3rd Degree the Podcast #266

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:00:04] Speaker B: Ooh. Ooh. Third degree the third degree Nap III degree the third degree napocast third degree. [00:00:19] Speaker A: The third degree Nap podcast third degree. [00:00:23] Speaker B: The third degree nerd podcast third degree. The podcast is brought to you by Soccer 90 Dot. Our partner is over there. Got everything you want. International gear, club gear, national team gear, you name it. They got all the stuff for Copa America coming up. They got the goods. Use the code third degree at checkout, both in store and online. Just mention it when you check out the counter or use [email protected]. you get 20% off code thirddegree. Soccer 90 Dot. Third graded podcast is also brought to you by the Lindstrom law firm for wills, probates, trusts, and business law. Call 469 515 or visit lindstromlaw firm.com for a free consultation. [00:01:02] Speaker A: Well, hello there, FC Dallas. Curious fan. Welcome to episode 266 of Third Degree, the podcast. It's me, Peter. And here also doing this today is your friend and mine, Dan Crook. Hello, Dan. [00:01:17] Speaker C: Hello. Hello. [00:01:20] Speaker A: And somewhere I think I'm correct in saying in sunny Florida is editor, founder, originally soccer influencer, all around good guy, of thirddegree.net. buzz Carrot, come and buzz. [00:01:35] Speaker B: Yeah, Peter, that's. I'm definitely in hot Florida, where it's very humid and very wet. In Tampa, very specifically. [00:01:42] Speaker A: Sounds like Dallas. [00:01:43] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's way more humid here than Dallas. This is like Houston. [00:01:47] Speaker A: Yeah, well, Dallas has been like Houston a lot lately, so the dew point has been over 70 in Dallas a lot lately, and that is very Houston and very Florida. It's not a pretty sight. Well, good. What are you doing in Florida? [00:02:03] Speaker B: Football again? Believe it or not, this is the championship of the thing I was doing before. [00:02:08] Speaker A: Is this the seven v seven or flag football thing? [00:02:11] Speaker B: Seven men football. Yeah. High school football. [00:02:13] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, cool. This is their summer bit. [00:02:16] Speaker B: Yeah. It's things the players do in the off season when it's not fall football. This is the tail end of spring football, seven minute football going into summer. [00:02:25] Speaker A: Stars of the NFL future you're just hearing upon all the time. [00:02:29] Speaker B: Yeah, these kids are all spectacular four or five star level recruits. You know, there's lots of guys in the NFL that played in this tournament, you know, within the last three or four years even. [00:02:39] Speaker A: They're all early teens and they're all six. 5252. [00:02:42] Speaker B: Yeah. There are guys at this thing that are just unbelievable specimens of athleticism. You know, which ones will make it? [00:02:48] Speaker A: I. [00:02:48] Speaker B: What do I know? I'm not a football scout, but, like, some of them are just. I mean, these. These are the guys that are the. The top two recorder quarterbacks in the whole country are here, and the guys that are the top ten receivers. It's just the real elite guys. [00:03:00] Speaker A: Gee, Buzz, if only some of them wish would just play soccer, right? [00:03:06] Speaker B: Yeah, that's funny. There are definitely dudes here that I wish would play soccer because some of. Some of them were, like, 5658 and just spectacular athletes, and they're never going to make it in football, but they're just so elite athletes that they're good at this, you know? Seven man football. [00:03:22] Speaker A: All right, when are you back from Florida? [00:03:24] Speaker B: Monday. [00:03:25] Speaker A: Okay, Dan, what exotic location do we find you at? Would that be Richard? Richard's land? Richard, son. [00:03:34] Speaker C: Sorry. You shot it. [00:03:36] Speaker A: What I was trying to say, like, target. Terj for target, but I didn't. It didn't come out the way I wanted it to. [00:03:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:47] Speaker A: You're in Richardson. [00:03:49] Speaker C: I am indeed in Richardson. [00:03:51] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. Well, boys, here we are on a new episode of third degree, the podcast, facing the reality that Dallas played two games since the last time we spoke and lost both of those games and is mired near the bottom of the table. And I don't think we really know anything more than we did this time a week ago, Buzz? [00:04:17] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I mean, I don't know that we know more. What we know is. Is more rooted in stone. You know, the more time passes, the more we are absolutely aware and know exactly what this team is and what it's good at and what it's terrible at, which is probably a lot of things. This is a weird time when you're. When you're around a team that's got a record like this, it's often hard for them to understand why it's happening because, you know, these guys have all been quality players in their whole lives, and they don't understand sometimes why all of a sudden, the team they're on is absolutely terrible. You know, some of these guys played for the biggest clubs in the world. Well, yeah, one of them did, you know, and the frustration is across the board, and it can be difficult to watch them because, you know, like, when you. When you're around them, you talk to them enough, you get to know them, you feel like you like them, and they're likable people, and you get along with them, and you just hate to see them having to deal with something this bad, you know? And sometimes you get to a certain point that it almost becomes inevitable that it has to be blown up when it's this bad. But I will say that, you know, there are still a lot of signs that these guys are all still buying in and fighting for Niko, you know, so I don't. It is not as bad culturally around the team as 2003, when things went way, way south on Jefferies and everybody knew it and he lost everybody, you know, relatively quickly earlier in the year, not necessarily through his fault. This isn't like that. This one is where everyone is still rolling in the right direction, as Oscar would say, but it just doesn't work and I don't know what to do. Certainly we can do nothing about it except try and analyze it. [00:05:59] Speaker A: Yeah. So as I mentioned last week, I was in LA for both of the games. Got to attend both places, got to check off both stadiums off the list of MLS locations I've not been to before, and I don't think I'm going to tell anybody anything unique that they were really bad against the galaxy and slightly better against LAFC. What I thought was interesting was the vibe and body language of the team between the two games and in the Galaxy game, I mean, from the, I mean, when they lined up for the picture, you can tell they knew they were, they had no interest in being there. And it felt a little better in the LAFC game a few days later, which is weird to me. I do wonder how much of that has to do with the tremendous atmosphere inside BMO Stadium, because the, the atmosphere inside the Galaxy Stadium is. I can't believe I'm saying this, it's weirdly Toyota Stadium, like. Yeah, and, and so I don't know if the fact that they, my sense was, is that they were a little bit more revved up for the second game than the first had something to do with just the tremendous scene that they were playing in and that beautiful stadium. By the way, both stadiums are great. We can talk more about that later. But the LAFC thing is certainly a next level. [00:07:30] Speaker B: Yeah. It's entirely possible, too, that there's a recognition that LA FC plays in a way that is slightly favorable towards Dallas. They're not going to try and take the ball away from you and hold it the whole time. They're not going to necessarily ticky tack you all over the field. They're more athletic and more direct and they're also willing to not have the ball. So Dallas is able to get more of their share of the ball and they begin to feel a little better. And LA is not, LAFC is not pressing them and making it very, very difficult to play out of the back. Like the Galaxy did something that makes Dallas fairly uncomfortable, despite the fact that it's what they want to do. It's weird that you want to do something that you don't have the players for, which is weird. But, you know, it's. It's hard to be a ticky, tacky build out team if you don't have center backs with great feet. So they obviously felt much better against LAFC. And then again, maybe also being a different place for a week can freshen your mind. You're not coming back to Dallas and coming back to your family. Is it coming back to the grind that's reminding you that it's not going well? It's almost like you're on an extended. Well, this is different. You know, I'm not gonna call it a vacation, but maybe your brain turns a little bit and you begin to feel decently about things and feel a little better about yourself for some reason. You know, just having that freshness to it all. I mean, there were pictures of them training in a different location. Even the pictures felt weird looking at Dallas guys in training gear in a place that clearly wasn't Toyota soccer center. So, you know, maybe. Maybe that all fed into it, perhaps. [00:09:08] Speaker A: Well, the weather was spectacular, I can tell you that. Hey, Dan, I don't know if I know where you sit on this particular topic, so I'm going to ask you, where are you on the Niko out? Niko in question. Ooh. [00:09:28] Speaker C: Sonata out. Andre out. I mean, you can change the coach as many times as you want, right? But if the guy getting the players in isn't delivering, what they gonna do. [00:09:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm glad you said that. I am a very. I'm very similar minded to you on this, and getting to watch the team was interesting. I got to sit in a really unusual place for the LAFC game, and it's a very long story how this ended up happening. It had nothing to do with me and everything to do with a friend of ours that has connections. But inside BMO Stadium, they have seats that are literally on the field. There's three rows of them, and they're on either side of each bench. So you literally walk out to these seats from the same place the players walk out onto the field from. And so I was. I was 5ft away from the team and at most 15ft away from Niko for most of the day. And watching him from that perspective was really, really interesting. And he clearly is engaged, and he certainly hasn't given up, and the players seem to click with him. But more than I, I think you can tell from the stands, at least in this particular game. And in the, in the days after the game, there was a lot of discussion on the, on Buzz's discord about how everybody wants him fired and canned, and that just feels like the most obvious thing to do. And there's a big part of me, Buzz, that thinks, yeah, okay, but you got a plan, do you? I mean, you. I feel, it feels like everybody just wants a pound of flesh and they want it from somebody, and he seems like the easiest guy to take it from. [00:11:13] Speaker B: He's the easiest guy to change, for sure. It's a lot harder. [00:11:17] Speaker A: Yeah, but, but nothing's going to change if you just because you put. I mean, unless you go out and hire Bruce arena. [00:11:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:23] Speaker A: Right, right. They're not going to do that. [00:11:25] Speaker B: Yeah, no, they're not getting Bruce arena. You know, the discussion of whether this job is a job anyone will take is different discussions related to the amount it pays and the fact that you have to answer to Zanada and Dan Hunt and Clark Hunt. So, you know, that's a totally different question. But the question is like, you know, if you need a change and you want to change, the fastest, easiest thing to change is the head coach because changing the roster takes a whole bunch of moves and lots of time and maybe even multiple seasons. Changing the TD is just about as difficult. It's a lot harder to change the TD than it is to change the coach because the coach only deals with a lot of times, pretty much just the first team. You just walk out to the training ground with a new coach and you go, whereas, like a new TD, you have to be completely integrated into the entire scouting system, completely integrated with, you know, all your connections around the country that are going to make you be able to find and get all these players. You know, it is not nearly as easy. So it's like, this is what always happens in all kinds of professional leagues. I can't change the whole roster. Might as well change the coach. So I think people definitely have negative responses to some of what I think are some mistakes that this coach is making. Not, he's not making massive amounts of mistakes, but he's definitely making it harder for himself. But I come back to the idea that, like, from everything I hear and everything I see with my eyes, his team hasn't given up on him and they're still fighting for him. They're given what they're capable of giving now, would a new coach improve them? It's certainly possible. It's certainly possible that he could, a new coach would change the system. Maybe he would try some guys in different spots, maybe he would try a different tactic. Maybe all those things could make the team better, but all those things, I think, would only make the team a few places better. You could maybe get it up to, like, the fringe of the playoffs, but, like, you're not going to turn it into the first place team in the league, you know, in five games. I don't think with just a new coach, you get a little bit of a coach bounce probably. You know, maybe what you might get that would appease people would be an offensive team that is going to attack and score some goals. Maybe you might not win, but it might be more entertaining. And so maybe people want that. Or maybe just like when you're upset enough, you just want change, to have change. And, you know, you don't want to go through the rest of this year with a guy that you don't think is good enough as a coach or as a lame duck as a coach, you know, and then you're going to be getting players for a coach you don't want as the fans, I mean, not the ownership, they clearly are at this point or on board with them or they would have done something by now, I think so. I understand people's frustrations. I understand why they want to get rid of the coach. But it would not be overnight success. Even if you got Bradley or, you know, Jesse Marsh or whatever, you think the best american coach available is Roose arena, you know, it's not going to go great overnight. And again, you're not going to get one of those guys here in Dallas. You're going to get a guy that's got a connection to the club or a guy that's looking for a first time job or a guy that has a connection to the Hunts. You can just look at their litany of promoting assistance from their previous staff and or getting a guy that they knew really well. Omar, no, excuse me. Nico Gonzalez is one of the very, very rare exceptions, the only exception, really, when they've got outside that system. [00:14:49] Speaker A: It is frustrating because while I was watching the galaxy game, there was a moment where I was just like, okay, this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen, and maybe you can explain it to me. Somebody else on Twitter tried to and tried to make sense of it and argue that it was the right move. But when Tefari gets his second yellow and is ejected, Niko's decision being down a goal with about seven minutes left in regulation and whatever added time was going to come, which was a total of about, I think it ended up being about 1012 minutes total. He takes off Patrickson and instead of putting on attacking player, he puts on a center back. Yeah, and I, and I was sitting in the stands aghast, trying to figure out why in the world, why don't you put on Farrington or somebody else that can go forward with the ball and somebody who appears to have some tactical understanding tried to explain it to me on Twitter about some sort of weird rotation with Jesus. I don't know. All I know was, is that the vibe of the team was very, very defensive and it needed an injection of energy, an attacking verve, not more padding. And that's all that Omar gave the team. [00:16:09] Speaker B: Well, my, my assumption is, my, at the time when it happened, my assumption was that you need to keep, you know, you're going to be down a man. You need to keep some sort of defensive shape, and this coast in particular is going to feel that way, you know, so he's going to bring in a guy that will keep that cohesion together and keep the defensive rigidity together because you're going to have to go, you know, a fair amount of the play there at that point and try and establish something. You can't do it if you only have two center backs now in a three center back system and there's basically just track meet right through the middle of your team. [00:16:44] Speaker A: Why don't you go to, why don't you go to two center backs and two fullbacks and just play with four in the back? [00:16:49] Speaker B: Well, you certainly could do that, but. [00:16:52] Speaker A: Go to four, four one and throw Farrington on there. [00:16:56] Speaker B: Well, you know, you and I might do that, but this coach doesn't think that way. [00:17:00] Speaker A: Right. And that's kind of. Yeah, yeah, that's kind of my point, and that's why I think everybody's frustrated with him and I don't get it. And I, and, and I, and I. You'd have to think that he knows that people are frustrated with this, this kind of, I mean, both of these games is this continuation of this thing where of the ten field players on the field, essentially eight of them are defenders. [00:17:21] Speaker B: Yeah, but that's, that's his thing. Right. That's what we've talked about is that he wants that defensive first responsibility by every player across the field. He wants to be able to play full field till team defense against everybody. And this, for him, that's the margin between, you know, trying to make a team that's less talented competing against the team that's more talented is by having defensive responsibility everywhere. And that's what he wants. You know, now it's. It can be really boring to watch a five four one, you know, or a five three one or whatever that turned into after you got it, got red carded. But then you turn around a week later, and he talks about the game being the best, cohesive, end to end, two directional performance of the entire season. [00:17:56] Speaker A: The Galaxy game. [00:17:57] Speaker B: No, the LAFC game. Oh, a week later. No, three days later. You know, he commented after the game that that's the LA. The LAFC game was the single best performance, offensive and defensive, of the whole year. [00:18:12] Speaker A: Well, it was after. It was after he took em off and put on Allen. [00:18:17] Speaker B: Yeah, put on Paul. You mean. [00:18:18] Speaker A: I mean Paul. Yeah. [00:18:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, funny enough, I thought he actually played really well. He went off because of his knee pain he was having. [00:18:26] Speaker A: But we, you and I got to talk about that because I will tell you, standing, sitting literally on the sideline next to Em was the most frustrating exercise of watching a guy refuse to take space and attack. And I don't know. And I. By watching his body language and watching his communication with his coach, I'm telling you, I don't think it's an instruction. I just don't think he thinks he can do it safely, so he refuses to do it. [00:18:54] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe so. I think, you know, I joke that it's been coached out of him, but. [00:18:58] Speaker A: Maybe that's it, too. [00:18:59] Speaker B: You're right that. That Paul immediately brought the offensive capability. We were talking about the wingbacks needing on both sides and that neither one, neither Marco Farfan or Ema has been doing enough, and Paul immediately brought that. Then, of course, Paul got made a breakdown on the goal, but he wasn't the only one. But it was part of a breakdown on the goal. So, you know, and that immediately would make the coach go, see, I knew I needed a defender over there, right? So, you know, sometimes these things that get us excited, feedback in a loop to the coach of like, see, I knew I should have defender, but I will grant you that. And this is something I think is really important. The lack of offensive width from the wing backs is one of the things that's absolutely killing this team offensively because it. If you don't have. Because the way they're playing this formation with the underneath tens, your width has to come from your wing backs. And if you don't have it, then your defense of the other team is able to pinch down and play more narrow and put the tens and the nine in a box and make it very difficult to score. And that's exactly what happens to this team over and over again. It's the failure of the waffles from the wing backs, which is probably why he played Dante Sealy as long as he did. Except that eventually he just couldn't stand the defensive mistakes and that's why Emma starts all the time, because frankly, he was the best defensive outside back. Wing back. He has best defensive one. [00:20:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:14] Speaker B: You know, and that's why he plays them. So, and that's the thing about, like, if we look forward to Giovanni coming back, Giovanni's a better offensive wing back than Nema will be, but he was a better defender. So don't assume necessarily with this coach that giant is going to walk back in and become the answer. It's got to have to be balanced. [00:20:30] Speaker A: Well, I want to go back to the LA game because the thing that was just so obvious to me and the difference between the two teams because I will tell you, LA was there for the taking. They did not play that well. They repeatedly turned the ball over. Edgar in particular. Edgar had some just awful turnovers in the midfield. It was almost as if he forgot he was not supposed to pass to his old friends from high school sometimes, but. But the player that clearly stood out was pweek. I mean, that kid is, by the way, he is an absolute tiny dude. I can't, I can't even begin to tell, like, if you think Paul Areola is tiny, we is like a skinnier, tinier version of Paul Areola. [00:21:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:18] Speaker A: In real life. [00:21:19] Speaker B: Right. [00:21:20] Speaker A: And he does this weird thing where he pulls his shorts up and they look like diapers, but his first touch and his willingness to take space and drive it, a defense from the center of the field is exactly the kind of player Dallas is just dying for. And to be fair, probably many teams and mls obviously a next level player, but just he has that skillset and that willingness to try things and do it even when he doesn't, isn't successful all the time. He just never stops trying to do it. And I. That was clearly a massive thing. Dallas is missing. [00:21:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And I even wonder if Alan Velasco was healthy, if he would be that guy. [00:22:01] Speaker A: No, because we watched Allen not go at defenders successfully for a year and a half. [00:22:07] Speaker B: Right? Yeah, it's a tough one. You know, this is where I think you can't undersell the missing Paxton pomical, you know, as well because of the fact that, you know, he had so many of these box to box sort of linking eight metrics that are missing from this team right now. You know, the ability to connect and ability to link through is such a massive thing. But it also comes back to the idea that this formation that they're playing, it leaves you with across the midfield, not a lot of ball possession kind of players, because wingbacks aren't necessarily like nifty, dribbling possession kind of players. They aren't necessarily line breaking kind of players. And so you put a lot of weight on your two guys in the middle, which should have been Arminian Paxton. It isn't, you know, because either Armenia's out because he's old or Paxton's out because he's out for the year. So it's like, it's not a simple question that can be answered just by what one guy by itself being the difference. Jesus has been out there, really. The other person trying to be Alan has been nothing compared to what Allen can do in that position. It's tough. [00:23:04] Speaker A: What is it you think the coach sees in Delgado playing that more forward position? Because I got a lot of hot sports opinions about that. [00:23:13] Speaker B: Well, he's not a, he's not a string pulling ten. He's one of these box crashing tens. Like, he and Jesus actually have a lot of common qualities in terms of their ability to come in late into the box and put, you know, touches and passes and, and pieces together in the box and make dangerous moments in the box. So, you know, I think he sees a player like that because, you know, the guys he's trying to that spot aren't producing. And Adele gotta at least has three goals in three games. You know, he was as hot as anybody, so I'm sure he was riding them for that reason. Really. [00:23:44] Speaker A: But what? Why not legit? [00:23:47] Speaker B: Well, other than being hurt? Yeah, that's a good question. Well, there's a point at which I think you stick with the hot hand. You know, if you're preaching to people that we have to be better offensively, that we have to score goals, that we have to get some offensive results, and then you put a kid in there and he proceeds to score goals two, three games in a row, you got to ride that, you got to. If he does what you've saying needs to have happen, then you got to keep going with them. Now, I think long run, you know, certainly at their current level of ability, I think legit probably is a better answer there in the long term. But I don't have a problem with riding Delgado as long as you can, was playing really well. [00:24:21] Speaker A: One of the things in one of your burns that you put out, I think it was last week, was that you had discovered from the coach that he, I think we may have even talked about this in the podcast, which is that he's a ten. [00:24:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought he was a six. You know, did we talk about this. [00:24:36] Speaker A: In the podcast or did I hear that in one of your burns? [00:24:38] Speaker B: I did a burn on it because I was so flabbergasted. I did a burn on it. [00:24:41] Speaker A: Okay. [00:24:42] Speaker B: The thing is, is that I assumed that Doug Otto was a six. And I use the word assume because I did assume, I assumed that the, the metrics that I was seeing online from his time at Ajax, Ajax's second team were correct because Ajax played him as a six more, a little bit as an eight. They put him in that position. And I. So I just kind of went with that idea particularly because when he played with Dallas in practice and when he played with him in games, he always came in, in that double pivot next to Yar Mindy or next to Fraser all the time. And then every once in a while in training I would see him fielded as an eight. If they were doing a four, three, three, you know, and once in a blue moon he would pop up as that high ten. So I just kind of went with that. I went with the idea that he was a six. And then when I was asking coach, because after a couple of games I thought, okay, what is it you saw in him that your coach, that you're putting him as this ten player, a guy that nominally as a six you're using, it must have been some quality of him you thought would work. And he said, well, that's because he is a ten. He's not a six. His whole career has been as a ten. And I was like, I cannot so as much perhaps my fault or any media's fault for assuming that where his last team played him was the thing. We obviously get way more information out of Europe than we get out of South America. I had no idea he was at ten. Also, no one at the team apparently knew because none of the social media people have been saying, oh, he's a ten. The only person that knew he was a ten was coach. And he never said anything, so. [00:26:16] Speaker A: Well, he's not a very ten. [00:26:18] Speaker B: Well, he's not a string pulling ten. He's this, he's this modern box crashing, free eight, whatever. Is Jesus a ten? Because Delgado is more like Jesus than he is like Alan Valasco. So if you think Jesus is a ten, then Delgado is a ten. [00:26:34] Speaker A: Noel Delga I mean it was really aggravating because I would watch him get the ball wide and somebody make a really smart run behind the defense and he would actually look at the player making the run and then refuse to make the pass. It was almost as if he didn't know how to do it. It was weird, buzz and I, and I saw that in both of these games and I think it's a big part of the problem with the attack is that he's just not that kind of attack minded player. [00:27:02] Speaker B: Well, coach mentioned that he had, that Delgado had missed, had sort of lost faith in his own sort of a ball and ball ability and one of the reasons why Ajax had played him so deep was because they thought he'd be better back there like that. And then coach said that one of the reasons that they, FC Dallas were able to get him was because of this sort of lost feeling, right? And that he, he said that because. [00:27:30] Speaker A: He'S not very good, right. [00:27:32] Speaker B: That's what coach said was like. He said we're a club that will bring through youth players and develop them and make them better. He said that's why we were able to get him, that's why he came here. And he said there were some clubs in European Europe that really wanted him and were mad that he chose to come to Dallas instead. So you know, now we talked before about this. Coach doesn't like kids but he does like these 20 year olds, like Delgado and like Bernard Kamungo. So he doesn't mind guys that are 1819, 2021 or he doesn't like his 15 year olds. So you know, I'm not saying that you have to agree with all the things this coach is saying, but you can understand what coach is talking about and where it's coming from, why he's not trying to use them at this high spot in the long run this season. I'm not sure he's the answer but I'm totally fine riding that hot hand and I'm, you know, I think eventually you'll see legitimate back in there. But of course. [00:28:22] Speaker A: Well it's, yeah, it's a, it's frustrating because he has scored a few goals and they've been kind of goals of opportunity versus goals of creation but the rest of the game is just a maddening exercise in a guy that just looks out of place and. But I say that with the agreement that I can see why an Ajax moved him back further in the field because he is rangy he works hard. Um, and he keeps his head up, and he does have a little bit of skill set. It's just not in the attacking half of the field. Um, and so, uh, I can. I mean, I. I think I understand why Niko is staying with it, but it's not working well enough to help the team overall. [00:29:05] Speaker B: You say that, but he, he led the team by a fair amount in progressive receptions, which means the team does play through him against LAFC. And he did have. He has the second most offensive final, third touches, and he had more touches in the penalty box than Jesus did. Jesus had none and he had two. So you're right, he is optimistic and he bounces forwards and he gets. [00:29:26] Speaker A: Jesus is a completely different story. [00:29:29] Speaker B: Sure. Well, in the context of this team full of dudes, yes. He's Delgado. I'm fine with Delgado. Is he ral? Is he pweeg? No. Let's not be insane. But, like, he's out playing everybody else they've put in that spot. He's out playing. [00:29:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, that may say, that may say more about the rest of the roster. [00:29:50] Speaker B: I'm not saying he's the answer. I'm just saying that. Dan, where do you like him in. [00:29:54] Speaker C: That spot is as good as any other option right now. I mean, tenacious, not the most organized, but scoring. [00:30:07] Speaker A: Okay. The other thing, one of the other things I wanted to talk about, just as observation is I want to talk about Musa a little bit. How many games into the season are we now? [00:30:20] Speaker B: We're almost halfway. [00:30:22] Speaker A: Halfway. [00:30:23] Speaker B: 15. [00:30:25] Speaker A: Dan, where is Musa for you so far? Has he lived up to expectations? Is he about where you thought he'd be? Is he. [00:30:33] Speaker C: Oh, expect and hope are very different things when it comes to FC Dallas, aren't they? [00:30:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Fair. [00:30:40] Speaker C: He's definitely not getting the level of service that any striker needs. I don't think he shows a lot of frustration. Those moments where he switches off on defensive duties or just kind of blasts a shot from distance out of frustration that I could be a little bit better, but give him good service in a good position and he does school. [00:31:10] Speaker A: Buzz. Where are you on him? [00:31:13] Speaker B: I actually really like him. I think he's got a mentality of someone that competes and keeps competing for the whole game. I'm with Dan that if he had a higher volume of service, he's leading this team with five goals, which is not a. I think it's five. Not a really high level, of course, compared to the rest of the league. But I think relative to the amount of chances he's getting. It's pretty good. I don't, I don't have any real complaints. I mean, I don't think he's the reason this offense doesn't work. I know that you're going to talk a bit about his body language and I actually asked coach about that because he's. He's super demonstratively, like bummed, like in the way he carries himself and like, he gestures to the sky, if you will, a fair bit. And coach said he actually talked to him about that and Musa had said to him, he knows he's like that, he said, but it's just his way of getting out of motion. And I, and I can respect that because I don't see him then quit and walking around. I see him making runs late in games that other guys don't make and maybe up close it's tough, but we already have Jesus who already is overly demonstrated negative anyway. So I'm not sure that it's not all just feeding off each other at some point. [00:32:24] Speaker A: Yeah. My sense in watching him and the two games was interesting because there are clear moments where he is a very class player and I don't doubt that there is a top notch guy in there and he, and he clearly is frustrated by what he's gotten himself into by coming here. But there, I do think just in some fundamentals there are some indicators of some of this is his fault because he. He is having a hard time doing something with the ball when the team does provide him service. I mean, there are multiple times, if you just go back and watch the game, anytime somebody plays the ball up to him long that he has to trap with his chest while he's got a defender on his back, that is almost more times than not a ball he's going to lose. And he gets very frustrated by that. [00:33:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I would say that's my number one critique of him is that balls into him. He's not retaining at a high enough level. Some of that is the quality of the ball, of course, but some of that also is on him. Again, some of that is because as I talked about, the sensors, no wide attack, the defense is collapsing and he's getting less space than he should. All that's a factor. But the bottom line is that you're 100% correct that he is not. He's turning those passes into him over at higher cliffs than he should be. That's clearly a thing that needs to be better. [00:33:49] Speaker A: Speaker zero. Yeah. And when it happens, he turns off and he doesn't fight for it. Like, he just. He understands that he's lost the ball. And I saw this a lot in both the games, especially in the LFC game, where he really got frustrated in the first half. But what was interesting is that he sparked to life when the Paul Areola substitution was made and the team started playing better. He started playing better. And so I think all of this is. Is somehow connected, not somehow obviously connected to just the general poor form of the team. And I think it's really rubbing off on him. [00:34:22] Speaker B: Well, loop that in, if you will, again, to this lack of outside attack from the wing backs. The minute you put Paul on, he's attacking that outside space. The defense opens up, creates space. Paul actually beats a man or two, gets a ball in that might not have been coming in before, and all of a sudden, moose has a tiny bit of more space to operate and he livens up and recognizes things are happening. You know, it's. Again, to me, the number one problem with this offense is not Jesus or Musa or the other ten spot or whatever, is the lack of wide play that's allowing defenses to collapse, the lack of offense from your wing backs. This is absolutely destroying this team. [00:34:58] Speaker A: Well, and in terms of Jesus, I think what we've. What we've come to learn about Jesus in the last year or so is that I think we all thought Jesus was a guy who was capable of grabbing a game by the scruff of its neck and. And kind of bossing it. And I think what we've come to learn is that Jesus really is going to be the type of player is dependent on other parts to really become a game changer. He's just not going to be able to do it by himself. [00:35:28] Speaker B: Yeah, he's not a guy that can dribble through a bunch of people. He's the guy that plays best in combination with people, takes advantage of mistakes, takes advantage of chaos in the box. You know, he's not going to be able to carry the ball up there by himself. Now, he is a good line breaker. He will come back and create combinations and break lines, and his movement can be really decisive. But, you know, again, it's a team game, you know, Dallas and doesn't have a pweeg, you know, and really, who else does other than Messi, you know? [00:35:56] Speaker A: Right. [00:35:57] Speaker B: You're talking about some of the true elites that have these guys that can single handedly take a team and win a game. You know, Nashville had a guy like that in mook tar, but they're even. He has fallen off this year. You know, Cincinnati has one and Luciano Costa, you know, and their strikers name is slipping my brain right this minute. You know, they're really great teams. Have these guys. Even LAFC right now maybe really doesn't have one of those guys in terms of the midfield. They have a guy up top that's about. That's like that. But even he needs help. He's more like Jesus Buhage, you know, he's not. He's not like Messi or Tweed that's going to dribble through three guys and score. [00:36:32] Speaker A: No, he just looks like. I mean, just in, seeing him in person for the first time, that's just a dude that's just going. He bosses games just through pure physicality more than anything else. Although he's not as big as I thought he was going to be, which is weird. I thought he has. [00:36:47] Speaker B: He has a presence. Yeah. [00:36:48] Speaker A: Oh, boy. Yeah, he definitely has a presence. No doubt about that. The other thing, the tafari second yellow in real time. I thought he got the ball cleanly and it just was a ref reacting to a guy flipping over, over heels overhead. But I guess, Dan, it was a legitly. It was a legitimately good yellow card to give and a second one at that speaker. [00:37:12] Speaker B: Zero. [00:37:12] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, he deserved both him. [00:37:14] Speaker A: Okay. I never saw a replay of it. Like I said, I just saw it in. In real time. Why was he fined for not leaving the field? Because my recollection of that was that he did. He hung out for like 1015 seconds waiting to see if maybe it would be varred, but obviously it wouldn't because it wasn't a red. And he turned right around and walked off. [00:37:33] Speaker B: You can't wait for to see if it's gonna be varred. You have to start walking. You remember, I think it was early this year, I want to say Paul got a red card and he just immediately turned around and walked to the locker room and he was halfway up the tunnel before the VAR. The decision to go to VaR came. So then he stopped and waited, but he was already, like, at the tunnel. And then when I got overturned, then they waved him back and that's what you have to do. You have to start to go and then let them call you back. If you wait at all, you're going to get fined. And like five guys got fined for that last week. You know, it's like it's happening everywhere. It's not just dafari. [00:38:08] Speaker C: The league needs to do better or pro, you know, hand. It's every week the disciplinary committee decisions emails that go out. There's rarely anything actually related to foul play or violent conduct. It's all got sent off. Didn't, you know, took too long. It's just. It's bullshit. [00:38:30] Speaker B: Well, people aren't getting the message, clearly, so. But they just find everybody. [00:38:34] Speaker C: That's it. I mean, they're not giving the message. [00:38:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:38:38] Speaker C: You know, if someone just handed you a ticket, you know, while you're out driving for a $5,000 fine, but didn't tell you why you got it, you're gonna keep doing the same thing. [00:38:49] Speaker A: The reason why I asked the question was obviously the replacement was Omar, which was an. Omar was surprisingly good in the LAFC game, but there was one, and I would say Omar was good and so was all Armendi, who continues to be really, really good, but unbelievable. But the one thing those two guys have and very much in common is they both have the speed of a 35 year old soccer player. They are both. [00:39:16] Speaker B: Yeah, they do. [00:39:16] Speaker A: And when you're playing a team, like, I mean, the number of times Puig just ran right by alarm. There were a couple times where I got the better of Puig, but, like, especially, like on that last. Winning on that last goal for LA, where he just kind of ran right past him and he could not get anywhere close to him. And that was a very similar thing with Omar. Like the through ball, like Omar trying to chase that guy down. It was that. That's another big problem with the team. [00:39:50] Speaker B: Oh, that was such a perfectly weighted pass. It was, yeah, yeah. You know, obviously Omar does not have the quicks anymore and neither does Ermini. But you are many reads the game so well, it's usually not an issue. The problem on that particular goal were against LAFC was that Frazier got pulled out of position because basically they have Sanchez, their, their 6th, who's really good passer. He was sitting deep and should be bracketed by the two tens, but both of those guys, which was Jesus and legit at the time, did not chase back and cover. So Frazier, look, looks at him, points at him and then says, well, screw it. And he runs 20 yards up the field and leaves a giant gaping gap that Elliott proceeded to pass the ball right through in the air. I mean, he's trying to catch the guy and it's too late at that point. And then that guy makes it because he has all the space in the world to run into. That makes a beautiful lead pass for Buga and it's just fucking so. It's a beautiful goal. It really is. Well, taken across the board by them. But, you know, the space was that was created was just a massive chasm within the playthrough, starting with Frazier overreaching because somebody else wasn't doing their job defensively. [00:41:00] Speaker A: Well, obviously the one player that stood out of both of these games and continues to be the best player of the season, which is never a good sign for a club, is Martin Paws and goal. And by the way, in person, that double save on the PK in real time, in person, was otherworldly stuff. And the praise he got from the Galaxy fans that were around me, they were all like, why can't we get this guy? This guy's amazing. They were all really impressed. Like, you could tell nobody knew who he was. They don't know where he's from. They don't know his story. But he, he won so many people over on Wednesday night at whatever, Dignity stadium, whatever they call that place now. [00:41:44] Speaker B: Yeah, he had a MLS career high nine saves against LAFC, which is funny. Like, we talked, coach talked about it being a. The best front two in performance, and I'm like, dude, your keeper set a career high in saves. You know? Now, I grant you that, like, they're, if you're into these things, their XG was just a little over the one goal. They scored like 1.31.4, depending on who you looked at. So, you know, Martin paws in that sense was only good for about half of a goal. But when you have nine saves that you're keeper, it's like, that means nine balls would have gone to the net if he hadn't saved him. And some of those things were not saves that every keeper makes. Yeah, I would say he was phenomenal. [00:42:23] Speaker A: Again, I would say the harder saves came in the Galaxy game than the LAFC game. A lot of the LAFC shots were right at him or relatively not difficult. The Galaxy game he made. I mean, beyond the double save on the PK, there were a couple of other ones where he was flying all over the place. But yeah, I mean, look, it was an amazing, amazing five days for that guy. [00:42:46] Speaker B: He was easily pickable as the man of the match in both games. He was phenomenal in both games. And yet they're getting spanked in one game and losing the other game, you know, and that's. He's being incredible on top of that. [00:42:59] Speaker A: And here on the red crayon run sheet, I have this entry submitted the Sam junka quandary. [00:43:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I. This is. I don't. I don't know if it's a quandary for this team. It's a quandary for me because Sam Junka is clearly the best crosser on this team. I don't think there's any doubt about that. When he does take his moments and gets forward, he hits beautiful balls into the box, into dangerous spots. On top of that, he's, I'm very convinced, the best two way balanced wingback on this team, both offensive and defensive. If you could play him at left wing back, in particular, you get a crossing angle. You can also play him at right wing back because he likes to play what we would call an inverted wing back, which is where, if you have him on that side, for example, you could play Bernie Kamungo as one of the tens on the right side, and Bernie could then play as a more traditional wing and take up those outside spaces, because Sam relishes playing switch foot outside back where he can come underneath and basically become an eight as he comes forward and fill in that spot, you know, become that ten underneath player. So, like, you have three or four ways you could be using Sam junka that would benefit this team in multiple phases of their offensive problem. And yet you're forced to play him as center back because he's the best left center back you have and one of the best three center backs you have. Hence the Sim Junca Quandary. It might be a whole lot better for this team if you didn't have to use them at center back, but you do, and that's not great. [00:44:48] Speaker A: Yeah, it's frustrating. I mean, between that and the mess in the midfield with the center mids and, I mean, it's just. I feel like we're just saying the same thing after episode, after. [00:44:59] Speaker B: Yeah, we can analyze it, too, though, but because the center mids right now are in danger of burnout because your mini is having to go 90 minutes, junk is coming. Not junk. Excuse me. Liam Frazier is coming off of an injury and having to go 90 minutes and looks burn out and tired. It's like you're going to run those guys into the ground if they don't find somebody else who can play center mid. You know, Paxton's gone. There's none of the kids that they think are ready. Delgado right now is playing high. He obviously thinks he should be high and not deep, but he's. Even though he's had to use them there from time to time, he obviously doesn't believe the belief in Norris, you know, so he's got a problem there. He's going to burn him up. You know, I remind, he's 34, so, you know, this season could easily, the team's as healthy as it's ever been this season, but it could easily get in big trouble again if they don't figure out some of these other people to play some of these roles. [00:45:46] Speaker A: And is the Norris issue just a function of trust? [00:45:50] Speaker B: Well, it's the yellow cards, I think, you know, he keeps getting these yellow cards. It's just a question of him not being 100% up to speed yet at this level. He's still a tiny bit off the mental speed, the game, you know, and I'm fully confident he'll get there eventually because I really believe this is a very talented player, but he's just not there yet. You know, he, you know, a year ago he was coming out of the academy, you know, he just needs a little time, you know, that's all. I'm not worried about him. You know, some of it may be, you know, this coaches belief in, like, he can't, he can't afford to have guys that'll make a mistake. And Nolan still will occasionally make a mistake, usually because of his split second late read on. Something at this, this level is the same reason why people will say, why isn't Farrington playing? It's the same thing. Farrington is a split second off the game read at this point. And that's why he's not getting in there as much as you might like him to. [00:46:41] Speaker A: Right. Well, interesting. My book report on my trip is that going to the Galaxy Stadium was really weird because it is far more like Toyota Stadium than I was prepared for in the way that it's sunken into the ground. You don't see it until you're right on top of it. And the atmosphere in terms of the parking lot scene and in the game is way more like a scene at Toyota Stadium than the LAFC scene, which I'll talk about in a second. [00:47:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Having been there myself, I can, I totally agree with what you're saying. [00:47:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it's interesting. [00:47:19] Speaker B: I mean, it's a very similar, yeah. [00:47:21] Speaker A: It'S an older stadium, but it's, well, not, it's done really nicely. They've got, they've added a giant kind of, I don't know what end of the field it is, but behind the field, I guess they've expanded it and they put this giant kind of like beer patio out there. That's pretty cool. And the other observation had from both of the games is the amount of people out in the parking lots, vending ripoff jerseys it's a stunning number of people and they are just openly and freely operating without any recourse or oversight or anything. And they are selling a wide range of what appears to be a very high level, top notch set of knockoff jersey scarves and other accoutrements. [00:48:10] Speaker B: Oh, so it's like when Mexico's an at and t stadium in Arlington. [00:48:14] Speaker A: Yes. [00:48:14] Speaker B: And there's thousands of guys out there selling. [00:48:16] Speaker A: Yes. [00:48:16] Speaker B: Of mexican jerseys. [00:48:17] Speaker A: It's just like that. Yeah, absolutely. It's pretty crazy. LAfc Stadium is a wonder to behold. It's cool to drive up on. It's next to the coliseum. It's. It's really nice. It's. It's more open on the inside than I was anticipating. Meaning it's. It. It has an element of Austin's stadium to it and the way that they've left it open in areas to let air, uh, run through me. Um, that's really cool. Uh, the. But unlike the Austin, uh, stadium, it just reeks of, uh, of, um, thoughtfulness in its layout in terms of the accoutrements and features and all that stuff. And. And because I think they were obviously prepared for Hollywood elites to be there. Even in the vip section underneath the stadium, there's like a vip section inside the vip section. It's pretty crazy. [00:49:19] Speaker B: It's a fourth wall break inside a fourth wall. [00:49:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. [00:49:22] Speaker B: It's. Yeah. [00:49:24] Speaker A: So if you're in the vip section, there is an. There is an open bar, free beer, free food, free candy, free snacks, as much as you want, all down there. And inside that, there's another glass room with curtains around it that I assume is where Will Ferrell and Taylor Swift and, you know, whoever hang out inside of. It's. It's pretty great. [00:49:48] Speaker B: The thing I like about that stadium is I'm going to. I'm going to call it like the most recent era of MLS stadiums. And I think we have to give Minnesota credit for this with their wonder wall. And that's the steep supporter section behind the goal. Austin has it to. LAFC certainly has it. I think the Minnesota Wonderwall may be the first one. I'm not positive about that, but I really love those. Dallas does not have that. Neither does the galaxy, for example. You know, it's that. It's that very vertical ish behind the goal. Standing safe. Standing where it's like they're almost leaning over the field. It feels like, you know, that's super cool. [00:50:21] Speaker A: It is. In the atmosphere in that stadium, in my opinion, is second only to Portland. That supporters group is quite good and consistent and they run the entire game. It's quite a scene, man. It's a, it's a really good thing they got going on there and you can see why they've been very successful because they've invested a epic fuck ton of money into it and it has paid off in spades. So Dallas lose both games on the road and they've got a third game on the road in store for them. Facing off against third place Minnesota. Yep. They got to travel up to the hinterlands. Now. Minnesota has given up some results at home there for one and three. So it's not like LA, either of the LA teams that are undefeated at home and continue to be after Dallas's visit. But Minnesota is going to be a tough one. Buzz especially is to far right back. Or is it just a one game suspension? [00:51:13] Speaker B: It's just a one game. Well, Minnesota was going to be a tough one. I'm not sure it is anymore. They're missing eleven players with call ups. So like the bulk of their starting lineup is, is gone and a couple of really key guys off the bench are gone. [00:51:31] Speaker A: So let me, let me pose this question because I was hoping you were going to bring this up. If Dallas can't beat Minnesota's b team. [00:51:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:41] Speaker A: Albeit in Minnesota that, that is. I mean, here's the thing. I mean, that is going to be a bad look for the entire organization, not just Nico. [00:51:54] Speaker B: Yeah, it's not going to be good. I mean, they're missing, you know, lad's having an amazing season for them. They're going to be missing pookie, they're missing. They'll be missing their starting keeper. They're two center backs, a fullback, a midfielder and a forward, and two, a couple of guys that are occasional starters are big time off the bench. So, you know, it's up to like, I think it's eleven last time I counted. And that's not including who they have hurt. You know, I didn't even look at their injury list. That's just the guys that are missing on call ups, I think. So, like, Minnesota is as decimated as possible to be when you play in a window and they lose all these players. So, you know, will, will some of them have come back, will they have injuries recover? It's hard to say. But you're right. The problem is, of course, it's on the road and it's very, very difficult on the road. But this is as good a chance to win a road game like this. This was going to be another monster, horrible game in the middle of this awful, awful three game road stretch. Well, this game just all of a sudden got a lot easier, and you now have to go in there thinking this is a chance to get some points on the road, you know, and if they get. If they lose this one, that'll be a pretty heavy blow. Pretty heavy blow. [00:52:56] Speaker A: Well, we'll see. [00:52:57] Speaker B: This is the kind of loss that might actually get you to start. Players start looking at each other and looking at the coach. If they lose bad to this team, missing the pieces they're missing. [00:53:06] Speaker A: You know, I would like to hear them say they look at themselves and each other, but. But I guess it doesn't work out that way. [00:53:12] Speaker B: They might look at themselves. I think earlier in the podcast, Peter, you hit on the key question is, like, do you continue to use Delgado in that high spot, or do you let legit come in at this point with a week of training? So that'll be some interesting questions. In those particular four spots. I mean, I think everybody else is pretty much a lock. Ema maybe versus Paul at outside back maybe, but then Paul made that one mistake, but then even might have this knee knock. So, you know, otherwise it's pretty straightforward. I think Tafari would come right back in. I can't imagine that. You know, even though he played decently, you know, I still think there's a case to be made to say, start Omar and let Nikosi play left center back, and then you can use Sam somewhere else. But I don't know that this coach wants to use Sam somewhere else. [00:53:58] Speaker A: Right. [00:53:59] Speaker B: Those are ideas I have. Those are not ideas that he may be having. So, yeah, you know, I think anybody out there at this point can pick the team other than those. That discussion of Delgado versus Leggette versus. Look, Frazier look tired, you know, those kinds of things in the midfield. That's the Russians. [00:54:13] Speaker A: Well, to change topics, something else I wanted to bring up that was discussed in your discord, which, by the way, here's my regular break from normal programming to promote the idea that people should subscribe to Buzz's Patreon so they can get access to the discord. We'd love some new blood in there. Um, is this discussion we had, somebody was putting up the. The, uh, ESPN top 100 list, or I guess it was a top 200 list or something. And when I saw that, I thought to myself, is there anybody on Dallas's roster? It's certainly not top 100 player in the world. Certainly not top 200 player in the world. And suddenly it dawned on me. Is there even a player on the Dallas roster that would make a top 1000 in the world? And I began to do the math. If the average roster in top five leagues in Europe are 25, well, the average league has 20 teams, so that's 600. So you could see very quickly, even if you were to decide you were just going to look at the top quarter of each of those leagues, I don't. I got to tell you, I don't know if Dallas has a top 1000 player on it. [00:55:23] Speaker B: Well, the candidates for that discussion are the. Or I think you could. The way Martin Paz is playing, I think he could play on a top five league in Europe. Pos could. I think, yeah, but I'm not saying. [00:55:34] Speaker A: Top 1000, top 1000. Just because it's. Just because you're in one of the top five leagues doesn't mean you're a top 1000 player. [00:55:41] Speaker B: No, but you know, he's been at some pretty decent claw. I'm not, I'm not trying to convince you this is for sure. I'm just saying these are the three people I see is that you could have a discussion and maybe they could be in. Yeah, I think pause. I think pause could play at a higher level than he's playing right now. I think he could play at a bigger club than he's at. [00:55:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:55:57] Speaker B: You know, I think he's good enough for that. Yeah. Obviously in his past arm Indy was in that list. I mean, he played for massive clubs in Real Madrid and such. [00:56:06] Speaker A: Oh, he, five years ago he probably was a top 1000 player. I'm not sure. At the age of 34 he is now. [00:56:13] Speaker B: No, and I think not Jesus now. Jesus, two years ago, 18 year, 18 goals. Jesus. I think that Jesus is capable of playing for a club at that level. I don't think he is right now, but I think he was then. [00:56:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:56:27] Speaker B: So, you know, he's fallen off clearly through injury or whatever reason. But I think you. I think we disparaged that particular season and his form in that season. You know, he started a World cup game, you know, for whatever reason, that still is a monumental achievement, you know, and that still is when you're playing at that kind of capability and people were looking at him and clubs are offering, coming and offering big money like that. I think back then I think he probably was in that level of discussion, if he may or may not actually have been in that particular level. So he never obviously got to it because he didn't continue it and he didn't go. [00:57:03] Speaker A: So I am seeing a note that Dan has left us. [00:57:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know whether he, I don't know if he fell out or what if he comes back. Well, okay. [00:57:12] Speaker A: I was going to ask him if he thought. All right, well, anyway, let me, I'm not trying to pick on Dallas with this, this hypothetical because I'm not sure there are that many top 1000 players in MLS in total, to be honest with you. I just, it just seemed like an extremely large number. And it's like when you realize what your place in the universe kind of thinking, you know, you see all the stars and you realize each star is a galaxy with a thousand planets or whatever, and you're like, wow, I'm nothing in this world and it in this universe. And that kind of is the thinking behind that particular deal. The other thing that we. I wanted to talk about, Buzz, was the stadium topic, which is the Dallas Morning News published an article earlier last week stating that it appears that the whatever announcement, in fact, the article came out the day after we had this conversation in the last. [00:58:13] Speaker B: Funny. [00:58:14] Speaker A: And, and it was really weird because the article said some things are laid some hints that make me wonder if we're about to get a much bigger project at Toyota Stadium than I think we have discussed here. Now, previously, what we've discussed here is the idea of them essentially tearing down the north and east sides of the stadium like they did the south side. But what really has me curious, Buzz, is two elements to the Dallas Morning News story. And again, this hasn't been confirmed anywhere. This is just what was reported by the Morning News. First, the amount of money that is being planned on being spent, $158 million. [00:59:00] Speaker B: Right. [00:59:01] Speaker A: Well, the stadium, the entire stadium and the south end construction didn't equal 150 million, $58 million. [00:59:12] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:59:13] Speaker A: The other one, and this is the one that really has my red flag going off, is it says that all of this work won't be done until the end of the 2020, until the end of 2027. And so if they're going to start working on that now, in 2023, that's four years. That's longer than it took to build the entire stadium, Buzz. [00:59:37] Speaker B: Right, right. Well, there's lots of things there to answer. The first one is that we've been saying $150 million all along. That's been the number that I've been getting. So that's obviously basically the same as your 158 million. [00:59:52] Speaker A: Maybe I forgot that you have said $150 million because that, or it just went through in one ear and out the other. [00:59:57] Speaker B: Right. And then what I was originally saying before was I had said that the east side of the north side were going to be torn down first and that eventually they were going to get to the west side. Right. So I've been talking about the whole thing being torn down except for the hall of Fame the whole time. That's always been the plan, that what has changed very recently is the order in which they're going to do them. So they, this is my understanding now, is they've switched to where they're going to do the west side now first. And the reason it's going to take so long is because they're going to do it in phases, because they want to continue to play there, and they need to have a pretty high volume of attendance. And remember, part of this project, too, is, although it's not part of that 150 million, this is my understanding, anyway, there still is this mixed use entertainment hotel complex that's going to come on the east side of the stadium all the way up to Main street there, right. That sort of empty lot with those people play those little pickup games, you know, that and that east side parking lot are going to get eaten up by this other project that's sort of not technically part of the stadium. So all that's going to be part of it. And originally, the idea was they wanted this all to sort of coincide with the 2026 World cup. But because it's taken some time, it's now not going to be finished. But the World cup is still the impetus of this all happening, but it's going to finish, you know, a year later, hopefully still taking advantage of what the hunts believe is going to be this explosion, another explosion in soccer here because of the World cup. So that article is in line with what we've been saying. [01:01:27] Speaker A: Okay, stop a couple, some tweets because. Because you were telling me information that I am telling you, you have never said on this podcast, which is they're tearing down the existing west side of the stadium, the press box, the club, all of that's coming down, too, because the only thing you and I have ever talked about is the north and east side of the stadium. At least that I remember. Now, I'm an old man, and my memory isn't what it used to be. But I swear, if somebody, especially you, had told me that they were tearing down the west side of the stadium, I would have remembered that. [01:01:59] Speaker B: No, we brought it up in the last couple of weeks because remember I told you there was this minor delay. Do you remember me saying that? [01:02:05] Speaker A: I remember you saying there was a delay. Yes. And that maybe the delay meant they weren't going to start doing the work until the end of the year versus the middle of the season. [01:02:12] Speaker B: That's exactly right. The reason that delay happened to the end of the season, as I mentioned to you, was because they changed the order and they're going to knock down the west side first. We talked about this like, two or three weeks ago. [01:02:23] Speaker A: I'm going to have to go back and listen to podcasts because I swear, if you had said west side either. Either it completely went in one ear and out the other, I would have totally. That was all news to me. Well, that would explain the amount of time and the amount of money is that they're tearing down all three sides that are not the hall of fame. [01:02:40] Speaker B: Right. And we even talked about the idea that they'd have to come up with some kind of temporary media and, like, television situation for broadcasting. All that kind of stuff is a part of that. [01:02:50] Speaker A: Remember any of this? We talked about this on the podcast. [01:02:53] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we did. We did. [01:02:55] Speaker A: Are you sure? I was here? [01:02:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:02:57] Speaker A: Okay. I would address the curious. I'm going to trust the curious to report back and go, yeah, Peter, you guys have talked about this, because I have never heard, or at least I do not recall the idea. I am. I mean, I. I'm excited by the news, but I am confused as to why they wouldn't just re. Just relocate the team for a couple of seasons, because that is going to be an epic cluster f. Yeah. [01:03:22] Speaker B: That's a question I cannot answer for you. I do not know why they're not doing that, other than they feel contractually obligated or morally or emotionally obligated to continue to play there. I don't. I don't know. They really feel like my understanding, and they really feel like, is this going to happen in stages and it's going to be the better way to go about it. So I. [01:03:40] Speaker A: And that whole east, that whole south side construction was such a beating. And so I guess what they're going to do is they're just going to do it in three stages. They'll do west, the north and east or something like that. [01:03:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it'll be west and then northeast combo is going to be my understanding. This goes back all the way. Do you remember there was a survey for the season ticket holders? Man, I think it was like three years ago, where they talked about this idea of, like, would you be willing to lock in your price for, like, a couple of years because they knew this construction was coming, right? So they. They've been planning for this for years. This is not. [01:04:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:04:16] Speaker B: You know, you don't get to this phase right here over, like a month. This has been coming since, like, a year before they earned the World cup. The hunts have been planning this. This is not a new. It's so far along that they've. They're into the phase where they've hired the engineering firms and, like, the construction firms that are doing the pre planning stages for, like, how you get, you know, all this. These phases done. And that's what caused the shift of phases, I think, was trying to figure out how to get done with people still coming to games and stuff. So the general idea that I will throw out there for you, my understanding is they want the whole stadium to be as nice as the hall of Fame end is, you know, and it's going to include, I believe, you know, upgrading seating everywhere. I say upgrading, you know, replacing. Maybe it's going to be better, maybe it's not. But, you know, all that all the way around, and the stage is going to have seating again on it. I understand. So, you know, lots of cool things are going to happen. [01:05:11] Speaker A: You want to hear something ridiculous? Am I doing my math right? If that is, in fact, the timing. The south, the. The hall of Fame end of the stadium, when the rest of the stadium is reconstructed, will be ten years old, nine years old. [01:05:29] Speaker B: Oh. Oh, I can't for the life of me remember when the hall of Fame. [01:05:32] Speaker A: Was 2018, wasn't it? [01:05:34] Speaker B: 2018? [01:05:35] Speaker A: 2019. I think it was. It was before COVID wasn't it? [01:05:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:05:40] Speaker A: Well, Covid was 20. [01:05:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:05:42] Speaker A: So, yeah, it'll be eight. It'll be eight or nine years old already by the time the rest of the stadium is done. [01:05:49] Speaker B: I know. It's crazy. [01:05:52] Speaker A: Well, it's exciting. I hope. I can't wait to see the drawings. I am completely. I'm either embarrassed or blown away that the. To find out here that the west side is coming down. I am. [01:06:05] Speaker B: You just all listen to me, Peter. That's all. [01:06:06] Speaker A: Huh? [01:06:07] Speaker B: You just see. [01:06:08] Speaker A: Yeah. What? [01:06:08] Speaker B: You don't listen to me. What? [01:06:11] Speaker A: Who's. [01:06:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Who is this? [01:06:13] Speaker A: Yeah, well, that's. That's a big deal. All right. [01:06:15] Speaker B: Well, yeah. [01:06:17] Speaker A: I don't know how they're gonna do that. That is gonna be a beating of the highest order because there's gonna be at least one entire season where the only seats are gonna be the seats on the east side in the baking sun. [01:06:27] Speaker B: I don't know. I mean, how can you do that? That's the thing, it's like, doesn't it have to happen where you can sit there while they're. I don't know, man. Honestly, I don't know how they're going to do it. [01:06:37] Speaker A: No. Well, they're just going to. I think they're going to have to shut half the stadium down. [01:06:41] Speaker B: 12,015 they'll go back to. I mean, I have no idea. This is why I wish they would talk about it, because, like, at some point we're left trying to guess how they're going to do it with things like this. Like, how do they do that? Here's the thing. [01:06:53] Speaker A: If, if the city of Dallas was willing to pony up the dollars to get a USL, USL team to play at the Cotton bowl, could you imagine how much they'd fumble over themselves to get the MLS team to come play down out there on. [01:07:06] Speaker B: Yeah, we talked about this. They probably called. I'm sure they did. [01:07:10] Speaker A: The city or Dallas City. The Hunts. [01:07:12] Speaker B: The mayor probably called. The mayor probably called the Hunts. [01:07:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:15] Speaker B: You know, this, this mayor is all in on being the sports mayor. Like, he's trying to bring all these teams back. I'm sure he called FC Dallas. Yeah. You know, he's trying to make himself the sports guy so, you know, independent of his politics. I just, you know, that he stood up and said that at the Dallas Trinity thing and he mentioned trying to bring other teams back and I was like, who else do you're talking about? Because the Rangers had never been there. So many Cowboys. FC Dallas, you know, so I'm sure he called the hunts. [01:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I'm sure he did, too. [01:07:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:07:45] Speaker A: But they've only got one. [01:07:46] Speaker B: They're pretty happy with Frisco. [01:07:47] Speaker A: Yeah, well, they've only got one place to put. Put them and that's the cotton bowl. And I can see why there's probably some sort of obligation with all the businesses and everything that are there, you know, along, you know, around the stadium that are all dependent on game day revenue and all that stuff that would dry up if they weren't to do it. [01:08:07] Speaker B: I think you're right when you said there's, there is a money way that you could get out of Frisco, but I think that it would be so much that that's not how the hunts play. [01:08:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:08:16] Speaker B: You know, they, they're not the kind of people that are going to be like, you know what? It's worth 500 million for me to get out of the, you know, the Naperville and go back to the, the, you know, Chicago Bears stadium. Yeah, they don't. They don't do that. [01:08:31] Speaker A: All right, well, I guess they'll get around to telling the rest of us what the plan is at some point. [01:08:37] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, if they're gonna start knocking the building down in this winter, they better tell us something, I would think. [01:08:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:08:43] Speaker B: Well, not that they listen to this podcast, but. [01:08:45] Speaker A: All right, well, Minnesota this weekend. We'll see how it all plays out. Anything else we need to get into? [01:08:51] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I got a. I got to pay off my Nolan Orris promise from last week. [01:08:55] Speaker A: Oh, what is that? [01:08:56] Speaker B: Well, I. Last week I mentioned in passing that I learned what club it was that came in and made an offer for him that. That made Dallas jump and give him a home rune deal. And that club, since I promised I would tell you, tell everybody, is Moochin Gladbach. It was glad back that came in and made him an offer and he turned them down to sign with SC Dallas. [01:09:17] Speaker A: Do you know what kind of offer it was? [01:09:18] Speaker B: Oh, no, I don't know. [01:09:19] Speaker A: Okay. [01:09:20] Speaker B: But he's very much a Dallas to the dyke kid, you know? Yeah, I just. It would have been a good fit for him. Not that I think this was a good fit for him, too, theoretically. You know, this coach isn't quite 100% dialed in them yet, but I think it's still going to be fine. [01:09:33] Speaker A: Maybe loose scene will start him. [01:09:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Or quilt or whoever. Whoever it's going to be. Or maybe they'll still be coach Nico since all the players like him. Yeah. [01:09:43] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. And Dallas Trinity has started signing players they signed. I can't remember her last name. Brooks, I think is her last name that had played with the national team, but they've now announced since then two players that are from the Dallas area. One's from prosper and one is from Salina. [01:09:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Haley Davidson played for FC Dallas. And the young lady today, I haven't wrote the article up yet. Haley Berg. [01:10:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:10:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So these are the kinds of signings we respecting. I haven't, like, I haven't written up the most recent one today, but, you know, it'll continue this way every couple of days, probably they'll announce another player. I'm sure they've had practices with lots of bodies running out there and they're trying to nail down all the pieces. You know, they don't. [01:10:22] Speaker A: And they still haven't announced a coach. They don't have much time left. [01:10:26] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm really surprised they haven't announced the coach, quite frankly. Very. They must have had something go south in terms of what they were doing, this is just pure speculation on my part because they had a TD and they had one or two of these players was that I didn't recognize them until I saw pictures later were at the unveiling, you know, so it's not like they shouldn't be a surprise. You know, the people that I saw, you know, I saw some people there that were from like, from SMU or from like North Texas. But you know, it's like, I don't know, are those guys there just to be there because it's a big soccer event or there's some out involved. You know, you're guessing when you see people. And I saw her, I saw Brooks and I didn't recognize her. She's not enough of a national team that I was like, oh, I know who that person is, but, and what's. [01:11:06] Speaker A: The rule about they have to have so many high school players or. [01:11:11] Speaker B: Well, they don't, they don't have to, but they have on their roster, they have the ability to carry five amateur players at a time on their roster, on their game day roster and they can, it's basically the same rule that like the MLS next pro or USL have where you could have amateur players from academies playing on amateur contracts and not lose their eligibility. A college player cannot, a college player can't play in this league, league, but you can have a high school player, academy player and you can have professionals and those are the two things in between. A college player will lose their eligibility. And I specifically asked because when they said amnesty, I was like, oh, well, that college players said no, their owner did. He was like, no, no, that will lose eligibility. It's high school kids, academy kids that we can have. [01:11:52] Speaker A: All right. [01:11:52] Speaker B: And quite frankly, some of the very best academy players in here are plenty good enough to play in this league. [01:11:56] Speaker A: Oh yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. Oh, by the way, did you see Lily Johannesburg for the national team last night? Have you? [01:12:04] Speaker B: I did not see it. I was, saw the clips of it, another clips with the people talking about her. So it must have been really something. [01:12:10] Speaker A: Speaker one, go look at my Twitter timeline and go watch the highlight video, her touch video, dude. Buzz, the way she receives the ball and passes it. [01:12:20] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I hear. [01:12:21] Speaker A: So unlike a 16 year old kid. I mean, don't. The goal is a, is a simple tap in. It's, I mean, the goal is nothing great other than the fact that she's there and does it at the age of 16. But go watch. Go watch the pass that she makes about four clips into the highlight reel where she's standing at midfield and she drops an absolute dime into the deep corner of the box to the onrushing right back. It's, dude, it is. It's so sweet as she is. Yeah. I'd never seen her play before and I was immediately enraptured with her game. And I hope she's on the Olympic roster, your team, so. Good stuff. [01:13:00] Speaker B: Oh, a quick shout out to Carl Santa, who got called up to Haiti. And North Texas is captain Nico Gordon's with Montserrat. So crats to those guys on those sante. [01:13:09] Speaker A: The only FC Dallas player that has been called up during this international window. [01:13:13] Speaker B: Yeah, as far as I know. Well, Nolan, Nolan's with the U 20 team down, you know, which is getting ready for the U 20 championships. [01:13:21] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, and by the way, speaking of, of Dallas related players, congratulations to Tanner Testman, who, along with Busio, have gotten Venezia promoted back to Syria and, and has now joined the Olympic team. Watch this dude's career getting ready to rock it. I. That's going to. Whether or not he's playing for Nietzsche next season is a really interesting story to keep an eye on for the next few months because I know there are other teams out looking for him. But, man, living in Venice, playing in Syria, it's going to have to be a pretty sweet effing deal to take, to want to take a guy away from being a hardline starter for a Serie A club. [01:14:06] Speaker B: Yeah, there were definitely seria clubs that were monitoring him this whole season. Like, okay, can we get him? But now they've come up, they might not be able to get him. [01:14:13] Speaker A: So, and we also have forgotten, I'm just certain we, I don't think we've officially announced that the word did come out that Julian Istone's destination club has been revealed. [01:14:25] Speaker B: Oh, Brentford. Do we not talk? [01:14:26] Speaker A: We have not talked about that, no. [01:14:28] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. That's one of those things that I've known since like December and couldn't talk about it. Um, yeah, like, here's the thing. Like, Dallas could have had him like for a year, year and a half. He would have signed, he was ready to sign, and they basically slow walked him, you know, till he went to Duke. And then, you know, once he came out of Duke, they slow walked him again and they waited too long. And Brentford came in with this offer that just blew FC Dallas's offer away. And on top of that, their system and the offer and where they want to put him in their hierarchy and how much they want to invest in him. Like, they came in and they had a meeting with him where they brought in tape of his appearances with North Texas and showed him tape of himself and like, here's what we like in your game that we think fits us. Here's a couple weaknesses we're going to fix. You know, like they had, they had a whole scouting breakdown package of him from his MLS next pro play and his academy gameplay. [01:15:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:15:26] Speaker B: It's just unbelievable how thorough those guys are and how much they just annihilated anything else he, Dallas could do, you know, and, you know, it is what it is. [01:15:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Brentford is one of the best run clubs in the Premier League and he's not going to be playing for their unite teens or an academy team. They don't have an academy. Well, they, they, now they do again. They got rid of their academy and restarted. He's going to be playing on their b team. [01:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Effectively the U 23 slash b team, whatever. Reserve team or second team. [01:15:55] Speaker A: So, I mean, in theory he's like fifth in line for. [01:15:59] Speaker B: I think it's even less than that. [01:16:00] Speaker A: Is it really? [01:16:00] Speaker B: You know, players come and go. I think it's going to be less than that from him to the starting. But, you know, it depends on, of course, what they do in the markets and all that kind of stuff. You never know for real. [01:16:08] Speaker A: But exciting stuff. [01:16:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:16:10] Speaker A: All right. [01:16:10] Speaker B: Yeah, they're, they're really high on him, so he's obviously, obviously quite stoked. So. Yeah, exciting for him. [01:16:16] Speaker A: Can you imagine? [01:16:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, I can imagine. [01:16:19] Speaker A: No, I can't. I can't imagine. [01:16:23] Speaker B: Third degree. The podcast is brought to you by Soccer 90 dot. Soccer 90 dot is your source for all the international club gear, national team gear you could possibly watch. Soccer stuff. They got everything you can need over there. Use the code third degree at checkout for 20% off, both in store or online. Just mentioned at the counter that you, third degree sent you, or use code third degree third dashecknow.com for 20% off. Some exclusions may apply. [01:16:48] Speaker A: Third gear. [01:16:49] Speaker B: The podcast is also brought to you by the Lindstrom law firm for Wills Trust, probates and business law. Call 469-515-2559 or visit lindstrmalaw.com for a free consultation. [01:17:01] Speaker A: All right, very good. Well, I'm sorry dan had to jet. I hope everything's okay with him. [01:17:05] Speaker B: Yeah, he didn't, he didn't say. I asked me if he was all right, but he hadn't answered. So I really do hope he's okay. Obviously, dan, hopefully nothing's going on. [01:17:12] Speaker A: Well, I'm sure it's just a work thing. That seems to. What seems to suck up most of dan's time? [01:17:17] Speaker B: That kid's getting destroyed these days. Trying to start his own company is not helping. [01:17:20] Speaker A: Right. Exactly. Okay, well, thanks, buzz. It was good visiting with you, and we'll see how this weekend goes for the old burn. And thank you, you, fc dallas curious fan. We will be back and talk to you again on another and future episode of third degree, the podcast. Damn. [01:17:38] Speaker B: Where'd you go?