B: He was pretty solid. It was nice to have him. I mean he was alongside legit, so there was kind of know a veteran presence there. I remember Mendy's just behind him, had. [01:04:06] Speaker A: Legit look, looked good. [01:04:09] Speaker B: Just kind of carried on from what he did against Miami. Just kind know he's fit, he's looking lively, he's looking like a guy know when he talks. He could be a great motivational speaker. He looks like he's had that life coach sort of offseason enjoyed himself, but enjoyed himself in the right way. [01:04:30] Speaker A: Okay. [01:04:32] Speaker B: Especially with Paxton being down right now. It's probably just a pretty good thing for him, but seeing a lot more of him on that kind of that inside forward role in the 522-1343 kind of, however you want to call it, where they kind of pinch inside and switch around. Quite a know. Talked a little bit about Nolan Norris. He got the start in the double pivot with, you know, I think Nolan's range of passing is absolutely perfect as a six. He tried a couple of. I say you tried. He executed perfectly. A couple of those kind of crossfield bombs, like 40 yards onto the end of someone's foot. [01:05:17] Speaker A: The Tanner testaments. [01:05:18] Speaker B: Yes, exactly that. The only thing he kind of had, he coughed up the ball in a bad place for their goal. Left Jimmy Mauer well off his line, and the guy just lofted it into an empty net, essentially. There's a couple of times he was caught in possession, but his movement is good, his passing is good. It's just kind of getting that experience in the role for him. What else we got? Herbert Endelay looked absolutely phenomenal. [01:05:49] Speaker A: I saw that banger he hit. That was a great goal. [01:05:51] Speaker C: That's two straight good gains for him. [01:05:53] Speaker B: Yeah, started at right wing back, looked really good through the first half. He was just absolutely giving them a nightmare. The only problem they did have is they had this really fast guy, Avion Flanagan, and they were just dropping balls over the top in the gap between Endele and Sebastian Ibiaga. Endele was getting caught a little bit high. Ibiaga didn't quite have the pace. This guy. I mean, I don't think Tafaro would have caught this guy. This guy was absolutely rapid. But twice he got in behind into the box in possession. Once he just kind of crossed to absolutely no one because everyone was ten yards behind him. And the other time he just kind of checked past. Oh, he tried to check his run and then someone caught up and tackled him. But it was a little bit of a reminder of. Do you remember when the swiss fella, reto Ziegler, they used to play that ball down the side of him in the gap to Ryan Hollingshead? I think it was to kind of get in behind the defense. It was a little bit reminiscent of, you know, a better team with an equally fast player could certainly cause FC Dallas the trouble there. But hopefully you're looking as good as Nalay's been in preseason so far. You're probably looking at Tomasi or someone a little bit more experienced and potentially a new center back there, too. [01:07:31] Speaker A: Interesting stuff. And what was the final score of the game? [01:07:36] Speaker B: It was four one. So Endelay got the goal in the first half, about half an hour on the clock, yet Nolan kind of gave up possession. They had that kind of gimme goal. And then there was a four minute period in the second half right after former FC Dallas goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez winning goal for New Mexico that they scored three goals. So he was terrible. [01:08:05] Speaker C: Well, when he stood out for four years, that's. [01:08:08] Speaker B: I mean, he apparently he just got released by a club in El Salvador, but FC Dallas put up some of. Some video shot on a phone. He just wasn't even moving for those shots. He looked like a guy who'd been out of the game for a lot longer than he has, but we think, yeah, so FCD Dallas kind of struggled there. They really struggled a little bit with penetration in the final third. Farrington especially was going up against Chris Gloucester, who was actually one of Ibiaga's teammates on that MLS cup win in New York City. Side absolutely bullied him. Farrington maybe could have had two penalties. Referee wasn't really given, but yeah, he was kind of getting bullied around a little bit. It was a stark contrast to the Miami game where he looked pacey, he looked strong, he looked like he was happy to take on players from there. I think really the big interesting thing was Nico actually tried to change up that five two one in the second half. So he put Bernie Kamingo at right wing back, which seemed really strange, but then he started to push Bernie forward. So as the balls with the center backs, Bernie's actually up dead on the halfway line. Immediately he finds space. They play a ball into him. He sets Diego Garcia up for a shot in the box. It was working. So after the game, I think Steve and I both asked about what you wanted to see from that, and effectively, the premise is in possession, they were looking to move forward into more of a four four two. So the wingback that would be receiving the ball or on the ball side would push up effectively as a wide midfielder. The inside forward on the opposite side would kind of drop back as the opposite wide mid, and then you would just have a two striker formation. So it was good to see it in motion. Be great to see it a little bit against more competitive opposition. The last 30 minutes, though, was pretty competitive because that's when they started bringing a bunch of North Texas guys in. You had Malik, Henry, Scott, you had, oh, who else did they have? I think they had actually wrote it down somewhere and now I can't find. Uh, yeah, okay. Never mind too much. They had several of the guys that are in camp early. They also had Benny redgic, I guess is on trial with another. There's another former North Texas SC guy that Quill seems to have in camp, Nicky Hernandez. No, he actually signed her on midway through last season. There was another one. It's another center back. But just with the nature of that, especially some of the North Texas SE guys playing with new players, they started getting a little bit chippy trying to kind know, show up their spot further up the pecking. Yeah, that was it. It was, yeah. Um, so, yeah, good run out. Pedrino looked good again when he came on. He's kind of been one of the little surprises after the game. Coach did say, asked coach about Jesus. That's a grade two adductor injury, supposedly is about three to six weeks. He is not in Spain. Norris Paxton Pomacol, he's stayed back to rehab his knee. Tomasi had took the knock. He is on the travel roster. He is nearing his return. I think that's about it. [01:12:02] Speaker A: Know, it's funny that we've had so much stuff to talk about that this element or this kind of tidbit about Jesus has fallen this late in the podcast. Because I feel like with all of the excitement about Musa, there is a reality that between the Paxton palmicall injury, Velosco being out, and now this Ferreira thing, which seems to be this ongoing issue of an abdominal injury or hernia or whatever, it missing, those are pretty significant missing pieces if they're going to continue to be injured as the season starts? Buzz and I just wonder, is the Ferreira thing going to be one of these deals where maybe he should have gotten it operated on a while ago and chose not to, and this is going to just kind of keep happening until he does. [01:12:56] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't know enough about medically what's going on to be able to answer that question. Certainly it's not great that he had this setback when they were trying to go with a non surgical alternative. Obviously, Jesus is a good enough player that it hopefully won't derail the season. I'm not optimistic that it won't, but certainly it means they'll go into spring, the start of the season, without any spring really at all, which is what happened with the jet last year. So it can be pretty detrimental, especially because it's not likely Petter Moussa is going to be here for a month ahead of the season, either, because he'll have to wait till he gets his visa, however long that takes. So you might be looking at some real key missing pieces starting the season if some of those guys aren't back. I will say that when I saw Paxton two weeks ago, he looked great. He was really moving well. So if they didn't take him, they must just be, like, incredibly cautious because he was booking it when I was watching him rehab run. [01:13:56] Speaker A: Or maybe he's had a setback. [01:13:58] Speaker C: That's entirely possible, too. Of course that's possible. [01:14:03] Speaker B: It could be something like scar tissue cleanup, anything like that, and where they've just got to kind of work it out every day with Ferreira. I think the big thing for me that stuck out was when Nico says grade two adductor injury. I think that's what they called Paxton's injury before they found out about the hip impingement. [01:14:24] Speaker A: Oh, you know, you may be right about that. I have to go back and think about. Yeah. [01:14:30] Speaker B: And Jesus has had a history of sports, hers, as well. So, I mean, if there's something that's kind of occurring quite a bit down, I mean, maybe we've all just got Paxton PTSD, but that sounded a little bit concerning for your guy that's making up to 2 million a year at some point. [01:14:54] Speaker C: I'm telling you, the season of Eugenia, here we come. [01:14:58] Speaker B: Oh, he was actually pretty good against New Mexico. He came on as trying to think if he came up front or if he. Yeah, he was up front. He was pretty solid. He had a really nice cross in to Ariola for a goal. Ansar scored as well. I'm trying to think off the top of my head what that goal was like now. Oh, sorry. And the team originally credited Anzar with the assist on Liam Fraser's goal. It was actually a Diego Garcia back heel. Really nice goal. And watch the video if you haven't seen it. [01:15:32] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:15:32] Speaker B: And Anza had what was potentially the shittiest best goal ever. He had this nice one touch redirect. He kind of scuffed finish right in the bottom corner, just past Jesse's reach. But, yeah, it was pretty solid work. I thought he was absolutely hopeless against Miami, so it was really encouraging to see him come off the bench and really play an impact role. [01:16:02] Speaker A: All right, very good buzz. Anything else you want to talk about in this amazingly upbeat, promising episode? [01:16:12] Speaker C: Well, Isaiah Parker didn't get taken to Spain. He got left here. [01:16:16] Speaker B: He was also horrendous in the friendly. [01:16:21] Speaker A: So is it just going to turn out that Isaiah Parker just isn't very good or not. Let me be polite about this. He's not MLS level. [01:16:32] Speaker C: It's hard to know. I think he's got a boatload of skill, of soccer skill. He was very highly thought of coming out of college. People were talking about how he was going to be the left back for the national team and stuff like that. There's definitely a disconnect between what coach wants and what the kind of player this is from like the minute really that he was playing for. Coach Nico, it's just been not my guy, honestly. They should have traded him a while ago and they still should just trade him or just let him go. I mean, he's not a player that they value at all. And all you're doing is stymying the guy's career because at this point he's just going to play for North Texas this year or they actually have. Tasha Rose is a pretty good player too. So I don't know if those guys are going to split time or Isaiah is going to end up playing wing again. I mean, who knows what's going to happen, but effectively he's got a three plus two contract, which means at the end of this year he's going to be on an option. Well, there's no way in hell Dallas is making that mean. I don't know why they don't bother to just cut him other than he had original three year contract. Just trade him for a bag of balls. The problem is, because he hasn't played a single game, maybe nobody will give you anything for him. So you're just stuck with him. Which is a shame, just being stuck with a guy and stuck with a kid who's not going to progress for you because you're stuck playing him somewhere in his rookie season he was lighting up, know. So go ahead, Dan. [01:17:58] Speaker B: I think the thing that goes against him, and this is going to be the problem is any potential suitors have got MLS next programs to look at. And physically, phenomenal, elite. Mentally, I just don't think he's got that kind of football iq. You see him defensively just absolutely go through a guy for absolutely no reason. Ball is not in a dangerous position. There was a game a couple of years ago where he got sent off and it was one of the dumbest double yellows I think I've ever seen the game. The other day he was playing as the left wing back. Theoretically, that should be the absolute ideal position, right? As a guy who's expected to get forward and has a little bit of defensive knowledge. He was racing forward. Sorry. No, he wasn't racing forward. He would run ten yards, check pass back. There were so many times that he was clear through on a run and he just checked, just turned, gave the ball to. I can't think whoever the left wing was at the time, but it was just, oh, it's Ariola. It was just like he was looking for handholding and it's kind of like at some point you just got to take the initiative. Either run it to the end line and let your striker, let someone come up in support. [01:19:30] Speaker C: At this point, he's probably playing not to make mistakes, which is, of course, not good. That's never good. [01:19:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the problem. He killed more attacks than he contributed. [01:19:41] Speaker C: Know, Dallas, under this coach plays a really fluid, relatively advanced tactical know players are swapping positions, swapping profiles mid game. We saw bear halter try and do some of that, if you know, and it may be that a coach that plays a more simple, more direct system, like St. Louis, for example, that he would be great. It's just a bad fit here with this coach and this team. The kid's only. It's like he's a junior in college right now, or he's got basically this one season left, which would be his, quote, senior season. So he'll be 21, 22 at the end of this year. I don't remember what it is exactly, something like that. So he's got lots of time left, but it's going to be somewhere else. It's just not happening here. Which is why they might as well just let him go, loan him to some other team in USL again. Know, it just doesn't do any good. The problem in San Antonio from last year, when he first went there, he was playing a lot and then he got hurt. And when he was hurt, St. Louis signed a veteran left back and then he couldn't get back in the know. And when he wanted to come back here to North Texas or when. When Rose got hurt, they were, ah, don't worry about it. I was, you know, at that point you just figure you're done here and try and move on. I don't know why the kid doesn't call his agent and say, get me out of here for a bag of balls, cut half my salary, I don't care. [01:20:58] Speaker A: Okay. Anything else? [01:21:01] Speaker C: I think that's about everything I had on my list. [01:21:06] Speaker B: The only other thing I had was I found the list of the four games that FCD, right? [01:21:15] Speaker A: Yeah. What are the four games? [01:21:16] Speaker B: So on the second, which is Friday. They're playing Odence from Denmark. That's going to be at 09:00 a.m. Our time. Central. [01:21:25] Speaker A: That's by Midland, right, sorry, Midland, Odessa. [01:21:31] Speaker B: Odessa. Okay, got it. Yeah, that's going to be Russia. I think the center is called like La Quinta or something like that. It's in Malaga. They're playing. [01:21:43] Speaker A: I've stayed at La Quinta before. [01:21:45] Speaker B: They're from one. [01:21:46] Speaker C: Yeah, me too. [01:21:48] Speaker B: They'll be back there on the fifth Monday against Alborg. Also Danish. 09:00 a.m.. Again, I'm guessing that one's not going to be streamed because the first one's not going to be streamed. Then they're playing a double header at Marbella, which is going to be one of the main center. Yeah, the main Marbella football center. That will be Malmo at 04:00 a.m. On the eigth and then odds BK. So that's a swedish team and the norwegian team. Their second game will be 730. And then they fly back on the. [01:22:21] Speaker C: Night in the morning. [01:22:24] Speaker B: Yes, because they're going to be on central european time. So obviously it's not going to line up with us at all. [01:22:31] Speaker C: I'm not going to be up for that. 04:00 a.m.. Game. Wait, I might still be still up. [01:22:35] Speaker A: I guess you'll be up. [01:22:37] Speaker C: We'll just have to wait until they come back and play somebody for the season. [01:22:41] Speaker B: And I think they may have confirmed that DC United game that Steven Goff had reported. [01:22:49] Speaker A: Interesting. [01:22:50] Speaker C: Okay, they get back on the 9th and then they have two weeks from there to their home opener against San Jose. Is that here? I think it's so, you know, there's a time to get in one or two more games before the season starts. You certainly would expect to have a game around the 17th or 18th if you want to get that rhythm going, that weekly rhythm. And they might sneak in another one somewhere or two, even for some of your reserves or stuff. So hopefully we'll get some chances to see them. [01:23:18] Speaker A: Well, that is all good information. I think we're all feeling a little bit better about the upcoming season than we were a few weeks ago. Right? [01:23:26] Speaker C: Well, a couple of knocks. Yeah? Yeah. A couple of what knocks. [01:23:30] Speaker A: Oh, injuries. Yeah. Paxton and mean. [01:23:33] Speaker C: It's Paxton. Jesus Velasco. Giovanni. Jesus Emos. Banged up. Haven't seen him yet. There's a bunch of little things, and that was what happened last year was a bunch of little things all the time. So hopefully they get this rided a couple of those are major things, not little things. [01:23:51] Speaker A: I saw EMa was tweeting and promoting a new ankle brace. [01:23:56] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:23:56] Speaker A: And I thought, that's not a good sign. [01:24:01] Speaker B: Like it had a piston in it. [01:24:02] Speaker A: It did. [01:24:03] Speaker B: How that's even legal. [01:24:05] Speaker C: I thought about getting one, actually, for my shredded ankle. [01:24:08] Speaker A: It did look like it had a piston in it. Yes. [01:24:10] Speaker C: Well, my email hookups have told me it's just a knock and he's supposed to be back anytime. The fact they took him to Spain should tell you that he's fine. Okay. They had to take because of these other guys missing. They took some of the kids and some of the north Texas kids. There's like three north Texas players there. [01:24:25] Speaker A: Interesting. [01:24:26] Speaker C: Last time. [01:24:27] Speaker B: Pretty good. I mean, they're worth taking. Padrino has been solid. Diego Garcia. [01:24:35] Speaker C: Oh, he's in the mix. Possibly for the u. Could be. [01:24:40] Speaker A: Well, before we finish, I was going to share with you, the two of you, that I'm going to ask that you circle Saturday, well, probably Friday and Saturday, the 26th and 27 April on your calendars, because we've been trying over at the kick around, we've been trying to organize an opportunity for Lars to come to the United States and I've never met Lars in person. And Lars has been wanting to come to the US and go to some MLS games and stuff and do some other things, see some friends out in California. And so I was trying to figure out a good time for him to go and put together an event where kick around listeners or anybody who wants can come meet Lars and we can kind of do a live event thing one night somewhere. And so we're working on that. And I was trying to think about a game opportunity and I looked at the calendar and lo and behold, I think the most awesome day is coming together. And I want you guys to participate if you want to come along, because on the 27th at 1230 in the afternoon, Austin hosts the galaxy. You go to that game, you're done by three, you get in the car, you drive the hours north to Frisco because at 730 it's the Texas Derby. How about that for a day? [01:25:59] Speaker C: That'd be cool. Yeah, very cool. [01:26:01] Speaker B: You're very lucky there. I've got concerts on the 26th and 20 eigth. Say that again yesterday. You're very lucky there. I've got concerts on the 26th and 20 eigth. So when you said the 26th or 27th, I was like, that's me out. [01:26:16] Speaker A: Wait, whoa, stop. Hold on. [01:26:17] Speaker C: Dan has concert tickets on the 26th and 20 eigth. [01:26:20] Speaker A: Oh, concert tickets? I thought you said. Oh, I thought you meant like you were performing in a concert, like you had started a band or something. [01:26:28] Speaker C: Okay, well, I'm just assuming he meant he had tickets. Maybe I'm wrong. Dad's performing. [01:26:34] Speaker A: Dan, do you have something to tell us? [01:26:38] Speaker B: No. Are we watching other people make money at the majestic theater? And then the Doseki's pavilion? [01:26:43] Speaker A: Okay. Would you like to tell us you're going to go see at those places? [01:26:47] Speaker B: Sure. The Friday is Bianca del Rio, which is a really famous drag queen, and the other one is hosier. [01:26:57] Speaker C: Hosier. Nice. [01:26:59] Speaker A: All right. [01:26:59] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:27:00] Speaker A: Well, I was thinking we would probably drive to Austin on Friday night and not try to do all that driving in one day. But we'll figure it out. But anyway, it just sounds like a good. I think that would be an incredibly fun day. [01:27:20] Speaker C: It would be. Yes. [01:27:21] Speaker A: Buzz, are you going to go with. Will you join in? [01:27:24] Speaker C: I'll be in Orlando. [01:27:26] Speaker A: Why will you be in Orlando? [01:27:27] Speaker C: I have another job and career, my man. [01:27:30] Speaker A: You already have that career up. [01:27:31] Speaker C: Yeah, dude, we book stuff. I already know. I'm working cowboys next. You know, stuff gets booked years in advance. [01:27:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I heard a really nasty rumor about you, Buzz. Oh, yeah, I heard it. [01:27:42] Speaker C: You're not going to do this, are you? [01:27:45] Speaker A: Well, it's out in the public. [01:27:47] Speaker C: I know it is. Yeah. [01:27:50] Speaker A: No, I don't want anybody to be mad at you. [01:27:54] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:27:55] Speaker A: Okay. We'll keep it under wraps, all right? But it's out in the ethernet if anybody wants to go find out some dirt on Buzz. [01:28:01] Speaker B: He has given some suspiciously detailed scouting reports on one team. [01:28:05] Speaker C: Yeah. Hey, by the way, open to the public on Sunday. FC Dallas Academy versus Austin. [01:28:14] Speaker A: Like how he changed the subject, Dan? [01:28:16] Speaker C: Yeah. In Toyota Stadium. The U are playing Austin at noon and at two in the big stadium. So open the public. [01:28:26] Speaker B: You know what else is at two? [01:28:27] Speaker C: I know. [01:28:28] Speaker B: Announcement as to whether Dallas hosts the World cup. [01:28:31] Speaker C: Yeah, Dan's covering that for us, and I'm covering academy. [01:28:33] Speaker A: I don't think I'm going to be able to watch that presentation live. I'm so nervous about this because have you guys seen the news that Infantino's in New York right now, as we thought? You just wonder if maybe there's last minute. Like, I really want to pick you guys, but you got to come up with a reason for me to do this over Dallas. [01:28:53] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. [01:28:56] Speaker B: How many millions of reasons are. [01:28:59] Speaker A: You know, it's all super shady. [01:29:01] Speaker C: I'll take a semi in Dallas. I'll live with that. It'll be all right. [01:29:04] Speaker A: No, at this point, Buzz, if we don't end up with the final, I'm going to be. [01:29:10] Speaker B: A semi. Except for Peter. [01:29:12] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I'm assuming there's going to be five, six, seven games here. Cowboys. I'm excited. [01:29:17] Speaker A: Well, you clearly know about dirty money, Buzz, so take a dirty. Do the dirtiest of money. [01:29:26] Speaker C: I'm trying to create a FC Dallas life here, career. I take whatever money comes my way. [01:29:34] Speaker A: Even if it's from the dirtiest of all the sources. [01:29:36] Speaker C: Come on, now. Those two things are separate. Separate things. [01:29:43] Speaker A: I still love you, Buzz. [01:29:44] Speaker C: I know. [01:29:45] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Well, very good. Well, all right. You've defeated my excited day. I guess Lars and I'll just do the trip by ourselves. [01:29:53] Speaker C: I was real excited about that idea, but I will be working. [01:29:57] Speaker B: I'll have to catch you all in fresco. [01:29:59] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Well, hey, look at us. Look at us. Now, Buzz and Dan, we are having a. [01:30:06] Speaker C: We're. [01:30:06] Speaker A: We're feeling good about a 2024 Dallas season. [01:30:10] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah, we are. I mean, all signs are moving in the right direction. It's nice to see ambition. I'm fired up. It's going to be fun. [01:30:18] Speaker A: Hooray. [01:30:19] Speaker C: Third degree. The podcast has been brought to you by soccer 90. Com. Our excellent partners over there at soccer 90, they've got all the soccer gear, man. They got it all. They got everything you want. They're getting more cleats and shin guards and stuff in for players. They got jerseys, they got sweats, tees, hats, man, everything. If you use the code third degree at checkout, you get 20% off. Soccer nine. Some exclusions may apply. [01:30:42] Speaker A: All right, well, Dan, thank you very much, my friend. Thank you, Buzz, as always, sir, thank you. [01:30:48] Speaker C: Oh, always a pleasure. Thank you for being here. [01:30:51] Speaker A: And thank you, FC Dallas Curious fan. We will speak to you next week, hopefully with even more good news on another episode of Third Degree, the podcast subject to change. Third degree the third degree Nair podcast. Third degree the third degree nabod, third degree, third degree Napa and third degree. [01:31:17] Speaker B: Third degree never ca.