3rd Degree the Podcast #249

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Um, yeah. [00:00:04] Speaker B: Ooh. [00:00:09] Speaker A: I'll have a hose up my ass Thursday morning. Third degree. [00:00:13] Speaker B: The third degree. Never podcast. Third degree. The third degree. Never podcast. [00:00:20] Speaker A: Third degree. [00:00:22] Speaker B: Never get the third degree. The third degree nap podcast, third degree. The podcast is brought to you by soccer 90. Com. You can score the vast collection of FCD, Dallas Premier League and us men's national team gear. They got jerseys, hats, scarves, tees, and beyond. Soccer 90 has got everything you need now. Enjoy. 20% off your exclusive third degree discount. Not only online, but in store. Both online and in store. I mean, honestly, can you beat that? That's just the best 20% off code third degree at checkout in store online soccer 90. Com. Some exclusions apply. [00:00:57] Speaker A: Well, hello there, FC Dallas curious fan. Welcome to another episode. This one. Ooh, it's the one before. A big one. It's episode 249 of third degree, the podcast. Hi, it's me, Peter. Our dear friend Dan Crook is not going to be with us for a couple of weeks, I think, because he has gone back to the motherland known as Angerland. And I would also ask each and every one of the curious. When you go to bed tonight and you're doing your bedtime prayers, keep one extra for dear Dan and his wife as he continues to try to get tickets to go see Luton at his home pitch against Manchester United. So I'm sure your extra thoughts and prayers would be appreciated in his efforts to try to acquire those very important tickets. So that means it's just me and your hero. My hero and everybody's hero. Editor, founder of Thirddegree. Net, and the original american soccer influencer, Buzz Carrick. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Hi, Peter. I should have known better. I thought for a minute you were going to have prayers for Dan, for the condolences for his loss. But then you went looting tickets. It's not what I was expecting. I forgot about that's the way it's going to England. [00:02:11] Speaker A: I forgot about that. [00:02:16] Speaker B: I mean, but I get it. Looting tickets is huge. [00:02:19] Speaker A: In fairness to me, Buzz, the back and forth between Dan and I has been about tickets, not about the death of a family member. [00:02:26] Speaker B: Yeah, to be fair, that's true. [00:02:28] Speaker A: Does that make me less of a jerk? [00:02:30] Speaker B: No. It just means that at the forefront of your mind was helping Dan with the thing that he wanted your help with. So good on you for being a friend in this time of need. [00:02:42] Speaker A: Okay, nobody listening to this. Tell Dan that I said that. [00:02:46] Speaker B: Okay? [00:02:51] Speaker A: Can we block Dan from downloading this episode? [00:02:54] Speaker B: I'm sure he'll be busy. [00:02:57] Speaker A: I meant it. My intentions were good. I just forgot somebody died. [00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I think two people, actually, but yeah. [00:03:09] Speaker A: Oh, this is a great segue because speaking of dying, FC Dallas parted ways with Jesus Cimenez. [00:03:16] Speaker B: Yes. Now there I thought you were going with dying with the World cup thing, but we'll come back to that. Yeah. Jesus Jimenez finally mutually parted ways. We have yet to learn if the club had to use the buyout or not because you remember when they quote mutually farted ways with Frank O'Hara, it turned out later. [00:03:32] Speaker A: Wait, did you just say mutually farted ways? [00:03:34] Speaker B: I may have misarticulated. [00:03:41] Speaker A: That would actually be funny if you called it that. [00:03:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So when they misfarted with Frank O'Hara, the value of his contract was so high that they were required to use the buyout even though it was a mutually agreed contract termination. Now, Jimenez's deal is half that much at least. So it's possible that they just were able to mutually part ways with him. But we don't know yet. Maybe we can find out eventually. So it's possible they use the buyout here. But either way, what's important is, remember all winter with Peter, you and I on this podcast, and Dan, I've talked about the importance of this deal. Is not that necessarily. He wasn't scoring and wasn't bringing in the value. The problem was the original trade. When Brandon Savannah went up there, Toronto ate his salary hit for last season and that was not going to be the case this year. So you would have been adding a DP contract if you kept him for a player that was giving you nothing. So that was the key. Was the DP contract part? Because that would have handcuffed you, prevented you from doing the moves that you have done. Notably, Petter Musa, of course, is a big part of this overall transaction. So thank your lucky stars as fans that they were able to do this parting of the ways. And bizarrely, Jesus Jesmenez has ended up at a club in Crete where also Brasson plays and Santiago Masquera play. So it's the FCD Dallas rejects club in Greece over there. Yeah, they're all on the same team now. [00:05:09] Speaker A: Are they playing in the greek first division? [00:05:13] Speaker B: I think it's actually like the third division. [00:05:15] Speaker A: I don't think it's what a way to live a life as a footballer is. Just go play in some low tier greek league somewhere. [00:05:24] Speaker B: I mean, right? [00:05:26] Speaker A: No. [00:05:27] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it doesn't make me feel that great that the recent FC Dallas partings are at that level of play, which is probably may contribute to why Dallas wasn't great during some of those windows. But nonetheless, it's a fascinating confluence that those three guys ended up outside Three River Stadium over there in Crete. [00:05:47] Speaker A: Wow. Brissan and who else? [00:05:49] Speaker B: Sanchez. Mascara. [00:05:51] Speaker A: Gee whiz. [00:05:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Weird, right? [00:05:54] Speaker A: Yeah, well, super weird. [00:05:55] Speaker B: I mean, I couldn't believe it, so I went and looked it up. They're both of them right there on his roster, in a club roster with. [00:06:00] Speaker A: Him is kudos to him, bizarro to them. All right, so what does it mean if it turns out that they didn't use the buyout? Does that give them an option to buy somebody else out? If that's the case, is there somebody else we would want them to? [00:06:18] Speaker B: Off the top of my head, no. But yes, it would absolutely give them that. Right. There have been teams that have used it on players that were not getting paid all that much money because you have one a year, and so if you feel like you don't need it for a million dollar player, you can literally use it on a 100k player if you want to. It's just a way to get out of a salary. Know, of course they still have to deal with Jose Lotto. That's the other player that they're looking to part ways with. And we felt, I felt certainly, and the hints from the club were that they had not hints. It's not a thought out. Told me that there are multiple clubs, both in South America and in Europe that were interested in some kind of loan or buy of him. It won't be as high a level as FCD Dallas, but it'll be something. So there is a market for him more than there was for Jimenez, but maybe if you get stuck, you might have to use it on that guy. If indeed you haven't used it on Jimenez or you never know what I mean. Maybe there's some reason why you need to jettison a contract at some point during the season if you're going to use it. You would be in the next two weeks if you didn't right here. And it may be because of that previous example they may have had to have. Hopefully eventually we'll figure that out and find out from our sources, or maybe they'll flat out tell us, but so far we don't know. [00:07:28] Speaker A: There was a really interesting twitter thread that was popped up in my timeline today from a guy named John Parker. I don't know if you're familiar with this one, Buzz, but essentially John made a really good, posted a really good thread, kind of highlighting something that I think we noticed in direct relation to it with the signing of Musa. And this is the thread that talks about how roster building has changed in Major League Soccer in 2024 in terms of. Because of how in Europe, european teams are really focused on signing guys that are between 18 and 22, because that's where all the upside is. [00:08:09] Speaker B: Yes. [00:08:10] Speaker A: Have you seen this thread? [00:08:11] Speaker B: No, but I was agreeing with that sentiment. That is the key. [00:08:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So Parker points out that what's happening is that when guys get to be between 24 and 26, which you and I all agree is kind of that prime age, nobody wants to sign them to long term deals because there's no upside for the club. So unless they're, like world class players and because the target has shifted to signing 18 to 22s, because the upside to selling them on for profit is in those guys that has opened a window for MLS, who has a surprising amount of money to spend on players, and that is now creating this new inbound of a much higher tier of player than we've seen in a major League soccer of late. Benega is a great example that he points out. And here in Dallas now with Musa, this is another one. And this ties into a couple of things that we talked about at the beginning, which was people that know about Benfica. That reporter said he's a nice player and everything, but he was never going to crack their top eleven, and I'm surprised they got this much money for him. But when you start putting all these pieces together, you can kind of see how the shifts in the marketplace actually work to not just Major League Soccer's favor, but specifically Dallas's favor. [00:09:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's perfectly fair to say that the third striker at Benfica is pretty damn good, even if he's not going to crack their top tier. It's not just the idea that, as you say, that there's these guys that are in their low 20s, low to mid 20s, who now are a market that Dallas in particular, MLS for sure can get into. And some of that is because of the way Messi has raised the profile and the spend that's happening and the league is continuing to inch upwards, but it's also the level of play. It's like guys that are like this guy that are the third guy at a club and can't quite break in now see MLS as a very viable choice. Where before he might have said, I'll go to a slightly worse portuguese team or I'll go to a lower division La Liga team, or I'll go to a lower or maybe a top dutch team. Now, MLS is right there in that conversation for those guys. So it's the two way street. In fact, both that Dallas can afford those guys, MLS can afford those guys, but that they also want to come here. So it's an exciting time in a new tier. And I said on Twitter, I think that it was a new era in MLS, in FC Dallas, that they're spending this kind of money and that this kind of players coming here. And somebody joked around that. I think it was Garrett Melcher who said it was a new, new era because there have been so many times we've said it's a new era before and this is what MLS 5.0 or whatever, but certainly the idea that we've talked about, that the hunts are going out, this is not peppy money. This is hunt pocket money. It's not Jesus Ferrari money, it's hunt pocket money. 13 million or 10 million could go to 13, whatever it is. We knew that Alan Velasco was peppy money. This is not peppy money. So this is a different era for sure. And hopefully it pays off because the last time they saw someone crazy was Danielson and it didn't work and they put their hands in their pockets and didn't spend for years. So hopefully this pays off and we can keep the club see it club. [00:11:21] Speaker A: Operating at this, you know, in this thread from John Parker, and you can find this if you want. And you're on, uh, his account is at number three soccer. And the one tweet in the thread that I'll read here that I think is interesting because this really kind of transforms how we think about MLS is now a two to $5 million transfer fee can get you a top quality 24 to 26 year old. Seven to 12 million can get you a best eleven player who will resign with you. That same price gets you far less than it used to with young players. And that, to me, is the thing that is really transformative for this league, is that as the rest of the world has shifted to looking at younger things, it really now has fallen into this really interesting place for the United States league to sign these guys. And in fact, what was interesting was when I was having a conversation about the signing of Musa with my friend Lars, who obviously, for those who don't know, is a soccer journalist over in Europe. His immediate reaction was, he's like, man, I can't believe how much money there is in MLS for guys like this. Yeah, he was really impressed and I had never thought of it that way. And maybe because this has been creeping up this way slowly over the last five years or so, it never dawned on me that MLS is like throwing out serious levels of dough to compete with. Not the top leaders leagues in Europe, but maybe that second and third tier below it. [00:12:53] Speaker B: Yeah, this is why FIFA has been doing everything in their power to make soccer viable in the United States was because they knew all along and certainly we have all known from american sports about the power and money that american sports have and that if MLS ever reached anything close to the other levels of leagues here in the United States that it would be one of the major players in the world in terms of money. And we're seeing MLS, as you say, reach a new tier where the whole league has reached a new tier of caliber player that they're able to go get. This league is even from. Forget ten years ago, even from a couple of years ago, the acceleration as Messi was going to come and post pandemic when other clubs were running out of money and didn't have money and FC Dallas in particular, but also other clubs in MLS still had money and everybody else didn't. That's when they started to make this elevation and that's in the league. Honest to God. The league is now cranked up to a higher level and wherever you want to have these arguments about where it is, but if you look at the amount of spend they have, they're one of the top ten leagues in the world in terms of the salaries they can churn out, the spends they can make. It's still not the top level, but it's still higher than it's a. I really do think we're looking know it's not just Messi that's part of it, but really it's the spending power and the money generating capabilities that us teams have and MLS teams have and the people that they hire know how to do in this country that a lot of other places and teams don't know how to do to generate revenue like we do here in the United States. [00:14:27] Speaker A: Yeah, and unfortunately the goalposts are always going to shift because as Dallas gets into the position of spending double digits in the transfer fee, something they've never done before. Well, now the problem is they've only done it once and there are other clubs that have done that two and three times in a particular season just to kind of bolster their roster and it just never ends really well. [00:14:50] Speaker B: The Hunts have always been about the long term business model and since they've taken over this team, they've inched it up and inched it up and inched it up. They're never going to make these big, gigantic, huge leaps out of an airplane or off a cliff. They're going to keep inching it up and there'll be people that will be above them in terms of their aggressiveness and their spend and their willingness to risk. The hunts are never going to be that way, but they're going to continue to keep stepping it up. It seems quite clearly we're in the middle of conversations about players that cost ten to $13 million, which is new, and another stadium upgrade of something like $150,000,000. So it's continuing to be their constant step forward in terms of the money and not necessarily anymore coming from spend, from sales. It's coming from just them doing. [00:15:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:36] Speaker B: So hopefully it goes well, as you say, so that they continue to compete. Because at the start of this winter, Peter, how much do we talk about? Do you have the ambition? Right. It's not like we thought there were signs that they didn't necessarily, but there weren't signs that there were. And now they've proven that they do have that know. Maybe not like relative to the Hunts. Relative to the hunts. Everything's always know. That's the thing we always have to talk about. Always remember, the Hunts own this team and they're never going to not own this team. They consider it their father's legacy. They have so much money that FC Dallas, to them is nothing really, relatively speaking. So they're not worried about. Know what they're worried about? Is it not losing crazy money in the league collapsing? That's what they're worried like. They're. I think you can tell they're learning that that's not happening as they're more willing to make these spends like this, that, again, not enter Miami, not Toronto, but not FCD Dallas of two years ago even. Right. [00:16:27] Speaker A: Yeah. I was thinking about your comment about the stadium improvement and the timing of all of that and how long it's going to take. They're obviously not going to be able to even begin on that this season because they will have sold tickets and people's expectations. So that's not even going to start well. [00:16:47] Speaker B: Based on the time frame that I've been hearing, I think you could expect to see some sort of activity by midseason. I don't know whether you'll see shovels in the ground or things being knocked down, but I think by midseason you should 100% have. Like, from my sources, I feel like you'll have at least an announcement. [00:17:06] Speaker A: Okay. [00:17:07] Speaker B: Maybe even action by midseason. [00:17:10] Speaker A: But that doesn't mean actually changing the shape, like actually tearing down parts of the stadium before the season is over. [00:17:20] Speaker B: I don't think, and this is just my read of the many people I've talked to, I don't think it would impact seats this year. I think you could start seeing impact potentially outside of seats this year, perhaps. [00:17:34] Speaker A: Interesting. Okay. [00:17:34] Speaker B: Because if they're talking about, relatively speaking, around the World cup finishing or shortly. [00:17:40] Speaker A: After that, they got to get going. [00:17:42] Speaker B: They got to get going. [00:17:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, that's what made me think about that. And the funny thing was, I don't know if you saw the story in the news that's been floating around the last 24 hours, that the growth in Collin county is so immense that there's somebody, I don't know who it is, is suggesting that Frisco is the next major area of the Dallas Fort Worth area to the point where we may start calling it DFFW Dallas Frisco Fort Worth. [00:18:09] Speaker B: Well, I guarantee you the hunts are well aware of that kind of thing. Yes. [00:18:12] Speaker A: And the commitment to staying in Frisco and keeping their base there and having the foresight almost 15 years ago to plant their seed there is crazy that it may turn into that. [00:18:24] Speaker B: Well, and they know the people that are not, maybe not specifically, but they're in the same stratosphere and in the same rooms as people that did the PGA thing coming there and do, like, the new amusement park and do like the other, the Ford. I mean, they're pals with the. So, you know, they're well aware of all that. Their willingness to spend on that stadium is because of just. I'm not just making up this timeline. This is a timeline Dan Hunt has talked about. And the math is very simple. And even not just math, like the word we hear from various different people is that you might see activity relatively soon. [00:18:58] Speaker A: Okay, well, I wasn't expecting that in today's episode, but that's good. [00:19:03] Speaker B: It wasn't on the rundown. That was the throw in. [00:19:06] Speaker A: Where was it in the rundown? [00:19:07] Speaker B: It was not. [00:19:08] Speaker A: Oh, it was not in the rundown. Okay. [00:19:10] Speaker B: That was not in red ground. [00:19:11] Speaker A: All right, well, while we're sitting around talking about all that stuff, the team is over in Spain doing Spain stuff, and they've played a series of friendlies hit and miss here and there. Buzz, the only thing that I've seen from there is maybe the highlight stuff that the team has put out on social media. Other than that, I've seen none of it. So I'm going to depend on you to tell me what the good and the bad, or whatever it is, to know. [00:19:36] Speaker B: The two games that were today, one was a reserve game, one was more of a starter sort of game. [00:19:41] Speaker A: Today being Thursday. [00:19:42] Speaker B: Today being Thursday. Yeah. Those two games were not streamed, so we didn't see those two. And that was against Malmo and odd, the Malmo reserve team. I know, I love that name. The Malmo was the reserve game, and the FC Dallas reserves got smoke, one to four. But then the second game against odd FC Dallas, more of a starter ish kind of team. Not quite, but close one, four to one. So that was positive. And then the other games were the game to start off. The whole trip was to get against Odense, and that was a zero zero draw, was a very boring, flat game. And then Alborg was a three one comeback win. And there's only some big takeaways, macro level takeaways, because it is spring, they're still getting their legs underneath them. There's players that are very important, that are not there, that are Paxton Jesus, let alone Velasco, Giovanni Jesus, your guy, which is not, of course, how you actually say his name. [00:20:37] Speaker A: Giovann Jesus. [00:20:40] Speaker B: Giovane Jesus is how Peter says his name. Giovanni was not there. But there are some takeaways. They continue to play the three four three. But if you read the quote for the post game coach says the new formation we're continuing to work on, not like we're making this complete, so, but they are leaning into it really hard. So right now, we're kind of expecting that to be the formation for the start of the season because they're playing nothing but that, basically, in any of these games. So that's something we'll talk about more as we get closer to the season. Dante Seeley has awoken. The last two games, he's had four goals, two of them on free kicks, and I've seen them both, and they're nice. And he's had two assists also in the last two games. And he had some quotes about his mentality being changed and talked about what he's doing off the field and that kind of stuff, but it ain't off the field, or maybe off field is a part of it, but what changed, and this is from watching the video, too, it's not that his off field mentality has changed, his on field mentality that's changed because Dante Sealy has always had talent, but he always, never really knew what to do with it. And I'm going all the way back to the academy days, all the way to now. He kind of just played it like an 80% clip. But these last couple of games that I've seen on tape with him and the highlights we've seen in him, that's not the case anymore. He's now playing aggressively, and that's a mentality change. And it was really nice to see him wake up. And if you buy into the formations we've seen in the last couple of days, it's entirely possible that he's won the wingback job on that left side. And part of that is due to the nature of the way the three four three works. We've talked about how the two players in the front three and why the club calls it a two one instead of a three. It's because those two guys are underneath, like two tens. That opens that wide channel for that wing and that wing. It's not like Farfam when he would get forward last year in a four four two, or, sorry, a four three three. That wing is not expected to be the high attacking outside player. It's an underneath support player this year in this formation. That wingback has to play that whole line and has to become that high outside wing that's going to go at people, which is why you see attacking players like Dante Seeley or Herbert Endele or Bernie Kamungo playing those wingback positions. And we might be looking at, and I'm quite serious about this, if Dante continues the way he's going, he might have beaten out Marco Farfan for that starting wingback job. [00:23:05] Speaker A: Whoa. [00:23:06] Speaker B: Yeah. That's what Farfan's been going with more of a second group, and Dante's been going more with his first group, and he's got four goals and two assists in the last two. [00:23:16] Speaker A: Mean, have you seen any evidence that he's doing the defending, the defensive part of it? [00:23:20] Speaker B: Well, that's the downside, is that the first game that I watched where he had the two goals, I watched the whole half he played, and the other team did not make him play any defense at all. So that is the caveat. This is still the way Nico Esteves wants to play, which is the formation when you go forward is different than the formation in transition, and it's different than the formation and back. So you're still talking about that back. Dante sibling specifically, having to come back and play that outside flat back five, when you sitting back into your low block, that's where Dante could get in trouble. And that's where Marco fan fan would be much more comfortable for coach and defensively by himself, but also just for coach's mentality and his defensive first ways. But remember, this season is all about trying to add those goals. And if you have Farfan as a wingback, he's not going to contribute. He's not an attacking winger who's going to slash at you like Dante Seeley is. [00:24:15] Speaker A: So is this potentially a formation that they're trialing and trying to be able to play for when they need to come from behind or a game where maybe they're not as worried about the defending aspect of it? [00:24:30] Speaker B: Maybe, but it's pretty much as near as we can tell, other than a short stint where they went a four four two, they've played this formation pretty much the whole way. And that's a lot of commitment to this formation. If it's not going to be the base formation in the spring, the training that I was able to witness before they left, they used three different formations in training, but then in the games we've only seen three, four three. Not only we saw that one little stretch, but 90% three, four three. And the more they continue to work on it, the more we're going to think that that's going to be the opening day thing. [00:25:05] Speaker A: So in this three four three, who have been the three center backs? [00:25:11] Speaker B: Well, it's been shifting a lot. It's almost always, of course, Ibiaga and Tafari and then the other person has been rotating a lot. It's been the two rookies, Westergren and Humphrey, who are basically just getting lots of chances to see how good they are. It looks like when they're making these choices, like, okay, I'm rolling out my very best, which is what you do the deeper you go into the season. So, like today, it was back to Sam Junka, who was started in that spotlight versus Miami. Our expectation would be junka would be that left center back as we saw him do last year, as he's done more often. When you think you're going with your realish know, which, by the way, is including Teeli. So Ibiaga, right, the tafari center, Sam Junko, left center back, looks like trending towards that for opening day. Omar's been in the center all the time as the second guy. Course has been on the right as the second guy behind Abiaga. And then you've also gotten some turner, Humphrey and Mads Westergren and in that sort of left spot, trying to see what they have. [00:26:19] Speaker A: Any further update or movement on the japanese center back, other than that initial. [00:26:24] Speaker B: First reference that somebody put out nothing, it's gone completely cold. Which at the time we discussed that idea that it might be complete junk. [00:26:33] Speaker A: It seems improbable to me that for all the noise that we were making about needing an extra center back when we thought they were playing two center backs, the idea that they would go and start playing three center backs and not have signed another center back outside of Omar seems almost ridiculous. [00:26:55] Speaker B: Well, potentially they're really happy with Sam Junka. Potentially that's possible. [00:26:59] Speaker A: And he's a great utility player. I mean, that guy's showed off a ton of skill set. So maybe he is the solve or. [00:27:05] Speaker B: One of those two rookies, or both are doing good enough that now they're comfortable. Once you go to Spain, you're kind of getting into your like, okay, whether we really have sort of mode when you come out of Spain, hopefully you've made some decision about, okay, we're comfortable, or nope, we got to go get something. And then you go. Remember this first window doesn't even close till like April, right? So they've got lots of time early in the year. But I 100% agree with you. If you don't sign either one of those rookies and you go into a season with only five center backs and you're playing three at the back, that's problematic. And I'm counting Sam junk as one of those five. If you don't count him as five, you've only got four. And then if you're playing three at the back and you've only got four on your entire roster, now you have a real problem because the minute one guy gets hurt, then you have no backups at all, let alone like two guys getting hurt. I mean, imagine if Nikosi gets hurt, how trouble they're going to be at center back. I mean, Omar looks decent, he looks pretty solid. But if they lose to fare, then you're looking at like two of your back. Three starters are going to be in their thirty s and the other one's going to be Sam Junka. Who we. [00:28:16] Speaker A: Yeah, we pointed that out when they signed Omar and Zanata told you they weren't signing anybody else. That was kind of the reaction to that. [00:28:25] Speaker B: And then they went three at the back. I mean, that's why we said a couple of weeks ago, if they stick with this formation, surely they have to go get a center back. But I will say, like right now, the math on the roster is the roster is full, so they would have to do something to make a space. Even if they want to sign one of these rookies, they would have to do something. Now there are lots of things they can do. It's easily doable, but you do have to do something. You can't do nothing and add them. You have to make some other kinds of roster moves, whether it be loans to other clubs, loans in north Texas, cut somebody different, buyout, whatever it know. You can't effectively just go sign somebody right now because there's no space. [00:29:03] Speaker A: So I want to go back to Dante for a second because he's really been the only player that we've heard anything about coming out of Europe, specifically from the club that I can think of. But the surprise for me was that he scored from free kicks. When did this become a tool in his bag or has this always been something he's been able to do? We just are now finally getting to see it. [00:29:27] Speaker B: I don't remember him ever getting this opportunity when he was in the academy. [00:29:30] Speaker A: Yeah, me either. [00:29:31] Speaker B: He either dug it up in Europe because he didn't do it when he came back here last year, or maybe somebody just finally gave him a chance because he's pinged two of them, like right inside the post, one from one side and one from the other. If I remember correctly, it's remarkable. I mean, there's some other guys in camp that have done some good things and I think we can talk about some of them, but over this week that they've been in Spain, clearly Dante Seeley has changed something significantly and blown up. And there's even a couple of really funny videos out where the players on the team are recognizing that and laughing about it and making fun of him because he's a young kid teasing him a bit about here we go and that kind of stuff. Again, it's a short stint, we'll see if it continues. But he did openly, in those inter post game quotes, talk about a different mindset from himself off the field and if it translates professionally to on the field as it seems like it might be happening. I mean, he's always had so much talent, it would be awesome if this was an explosion we're about to witness. [00:30:28] Speaker A: So what does it mean, if anything, that we're not really hearing anything about other players other than Dante. Is everybody else having just kind of an average preseason? [00:30:39] Speaker B: Well, no. The fact we've only seen half the games makes it know they're only posting clips of the goals. Like Farrington scored two goals. This mean that's a good sign, right? The rookie they picked. Yeah, Herbert Endelay has had some really nice performances. [00:30:54] Speaker A: Really nice goal that he scored, I think in the second game today. [00:31:00] Speaker B: If they had to start a game, I think Inele might be in that mix at right wing back because Tuamasi's just gotten back from this ankle injury. In the game that they showed that he played, he looked like he was about 80, 85%. He didn't have that explosive first step. Giovanni Jesus is out. So who else do you have over there? Maybe has a good spring. Otherwise you'd be looking at like, you know, at right wingback, who has admittedly not been great at wingback when they put him over there. Still trying to figure out he has looked a little better more recently, but he does not have a couple of great games over there. So right wing back is a big question mark based somewhat on health, but also based on adaptation of these new players trying it out. And really that's about it. I mean, Yaramindi sat out today one of the games. He had some family around, but I think also he had a little bit of tightness somewhere. Seeky and sebling sat out today, but apparently he's hurt. Not hurt, sick. Apparently he was sick. So he hasn't had a really good camp, though, unfortunately. He's looked poor. That really is about know. [00:32:12] Speaker A: Have you heard anything about legit or looked? [00:32:16] Speaker B: Ariola has had some nice assists. Yeah, he had two assists today based on the clips they showed. So he looks a little bright. But Jess been playing. We haven't seen enough to really say for sure whether he's been good or not. Enosali looks very direct, very interesting. Really willing to go at people that it's kind of fun. Not much more direct than Velasco, for example. Other than know, really. It's been kind of. That's about know. But again, there's so many guys that are missing. Pax and Jesus, aren't there. You know what I mean? One of the biggest risers of this entire camp is still Diego Garcia, the North Texas kid, the 17 year old kid who's been playing great. And he's probably outplayed guys on the actual roster, like Pundeca, like seeky and Sebling, but he's on north Texas roster, so he's probably got some time. But you remember they have before come out of their euro camp or their spring camp and torn up a contract and change things. They're not afraid. The most recent example is Antonio Carrera. Remember he had a hybrid deal. He played really well, so they tore it up. And made him a first team deal. So they're not afraid to make a move at the last minute. So don't be shocked when they come back. They're coming back tomorrow. So don't be shocked if they come back tomorrow and then they have two weeks to the first game and they have that game against, you know, between now and DC or shortly after DC, if they decide something's going somewhere or another, they might make a move. [00:33:47] Speaker A: When is the DC? And DC is the last official. That's the last exhibition game. [00:33:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And like season ticket holders got a ticket to that game. I think they have other tickets on sale for something like $25 or something. [00:34:00] Speaker A: When is it? [00:34:03] Speaker B: Without looking, I'm looking at my phone right now, but I'm assuming it's around the 17th or 18th because you want to maintain your once a week game structure. Here it is Saturday, the 17th. [00:34:17] Speaker A: Saturday. Okay. [00:34:18] Speaker B: Yeah. You want to maintain that game every Saturday structure. So without even looking, I would have assumed it was on the 17th. And it is. It's at 01:00 and there are tickets for sale. They're not $5 like I would think spring would be, but they are out there. So I would not be shocked at all if there is some kind of move to come. I would also not be shocked if they're like, no, this is it. We're good. So I still think if you're really playing three, they better go get a center back, honestly. [00:34:46] Speaker A: So written here towards the end of your world famous red crayon handwritten run sheet, is this sentence the disturbing way everyone played versus Dallas in Europe? [00:35:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, again, I did not see the two games today on Thursday, but the first two games, the teams that played against them did the exact same thing. And that made me think that, okay, they have really quickly figured out something about the way Dallas plays, and it has to do with when Dallas wants to build out of the back. And so you know how Dallas does it. They have pause or Mao or whoever has the ball at his feet, and they have the center backs kind of flanking him. Right? Like Ibia is on one side, Tafari is on the other, and the sixes are checking back. And they want to try and do this build out, whether they go down the side or perhaps go up the middle. And so what the other teams are all doing so far, every clip I've seen of SC trying to build out, they do this. They basically park guys across the top of the box and they wait for the keeper to do something. They don't press the keeper, they just stand there and so eventually the keeper will try and play the ball out and the second he makes that pass they crash hard to whatever center back or six or whatever player that he's trying to go the ball to. But that in most cases that's Ibiaga, it's Tafari, maybe it's Omar, perhaps it's Carl Sante who's a North Texas player that's over there. Maybe it's been Nolan Norris in midfield maybe it's been frazier in midfield. These are players that are not elite at receiving the ball shielding a guy off turning and making a move and finding an avenue to make a pass and release press. [00:36:30] Speaker A: The hipsters would say they are not press resistant. [00:36:33] Speaker B: Yes. And it happened over and, and over and over again and these teams kept turning Dallas over right there at the top of the box over and over and over again and they kept doing it and doing it and doing it. I'm like okay this is clearly a problem and probably is what coach was talking about when he said that we've discovered ways that this is not working for us playing this way and it was rough watching. I mean it was brutal. I was like oh my God. Eventually they started hoofing know Paswit just blasted up the field just to get him out of that pressure because basically these guys don't play for Manchester City, these center backs, right, these are just MLS guys and when you put that kind of pressure on them they're not even Tanner testament capable of shielding the guy off and turning and getting a pass. Er Mendy is but he's not in there all the time. He's only one guy so it's just a red flag watching these teams all do the exact same thing and if they've figured it out then MLS teams are going to figure it out. You would think if they would scout some of this tape they would see it so that's an area that they need to work on because it's clearly problematic and we'll see how they like again because we couldn't watch the games today maybe they solved it but they did win big in the second game so maybe they figured it out when they have their first team in there maybe it's just a younger player problem but it was clearly a problem over the first couple of games. [00:38:00] Speaker A: Note to self, Dallas needs press resistant ball carrying high passing ability center back. [00:38:07] Speaker B: Well isn't that the way the world's game is played now? Those guys are worth 80 million to $100 million if you can do that right? [00:38:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. Well, one to put a pin in, buzz, if you've made that observation and see how that plays out as the season rolls out, because that's the thing to remember, people don't. You have to think about when you play a three man center back, you're taking a center mid, generally a center mid off the field for a center back. And so players that are probably more naturally press resistant, you've lost one of those. For somebody who probably isn't wanting to be closed down at the top of the box with the ball at their. [00:38:49] Speaker B: Feet, it would help if it's palmergal instead of Frazier, that helps. Right? [00:38:54] Speaker A: Well. Or Palmer call versus Omar, or even Tafari. Although Tafari is pretty good with the ball at his feet. He's not in one of their center mids. [00:39:07] Speaker B: No. And the way Dallas uses the center backs to sort of flank that keeper in that situation, and what's ordinarily the outside guys are stepping higher. It doesn't quite work exactly the same way. Three, four, three. But essentially your sixes are coming back. When you're playing a double pivot, those guys are trying to come back and show for the ball. Those wingbacks are out there trying to show for the ball and it's like it's not getting to them or they're getting closed down the second it gets there, and then all of a sudden you're getting turned over and they're on you fast. So it's the high press. Everyone does. It's just a clear trigger on. Not on the keeper. It's when the pass comes out. And so they either have to figure that out or play a different way or something. I'm sure the coaches are working on it. They'll have a plan or they better. [00:39:49] Speaker A: Well, two wins, one loss, one draw. They scored eight goals, gave up six in the four games. So not terrible. And maybe the awakening of Dante Seeley is a storyline that will. [00:40:05] Speaker B: Wouldn't it be crazy? [00:40:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Come through. Yeah. Boy. Having him show up and pop up as an actual producer this season would be a huge help to this team in a lot of ways. We still don't know how they're going to resolve the loss of Velocico for however long that is. And that hole and all that stuff. [00:40:23] Speaker B: I mean, the thing about Dante is he's 21 now. He's 20 now. Right. So it's like we're starting to approach the point at which you'd have been asking questions because it'll be 21 in April. Okay. Is this going to happen or not. And so if it really is happening, that's great. [00:40:38] Speaker A: Okay. And you said they travel back tomorrow. [00:40:42] Speaker B: Tomorrow, yeah. Whether that means it's actually, like, right now and they land tomorrow, I don't really know. That's on the schedule. They come back on the 9th, which is tomorrow as we're recording this. [00:40:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I got the email about the press conference, so the coaching available. [00:40:58] Speaker B: I think that's neither Dan or I can go. So you're welcome to go represent FC third degree at the FC Dallas press conference. You like? [00:41:04] Speaker A: I think I'm on the air then. [00:41:06] Speaker B: Oh, there you go. Well, none of them will cover it. They don't need us anyway. It's not for us. [00:41:11] Speaker A: All right, let's see next up on the list. So tell me, showing off my generational situation. I have no idea what the hoopla is over this. I got an email from the club announcing some sort of partnership with the brand, or I guess it's called true brand. Yeah. That make the hats that Dak Prescott made famous for wearing the hat that has the word Dallas upside down. [00:41:38] Speaker B: Upside down, yeah, it's a thing. I mean, you're an old. You're gray. I mean, you and me both. You may remember that I first reported that the owner of Truebam was out at Scott's training and I talked to him back in August and I reported that that was happening and people got very excited. The youngs got very excited. The young. So that thing has come to fruition. It's super cool. There's three different hats that are FC Dallas branded and they have deals with all the other big teams in town. You can get their know on the website. They have other merch, too. But that famous outside of hats, they're big brand and they know NFL. [00:42:20] Speaker A: Is there significance to turning the word Dallas upside down that I'm unaware of? [00:42:25] Speaker B: I think the idea was just to be sort of unique and different. And then Dak Prescott loved it and started wearing it around. And for all I know, I think is invested in the company, perhaps, but they have deals with the stars and they have deals with all the clubs in town and they do the colors to match the clubs and they'll even put the club logo on there. It's just a very popular hat. Very cool hat. Other people have ripped it off all over the United States. It's just a thing. It's very trendy. Maybe a year later, it's not as trendy, but it's still very ubiquitous in everywhere you go. And the players love it. The players were. [00:42:56] Speaker A: And they're the giant hats. [00:42:58] Speaker B: Yeah, well, they probably have a couple of different varieties, but they're the big hats the kids wear with a relatively flat brim. And I'm telling you, I have never seen players more excited than when that guy was out there about a potential partnership. They were hyped about it, and you can just see from the photos that they have all over the place with that thing. It's an absolutely phenomenal thing that they've done it, except they've done what FCD always done. And this, to me, makes it awful and stupid. And I'm going to dare say moronic. They've tied the stupid. [00:43:33] Speaker A: You've already said awful and stupid, buzz, don't be so afraid to move to moronic. [00:43:39] Speaker B: This is a team that needs to build its brand awareness. Is that fair? [00:43:45] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:43:46] Speaker B: So, so far, keyword. All they're doing is they're offering a ticket package where if you buy the ticket package, you get a hat. So instead of letting you just buy the hat, wear it around, build brand awareness. People going like, man, that's a badass hat. Oh, my God, I'm so excited. No, now you got to pay 60, 70, $80 to get a hat and a ticket, or you can buy a ticket to the cocktails and cleats and then you can get a hat. Or if you're already a season ticket holder, then you'll have a chance to get a hat. But at that point, it's like, as long as they still have some point being it's a limited run, they've attached only to buying tickets. [00:44:31] Speaker A: You mean like the kid across the street from me who's into soccer? [00:44:35] Speaker B: Can't get one. [00:44:36] Speaker A: Can't just go online and buy the hat? [00:44:38] Speaker B: Nope, not without getting a ticket to some game. So, like these FC Dallas hats, as of today, I checked. [00:44:45] Speaker A: Is it limited availability and that's why they're doing this? [00:44:48] Speaker B: Yes. And this hat, it's not on the true brand website. They're only doing it apparently through FC Dallas and getting tickets. So they're trying to use it as a ticket driver rather than a brand builder, hence me saying it's moronic. [00:45:07] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes no sense. [00:45:09] Speaker B: It's completely backwards. [00:45:10] Speaker A: For a club like essay, I'm trying to figure out the thinking behind that. Because if you make it super limited availability and you're using it as a driver to get people to convert to season ticket sales, but inevitably, at some point, if the hat is that big of a deal, you're then going to sell the hat separately from tickets. And those who bought the seats and tickets to get the hat are going to be pissed because they thought they got something exclusive. [00:45:35] Speaker B: Well, I'm not sure that they're going to have things beyond that. [00:45:39] Speaker A: Well, then my reaction to that without thinking about it too much is if these hats are as big a deal to your point, why are you using them to drive ticket sales and not as a promotional vehicle? [00:45:53] Speaker B: That's what saying, like, why is it not on their website? Why is it not a build your brand in the larger DFW community? Why is it something you're only selling to people that already want to buy a ticket are. Some of the tickets are like, one of them is a military appreciation night, which is like a Wednesday. So they're trying to get you to buy the ticket to that game to get that hat because it's going to be a low selling game. Right. One of them is with the 4 July game. Obviously that's going to be a huge game anyway, so why is that one weird? Why would you do that game. [00:46:27] Speaker A: That seems so obviously counterintuitive to how you and I would do it? My reaction is, I would love to hear somebody from the club explain the thought process behind it because maybe there's a reason that once they explain it would go, oh, okay, I didn't think about it that way. [00:46:42] Speaker B: And the third game is also a Wednesday game, and the 4 July game is a Thursday game. So they've paired into these midweek games to try and drive you to buy a ticket for. [00:46:55] Speaker A: Yeah. See, this makes me wonder if true brand only did the deal if Dallas bought the inventory up front. So Dallas didn't want to invest too much in hats. They didn't know how many they could sell, and they didn't want to end up with an inventory of something that maybe turned out to be, not to be the hot seller. [00:47:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that's my read is they did 1000 of each hat and they put these pictures, limited supply done over and to me like, listen, I'm sure somebody there will push back on my take. I'm sure that they'll have a take. You and I have been through this now for 30 years, dude. [00:47:30] Speaker A: Well, here's my buzz. The hat does not appeal to me, and I don't have an understanding of how popular these hats are. So you seem to understand. My read on your judgment is that these things are crazy popular, like Pokemon cards back in the day, and everybody's going to want one. So why is that what you're saying? [00:47:53] Speaker B: It may not be that everybody wants one, but this is a very popular hat and for it to not be on the true brand website and not be available to the general public who you want to be wearing the hat around is to me crazy. [00:48:07] Speaker A: I am certainly aware of the bit of the upside down Dallas thing that I've seen Dak Prescott and other people wear. So I'm aware of it. I just didn't realize it was that big of a deal. But if they're that popular as you say they are, the way they've rolled this out does not make any sense. I agree with you. [00:48:29] Speaker B: I mean, if you go to their website, you'll see that one of their mos actually is they do relatively limited runs of hats and they sell them out. So sometimes they are a hot item because they're partially scarce. Right. So they do sell out. But that's the thing is you're not taking advantage of the true brand ability to get into the community and get into these more higher profile star venues like trendsetting kind of environments and people. Right. You're only going to use them to try and drive tickets instead of trying to drive brand awareness. [00:49:03] Speaker A: Yeah. So I guess if true brand said, hey, we're just going to make you a thousand of each of these hats. You figure out what you want to do with them and you can buy them from us. Dallas made the decision to tie it to ticket sales versus just make them open to the public. [00:49:17] Speaker B: Interesting. [00:49:18] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I guess we'll. [00:49:22] Speaker B: Sure. I feel confident that the hat is going to be popular enough that they're going to sell them all out. But it comes down to the idea of you're using it with people that already know you and like you and want your ticket, rather than people that maybe didn't know you and might want to learn about you and find out what this was all about. So maybe my ideas are more macro large market, all of DFW thinking and maybe I'm crazy. Maybe that's why I'm not in the marketing business. Maybe that's why I don't sell tickets. I mean, maybe they're right and I'm wrong, but I just think it's crazy. You know how I feel about these marketing. [00:50:06] Speaker A: Mean. The way that you explain it does not make sense. But I have to assume there's some madness to the method that I'm unaware of. [00:50:14] Speaker B: Maybe there's something I don't know. Maybe there's something I don't know. When I read all the details today, I was like, I just held my head in my hand. I couldn't believe it. It's backwards to me. [00:50:23] Speaker A: Yeah, that is really queer. All right. [00:50:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:29] Speaker A: Okay, so there we go. What else? [00:50:32] Speaker B: To give you a read, Peter. There's a bunch of people, like our discord, for example, that were annoyed because now they can't get one. They can't get a hat. [00:50:39] Speaker A: Why? Aren't they season ticket holders? [00:50:40] Speaker B: No, a lot of them are not. A lot of them buy tickets on shorter run basis than they're not going to cocktails and cleats. And the thing is that season ticket holders are like the third option. The first two options are to buy this special ticket or to go to the cocktails and cleats. And then if there are any leftover, then there'll be a chance for season ticket people to buy one. So it's like you kind of have to know that and be already reaching out to your rep. I want one. And they could all be gone. They could sell out with these single game tickets. They could sell them all out. And now some of your hardcore are not going to get one. It might not even get all the way through to the ticket holders is what I'm saying. [00:51:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:51:17] Speaker B: So it's all set up to just drive some single ticket sales to those three games? As soon as I can tell. [00:51:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, they'll probably send five of them up to the radio station and they'll end up sitting in a box in the corner of the. [00:51:34] Speaker B: Oh, if that happens, grab me one. [00:51:35] Speaker A: Well, I'm not allowed to do that, but there's so many teams, and this isn't exclusive to the soccer team, but stuff gets sent from all sorts of places to the radio station, to the different hosts of the different shows. Those guys were like, I don't need another t shirt or another hat or whatever, and they all end up just getting left in the corner of a room in a. [00:51:57] Speaker B: And I'll tell you a slightly funny version of that. I was at Nesson in Boston when I was finishing grad school, New England sports network in 96 when the league launched. And I was working at Nesson and they sent a jersey, the revolution sent a jersey to Nesson and they gave it to me because I was the only soccer person that cared. So I have an original 96 revs jersey in my closet that I got because of that. So that's a perfect example of what you mean they sent them out there. It's like nobody wanted it. [00:52:26] Speaker A: Yeah, funny stuff. [00:52:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:28] Speaker A: All right, well, look at us. We killed an hour, bud. [00:52:31] Speaker B: You want to talk World cup? [00:52:34] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, sure, if you want to. [00:52:36] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, we should mention it, I think, at, you know, Dan went to the announcement, and he was pretty clear that the room just deflated, just came crumbling down. The funny thing that I found was that I had people that for two or three days before that were like, we're getting the final. We're getting the final. And I was like, dude, infantino's in New York today. I'm like, what are you talking about? We're getting the file. They were like, what? I was like, yeah, dude, he ain't here. He's in New York. [00:53:05] Speaker A: Yeah, there were some World cup people here. He was in. I mean, I'm just speaking for myself. I definitely feel like I got suckered into believing the vibe that had been going on for some. [00:53:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:25] Speaker A: Andy and I have talked about this on our show, which is long before the leak came out in the sun, almost three weeks ago, we had. I. I'll just speak for myself. I can't tell you how many times somebody in either soccer or media circles, in just the course of conversation would say, oh, by the way, have you also heard, or you didn't hear this from me, but Dallas is getting the final. And I'd go, where'd you hear that? I can't tell you, but this is. And I heard that so many times that by the time the sun leak came out three weeks ago, despite the fact that it's a british tabloid, and I know better than to just believe anything, I was like, oh, you know what? That totally tracks with what I've been hearing for a long time now. So I got suckered into believing it like everybody else did. But ten minutes before he announced it, when he made the comment of, Dallas is getting the most games, my entire world came to a screeching halt. And I went, what? What did he just say? Because there was no way they were getting the most games and the final. [00:54:29] Speaker B: Yeah, well, for quite a while, you and I have always heard that Dallas was getting either a semi or the final. It was Dallas sofa and metal ants were the three, and those were going to be the two finals and the semis in the final. That's what we've been understanding all along. So I never was 100% bought into the idea it was the final. When it got leaked, I was like, oh, that's fun. You and I talked about the ridiculousness of running my house. So I'm actually really excited that there's going to be nine games, and I almost don't care that they don't have the final. I'm way more excited. There's nine games know, and not the US game. Now you may think I'm crazy, that I don't want the US game here. Not having the US game means I'm way more likely to get, to go to all those games and get, well. [00:55:14] Speaker A: This is all stuff I'll talk about on our show on Saturday, but I'll preview it here. I think that's the thing to me, that I step back and think about this and go, you know what? It was never going to be a final in Dallas because the way that this thing played out was exactly the way FIFA and Infantino. They got every single thing they wanted out of putting this tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. They got the glamour of, they got Sofi back in line after Cronky and those guys almost bailed out on the entire tournament. They got them back in line by giving them not one but two us group games. So now they have the glamour of Sofi in LA. They get exactly what they wanted out of Dallas. This is what Dallas provided better than anybody else, which is the potential to generate metric f tons of money in revenue. So now they're giving them nine games to do. [00:56:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:08] Speaker A: And they get the prestige and gravitas of having the final in, you know, whatever. You know what I'm saying? They call it New York City just like they call Arlington Dallas, but they get every single thing they want out of it. And when you look at it from that perspective, it was like, yeah, this is totally what was always going to happen. [00:56:28] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think Dallas will still chase other things and the hunts obviously are chasing. [00:56:33] Speaker A: Oh, for sure. Teams being based here, the referee center, the headquarters, the media center out at. Yes. And here's the other thing is that Andy, and know because the kick around becomes a daily show during the World cup. Right, Andy. And I's initial planning for this World cup was to rent an RV and go drive around the country and do the show from the RV. [00:56:53] Speaker B: Wow. [00:56:54] Speaker A: But Dallas or Arlington is getting such a number of games that the diversity of national teams that will be coming through North Texas is so great. You almost don't have to leave DFW to enjoy the World cup. [00:57:08] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, nine games is ridiculous in that small of a window and you'll see so many different teams come through here. It's going to be so much fun. I can't wait. [00:57:17] Speaker A: The money we would save from having to travel could be spent on tickets to go to more games. Because they're here, and I got a free place to park, too. [00:57:25] Speaker B: That's true. You do. It's a 1 mile walk, but you'll be fine. Yeah. Instead of 100 hours at the door. Yeah. [00:57:33] Speaker A: It'S great. And I feel bad for the Dallas organizing committee and Monica Paul. That the headline has been Dallas failed. When in reality, everything about this is a massive success. [00:57:45] Speaker B: Yeah. It only feels bad because people of the leak, which may or may not have been infraccino, trying to get a last little something. [00:57:53] Speaker A: Oh, he totally did. Yes. That is a good conspiracy theory. One that I completely buy in on, is that he got Dallas to pony up as much as possible. And got everybody worried about it. To get his. To squeeze the New York lemon as tight as he could. [00:58:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Jerry's doing his big upgrade anyway, so that's fine. It'll look good. [00:58:12] Speaker A: Yeah. I think we're having Monica Paul on the radio show on the 17th. [00:58:18] Speaker B: Don't make her cry. [00:58:20] Speaker A: Oh, man. I feel so bad for her. You know how long she's been working on this? [00:58:24] Speaker B: Years, obviously. And she's very nice. [00:58:26] Speaker A: No, when you say years, I don't think you understand. She has literally been working on this for 15 years. [00:58:33] Speaker B: Wow. Okay. No, I didn't know that 15 years. [00:58:36] Speaker A: Of her life have been spent for that moment. [00:58:40] Speaker B: I've told you before that Jerry built that stadium with the idea of getting this final. Thing is designed to try and get this final. It's crazy that he didn't get it. I thought Jerry juice was going to pull for sure, but. Nope. [00:58:55] Speaker A: Well, there you go. In some ways, I think, look, I would rather have nine games of the selection we get than seven games in a final. [00:59:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Because I'm not getting tickets to the final, so I'm happy to have nine games. I probably can't even get a semi ticket, but I bet I can get a fair amount of tickets for the first other eight games. [00:59:12] Speaker A: Yeah, well. And if I'm being 100% honest, I probably wouldn't have admitted. I wouldn't have said that same thing a week ago before they said Dallas wasn't getting the final. So I probably would have said, yeah, I'll take eight games or seven in a final over. But now that I think about it, no, nine games in a semifinal is. And here's the other thing. Here's the other thing that nobody. I haven't heard anybody talk about. So Dallas is getting the most number of knockout round games in, right? [00:59:38] Speaker B: True. Yeah. Yeah. [00:59:39] Speaker A: But the other thing is, if you really look at the schedule. Not only is Dallas getting the most knockout games, they potentially are more than likely will get two additional decisive games because they're not getting one, but two third round group games on the 25th and 27th. So everybody else is getting like, maybe one third round game. And, you know, third round games are generally always decisive matches. Yeah, Dallas is getting two of them. [01:00:06] Speaker B: That's fun. [01:00:07] Speaker A: So potentially six decisive matches are essentially knockout games are coming to Dallas. [01:00:16] Speaker B: Who's the one team other than the US you'd want to see in person? [01:00:23] Speaker A: That's a really good question. And it may be better asked when we get closer to the tournament to see who's playing really course. [01:00:29] Speaker B: Of course. Just a dream. One that someone you've never seen. [01:00:33] Speaker A: I've never seen the Germans play in person. [01:00:36] Speaker B: I saw the Germans of the World cup in 94 here. [01:00:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I didn't see that. [01:00:39] Speaker B: And they're three two, comeback. And I've seen Argentina. [01:00:44] Speaker A: Wow. I got to think about. That's a really good question. I don't know the answer to that. Well, do you have one? [01:00:53] Speaker B: I'm actually going to say that I would really love to see Scotland in the World Cup. I don't know if they're going to make it or not, but Scotland is where my ancestry is from, so seeing them in person in the World cup would be cool. I'm not like a hardcore, like, oh, I'm scottish guy. Right. But I've seen Argentina, I've seen Germany, I've not seen England in person. That'd be cool, too. But it would be fun for me to see because then I'd want to take my old. Know if I could. That'd be cool. That'd be nice. [01:01:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Interesting. I'll have to think about that for a bit. I don't know if I have an easy answer for that. [01:01:26] Speaker B: Not. I'm sure every person that thinks about it will have a different question. Obviously the answer is the United States. But let's forget that for a second and think about, like, who else would be super cool to fun. [01:01:37] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. Yeah. Well, it's crazy that we're all got all this noise and uproar about something that isn't going to happen for literally like 900 days. [01:01:48] Speaker B: Well, there'll be plenty of little times that will come up over the next three years when we'll talk about it more. Obviously, we're not a World cup show here, we're FC Dallas show. But I'm sure there'll be enough Dallas local news that it'll hit our radar from time to time. And certainly your show will be all over it. Your other show. [01:02:03] Speaker A: Yeah. And by the way, I will also preview for you that I got a little peek at the details of the transit plan. Dude, it is so awesome. Look, I don't want anybody to think that this means that Arlington is getting mass transit, because they're not. But for the purposes of this month long event of shepherding hundreds of thousands of people in and out of know, based on what I've been told and what I understand, it's really great. And I was also told that FIFA actually considered it to be a more complete plan than any other of host cities in the United States, including New York, New Jersey. [01:02:43] Speaker B: Well, if you've ever tried to get to the New Jersey stadium on the metro or on the train, man, it sucks. [01:02:52] Speaker A: Has everybody forgotten the Super bowl of 2014 when 30,000 people got stranded coming to and leaving MetLife Stadium? Or when they hosted the big WWE event? [01:03:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:03:06] Speaker A: Look, I lived in Manhattan for four years. I've ridden all those systems. I'm just telling you, the romance over mass transit in New York is not as great as it would be. And all of anybody I know that lives in England, they spend an inordinate amount of time bitching about the trains in England. [01:03:23] Speaker B: Yeah. I will admit, though, that the romanticism of going to New York for a World cup final is pretty frigging mean. [01:03:29] Speaker A: Oh, sure. I'm not denying that. [01:03:31] Speaker B: I would love. You know, you're right that in the end, it's the star power and the Uber money and the glam glam of New York that want it, not the transit deal. [01:03:42] Speaker A: Well, oh, no, it was never the transit deal. It was never about trains or buses or any of that bullshit. [01:03:48] Speaker B: No one gives a crap about that. People pick World Cups. Pick World Cups because they're going to hang out with Jerry or they're going to hang out in New York with rock stars. It's like, it's not about normal people. Transit. [01:03:58] Speaker A: I will say this until the tournament happens. Infantino got every single thing he wanted out of this. [01:04:05] Speaker B: Yeah, he did. [01:04:07] Speaker A: Wow. Okay. Well, I hope everybody's excited because there's nothing to be disappointed or upset about. There's only everything to be excited about, in my opinion. [01:04:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:19] Speaker A: I hope by the time we get into a couple of weeks from now to the start of the Dallas season, I'm as excited about the Dallas season. [01:04:25] Speaker B: Me, too. Well, speaking of which, since you haven't seen any of the stuff over there, is there any lingering question from you about the team or players or. Cause you're in this scenario of you and I, you're slightly more representative of the average fan. So what lingering, big question do you have that I could maybe try and answer right now? [01:04:47] Speaker A: I would say, well, interesting. I guess my question is, assuming they're playing this three four three, what does that mean in terms of who's playing center mid for this team? Does that mean it's Paxton and Alara, or is it some other combination of people I haven't figured out yet? [01:05:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I think if we just, for a minute, pretend everybody's healthy, I think era, Mendy and Paxton are probably your first two choices going into the start of the season, because Paxton's been hurt, Frazier's been in there a fair. So in the real world, that's probably more viable than Paxton at this minute, that's probably what you're looking at. Legit has been more in the mix as one of the higher so far, like, underneath the striker. And the high striker is. Will be Musa. It's Farrington, it's Ansa. And underneath that is in these 210 positions, not wings, two tens. Jesus. Ariola, legit, those kinds of guys. Pondeca, who's way down the depth chart. Sally. Sally's been in that underneath role. That looks really bright. Those kinds of players that have been in that spot, not Kamungo, not Seeley. Those more vertical runners are playing wingback. Andele's out there, Sealy's out there. Kamungu is out there. And those are kind of the way it's breaking down. If a guy has some ten kind of qualities, some drive into the box kind of qualities, they're that underneath ten, under the high striker, that's what you're looking at. [01:06:27] Speaker A: And I apologize that I did not ask this way earlier in the episode, and I feel stupid for not doing it, leaving it for the end. Has anybody seen Musa play yet? [01:06:36] Speaker B: No. He's not taking the field yet? No. [01:06:38] Speaker A: Do we know why? [01:06:39] Speaker B: Well, I imagine it's p one visa and legitimacy of being on the roster and stuff. They showed him sign the contract, so he cannot, it's my understanding of contracts, until his paperwork clears through the international transfer from league to league, and then down to athlete Alice, and until he gets his p one visa, he can't even train, right? Yeah, he probably can't even come in the country, because if you were here training, and then you would have to go get it and then come back, if you'd arranged for a tourist visa to come in, and then even when they do that, usually they're like, he's not here training. He's just here watching. Wink, wink. [01:07:21] Speaker A: Right. [01:07:22] Speaker B: So, like, he's in Spain right now. He's just watching and hanging out. Wink, wink. Who knows what he's doing behind the closed doors. But he's not playing any games. So it's the same thing. He'll have to go back to the Czech Republic to get his visa. So until that happens, he probably won't even come to the United States. [01:07:40] Speaker A: Maybe what happened? And now I'm getting players confused and mixed up. Is soli the one that's too young to actually sign? [01:07:47] Speaker B: Yes, Sally is 17. [01:07:49] Speaker A: So what happens to him if they're like, oh, my God, this kid's a baller. We need to him to play in day one? [01:07:55] Speaker B: Well, he's going to be 18 very shortly. It's February 23. Is that actually before the season starts? Yes. It's like the day before the home open. Right. [01:08:10] Speaker A: That's awesome. [01:08:12] Speaker B: Now, whether he could. Whether. [01:08:14] Speaker A: Happy birthday, kid. Go score some goals. [01:08:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Whether they would have his P one visa lined up. That I can't answer, but he could actually sign his contract on the 23rd and then. So P one visa pending. He could play on the 24th. Also pending, of course, has his international certificate also transferred, which basically is like his player card. You have your id. That's what that is. That has to transfer to the new team. But he would not start that game anyway. It'll be Areola and it'll be Jesus being held. If it's Jesus, healthy. If it's not Jesus, it'll be legit underneath. That's what it'll be. If it's a three, four, three, we'll see. [01:08:53] Speaker A: Goodness gracious. [01:08:54] Speaker B: It's complicated. Starter season is complicated, especially when you have guys banged up. Obviously, it won't be Velasco. We know that. [01:09:03] Speaker A: All right. [01:09:04] Speaker B: He's still in Argentina, as far as I know. [01:09:06] Speaker A: Yeah. To be determined. There we go. All right, Buzz. Anything else? [01:09:13] Speaker B: I mean, North Texas is open camp. Their schedule got dropped yesterday. I've been out of town, so I haven't put it together on the website. I know nobody else cares, but I love going to those games, so that'll be know. [01:09:27] Speaker A: You're the hardest of the hardcore, Buzz. That's why you're the original soccer influencer. [01:09:32] Speaker B: I was at a game the other day, the FCD Dallas game the other day. I was. I don't. I don't like if. When that place is full up, I'm not going to want to go. I'm gonna just go to North Texas games, watch them on. [01:09:43] Speaker A: It's. [01:09:44] Speaker B: It's an hour drive and you get stuck in traffic and you're crammed into that stadium. It's hot as hell. I'm just going to go to North Texas games and watch on tv. I'd rather go to training. [01:09:53] Speaker A: You're such a good marketing tool for the club. [01:09:56] Speaker B: Well, if it's sold out, they don't need me to market know I'm going to go to training and tell you what's actually going on. How about that? [01:10:02] Speaker A: All right. Very good. All right, well, let's all root for Dan while he's back home. [01:10:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Get those looting tickets. [01:10:11] Speaker A: Yeah. And condolences to the. [01:10:13] Speaker B: Condolences to the family. [01:10:16] Speaker A: Very good. All right, Buzz. Thanks, man. [01:10:18] Speaker B: No, you're welcome. And thank you for being here to help me get through this one solo. Would have been rough. As always. [01:10:23] Speaker A: When it is, I love doing this. This is good times. We've been doing this a long time, dude. [01:10:27] Speaker B: Yeah, we have been season six of the podcast, which is crazy. [01:10:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Is this year 28 of the league? [01:10:33] Speaker B: No, they're two years ahead of me. 29 this, 27 for me. 29. [01:10:38] Speaker A: This is the 29th season of MLS. [01:10:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Because I'm on 27 and I started two years after they did. [01:10:47] Speaker A: 96 to 24 is 29. [01:10:52] Speaker B: Well, last year was my 26th season. I know that. [01:10:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:10:57] Speaker B: So they gotta go. [01:10:58] Speaker A: We got to go learn how to. [01:11:00] Speaker B: 2026 will be their 31st season, right? [01:11:07] Speaker A: 30Th anniversary. Yeah, I don't care. Whatever. Long damn time. Too damn long. Whatever it is. All right. Thanks, man. [01:11:16] Speaker B: Third degree. The podcast has been brought to you by Soccer 90. Com. Explore the vast collection of FC Dallas Premier League and us men's national team gear, jerseys, hats, scarves, tees and beyond. Soccer 90 has all you need now in person. Enjoy your 20% discount code in the store. 30 degrees the code soccer 90. Com. Just let them know at checkout. 20% off. Third degrees, the code. Some exclusions do apply. [01:11:41] Speaker A: Thank you, FC Dallas curious fan. We will be back and talk to you again on another episode of Third Degree, the podcast pancakes with a pedophile. [01:11:52] Speaker B: No one's going to know what that means. Third degree, the third degree, never podcast. Third degree, the third degree nap podcast. Third degree never can. Third degree, never.