3rd Degree the Podcast #277

[00:00:00] Speaker A: That as long as he's very demure and very mindful, that's all that matters. [00:00:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Third degree nerd podcast. Third degree the third degree nepochet. Third degree the third degree nap, I guess. Third degree the third degree nap, I guess. Well, hello there, FC Dallas. Curious fan. Welcome to episode two seven seven of third degree the podcast. Howdy. He's here. Have no fear, it's the great Dan crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:00:44] Speaker A: Hey, that's perfect timing. I was just finished choking on what air and the misery elutin start of the season. [00:00:54] Speaker B: Man, you guys are having an awful start to the season. Season. What's going on there? [00:01:00] Speaker A: Big players and haven't replaced them. Hey, FC dollars can relate. [00:01:05] Speaker B: Didn't you guys just sell somebody else today? [00:01:07] Speaker A: Yep. Chidozi Ogbene for 8 million to Ipswich. And today Mengi is talking to Torino right now. [00:01:15] Speaker B: Are they gonna call you up here soon? [00:01:19] Speaker A: You know, it's not getting that desperate. [00:01:21] Speaker B: Okay. All right. And your hero. My hero. Everybody's hero. Editor, founder of Thirddegree.net and the original soccer influencer himself, the handsome buzz kerrick. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:33] Speaker C: Oh, thanks, Peter. I'm not sure about that, but I appreciate it. Thank you. [00:01:37] Speaker B: I see your face on the Internet all the time. So. Well, you're always posting selfies and videos. [00:01:44] Speaker A: And you're like, you're just so vain. [00:01:47] Speaker B: You're the soccer influencer, Buzz. You know you got to do it. [00:01:51] Speaker C: Yeah. Genie's in the out of the bottle, by the way. I don't think that's ever going back in. Of people knowing who I am when they see me. It's not really fair. [00:01:58] Speaker B: You love it. You totally love it. [00:02:02] Speaker C: Sometimes. [00:02:03] Speaker A: As long as he's very demure and very mindful, that sort of matters. [00:02:06] Speaker C: Yeah. Demure. [00:02:07] Speaker B: Mindful. Yes. That's the. That's the first word that comes to mind when I think of Buzz Kerik is demure. [00:02:13] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. [00:02:17] Speaker B: One hundo. All right. Well, here we are on a victory pod and for the first time this season, Dallas wins a road game when it most needs it. Going to DC in a really, really weird performance for a whole bunch of reasons. But ultimately, Buzz, this is the feel good episode everybody was waiting for. We're going to win MLS cup, aren't we, Buzz? Dallas for DC United three. [00:02:46] Speaker C: Well, no, you know, you're not going to win MLS cup. But you know what? [00:02:50] Speaker B: Wait, what I thought. I thought was all fixed. Now everybody's back and kicking ass and they went on the road and won a game. [00:02:57] Speaker C: Well, those are all awesome things. You know, people are getting healthy. You know, you won a road game for the first time this year against an MLS team. Their only other road win was in the cup. I guess you assault team status account. It's their first regular season road win this season or even Leeds cup road win for that matter. So that's all really great. But you don't go from being a team that's, you know, well out of the playoffs to win MLS cup overnight. And you know, when you're giving out three goals a game you know, eventually you'll run into a team that you can't score four against. So. And then they'll be really good offensive team. So they're gonna have to. They have some things to figure out particularly on service into the box defending that. But forget all that though. Forget the DC is not really a good team. They're worse than Dallas actually. And just appreciate the fact that when you, when you have zero road wins and you get a road win, that's huge. They needed, you know, they needed more wins than they had home games left. And getting a road game now gives them a chance. You know, they still need, you know, just short of four wins out of their remaining. Was it eight games now? So, you know, it's, it's a tall order because you know, you don't win half your games usually. So that's what it's going to take for them to get in. [00:04:04] Speaker B: Still, there are several particular headlines about this game. But let's start with the fact that dropped right into the starting eleven right off the bat with the two guys they signed. And I certainly was leading the parade of suspicion of the quality of both these guys, Juan and show, specifically show. I think. I think we all kind of knew what Juan had because we've seen him play in the, in the league. But show is somebody nobody knew anything about. I mean he could have been a guy they got at the grocery store for all we knew. But again, it is DC United. But for a first game, both those guys brought something to the team that, you know, they needed desperately. [00:04:46] Speaker C: I mean, we knew who Juan was. I didn't know how to pronounce his name, but we knew who he was and he delivered exactly the kind of game that we expected of him. He's a guy that actually knows how to play wingback, which is interesting in a macro sense because we need to talk about that in terms of Laksan's tactics going forward and what that means that he's here. But you're right, he was what we knew. We'd seen him before many times. So show, on the other hand, none of us knew anything. You know, you can look at YouTube videos or whatever, but that doesn't tell you squat. You got to watch them in context of games, the context of the leagues they're playing in and against multiple games really get a good idea of what you're going to get ahead of time. So we knew nothing and he was actually really pleasantly surprising. I was really impressed with his performance in the context of knowing nothing. You know, he, he did a really nice job game reading, which is one of the things that's hardest to do, you know, from a new player who's not settled in, you know, knowing when to play possession and knowing when to go forward with progression passing or progressive dribbling. He played that at a pretty high level. Obviously he's not quite as clean a player as you are many, but you know who's going to be. But just fantastic from him relative to having zero expectation at all, the fact that he showed a quality ish game and for that to be his first game, you hope that it's only going to get better from there as he plays into this team. And it'll be interesting this, you know, at the end of the season, if we feel that both these guys have shown enough that Dallas wants to then keep them, you know, I have no, the loan they have on show goes to the middle of next year, so that would be easily doable, you know, and then you'd have to figure something out in the middle of next season. Juan, of course, will be out of contract, so that's a much more complicated one. And it could be that Montreal wanted to get rid of him because of. He doesn't want to stay here in MLS anymore, for all we know. But if he can just play really well, maybe some Dallas can make some kind of move on him and keep him around as he is only I think, 28, I think if I, without looking him up. So quality from both those guys. [00:06:54] Speaker B: The other part of the game was is that Dallas got through getting a road win for the first time this season without having to put Alan Velasco on the field. And I, and in the aftermath of that, I can't tell you, Buzz, if I think that's a good or a. [00:07:08] Speaker C: Bad thing real quick. The show is 25, not 28. So I misspoke. It's a good thing if. Well, it's a good thing that you can get a win without Alan Blasco. It's a bad thing that you couldn't do without having him. You know, it's. [00:07:24] Speaker B: I'm saying shouldn't. I mean, at some point they've got to put the kid on the field, don't they, if, if they're going to count on him to help them make the playoffs. I losing any time I would think they would have. I mean, I. Maybe the way that game played out, it was probably not an opportune time to put him on there. I just think we were all looking forward to seeing him again and now there's one less game or opportunity to do that before the playoffs. [00:07:48] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I see what you're asking. I. I think that that game was too close of a scenario on the road, you know, to. Once DC scored a couple of goals and made it a one go gang goal game, I think it was a bad situation to, you know, when you're trying to close out a win with some defensive play to put on a guy who is, you know, coming back from his ACL injury. I mean, you know as well as I do that a lot of ACL recovery is about the mind and the conscious and the subconscious. And you want to have him in a scenario where he's not going to get necessarily get thumped. You know, you protect him a little bit and put him, you know, when they do bring him back, eventually bring him back sort of out wide and maybe not right in the middle of the park where he's going to get hit from all sides. You know, you got to do it the right way. So I know that he was technically available for selection and he was on the bench, but I would have been a little surprised if he came into that game on the road. Just like given how tight it was, it would have been surprising to me. [00:08:44] Speaker B: Well, the other thing to think about is that while we say there are eight games left for Velasco to play in, two of them are on the road, on turf. In fact, after the next game in Colorado is the road game at Vancouver, which is turf. And the last game of the season at Portland is also on turf. So I. I don't know if you're that fresh off an ACL recovery, if those are games you want to play the guy. I guess the Portland game would be one where it's, you know, maybe you gotta. He's got to do it if they need the points to, to make the playoffs. [00:09:14] Speaker C: Well, you know, I don't know that. You're right. I would not bring a guy in on turf coming off ACL. I would hopefully get him like ten minutes in a home game on some grass. But I think that, I think if you're relying on Allen Velasco to be the thing that's going to get you into the playoffs, you've made a mistake. You know, when you, when you're talking about a guy coming off an ACL injury, he's not going to be a peak performance if you think he's, he's going to walk into the lineup and, like, carry you to the next level and all of a sudden your team's going to reach new heights. [00:09:46] Speaker B: I don't. I'm sorry. You're destroying the narrative that I've been told since the beginning of this season as a fan of this club that Alan Velasco is going to return and save us all. [00:09:55] Speaker C: Yeah, well, we've been telling you that's not true from the get go, so, uh, you know, if he does, then I'll, you know, ecrow but, you know, you don't come, people in general don't come off of ACL injuries in gangbuster form. They just don't, you know, it's incredibly rare. And now he is young, you know, he has apparently healed quickly. I guess I just, I just don't have any expectations of him walking in two games from now, being the starting central midfielder and slinging balls all over the place and getting this team, getting eight assists in the last eight games. I mean, he's not a high production guy anyway. What he does bring is some chaos in the opposition team because teams have to account for him. So it makes it more complicated for them to defend and makes it harder for them to defend and opens up things for other people. Those are nice attributes, but I don't know that necessarily. He'll have that. And I totally agree about the turf. So, like, even if you get him into the Colorado game, I don't know that I would start him on any of the next two games personally, you know, but then again, I'm not the coach, so. [00:11:00] Speaker B: Well, the next two games aren't on turf. Make sure. Maybe you didn't hear what I said. They, they play, they have a grass game this weekend. Then the following game is on turf and the last game of the season's on. Oh, last game against. [00:11:13] Speaker C: I thought you were saying it was two in a row. Well, I definitely wouldn't play him in Vancouver on the turf for sure, but I would try and get him into the Colorado game if I could, you know, and then, you know, by the end of, by the last game, if he, if he's got seven games under his belt and a couple of starts, you know, I would be okay with it at the end. You know, I. I think Dan does as well as anybody. When you're coming off of an ACL, you don't go, here's ten minutes, here's a start. You know, you got to build up time minutes, because, you know, he's not going to be game fit. He's going to be. Even if he's practice fit, he's not going to be game fit. So I'm sure we've all seen this before where you ramp him up slowly over time and if he gets a couple of starts by the end of the season, that would be. That would be great. [00:11:55] Speaker B: So I guess the question about the performance in DC is, you know, they give up the goal very, very early in the game and it just feels terrible. Like, I don't think after 1 minute anybody thought this game was going to end up with Dallas scoring four goals in the first half. But then DC also plays down a man for the second. Was it the entirety of the second half? I don't remember. [00:12:21] Speaker C: He went out in the first half. [00:12:22] Speaker A: Yeah, he went out in stoppage time in the first. [00:12:24] Speaker B: That's what it was. Yeah. So, and then DC, you know, ultimately, I guess my point is, is that where should we all have our collective expectations properly calibrated based on. Yes, you scored four goals on the road, you got your road win, but DC United, they scored a goal when they were down a man on you. You know, all those other things about that like where, what should everybody take away from this game? Going into a home game against Colorado in terms of style and tactics and just what does it mean? [00:13:04] Speaker C: Well, I don't think by itself it means all that much. It has to do with the progression of the team. You know, when you went from a team that has zero road wins all year and now the team has continued to improve under this, this manager. It's not the individual result as much as it is the continued improved play. Offensively, the defensive play has gotten worse, but that's because it's a balance. It's a balance. You know, they're, they're giving up some defense to get some better offense and they're getting results by doing that. It's also more entertaining. So, you know, the big concern, of course, is the watching this last game and looks, saying, still wanting to play a three back three, which is surprising to me, and still going with a 510 center back man marking a six three guy. That's the best aerial duel winner in the whole league and a history of scoring boatloads of goals with his head. So that seems to me be a really bad idea. So, you know, defensively, they have a lot of issues and I think that's so still the same team. Like this team is not capable of being both really good on defense and really good on offense. The first coach chose to be really good on defense, and this second coach is chosen to be really good on offense. And so that's the narrative. And that's why when you run into a team that's actually pretty good, like Colorado, it's gonna be very difficult game. Dan, how about you? What is your takeaway for, you know, out of this game going into Colorado? [00:14:32] Speaker B: Hold on just one sec. Before Dan starts, I just want to remind everybody. Do you know the last time Dallas gave up three goals in a game? No, it was the game they won against Minnesota. Five three. [00:14:43] Speaker C: Yeah. That was the end of last year, right? [00:14:45] Speaker B: No, it was June of this year. [00:14:47] Speaker C: Oh, there you go. [00:14:49] Speaker A: You can see three goals and you win. It's. That's the. [00:14:52] Speaker B: That's the magic. [00:14:53] Speaker A: That's the takeaway. [00:14:57] Speaker B: Sorry, Dan, I didn't mean to jump in there, but I thought that was interesting, related to what buzz was just talking about. [00:15:03] Speaker A: All good. I think, really it's the big takeaway, is they took their chances. Eight shots on target, four goals, pretty much walked into the net a couple of times. Close range efforts. That's kind of been the frustrating part, is this team just kind of nothing, you know, relying too much, whether it's Musa this year or Jesus the year before, or Pepe in years past, they actually spread the goals around pretty well. [00:15:37] Speaker B: I think the thing that is interesting to me is that there's a lot of things in this game that are elements of stuff that we've talked about that have been missing the entire season. And I'll start with the fact that Areola and Legit are playing like the guys that they thought they were getting when they spent all that gam money two years ago to get them. I mean, they. I mean, that's a. Such a significant improvement in this team just on those two guys alone. I think that's a big deal. The word that's been missing all season. And I think with Juan coming into the team, they finally have somebody that can cross the ball into the box. Yeah, I mean, those. Just those two simple things. Two players that are so critical, playing up to their expectations and what they're getting paid for and somebody that can cross a ball into the box is such a huge bonus. [00:16:29] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, Sam junk is a pretty good crosser, but they hadn't been playing him, you know, in a position where you could cross until lately as well. So definitely it was a byproduct of who they had out there doing what in various situations that led to that deficiency, for sure. But they're also really bad at defending that, too. They got, they're, they're terrible at defending those stupid things. And I don't know that Areola is quite back to the value that they're paying for him. You know, when they, when they got him here and paid him that money his first season back, he had ten goals and seven assists, you know, and this season and last season are not anywhere near that. You know, maybe as a wingback, maybe if he'd have played it this way all season, maybe he would get ten and seven. But, you know, it's definitely much closer than it was. [00:17:16] Speaker B: But I'm just talking about this game in a, in a sandbox. Just. Yeah, if you just look at this game and the result, those two guys playing closer to what you expect out of them is a really, really big, a big improvement, but that's a huge deal for these guys. [00:17:31] Speaker C: Well, legit played out of his mind. That was the best game he's played in Dallas, I think, you know, it's not just the goal and two assists, it's the chances created was spectacularly high and, and since Lex Saints turn become coach Legit has gone from like 1.3 chances created game per game. So, like three point something, you know, it's like he's almost at least doubled, if not tripled, his creative output effectively, you know, so he's in the best form of his Dallas career, too. So you're right. Look, this is what we've been saying for a while, that like, there was a stretch at the end of the, at the Niko 70 when we were calling them FC dudes because it was just a bunch of dudes out there. And we talked about how the high paid, important, special players weren't either hurt or weren't playing effectively or weren't being special. And so you saw a team just as dudes and they were losing a lot of games and that's no longer the case. [00:18:20] Speaker B: Yeah. And I do think it's only fair for, at least for me, I don't know, and I don't want to make Dan mad at me for saying this, but we got to give a little bit of credit or a lot of credit to Zenada and hunt for getting the two guys in. It's been one game, but the two guys they brought in paid off and the two guys they bought a couple of years ago that we've all been wondering where they are, showed up and played well. So, you know, kudos to them, at least in this terms of this one particular game. We'll see what happens moving forward. [00:18:49] Speaker A: Why would I get mad at that? [00:18:51] Speaker B: Because you hate Zenada so much. [00:18:54] Speaker A: I think. I think the sheer hatred from this podcast comes mostly from you. [00:19:03] Speaker B: I'm trying to see if anybody will share. He wants to join the share. Dan, come on, man, don't hang me off to dry. [00:19:11] Speaker A: That's what I do best. [00:19:14] Speaker B: All right, so let's see what else from the game. Buzz, do you want to get into? You want to talk about Logan? Do you want to talk about anybody else on the field? [00:19:25] Speaker C: Well, the funny thing about Logan is that he played fairly, fairly well for a guy thrown in at the last second into the starting role, in a different role than he had been playing lately. He was playing like a post up kind of thing, which is he's gotten his bag, so it's not too much trouble for him. In a lot of ways, he had a decent enough game, but he had two wide open plays wherever I. He could have easily just made a five yard pass to a player with a sitting duck wide open goal, and he didn't. Both times and both the times he didn't, it was to a veteran player who then got really, really mad at him. And understandably, and I'm okay with a selfish striker, but both of those instances were just ridiculously wide open tap ins. And after he did it the second time, the coach immediately yanked him out of the game. You know, I don't know if it's for that, but that sub happened really quickly after the second occurrence of that, but then after the game, look, same what talks about how great he thought fairies have played and what a good job he did and all this stuff. And he did a lot of good things in a lot of ways, but he had more turnovers than he usually has. And those two assists, he should have had two more assists on the season. He's already got seven. You know, so look, the guys, the, the guys just second there. The guys, the best, potentially the best rookie they've ever had. I'll have to go look at the list to be sure if I believe that's true or not, but it's, he's in the damn close conversation if he's not so, like, let's not be too harsh on the guy, but those two gaps, to me were just, this is the kind of thing that might get you sat and going forward. [00:20:57] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, you kind of have to balance out as well. He did have two goal creating actions. There was the. Oh, christ, I can't think who it was. Whoever had the tap in on the left side, he kind of, you know, he had two options open, played the smart ball, cut across goal, nice and easy. I think, you know. Yeah, he had a couple of rookie mindset mistakes, but, you know, I'd rather that almost than how many times in previous years was it? Pass the ball on the edge of the box. Pass it again. Pass it again. There's a shot open. No one wants to take it. You know, you just get in that frustrated cycle. [00:21:40] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't think I would go so far as to say they had a bad game, but those kind of high profile moments, you know, can be. Can cause some consternation in your team and with your. Your coach, for sure. But, you know, in terms of the rest of the team, everyone on the. Look, when you give a game where you score four goals, almost anybody offensively you could talk about had a good game seeking and sibling had a really nice game. He had some really great passes. You know, he's so much better when they play him higher, when his turnovers and gaffes don't cost you. You know, he. He's reduced those a great deal, and he is capable of, as we saw in this game, some really nice passes. [00:22:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:15] Speaker C: You know, Areola overloaded nice on the outside. Juan overloaded nice on his side. The balance between the two wingbacks was outstanding. That's really good. You know, it's just at the end of the day, the. The biggest deficiency was the mistake, the few mistakes in the back that sometimes were because of being left on the island, and once or twice because Markov, our fans, only 510, you know, so you can only ask so much out of the guy when he's playing center back, and he's not really a center back. [00:22:43] Speaker B: Do we know what the story on Moussa is and his, you know, obviously, he came out with some sort of injury during warmups. Do we know what ultimately is his status or what is. [00:22:55] Speaker C: No. This team is really, really reticent. Uh, even more so under saying about talking about injuries. They just don't put out any info. Um, they even switched to putting, like, you know, lower leg or not even. Not even lower, just leg injury. When the guy's got like a groin problem, you know, it's just lower body like hockey. They just really limit the amount of information they have out about these players. So other than he got scratched out of the lineup, we really have no idea. They mentioned it's his foot, so, you know, that can be anything, like where he sprang to his toe and it hurt or he has turf toe or it could be like he has a stress fracture. He's going to be in a boot for six weeks. We don't have any clue at all. And obviously how healthy is. We'll go a big way to determining whether Farrington starts the next game or not and whether you, or whether you use Jesus as a false nine like they did late in the game or whatever. So. [00:23:45] Speaker B: So overall, I think the general mood about Luxe is quite high and for good reason. He's got the team performing way better, he's got particular players and I think in settling is a great example of a player who we were all, and I was super frustrated with and was kind of done with, but he's got him playing really, really well. I mean, there were a couple moments in, there were just stunningly good and not anything I ever expected out of him, at least not based on what I had seen from him in the last year or so. And so that credit to Peter for getting the guys to play this way. I mean, look, there's a lot left to be played and a lot harder games to come, but they got the job done in DC. [00:24:30] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think we shouldn't forget that the league Scott flame out, you know, literally just happened. You can't forget it was a three week break for him to work with the team. But, you know, that was a pretty poor back to back performances, you know, and they didn't progress on the open cup and those things were part of the stated goal of why they made the change when they made the change. You know, at the end of the day, even though saints got them playing a lot better, you know, with their, their five three and one in regular season play, but when you add in the, the bad leagues cup and the bad open cup, then it's much more balanced again, those are three losses. So really that puts his record, you know, back under 500. That that's five six and, you know, with some ties thrown in there. So, um, if he doesn't make the playoffs, you know, and doesn't do anything Elise cup and doesn't do anything in the open cup, it's despite the fact that the team's playing really well in regular season play only. It's improving. I don't know that that's enough. [00:25:30] Speaker B: Yeah, right. [00:25:31] Speaker C: I mean, remember they said this is a playoff roster and they said plug in the playoffs was the minimum, right? [00:25:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. And I don't know how this plays itself out, but it is weird to think that as disappointing and frankly embarrassing as the League cup performance games went, I'm going to guess by and large a lot of what was powering last weekend and scoring all those goals was the fact that those guys had three weeks off. I mean, you know, there was a lot of rest put in, into those guys and probably needed for this stretch run because that's where they're at at this point so well. [00:26:05] Speaker C: And it was a chance for Luxand to work with them on, you know, how he wants to play, you know, and try and get a system, which is why I was actually really surprised to see it was still a 3343 and still, you know, and Juan came in to be a wing back. You know, it's like, I wouldn't have said, based on the first half of the season that sticking with three at the back was a good idea. You know, as demonstrated by Marco Farfan still playing center back. Don't. Don't think for a minute that I'm bashing on Marco Farfan. I like Marco Farfan. Marco Farfram is a great left back. He's not a center back, though, and picking him as a center back is what I'm bashing. I think that's a bad idea, especially then to have, you know, Dallas does this bit where they have a couple of guys, zonal mark on set plays into the box and a couple of guys, most people, zonal mark, and they have a couple of guys, man mark. And for whatever reason, Farfan was man marking. But Tinke, he's given up five inches on the guy to do this. One of the most dominant headers of the ball in the league, you know, so it's just crazy. Oh, big surprise that came back to bite you. I don't. I don't know what to do sometimes when I see these things and, you know, hindsight 2020 and all that, but, you know, there still are flaws with the way this team is constructed. You know, the fact that you have these other center backs, like Omar or like Korcha and Markov Farfans, a better choice at centre back tells you something. [00:27:25] Speaker A: It's probably just a good time to remember that. Twelve centre backs have found a new home in Major League soccer this year. Yeah, sorry. This summer. [00:27:35] Speaker C: I still. Listen, I'm still buying into the idea that they just did these short term rentals, just try and make the season better now for look sane. I buy that idea. They both look solid. They went after a center back and when the medical said no, they didn't do something dumb. I agree with all that. But it doesn't change the fact that there was problems with this roster, particularly at center back for like three seasons now. And I don't know why it's taken three seasons. Does it recognize that? And when it should have taken instantly. You know, we've been talking about it for three seasons. [00:28:09] Speaker B: Speaking of which, Buzz. Yes. Mister Osho is playing at Aux Air in League One. And he's played full 90 minutes for two games straight. Not a great rating. He's sitting on a 6.5, which is pretty mid, but 180 minutes under his belt. I don't know what that means. [00:28:29] Speaker A: It doesn't. He played 21 games last year. He played 27 the year before, 23 the year before. You know, he doesn't, he's not a 90 minutes every week guy. I think, you know, it's kind of come up a couple of times after that news broke, albeit delayed, that he failed that medical of, oh, he's played another 90 minutes. That means FC Dallas sucks at medicals. It doesn't. You know, if he breaks down six games into the season, Oxeyer just goes, all right, screw it, we'll get another centre back in January if it happens at FC Dallas. Ah, you're stuck with his salary. You're stuck with him taking up international spot. You potentially have to use a buyout. There's a lot more involved in it. So that process is a massive risk assessment against those things. [00:29:27] Speaker B: It's nuance, Dan. Is that the fancy word? There's nuance to this? [00:29:33] Speaker A: Is that very demure and very mindful? [00:29:36] Speaker B: Yeah, it probably is. Yeah. [00:29:37] Speaker C: It's the cap. That's the difference. Dallas's budget and the salary cap, which are two different things. Both can't really take that risk that, you know, million dollar players, which is what he would be, give or take, would be a million dollars. So they can't afford to have million dollar players that suck. That's where, that's how we got in the position that they were in when they fired their coach. [00:29:57] Speaker B: So before we leave the game, you know, DC does score three goals, one of which comes when they're, you know, playing down a man. DC has only scored 38 goals this year, which if you think Dallas has been pretty light on scoring goals. Dallas has scored 42. So you mentioned that you don't, your, you know, the defense isn't playing very well. What particular aspects of it do you think are problematic and is it a, is it a on, is it now in a weird twist of fate in this team, the thing that going forward you, you're more concerned about than scoring goals, which seems really weird based on how the season started. [00:30:35] Speaker C: Well, we've been, we've been talking about this particular issue all season, the beginning of the year when the first few, couple of games they give him a couple more than their New Zealand number. They were giving up two or three goals a game for the first couple of games and coaching went really hard and it was all about balls into the box. Right. So there was a stat in the notes this last week that hasn't been in there before. So Dallas leads MLS, which sounds good, but it's not in goals conceded from set pieces percentage wise. So leads mls and goals from set pieces by percentage at 31.25%. So that means basically that they give up the more goals from set pieces than anything else. Right. So. And they're the worst at defending effectively. Well, that's not quite true. There may be people that are worse at defending against set pieces, but they're worse at defending a set pieces than they are defending anything else because they also have this stat and thereabout they've given up like one shot from a counter attack or something like that. And no goals like ridiculously good at defending against a counter attack. I can't remember exactly what that stat is, but it's something like that. So that's the thing. Right? So the inability to defend against that for whatever reason is a serious problem and it weighs its head in this game. You know, at least on the far fan goal I've been talking about. But also on the, the goal, um, where the ball came all the way across the box to the back post and wrong got beat to that ball at the back post. That was also a cross from a wide space. Wasn't a set play, but it was a, you know, like they leave it in the. It's the set plays in particular that are bad. But in general, in terms of these crosses from wide, um, not corners, but crosses from higher and wide and from set plays. So that's the biggest efficiency and it's been the deficiency all year. If you can go back and look at all the times in the year they've had troubles and struggle. It's been on those kinds of things. Guys get beat on duels, aerial duels in the box, you know, and while Tafari and Ibiaga both get a lot of clears, they don't win a high percentage of their aerial duels. I think they're both close to 50%. But you know, far fan obviously being quite a bit shorter is a problem. And. And it's not always just the two center backs. Sometimes it's lack of coverage at the back post, sometimes it's balls that go into the box and then dribble back out. And the frasier has a tendency, when he said was healthy, to over pursue and dig too far down in and get down in between the center backs and then all of a sudden the top of the box is exposed. So those kinds of things are where the problems are. They don't. And I. It can be a combination and I haven't dug into it in a specific why, but it can be a combination of failure to get out and close down crossers, which is part of it, especially if you're using wing backs and they get caught up and also to win aerial duels, you know, and sometimes they have guys at center back that aren't as tall or they have guys that are back there, you know, remember it's FC short, right? So other than their two center backs, the whole team is collectively fairly short. So that's a big rant. But that's all contributes to why they're not that great at that one particular facet. And again, why we'd like to get a center back in here and why occasionally when they get a player signing that's a little bit taller, we think it's a good thing because they need to balance it out a little bit from FC shirt that they were at the end of last year. [00:33:58] Speaker B: All right. And I said, before we go, I have one other thing I want to discuss about this performance in this game, because I did. I wasn't sure how to feel about this, which was Jesus. So Jesus comes on as a sub late and pretty much doesn't do much. [00:34:18] Speaker C: Yeah, he didn't have a lot of touches. [00:34:20] Speaker B: And I'm just. I'm really curious if that's a byproduct of the game scenario that this game was in. Is that something that is a weird, ominous cloud specific to him moving forward? I'm curious as to your thoughts about that. [00:34:37] Speaker C: Well, and I'd like to hear Dan's take too, because it's hard to really dig hard into the numbers to come up with a reason, you know, other than like you. You know, he was only out there for a relatively limited number of, of minutes. I think it was 29, if I remember correctly, and had someone in the neighborhood of like 13 to 15 touches, which is not a horrible number, but that's also not super, super active. And more importantly, he didn't get any shots at all out of that situation. So I think it's a combination of just injury rust there now, because Moose is playing really well, or Farrington was in his spot. He's clearly like, now you're going to be a winger in the three, four, three. It's kind of an underneath. Not really a winger. It's an underneath. I was calling it the other day, I called it a half ten or something. You know, I was trying to describe what it is, an under, an underneath winger, if you can, but whatever that is. So I think it's just a combination. Combination of all those things. Dan. What? [00:35:32] Speaker A: An inside forward? [00:35:34] Speaker C: Yeah, an inside forward, if you want to call it that. And so he's playing inside left in this game because Segi was inside right. You know, it's an old school sort of position. And, you know, it's so it's late state of the game, too, and they're playing pretty defensive, trying to close the game out like they, you know, they got all their goals in the first half, not the second half. So, you know, baby steps, right? You know, he's. We know he can play. So. [00:35:57] Speaker B: Yeah. I just wondered if you were. If you thought you were worried that maybe he's just, you know, been out for so long. It's just there's a lot of rust or he, you know, or maybe he's still hurt or what? I don't know. I was just curious as if, you know, I was just. I was just. I was a bit surprised he played as he didn't have more influence on the game. [00:36:16] Speaker C: I actually thought he would start, but I understand why he didn't. But, you know, if five games from now he still looks like this, then we'll be concerned. Is that fair? [00:36:25] Speaker B: Yes. [00:36:27] Speaker C: One game, it's not such a big deal. [00:36:29] Speaker B: But Dan. And the biggest treat out of all of this was the social media teams video that they shared today. Have you seen this with Legit and Tafari? [00:36:42] Speaker A: I have not. [00:36:44] Speaker B: This is really good stuff. I was really entertained by this. They put Legit and Tafari and I guess they watched, they showed them all the highlights of the game, and they kind of do like a play by play narration and commentary of all of it. And I thought it was great. That was really, really funny, and it was cool to see them and their personalities show that way. I thought it was good. You've seen it, right, buzz? [00:37:06] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Well, they got two very charismatic guys, so that really helps, you know, and they had a ball. You know, those two guys obviously get along, you know, and they were enjoying the highlights and talking about their teammates and talking about how much fun they were having and, you know, and definitely guys that like each other and. And actually was. You're right, one of the more fun videos. They've. Not that they have bad videos, but this one was particularly fun, you know, and enjoyable. And it may be like, man, you guys should do this more. It could be a whole stick, you know? Yeah. And it does not like for me. It didn't line for me. Peter, though, the absence of Pax and Pomica, like, I thought I'd been told Paxson was gonna be heavily involved in social media, and he has not been at all. So that was, it occurred to me that. That because he's become a guy, I think could be good at that, too, because he's such an amiable fellow. But these two guys in particular, I mean, legit and Tafari, I mean, those are two of the more big personalities you've got, the more flamboyant personalities you've got. So credit to them for putting them on display and those guys having fun with it. [00:38:06] Speaker B: Yeah, very good. So Dallas gets their first road win, four to three over DC United. And lo and behold, it pushes the guys up the table. Now, sitting in. Hold on. I want to do this correctly because I was looking at it earlier, and now I've lost my place on the page, sitting in 10th place, a mere point behind Austin on the same amount of games. Now, Houston is three, four points ahead of Dallas and 8th for the other play in game spot. But they also have a game in hand, and Minnesota is tied with them on 33 points, back down on goal differential in 11th. So there you go. [00:38:48] Speaker C: Yeah. And if you can even look at Portland also on 37 and Vancouver on 38, you know, and you play some of those teams. So. [00:38:55] Speaker B: So looking at the schedule, moving ahead, buzz, just knowing what Dallas has got in front of them in terms of games, somebody, you put out a. You. You shared or retweeted or something, a graphic about odds and, you know, somebody doing kind of the statistical analysis of the likelihood of teams making the playoffs and finishing. And they hit this one had Dallas missing out by, like, one point, right? [00:39:21] Speaker C: Yeah, basically, that graphic showed the most points you could get and the least points you could get for each team and then where they would end up if their current point per game trajectory holds. So it's not surprising that like, you know, Dallas through this part of the season is on 1.27. They're slightly behind Houston and Austin. So like if your current season long form holds where you would have finished. Now as you're a Dallas fan, you have to hope that in league play, look saying continues his much better than that. I haven't, I haven't figured out the point per game, but it's five wins, three losses in one tie I believe it is. So that's well above 1.27. You know, that's, that's above, well above 500 clip. So if you continue that clip and that's the key, you have to keep doing it. You know, you have a good chance to catch either Houston or Austin. Those. It's legitimate possible. But as you say, Peter, when you look at the schedule, which I think you're going to do here. Yeah, looks, it's not as easy as you would hope it would be. [00:40:20] Speaker B: No. So Dallas has Colorado this weekend. That obviously is a tough one. Is the rapid sit in second place in the Western Conference and a very high scoring team. 50 goals scored this year. A goal differential of seven plus seven. So there's, that's, that's what's this weekend? We'll talk more about that in a second. Then the aforementioned road game the following Saturday to Vancouver then. [00:40:46] Speaker C: Hold on, hold on. Vancouver's turf house always sucks there. And pause and show have just been called up and we'll miss that game. [00:40:52] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Okay. Wow. Well then what happens? Because they got to turn around and travel from Vancouver to the altitude of real Salt Lake. Yeah. [00:41:02] Speaker C: Well, those guys in the west. [00:41:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Will those guys be there for that? [00:41:05] Speaker C: They should be back. The, the pauses games is on, is on the fifth, which is this Thursday. [00:41:11] Speaker B: But where is it? [00:41:12] Speaker C: It's in Indonesian. Indonesia, so. [00:41:14] Speaker B: Oh my God. [00:41:15] Speaker C: Well, he won't be back. Yeah, he probably won't be back for Vancouver because he would have to go like from Dallas and then to Vancouver from the fifth to the south. No, I mean, they've already said basically he's not going to play in Vancouver, but he'll be back for Salt Lake. Editor Buzz here coming in later, I really flubbed the pause call up section. He actually has two games, not one. They are on the fifth and the 10th. So he has actually gone one day longer than show. So I will talk about here in just a second and shows got two games and his second games on the 9th. So I mean, if, unless they block his call up or something crazy like that because Dallas isn't announced. [00:41:50] Speaker B: That's right. There's an international break between the Vancouver and so I forgot that Angola, Angola. [00:41:55] Speaker C: Announced their games and it's nine five and nine nine also. So he will miss the Vancouver but should be back for Salt Lake. They'll both be back for Salt Lake. [00:42:02] Speaker B: Yes. And, and then I'm looking forward to LAFC and the handsome Giroux coming to town on the 21st. That's going to be a tough one. [00:42:12] Speaker C: So stop there for a second. Entirely possible. You're owing for in those four games. [00:42:20] Speaker B: Three. Oh, yeah. For Colorado. Oh yeah. Yeah. And you're out at that point, right? [00:42:24] Speaker C: Well, probably, but you never know because you could, you only need you slightly less than four wins so you could win your last four if you lose that four. I'm just saying that Colorado at home is. They're really, really good at Vancouver. Dallas sucks there salt at Salt Lake they're really, really good. And LFC here, they're really, really good. So those are three of the top four teams in the west and a team that stomps the shit out of you every time you go to Vancouver. [00:42:47] Speaker B: And that would be such a Dallas thing to squeak into the playoffs after a four game losing streak. And by the way, I'm going to correct something I said earlier. I said earlier that the, the Portland game was the last game of the season. It's not. And this is because I'm using a website that has the sporting thing on us on a following page, so. Yeah, stupid MLS site. Yeah, so you're right, because then after LAFC is the home game against Orlando and Oscar, the return of pop. Is that the first time pareo will have managed here since. Has he come back? And I know, I know they've played Orlando in Orlando, but has poppy come back to Dallas? [00:43:25] Speaker C: I think I have. [00:43:27] Speaker A: And friendly. [00:43:28] Speaker C: There you go. [00:43:29] Speaker B: But not with Orlando. [00:43:35] Speaker C: I can't guarantee that. I have a memory of sitting in the stands and him being on the sideline and going, oh yeah, puppies here and stand up and clapping. But that may have been the chills game. Yeah, we'll have to look it up. [00:43:43] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll have to look it up. [00:43:44] Speaker C: And then we got a month before we have to know that. [00:43:46] Speaker B: Yeah, and then, and then you got the road game at San Jose, the road game to Portland, and then you close the season out with Kansas City here in town. [00:43:55] Speaker C: So yeah, I mean, so it's entirely likely that you're going to need a lot of results in those final four games. And those are teams that are all, well, San Jose not, but Portland's making sure that they're fighting to stay in. Orlando's in 7th. They're, they're fighting to stay in. You know, Kansas City's well behind you, but Kansas City loves to screw things up for Dallas loves to screw. They would like nothing better than to come here and knock you out of the playoffs in the final game. [00:44:22] Speaker B: I'm trying to figure out which of these teams is the most likely to cause Dallas problems and grabbing one of those two play in games. And I, I'm, I'm not quite sure I have a handle on who that's going to be. [00:44:36] Speaker C: Down the stretch. I mean. [00:44:37] Speaker B: Yeah, down the stretch because Minnesota's schedule is not really all that different from Dallas's. And. [00:44:44] Speaker C: Yeah, Minnesota is playing pretty poorly though, lately. I think. [00:44:51] Speaker B: It'S interesting. [00:44:53] Speaker C: The thing is, it's more likely that it's, I think from sitting here looking at the teams around them, it's more likely that Houston and Austin are just slightly good enough to maintain their positions. You know what I mean? Like, even though Dallas has been better, that Dallas schedule is rough, but everybody has a rough schedule at some point. But Houston has been solid and Austin has been better, so. [00:45:15] Speaker B: So Austin has. Yeah. So Austin got their road win, uh, in Nashville, which is very impressive. Then they had they host Vancouver this weekend. Um, then on the 14th, they have to go to Toronto and then follow that up four days later with a road game to LAFC. Then they've got their Houston game on the 21st, real Salt Lake on the 28th, road game in Portland, road game at the Galaxy, and then end their season with a home game against Colorado. [00:45:48] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a tough, tough schedule, too. I mean, those are awesome. All good teams, man. I mean, going to Toronto is never easy. Going to Vancouver, never easily. Houston's better than them. And they just added a couple of DP's salt Lakes better than them. Portland's fighting for a playoff spot. LA is really good. Cause, I mean, that's, that's even tougher schedule, the Dallas. [00:46:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it is. [00:46:06] Speaker C: Yeah, that might be the saving grace for Dallas. Is that awesome? Schedule is a bitch. [00:46:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I was just real quickly, let me just run. Just because we all love to hate on Houston. Let's look at Houston schedule. So Houston lost that game at home, by the way, to Toronto this past weekend. They go to LAFC this weekend. And they have, you know, I don't know. Did you know this? They've got a back and back home and away against LAFC. [00:46:32] Speaker C: That's crazy. Yeah. [00:46:33] Speaker B: Now that's broken up by the international break. So they go to LA first, and then after the international break, they host LAFC. Then they've got Salt Lake coming to town and then Vancouver coming to town. Then they do the Austin game in Austin. Then they travel to the Sounders. Then they host the revolution. And to close the season, uh, they have two games, October 5 in St. Louis and home against the galaxies there. That's a pretty tough schedule, too. [00:47:02] Speaker C: Well, effectively, they. Their game in hand, effectively is a home game. Not. It is a home game, not effectively and effectively. It's the New England game. So. Which is a bad team. So they get a. They got an extra game against Dallas, had their game against New England already. So. Yeah, Houston gets Houston's. [00:47:17] Speaker B: Houston's value in their schedule is they've got more home games, it appears, than. [00:47:22] Speaker C: Dallas and the game at hand, which is a lot. Yeah, because it's a home game. So it's, you know, so it's not. It's likely going to be you and Austin. You got to hope that your form holds and their schedule is tougher than yours. So, listen, you got to win it, right. You got to do it. You got to perform. You're not going to be handed this thing. You know, Dallas has got to win, you know, probably for their remaining games. You know, it's like, it's technically like 3.6, so you could get some ties, but this team under looks, saying doesn't tie. Right there. Five, three and one, so. [00:47:50] Speaker B: Yep, for sure. And Houston, by the way, doesn't have a great home record there. Four, five and three. And that's Dallas's advantages yet, because Austin, six, four and three, and Dallas at home, eight, two and three. Now, that also is obviously reduced by the fact that they're one, four, eight on the road. [00:48:06] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:48:07] Speaker B: And Houston actually has a better road record than they do a home record at six, two and five. So. Interesting. Um, okay, very good. Uh, any more scheduled talk we need to. You want to get into before? Uh, okay, let's talk about Colorado coming up this weekend, Labor Day weekend at the stadium. Um, Buzz, what do you think's going to happen there? [00:48:29] Speaker C: Well, Paul Ariel is suspended on yellow cards. That's awesome. You know, if you want to play the same way with the three back, because, you know, you trade for one, so that seems likely that that's what you want to do. You know, you can just put junk and as a wing back on that side, you know, or start another center back and slide far fan out to wing back. I tend to think of junk as a better wing back because I think he's a better crosser, better offensive player. I think he could balance Juan better. But we just saw what it's like with Marco at center back. So that may just be the easier solution. But it would mean that you got to have Omar play if you want to stick with three, or you can go with the back four, and then you get a much more normal, much sub better for him. Marco Farfan over there, you still have everybody, so you'll have show available. You'll have. Yeah, I'm in the available. I think. I think a lot of things are going to be the same in that regard. Of course, Moose is a big question mark, but we've seen that Logan Farrington can play in his spot relatively well. I think if Musa is healthy, I don't think Fairton would be starting because you want to start, Jesus, for sure. And Seakee and siblings been playing in a way. You got to keep him on the field, you know, seek his battle is going to be holding off Delgado and then holding off Alan Velasco to keep that starting spot eventually, you know, because he's kind of the same mold of player. If you're going to do the three, four three, it's that inside forward, underneath kind of thing that Alan's so good at. Or if you're going to do a 4231, which is what we kind of thought we would see with Luxaine, then Alan would be that ten in front of those guys. And again, that's where Seiki plays, because that formation uses more traditional sort of wingers. Um, so the tactics are going to come into it. Luxang keeps changing tactics all the time, changing formations all the time, which is fascinating to watch, if you like that kind of thing. I like a little more consistency, but, you know, this is his ball wax, so you go at it and, um, you know, the way the jet is playing, you can't keep out of the game. And. And the question just comes down to who you bring in to fill. To fill Ariel issues with him suspended, because you should have everybody available other than potentially Musa, you know. And then I would bring in, even though the club's advertising Alan Velasco's return, I would not start him. I would give him ten minutes. That's all I would do. You know, if they want to go to 15 or 20. I mean, I guess. [00:50:55] Speaker B: But Buzz will be watching the game with a stopwatch in his hand. [00:51:00] Speaker C: Well, I mean, you know what? It doesn't mean literally ten minutes, but, you know, you want to sub him in at like 80 something. [00:51:05] Speaker B: 80. [00:51:06] Speaker C: You know, depending on how much energy time you think you can have, that'd be fine for me. 80 minutes. [00:51:10] Speaker B: Dan, I know you love predicting the futures. Dallas gonna pull this one out? They gonna make the playoffs? [00:51:20] Speaker A: No, they'll get close. I just, as much as anything, I kind of don't want them to make the playoffs. I think if you do that, you know, we know Dan Hunt says, hey, if you make it, you're as good as first. No, you're absolutely not. If you don't make it, you need to address the roster. If you make it, it's very easy to say, well, we were close. We tried real hard. [00:51:48] Speaker B: Again, I think that's an interesting conversation, because if. Let's say. Let's say they play really, really well, but everybody else also plays really, really well. And Dallas misses the playoffs by a point, and alternatively, Dallas kind of sputters here and there and backs in to a playoff spot and gets knocked out in the first round. What's the difference between Peter Luxane keeping his job and. And them going out and finding somebody else to get this gig? [00:52:23] Speaker A: You know, I think I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Peter Laksan, you know, employed full timers as the head coach, especially now that Eric Cool has got his extension in New Mexico. I think for me, the important part is the roster construction. There just needs to be a focus on that. At the start of the season, that Miami game, Dan Hunt stood behind the press area taking some questions, and he said, hey, the defense is real good. It's perfect. It's amazing. But we need to start scoring some more goals. We need to add a threat. Okay, well, the defense ain't been very good because you stopped paying attention to it. So, you know, they kind of need that kick up the ass. [00:53:12] Speaker B: What do you think, Buzz? [00:53:13] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, I think the. I think for the. For him to keep it, I think the bare minimum is that he makes it that, you know, if he sputters in, I think that will qualify, because that will. Yeah, because they. He's given them enough, look, enough. The record being in the regular season play. He's given them enough value and enough entertainment that, you know, look what I did with not even my roster built for why I want to play. I did this with somebody else's roster and yes, the Leafs cup and the open cup weren't good, but I think if he gets in that gives them enough ammo to say, okay, you know who he is. He, you know, he knows your system, you know that he'll take the money that you have. You know what you're getting. You know, I think it's. I think it's okay. You know, you'll have to address the roster. So even I think spudding you're in or charging in, I think you. I think it'll be him. If he gets it in, then he'll get it. And I actually have something I want to talk about at the very end of the show with the academy here that maybe will be related to this topic. But you know, I think. I think just doesn't matter how. If he gets in, I think it. [00:54:25] Speaker B: Says, yeah, that bums me out because somebody asked me the other night what my thought was and I just. I don't know yet. I, you know, I hate to put butts in front of wins, but winning at DC to me is, you know, comes with the but, right? It's DC. So I'm not sure how much value to put. It's really going to take the run out of the rest of the season for me to have a really, what I think is a fair judgment of his skill sets and abilities to be, you know, but I said this at the time and I'll. And this is what I'm sticking to by the most part is I. History doesn't bode well for people getting their first opportunities at an MLS club like this, you know, with so little experience that he has that just. There's just too many things that you just don't want a guy having to learn on the fly. And that's what worries me about this. And that's why when you say even if he sputters into the playoffs, the job's probably going to be his. I wince and I get a little worried about that in terms of what it means for next season. [00:55:30] Speaker C: I mean, to be completely fair to, we don't know the other half of the coin is like who else might be out there? Like it may be that, like, as they're looking around to try and fill this job, it could be that luxe is by far the best candidate now that Quill has done reupped his. [00:55:46] Speaker B: Yes, we should. We should probably tell everybody in the last week. And by the way, I just want to go on the record as pointing out I was the one that said watch it'd be the most Dallas thing ever not to hire him while he's out there and somebody else either nab him up or in this case, now, it's at least going to cost them more money to get him because he has re upped his deal in New Mexico. [00:56:06] Speaker C: Well, that's why they. Mexico does that is because now they get more money if somebody comes in, and they'll get him, but, you know, it'll make it much more difficult for Dallas to get him. You know, given the way the hunts behave, if Loxain sputters into the playoffs, they'll just go, you know, we'll just go with that one, instead of money whipping quill to get him over here. But you also don't know, like, it could be that somebody else candidate wise. I mean, listen, how many times in your career. I know. It's happened to me at least once where I've had an internal, I've been working in some place, and they're like, hey, we're going to give you this new promotion, but we have to list the thing. But it's your job. And then a month later, here's the guy that we hired instead of you, right? Because we listed the job, and, holy shit, this guy showed up with a resume. That's amazing. [00:56:47] Speaker B: I'm sorry that's happened to you, Buzz. [00:56:49] Speaker C: Yeah, it has happened to me. I figure probably happens to everybody at least once in their career, you know, if you work around long enough. Definitely happened to me. I won't tell you which job it was, but I'll tell you maybe off camera, you know, it's so, you know, while we could say, oh, Lexi makes the playoffs, you know, even gangbusters. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's his job. Well, not if Pep Guardiola calls. I mean, that's a stupid example, but you know what I mean. [00:57:17] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I get it. [00:57:18] Speaker C: I mean, what if. I don't know, what if Bear alter calls and says, I'll take that job? I mean, some people hate that guy, but, you know, I don't know, the hunts might think, oh, man, they gotta coach the national team. Or what if true gets fired or something, you know? [00:57:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:35] Speaker C: Or Caleb Porter gets fired, and they go, they go. He's won three championships. Why won't we grab that guy? You know what I mean? You just never know what's gonna be out there. [00:57:43] Speaker B: All right, so we got Colorado knocked out of the way. We got manager talk knocked out of the way. Um, let's see anything else here in the famous red crayon run sheet that I've not talked about that I really want to get to. [00:57:57] Speaker C: Well, just mentioned Dallas. Trinity's playing Barcelona. [00:57:59] Speaker B: Well, that's what I was. No, I meant about Dallas. See Dallas first. [00:58:04] Speaker C: My bad. [00:58:04] Speaker B: Don't jump. You pay me a lot of money to drive this boat. All right, so let me. I'm kidding. So, yes, this is the big weekend. Dallas, Trinity host Barcelona, uh, at the cotton ball on Friday night. I have no idea what to expect out of this. In terms of attendance. It would not surprise me to see a really smart, sizable crowd. I. I would. I would think that the girls soccer community in the Dallas Fort Worth area is hyped to be able to see Barcelona. Right. I mean, that's a big deal, but to be able to see Trinity play their first game at home in the cotton bowl is something that would be cool to see. So, I don't know. Do you have a guess what? You think it's going to turn out to be on set on Friday night, attendance wise? Yeah. [00:58:54] Speaker C: It would not shock me to see over 20,000 for this one. [00:58:58] Speaker B: Whoa. [00:58:59] Speaker C: It's a friendly. [00:59:00] Speaker B: Seriously? [00:59:01] Speaker C: Yeah. Because isn't. Isn't Barcelona the Champions League winners? Aren't they the defending? Right. So, like, that's the best team in the world in women's soccer, potentially. [00:59:12] Speaker A: So there's gonna have to be a lot of walk up sales for that to happen. [00:59:16] Speaker C: Oh, so, you know. [00:59:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I looked at the ticket sales yesterday and there were a significant number of tickets. [00:59:26] Speaker B: And they've put them on. On sale, too, correct? Like they've. They're what, 25% off or something I saw yesterday. [00:59:33] Speaker C: I just had a feeling that, like, you know, a brand new women's team, like, every girls team in the city is going to show up and there might be, you know, maybe not. Maybe. Maybe I'm completely off on that. [00:59:43] Speaker A: But the club's also matrix. This isn't really their first game, you know, this is. This is a friendly setup by a third party. The same way the FC Dallas won against Miami was their first real game. Comes on September 7. Right. Against DC. [01:00:00] Speaker C: How are the ticket prices? Damn. They could be absurd. I don't. I don't know. [01:00:03] Speaker A: Honestly, I forget. I think they were like. They were. They were over 30. I know that much. [01:00:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I think they started at 30, buzz, and they kind of went up from there, depending on what you wanted. I think I saw 33 as a starting point, and then, you know, whatever. Stupid. [01:00:17] Speaker C: I guess what I should say was that since we have no clue, like, we could see anything from 5000 people to 20,000 people. It's like it could be all over the map. [01:00:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. I honestly have no idea what the turnout for this is. Barcelona, I would think. I'm not as plugged into the local girl scene, soccer scene. So I don't know what the enthusiasm for seeing. I mean, if Barcelona was coming to town to play FC Dallas at the cotton bowl, it would be. There'd be 75,000 people there. [01:00:50] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:00:52] Speaker B: So I don't, I mean, is it unreasonable to expect 10, 15, 20,000 for this? I just. I honestly don't know. Trinity is such an unknown entity. That's the, that's the part to me, I just don't know what the level of enthusiasm for it is yet. [01:01:06] Speaker A: I think Bay Fc got, it was either twelve or 18,000 for their friendly with Barcelona. [01:01:13] Speaker B: Who did? [01:01:14] Speaker C: Why? [01:01:15] Speaker A: Bay FC. [01:01:16] Speaker B: Ah, okay. Oh, that's right. They've already played a game here, so I don't know, it'll be fun to see. And I, you know, I'm assuming they'll wear the gold kits again because Barcelona will wear their traditional kits and then they'll break out the home kits for the DC, the, the, you know, the league home opener. [01:01:32] Speaker C: Yeah, that makes sense. [01:01:33] Speaker B: September. That would make. Yeah, that would make sense. [01:01:36] Speaker A: But in terms of that game, the two teams are holding a press conference tomorrow or joint press conference. Barcelona just touched down earlier today. They, I believe, are currently training at Hakaday right now ahead of the game, but going based off of the Bay FC game, I think one thing we talked about previously was, hey, they're pretty quickly coming off the olympics. You know which players are going to be back. Alexia Peteus was on the bench. I'm going to do the Peter Welton name butchering now. Thanks, Aytana Bon. Marty Washington on the bench. Ona Batea. [01:02:26] Speaker B: I hate you. [01:02:27] Speaker A: Dan started a bullet. No, she was on the bench as well. There are several World cup winners that are going to be on that field. [01:02:35] Speaker B: It will be fun. Yeah. Interesting. Actually, right before we started recording on Instagram, I saw they did a promotional video where they got girls from each of the teams to kind of talk into the tiny microphone, into the camera and do a social video. And they got girls from Barcelona to participate in it, too. So I thought that was great. Yeah, good stuff. [01:02:57] Speaker A: So you go into that game? [01:03:00] Speaker B: I may go. I have something else in line that may prevent me from going, but if I free up, because I really would like to go. I'd like to be there. For this, I think it would be a lot of fun to capture the scene. Um, you know, it's one of those things where I want to be able to say that I was at Dallas's first ever, you know, I was at the Burns first game at the cotton ball and at, you know, Toyota Stadium. And I'd like to be able to say I was at Trinity's first game at the cotton ball. But which one is it? Is it the friendly against Barcelona or is the league ope, the. The league home opener against DC a couple weeks later? [01:03:37] Speaker C: Well, I think it's a league home opener because you do, scrimmages don't count. [01:03:41] Speaker B: Okay. Just. [01:03:41] Speaker A: Just be at both to be on the safe side. [01:03:43] Speaker B: Okay? [01:03:43] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:03:44] Speaker B: All right. Are you going, Dan? [01:03:46] Speaker A: I'll be there. I just got my credential approved earlier today. [01:03:51] Speaker B: Oh, we actually have media credentials now, huh? [01:03:54] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:03:55] Speaker B: All right. Very good. All right. There you go. Anything? Oh, what about. Do we need to do a north Texas update? [01:04:04] Speaker C: They're still in first place. They're really good. [01:04:08] Speaker B: Okay. [01:04:08] Speaker C: I actually. My academy thing will be related to them so tangently. [01:04:13] Speaker B: All right, I'm afraid to ask this question, but I'm going to ask because it is related between this and that. Did either one of you hear Julian's phone in to the kick around last weekend? Julian Eystones. [01:04:31] Speaker C: I'm going to listen to it. [01:04:33] Speaker B: My two buddies didn't listen to the last weekend. It's on my list. [01:04:37] Speaker C: You know, like somebody else I know. Not everything gets listened to live. [01:04:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I was out and about at the time, so I remember being like, oh, 02:00 if I'm still driving, turn the radio on. And I completely forgot. [01:04:51] Speaker C: Hey, I tweeted it for you. I shared it. [01:04:53] Speaker B: You did? I love you. I love you both. I know you both will listen to it as you fall asleep one night later this week. I will for sure. [01:05:01] Speaker C: I got a lot of my play right now, but I will for sure get. [01:05:03] Speaker B: He was. Let me say this. He. I know I always go into doing interviews with players with a massive grain of salt, especially when I can't get them in the studio. Just because you're talking to somebody you've never talked to before and you don't know how they're going to, you know, they're on the air and they don't know, you know, they just turn into lumps of coal. He was great. And he said, you know, I tried to get him. I asked the question to try to get him to tell the story about almost signing with Dallas and then ending up at Brentford. And he handled that like a pro and skirted around the real story and all of that. And I loved it. It was really, really good. And I was really proud of him. And he kind of told a cool story about. I hope everybody goes back and listens because I think it's like, at the 55th minute, there's chapters in the episode. If you don't want to listen to the rest of the rest of it. He told the story about the moment he realized he was a professional footballer. It was when his mom left. You know, his mom went with him to England to get him moved in and everything. It's like going to college, right, setting up in the dorm. And, you know, his mom left to go home, come back to. To the United States. And I think it. You could tell by the way he tells the story that it was a pretty significant moment in his life that he realized, oh, this shit is real. [01:06:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:06:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it was good. [01:06:30] Speaker C: So that is good. Yeah. As it was pointed out to me, that Brentford second team, which, you know, is playing in the league. [01:06:37] Speaker B: The developers. Yeah. They're in the developmental league, is what he called it. Yeah. [01:06:41] Speaker C: So he's gonna have a full slate of games. So that's good. [01:06:43] Speaker B: Yeah. They've already started playing. Apparently, they're getting shelled. They've not. They've not started the season well, but he seems to be enjoying himself, so that's great, man. That was really cool. All right, anything else you guys would like to get? Is there any kit talk that we need to dig into? Did you see the Dan tell everybody about the cool thing they're doing in Sweden? [01:07:08] Speaker A: Oh, for the centenary of the lake. They've got every team to have a throwback kit and it's all very cool. I think AIK had been doing. Maybe it was them with Nike. They'd been doing this annual throwback to their original 1903 or whatever it was jersey, and the whole league adopted it. So, you know, a lot of them went with kind of generic y, old style kits which look very cool. Two teams did not get the memo at all, which is unfortunate. But I think the thing that you'd pointed out was the goalkeeper for one of the teams, even wearing a flat cap. [01:07:48] Speaker B: Yeah. I thought when they were showing it, he turned around to walk back into the goal and I thought, man, he's going to play the game in it. Well, he took it off before the game started, which was kind of a bummer. I thought it would have been great if he had worn it during the game. It was cool. [01:08:04] Speaker C: You're going to be allowed to. To be fair, but that would have been fun. [01:08:06] Speaker B: And all of those kits look, the ones I've seen so far, they all look great, by the way. Speaking of which, that LA Galaxy third jersey that they rolled out in the game the other, the other night, I guess. Was it an open cup game that Royce came into or. No, no, it was a league game, man. Have you seen that thing is awesome. [01:08:28] Speaker C: They're all awesome. Yeah. [01:08:29] Speaker B: Yeah, it was great. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Do your academy bit. [01:08:34] Speaker C: So I've heard from multiple people that there's a new initiative inside SC Dallas. And to be clear to everybody, initiative is like a, kind of like a program attached to a goal. So the idea is that it's, nothing is cut and dry, but it's going to be, you know, some. Some money will be spent, it'll be some impetus, a directive, if. Whatever you want to call it. So apparently, you know, Luke Sane and or Dan Hunt was involved in some discussions when this was brought up, the exact details of who was around. But it's been mentioned to people in public. This is not some secret information I'm putting out. It's been mentioned to players and parents of kids in the academy. So the initiative is that it's related to Dan Hunt's old initiative about he wanted to have a first eleven and start MLS cup. That was all academy players. Well, that's ridiculous. So the new reality, the new initiative is that they want to have half of the first team roster be from the academy. So that's the goal. And that doesn't mean, of course, that in three months they're going to cut half the players and fill them with a cat. That's not what it means, but it means that there's going to be a push or an impetus apparently put into the pathway. We're already seeing that to some extent, and I think it's coincided roughly within luxe taking over, although I don't know for sure that it's his initiative. I think it's the greater club initiative, which, as we know, is, of course, this committee that involves Dan Hunt, Zenada Luxane as the coach, and Chris Hayden, the academy director and VP of youth also. So the idea is that they will, I assume, spend some money in terms of scouting or coaching, perhaps trying to develop the play, the academy a little more, and the push to have more academy players come into North Texas. So I think you'll see less foreign signings with North Texas, more academy with North Texas. They're going to keep using. It looks like this basically endless homegrowns. You can basically sign as many homegrowns as you want now, and they don't have to all be on the Seattle roster. So I just expect over the next couple of seasons to see some different operations, apparently from the academy to North Texas to FC Dallas. So it's a macro level thing that. [01:10:55] Speaker B: They'Re going to push for that in concept and theory is wonderful, and I think that is great to hear. But you and I both know that to make that successful and to truly make that kind of the club's identity is going to take a marketing effort and a messaging effort. I that doesn't get lost in the general kind of rank and file fan base that won't understand why they're not signing big name players and are really relying on kids who obviously are going to make mistakes. And it doesn't necessarily always feel like you're putting a team together to win championships. [01:11:33] Speaker C: Well, you see what I'm saying? Yeah. It means retention of some of these players you're selling. You can't sell them all if you're going to do this, that'll be a slight change. It means, it don't. It doesn't mean you can't sign anybody, though, because you can still going to have half your team be from not the academy. But very specifically, it means that what we talked about when Nico Steves was hired, like, is this the wrong guy? Because he's all about these mature, older players and they've expanded out the bottom end of the roster and added these guys that are these filler players to the supplemental roster that in the past would have homegrowns in it. [01:12:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:12:14] Speaker C: Right. So that backfired and they're. And they've gone away from that. And Loxain is a big part of this initiative in the sense that he came from the academy and he knows those kids and knows the path and knows the system. So from all signs and from what they're saying, they're swerving back to what they were under Oscar and Lucci. So they veered away for a moment. Now they're going to veer back, it seems. And so it's a big. It's important. It's big on a macro level. And you're right if you're going to sell it, Peter, that's a totally different question. Like, if you're going to sell it, because of course, winning is everything, you know, and you're going to have to try and retain some of these guys other than Jesus and Paxton, you can retain some more of them. [01:12:52] Speaker B: Well, I think we'll have to see how that rolls out. [01:12:55] Speaker C: That's a. Yeah, but it'll influence everything. If, if it comes, if they really follow through on it in the long run, it will influence every phase of your operation. And it is the way that the Hunts have made money. Right. They haven't really made all that much money with the team, with the first team that we know of. It's mostly all from selling. Right. Happy money, etcetera. [01:13:15] Speaker B: The thing that I wanted to talk. Oh, go ahead, Dan. What you're going to say? [01:13:18] Speaker A: No, you go. [01:13:20] Speaker B: Well, no, I was going to change topics. So if you've got some. [01:13:22] Speaker A: Okay, so not about FC Dallas. I was actually going to talk about the Dallas Trinity Academy players. So at the, you know, at the outset of the league, there was a lot of talk about rosters. There would be five roster spots for academy players. They would be high school age players and we have the first four for Dallas Trinity. So just kind of wanted to go through those really quickly. So we have Seelie Strawn, who is an zero seven, attacking mid from solar. We have Jordan Hardiman, highly rated centre back. I believe she's an zero eight or maybe an zero seven. Also solar. Evan Osteen, who just committed to Florida State goalkeeper at solar. She is an zero eight, I believe. And then do you remember Kennedy Fuller, who recently. Yep. 15 appearances for Angel City. Her younger sister, Camden, who is an zero eight with Solar, she is on the roster. [01:14:39] Speaker B: Interesting. [01:14:40] Speaker C: There's an interesting question that Dallas Trinity has to ask and answer. The league wants them to have academies of their own at a bare minimum. It means that they have to field a Dallas Trinity quote unquote, team in certain tournaments. But as an alternative, you can do what they've done right here, which is they can, they can fill those spots and their first team roster with some of the best teams from the other girls academies in town. So as long as they can field a, quote unquote, Dallas Trinity team and certain things, they can go this way and borrow everybody else's players instead of making their own academy like SC Dallas did, and trying to poach all the players. Right. Very important distinction there. And that's a question that they're going to have to figure out which way they're going. And obviously early, it looks like they're using this guest player idea to give opportunities to local kids in town. It's a very smart way to do it, I think considering that you have one of the best academies in the whole damn world. And women's soccer and solar right here in FC Dallas, which is also very good. And things like DKSC, which is an excellent club as well. And sting has got a wonderful history. So this is a women's soccer powerhouse area. [01:15:54] Speaker A: Well, I think as well. It kind of follows the blueprint of the briefly lived Texas United Academy. You know, they wanted to fulfill the obligation for USL Academy and effectively it was a, I think it was an under 16 and under 18 and it was just exactly that. It was kind of a guest team where they kind of didn't abuse the local academy so that they would then feed in, but it just gave extra games, extra tournaments, extra exposure for players who, you know, are looking for that, that college scholarship or pro scout. [01:16:32] Speaker B: Yeah, that's, it's interesting because related to that, and I know we've been going a long time, this podcast going to go on forever now that I think about it, because that's something else I want to talk about, but is, you know, we've, we've talked many times about how the hunts came in with this thing into the local club scene and kind of went scorched earth and burned a lot of bridges because they just kind of bossed their way into it. And we always kind of lament how the pathway to becoming a professional in this town is kind of like the door is only through, you know, through the Huntsdeen organization. And it does beg the question that as Trinity moves forward, how do they approach that idea without upsetting all the apple carts of the stings and DKSCs and the other clubs in that process? So that'll be fun. Now, related also to that is the thing that you, we have not talked about on here, which is the big news last week about the women's CBA with the NWSL getting rid of the draft? Because that just opens the, I mean, I do think that poses some interesting challenges for the Super League in terms of player allocations and where players are going to get end up. Because now women who may not have wanted to go, you know, you know, may not have gone through the draft process now can shop their wares to, you know, NWSL clubs. And I just think it changes the dynamic for everybody. [01:17:59] Speaker A: I was going to say I think it might actually be the other way around. You know, USL Super League is, is pretty reliant so far on players in, in the lower rounds who are, you know, they're getting pre season with an NWSL team, not getting picked up. They're sticking around just in cases like an injured reserve situation and then kind of going along it. So it may be beneficial in that Super League clubs can, you know, be on the radar from right away. As soon as, as soon as the players leave, leave college soccer. The only thing that may harm them is where some players are maybe more inclined to stick around and wait for the draft. It may create a situation where a lot of them are like, actually, you know what? I'm going to go to Europe. I'm going to go to Mexico. I'm going to go to somewhere where I can kind of get on, play a year or two and figure out if the pro games for me and that may take them away from the Us and away from the Super League teams. [01:19:05] Speaker B: Interesting. Okay. What are you going to say, Buzz? [01:19:08] Speaker C: Yeah, just that I think it's a direct reaction to the USL Super League because USL Super League doesn't have a draft, they just do free agency. So I think it's a really fast reaction to that. And the other side of that coin is that it'll be interesting to see how certain teams may become destination leagues and other teams and other teams may become pariahs and struggle to get anybody. You know, like there are some teams in the NWSL that are not run particularly well and have some problems and maybe they're in markets nobody wants to be in, you know, so that's the reason why they have the draft a lot of times in domestic leagues now states is to even out that playing field so that everybody doesn't play for the Cowboys or the Giants. [01:19:48] Speaker B: And, and tying the last two topics together. Have you guys seen the super league reveal of the Brooklyn home kits? [01:19:57] Speaker C: No. [01:19:58] Speaker A: Yes. [01:19:59] Speaker B: They are outstanding, Buzz. They are black with white pinstripes. And guess who? There's you. I'm not going to ask you to guess. Their sponsor is liquid death, the water company. [01:20:11] Speaker C: I saw the liquid death discussion. I didn't realize that was their kit. [01:20:14] Speaker B: Yeah, that's their, that's their jersey sponsor. They're really, really good design. Do you like them, Dan? Please tell me you like Dan. Okay. [01:20:20] Speaker C: Thank you. It looks like an old baseball jersey. [01:20:22] Speaker B: It does, yeah. [01:20:23] Speaker A: Uh, the, the unveiling that had, uh, you know, Fort Worth Nate of Taylor Smith. Uh, and the only thing I found was the same thing watching Dallas Trinity in the first game is that they had the more men's cut jerseys where the, the sleeves hang super low. You know, that's an easy, you know, that's an easy change later on. [01:20:44] Speaker B: That's such a sweet kit. Nerd observation. On your part. God, I love you for that. Excellent. [01:20:51] Speaker C: I never would have noticed that. [01:20:53] Speaker B: And before we go, I just want to. I just want to say I flipped on. I was home. My wife bailed on me for watching tv that particular night, and I didn't have anything else to watch, and I didn't really have the gumption to turn it on, but there was nothing else. Just dying to turn on. So I flipped on and watched and said, I'll give it a shot. I'll see how it goes. The league's cup final between LAFC and Columbus. And I'm so glad I watched. I don't know if either one of you have watched that game. It was such a good soccer game, period. The quality of it, the atmosphere in Columbus, all of it, like, the game overall was just really, really high quality. Extremely entertaining, extremely well played. It was such a good presentation for this league in terms of just the pure high level the game was played at. It was. I would Buzz and Dan, I would equate it to a very, very high, top end championship level. Like almost like a playoff. Playoff game in the championship. It was really, really good. [01:22:00] Speaker C: Well, that sounds great. Yeah. Sorry I missed it. [01:22:02] Speaker B: Neither one of you watched it. Okay. [01:22:04] Speaker A: I have watched exactly zero minutes and zero highlights of the cup this year. [01:22:09] Speaker B: Well, you should go back and watch the final. It's a really good game of soccer. Just period, the end. It's. It's great. And again, they've done such an amazing job in Columbus with that stadium and the atmosphere and the fan base. It's. It's really quite special. So there you go. All right. Anything else, boys? [01:22:29] Speaker C: No, that's a lot, man. [01:22:31] Speaker B: No, too much. Edit all that crap out, Buzz. Just go to the meet. Go to the stuff that people care about, which is buzz talking about their. Their burn. All right, thanks, Dan. It's good talking to you, buddy. Likewise, Buzzard. Have a good Labor Day weekend, sir. [01:22:48] Speaker C: Thanks, man. Appreciate that. You too. [01:22:50] Speaker B: And thank you, FC Dallas curious fans. We will speak to you next week on another episode of Third Degree of the podcast. [01:22:57] Speaker A: I mean, it's a big weekend for soccer. [01:22:59] Speaker C: Riot. [01:23:00] Speaker B: Third degree. The third degree nap, I guess. Third degree. The third degree, Nepa. Third degree. Third degree nap. I can.