3rd Degree the Podcast #296

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:00:09] Speaker B: Third Degree the Third Degree Ned Podcast. [00:00:14] Speaker A: Third Degree the Third Degree N Podcast Third Degree the Third Degree N Podcast. [00:00:22] Speaker C: Third Degree the Third Degree Third Degree the podcast is brought to you by listeners like you. If you enjoy this podcast, if you enjoy our coverage at Third Degree, watch, join us on our Patreon and give us a little support. If you do, you get a little extra content there. And if you join at the three Amigos level, you get access to our wonderful community on our discord patreon.com third degree thanks again for all your support. [00:00:44] Speaker A: Well, hello there, FC Dallas. Curious fan. How curious are you still? I wonder. Welcome to Third Degree the podcast. Here he is, your favorite Luton Town fan and mine. It is Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:01:00] Speaker B: Hello. Hello. [00:01:02] Speaker A: How curious are you these days? [00:01:05] Speaker B: Increasingly curious. But then the season will come around and then it'll all go away. [00:01:10] Speaker A: It'll all come. There would be nothing left to be curious about. And there's your hero, my hero, everybody's hero. Editor, founder of thirddegree.net and the original soccer influencer himself, Buzz Carrick. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:24] Speaker C: Peter, I would say that I'm still quite curious. I'm actually sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for things to break one way or the other with this club. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Okay, so inside your your discord, Buzz, it is, no pun intended, a beehive of activity and questions and pondering. I never am, never cease to be marveled at the level of curiosity and question asking and, and anticipation and guessing and speculation that goes on in your discord all day long. It's amazing. [00:02:00] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:02:00] Speaker A: And I at some point I just wonder if everybody can just sit tight because believe it or not, I'm going to be positive Peter here. What I know everybody's waiting for a center back signing, everybody's waiting for a 10 replacement. But I am also the guy that always works off historical precedents. And history tells us that the hunts don't do anything until the window opens. And the window doesn't open for another 48 hours. So once we get into the actual trading window and correct me if I'm wrong, Buzz, really nobody should be sweating anything until we get into the window because that's really. They could have all this ready to go. They're just waiting to announce it for the appropriate time. Am I right about that? [00:02:47] Speaker C: Yeah, you're right about that. Look, the window technically opens on Friday. You know how much would actually get over the line on Friday? It was hard. [00:02:56] Speaker A: 31St. [00:02:57] Speaker C: The 31st Y. So 24 hours, not 48. But that's fine. The, the thing is, is that the, the people that do the business at FC Dallas is a very, very small group of people. Yes, they have this committee of like four or five voices, depending on what kind of decisions being made. But the end of the day, it's Andre Zenada who's making the phone calls. And then, you know, he goes down a down Hunt at some point and if, if the move is big enough, Clark Hunt and they go thumbs up, thumbs down, you know, and this is what this will be after they've already gone through all the scouts and talked to Coach Quill or whatever. So they are keeping things very, very tight lipped. And even people that we know that know are like, they're not talking about it. So other clubs you see leaking out, like, hey, we're in deep negotiations with this guy, with that guy. Dallas is pretty tight on that stuff. I think a lot of times the stuff you see from them is actually coming from agents or from other people in the league who are aware of things that Dallas has talked to people about. You know, like all the Evander stuff, for example. So I think, I think you have to just be. And we've said this all along, right, that they've done the business of tearing the team down and now we just have to wait and see what they will deliver in the three weeks until the season starts. But also, don't forget that this initial window lasts till April. I mean, nobody wants to wait till April for players. But you know, the, the misalignment of the windows means that it might not happen on Friday. You know, you might have to wait a little bit to see what is going to come from some of these spots. [00:04:25] Speaker A: All right, so Dan, if I also then put on my normal hat of being pessimistic. While they may sign players to fill all these spots, we may just all just want to be ready to be disappointed by the actual quality of player they sign. Is that fair? [00:04:39] Speaker B: The. The roster's been torn down for. Well since Pereira left. No, I mean, it's, it's year one of a rebuild. You know, it'd be unfair to expect a championship winning team. It'd be great to expect a playoff spot, but just, just look for some silver linings. Don't go for the wooden spoon. And next year's another year. [00:05:07] Speaker A: So that's kind of what I wanted to talk about because we've used the term ambition on this podcast multiple times, not just in this off season, but previous off seasons. And we've always said, hey, here's an opportunity to take a measure of Dan and Clark's ambition for this club. And something happened today, Thursday, or as, or was kind of leaked. I don't know if any of this was actually official or just rumored, but Atlanta United, in the course of 24 hours at least, was rumored to have made two purchases. The rebuy of Amarm and the $22 million buy of the Middlesboro striker. I forgot his name. [00:05:47] Speaker B: Dan Latte. [00:05:48] Speaker A: Laugh yeah, for essentially a combined $35 million. And this, this, this even surprised me Buzz was that I went back. Now, again, I have to say this for Dan's benefit. If you just take face value of the transfer market numbers, that is essentially the same amount of money as Dallas has spent in transfers in its entire 29 year existence. [00:06:18] Speaker C: We've said a lot that Lionel Messi changed the paradigm in this league. And a lot of the things we talked about with ambition is like, are you going to try and keep up with the new paradigm that we see here in this league? You know, and people like Atlanta United clearly are trying to keep up. You know, it's a partial credit to the Hunts. They did go out and spend 8 million on Alan Velasco, who they now have flipped for a profit. And they, they went out and spent what reported 13 million, I think, on Peter Musa. Those both of those deals just blow away anything they've done before, you know, and they, they showed pretty clearly that when they had money coming in from a Pepe Ricardo Pepe level sale that they would turn it around and use it. So let's be optimistic, fingers crossed that they're going to do the same thing. Because we don't know, we don't have any way to know that they are or they are they not. You know, we know that they're attempting to get Evander and that's a, that's a cash purchase inside the league. And their opening offer was reported by multiple people to be 12 million. So they're playing in the right end of the pool on some of this stuff. We just need to see what happens. [00:07:24] Speaker A: Sure. But also talking about historical precedents and understanding how the operation works, the reality is this is a club that's about to undergo a severe restriction of its revenue because of the stadium situation for three seasons. So when Dan talks about a rebuild, the first year of a rebuild, it's not unreasonable to speculate that what we're seeing is exactly that. While they're rebuilding the stadium, they're slowly going to try to rebuild this roster from the ground up. And this year may be a difficult year. I don't think that's an unreasonable argument to be made. [00:07:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Think that's a bad thing either because since Oscar Pereira left, you've had some band aid fixes for Lucci. Didn't work out. Nico came in, you had a couple of good signings, but still some band aid fixes that something needs to change. Right. It can't just be, here's the guys that didn't make the playoffs and his, you know, two other players that probably wouldn't get in the start in lineup of a top MLS team. [00:08:30] Speaker C: You know, we've, we've heard them talk about the likelihood that they're going to go with the 2DP and 4U22 initiative roster model. Even to do that, they need a DP to replace. Likely to replace Alan Velasco. Could it be a young dp? Potentially, sure. You know, and then whether they're going to go for 3 and 3 or the 2 and 4 might depend on what it's going to cost them to land the center back that they need. So, you know, this is a team that we've, we've heard them say they're going back to their core way. We've seen a bunch of homegrowns, six in one day, for example. We're seeing a renewed pursuit of academy kids, both as playing as academy players or even just taking part in first team training and perhaps signing with North Texas. More than just less than the hybrid deals and homegrown deals. So like they are doing all those things, maybe they're going to be after more U22 initiatives. So while it is year one of a rebuild build that sort of makes sense along the ideas of we're going to go for young sort of guys and develop and see how it goes. You know, how that holds up will be. Interesting question. Their hit rate on U22s has not been good. But at the very minimum you'd like to see, I'd like to see them try and at least fold that one DP spot with a level of player that can let them at least be competitive. Because you know, right now we, we all feel like they haven't done enough to make it where they can compete. I don't, I don't mean at the top, I just mean like compete at all. [00:09:53] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:54] Speaker C: So they got some work to do for sure. [00:09:56] Speaker A: It's, it's interesting because I would like to think that, you know, the center back situation isn't new. This is a problem that we've been talking about and a need for them to feel for what, two over two seasons now? [00:10:09] Speaker C: I would say. Yeah, yeah. I would say even since Ziegler left and we started talking about needing to replace him and a lot of the replacements have been underwhelming. So you know, it's been four years probably that we've been talking about this idea and it's been at least a full year since we were adamantly saying they needed one and the coach started saying they needed one. So, you know, they've actively been after one since at least February of last year. [00:10:33] Speaker A: So the reason why I bring this up is I'm trying to take a measure of what should the average. What should the curious fan be satisfied with for starting day for this club? Should, should they should because the center back thing has been this stand, this standing known hole that you have to fill. How in the world do you not find and hire a quality CB1 type center back or are you trying to pass off A Lawless Abubakar as that player and then B, the other part is refilling Allen's spot. Now what I think they're trying to tell us is, is that they've been caught off guard by Allen being, you know, being given the opportunity to, you know, sell Allen at a profit quote unquote, and, and, and get out from underneath him as a player and let him go do his own thing. So now we're not. But at the same time, should you be mad at them for not being ready to have to make a, a move on that? And, and so if they don't have an Allen replacement to start the season or within this opening window, should people be frustrated or angry about that? [00:11:40] Speaker C: Well, I, I think as a paying customer, any, you're allowed to be frustrated or felt like they haven't lived up to what you wanted, no matter what they do. Like, if you're not satisfied as a customer, then don't be satisfied. It's your money. You know, at the same time, like if you're a fan of this club, you kind of have to know what they, how they operate and should have certain expectations. I think, you know, you have to be a little bit pragmatic probably to be a fan of this club. To be fair. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be discontented. You know, I never want to tell somebody that. If you're mad, be mad. Tell them you're mad. Don't, don't. Honestly, I'm our job to tell you to not be mad. But in the second half of your question about Alan Velasco. I think their expectation with that new deal was that would tamp all that down. And in fact, it did the opposite. It blew it up. And then they were like, oh, and the money came in and he went, you know, when he once he says, I'm not coming back, you kind of got to do what you got to do. But they could have easily had a short list. And that still doesn't mean, like, it's easy to do at that position. You know, that's a position of where the kind of players you're going to want are probably going to be pretty locked up at this point, deep in a season that may be very difficult to do that one. That's why the Evander one makes so much sense for them to really trying hard and go after that. And by the way, Luciano Costo, I don't hear anything with that on that. That appears to not be something they're interested in. Probably because of his age, because as we said, this is a multi year project. And he's already, what, 31? I guess so. Or more. I can't remember exactly how old he is. [00:13:07] Speaker A: So all indications are the Evander thing is a real reach for Dallas. [00:13:13] Speaker C: It's tough because FC Cincinnati apparently is also in for him and they've got a little more money than Dallas does. In general terms, they don't really, but the way the teams operate, they do. You know, they're losing Acosta and they want to put Amanda right into that spot. So that's going to be tough. [00:13:26] Speaker A: They'll probably be willing to pay him more. They're a better squad. [00:13:29] Speaker C: Yep. [00:13:30] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a lot of advantages, lots. [00:13:32] Speaker C: Of advantages there for Evander over Dallas. So Dallas is gonna have to sort of, you know, maybe use that Brazilian connection that they have in their front office. You know, their head, their head scout head, TD and their. And their soccer ops guy are all Brazilian, so. Or Brazilian connected. If not, they're actually Brazilian. [00:13:47] Speaker A: But maybe they'll money whip. [00:13:49] Speaker C: Yeah, maybe, maybe. You know, Dallas has tons of money laying around, you know, and the Hunts aren't short on money. [00:13:55] Speaker A: All right. [00:13:56] Speaker C: But, well, you know, okay, look, that one may be harder to do, the center back one. That's the thing. Like, we know for sure that they have understood that they needed a center back because I started talking to Nico about it back in last February and then they went, they tried to get one last summer and he failed a physical. And we know of people, guys, they've put bid ins or at least called about right now. So they've been working on that one for a year. So if they can't get a center back in, you know, and, and that's where when I have said like, you know, everyone, keep, everyone around the club keeps telling me, center back coming, center back coming, center back coming. But none of them can be very definitive about it. So I, I don't know whether they all just think that that's happening because of the way the club's acting or they actually know that one's coming. So I, I, I don't know what to tell people other than like we're three weeks away and right now they only have two center backs. And your mileage can vary on what, how good those guys are. And you would assume if you're going to trade Nicosa Tafari away, who's an incredibly budget friendly, account friendly center back, that you must know you have something coming. [00:14:55] Speaker A: But, well, that's why I tell everybody, at least give yourself until the window opens to really start to fret about this. But this also takes me back to the thing I wanted to talk about originally before we get into the details of camp and everything, which is this word and this word ambition, because I can't remember where, but somewhere, either in social media or in your discord or something, somebody was talking about, hey, you know, I hear people talk about ambition. This may not even have been Dallas specific, but it's like, what do you mean by that? Like when you say you want to see your team to have ambition, what is the context for that? And I'm curious, from the two of you each, what do you think is an appropriate level of ambition for Dan and Clark Hunt going into the 2025 season? Taking into context all of the little bits and pieces, we already know that they've tried to replace a lot of the roster with a lot of these pieces they've already acquired. And we only know that we think they're trying to replace other pieces and those are still tbd. So what do you think is an appropriate expectation of ambition for the season? I'll start with Dan. [00:16:02] Speaker B: Don't finish bottom. Get some young pieces that you can start to some project pieces. Something that as you go through, you know, hopefully four or five year cycle of a build that by the time the team should be in a place to win, those players have matured and advanced quite a bit. I think that's, you know, that's, that's really it, it's, it's seeing where the growth comes from. [00:16:31] Speaker A: Okay. [00:16:33] Speaker C: I would like to see, you know, a Velasco replacement and a center back that the, the Velasco replacement needs to be a DP level player. But as Dan said, it should be. It's not somebody who's 31 to 34 and it needs to be somebody who's young enough that over a three or four year project they will peek out and be at their top level, that they can be a contributing piece for years at that DP level of play. And the same thing is true of center back. It doesn't need to be a dp, but you want to have it be, have that player be valuable enough. I think that they're over that TAM threshold, which is, you know, the Paul area 1.7 and down. You don't want to go if you can help it up to that 1.7. But something around a million dollar player that still is young enough that you feel like if I invest, you know, maybe they're not peaked out yet, maybe they're 24 or 23 and then like two or three years down the line, that's my big huge stud center back, you know, who's hitting the peak of his career. You know, to be completely honest, what you want is an Akosi Tafari, but not. But better, like one that's an Akosi Tifari that's worth a million bucks. You know, a guy who is, you know, maybe two years in, he's 26, 27, 28 years old, you know, so I'd like to see that level of. I don't want to see panic moves or give up moves, you know, like there is no relegation here. So yeah, like a wooden season, spoon season would suck. Like a season trying to fight into the playoffs would suck, but so would. It would be even worse if you were to sign. You just jettison deals that were handcuffing. You don't sign more deals that will handcuff you. You know, be if you have to wait, if you have to maybe stink it up a little bit, you know, have enough faith in your coach and have enough faith that you're going to eventually get who you want. You know, I don't, don't, don't kill your next three years in panic because you haven't been able to get there yet right now, you know, but there is a point at which you're going to be like, you know, guys, listen, I mean it's got to, have to, have to happen eventually. And maybe the summer is where you start to really ask questions if there's nothing happening Even that far along. [00:18:33] Speaker B: Okay, I've got a quick question. So we're talking about ambition, right? Ambition is a very subjective thing. You know, Peter, you mentioned Atlanta's spending 35 million is really, really impressive. That's great. Emmanuel. 22 million, that's probably double what he's worth. Is that still ambition or is that just wasting money for the sake of trying to get something big and shiny? [00:19:09] Speaker A: I think in Atlanta's case with Garth, I think it is ambition. Garth back in. Garth in Atlanta. Right. [00:19:17] Speaker C: Yeah. And so is Chris Henderson. [00:19:18] Speaker A: Yeah. So I would say that they feel that's an investment because they truly believe in the player. I agree with you. Look, I think $35 million for two players of any name coming to play in this league is silly. This league, I don't think this is a league that you go out and pay $35 million for two players for yet. I just don't think it's at that level overall. I know that's happening, but I also think this is a league that has so much money and is in such a move to try to elevate its standing that it's overpaying for certain players. And I think that guy in particular is a very good example of that. Because nobody else is going to give them $22 million for him, are they? [00:20:02] Speaker B: No. You'd be lucky to find someone that would give him 12. [00:20:05] Speaker A: Right. But he may. They may believe in him so much that they're willing to overpay to get him because Middlesbrough wouldn't, you know, part with him for a less amount of money, I guess. I don't know. So I think Atlanta's ambition is driven by the fact that they've got an owner willing to put out that kind of money because they want to win MLS Cup. [00:20:25] Speaker C: I think the. The. To be fair to the hunts, I think they also have the ambitions of winnings cup. They're just not going to do it that way. You know, they're remember that 22 million is the number that we think or that we think that people have said that Dallas has labeled as the price for Peter Musa. So they're going to outgo at 22 million, not income at 22 million. So their ambition to get to the top of this league is to do it by grinding and getting homegrowns and developing player U22 initiatives and developing. You know, it's hard to say that that's not ambitious. I think it is ambitious. I think it's very difficult to do it that way. [00:21:02] Speaker A: It's a Different kind of ambition. [00:21:03] Speaker C: Yeah, there's a. It's a lot harder to buy, a lot easier to buy your way to the top. You know, I use a lot of money the way that the Hunts are talking about doing it. You need soccer people that can spot young talent and nurture and develop it at a prolific rate in order to get a whole team that good. [00:21:18] Speaker A: And, and because the team has been so bad for so long over several coaches now, it is reality that the ambition may be that this is, to Dan's point, a long term project. They, their, their ambition may be and is to have something really ready to go for when the stadium is completed. That, that may be their ambition. I don't know. [00:21:41] Speaker C: Yeah, certainly could be. [00:21:44] Speaker A: Well, it's fun to watch other teams spend their money for sure. And it does feel like there are more and more MLS teams willing to spend a lot more money than Dallas is. And by the way, when I bring up the stat about, you know, Atlanta spending more in one day than Dallas has in its history, that's, that's a comparison you could make to several MLS teams. That's not a Dallas specific thing. I just happen to know that number. So I don't want anybody to think I'm just picking on Dallas for that. So you could certainly point that same gun at Colorado, for example, I believe, and other. And other MLS clubs for sure. So the window will be open by mo the time most people are listening to this particular episode. Before we move on to the details, just Buzz, I'm interested in your prediction of what you think, what you truly think in your gut is going to happen in terms of this roster by the time kickoff happens later this month. [00:22:38] Speaker C: I think they will get a center back of some kind. I don't know how good. [00:22:43] Speaker A: Two legs. [00:22:45] Speaker C: Yeah, they will get a center back, hopefully. I think actually they might get two because they are. They only have two. Like I think you need five, but right now they have two. So they definitely need at least two. But I think they will get one for sure and probably the second. I think that's important. And then I think they'll. I don't think they're going to get a 10 unless they can get a Vander. Excuse me? If they can get a Vander, then great. But if they can't, which I think is probably 10% chance they can get a Vander, then they're going to have to go to Europe and then it becomes a lot harder and then I don't think they'll pull it off. By the time the season starts, that's three weeks away. Because right now they're probably waiting for, to see if they can get a Vander. So if, you know, they. It'll probably take a couple a week or two before they can figure that out. And then it's like, okay, off to Europe and now there's no way you're getting that done by the time season starts. That's my current belief. And then they have a couple of holes they need to fill, you know, in terms of just roster basic construction that I think they'll, they'll probably get to. But I'm, you know, none of those are going to be important or splashy or worth heavy levels of discussion other than they sort of need to happen. So I think that the center back spot will get addressed in some way. [00:23:57] Speaker A: Your mileage may vary. [00:23:58] Speaker C: Kind of. Yeah. It may not be the CB one. We all once. If that takes a little bit longer and you have to go into the season with, you know, Iaga and Abubakar and a guy, you know, then, okay, let's cross our fingers and hope nobody gets hurt, you know, and, and there are some, there's some people around here who could probably play center back if you absolutely had to. You know, you can cobble something together, but none of it's going to be ideal. But, you know, I do think they'll get a guy. You know, I'm hoping it'll be CB1 and not CB3 or 4, however you want to count them. So that's my prediction. I know that's not a rousing prediction, but that's my prediction. [00:24:34] Speaker A: What do you think, Dan? [00:24:35] Speaker B: I'm going to be super optimistic. They are going to sign three center backs by the end of, say, next week. [00:24:45] Speaker C: Wow. [00:24:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:47] Speaker A: Are you just guessing or do you know something? [00:24:49] Speaker B: I'm guessing. I am not going to guarantee that any of them can even play soccer at a rec level, but they will have contracts. [00:25:01] Speaker C: They've reached out to Dan apparently for about a contract. [00:25:04] Speaker B: I'm too old and busted. [00:25:06] Speaker C: Yeah, they. [00:25:07] Speaker A: They wait till they see his Achilles. [00:25:09] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:25:10] Speaker B: Which one? The one that's stitched together or the one that feels like it's gonna go? [00:25:15] Speaker A: Take your pick. What do you think though, Lou, about the deep, the, the Allen's position? [00:25:21] Speaker B: I think it's kind of like the Thiago Santos thing. I'm sure there is an element of they've had guys scouted because, you know, Allen to Argentina has been a thing for quite a while. But did they have any, any option ready to Go. Probably not. [00:25:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:43] Speaker C: I think I would add that in the context of the center back, right. You need somebody to fill what we call the Omar Gonzalez role, right? That veteran maybe fourth guy that's just sort of maybe at the best case scenario he's going to play like five to 10 games. I think they're going to get that kind of player done as a center back. So then the question is can they also get a CB one? That's where I am with. [00:26:02] Speaker A: See I, I, I, I would imagine that whoever your CB4 and 5 is are not a veteran player because they've got that in Ibiaga and they've even arguably have a degree in Boubacar. I mean it's not like he's a spring chicken himself. He's not as old as I, but so I, I could see them doing a 4 and a 5 as a young player. Like young, young players. And then if they do sign a one, my concern is, is that whoever they sign it, they are going to want to tout is some sort of significant addition and really bolster the defense. And I'm worried that everybody's going to go really him? Because that was kind of how we came across with Omar Gonzalez when they signed Omar. Like they made Omar sound like they were signing some stalwart, you know, like he's 36 years old guys and it kind of played out the way we all thought it would. [00:26:55] Speaker C: See, I just kind of figured that they, they, they think of Iaga as the CB2 like the full time 30 game plus starter and that Boubacar basically took Nicosi Tafari spot if you will as CB3. So like you still need like you're right, 4 and 5 could be young guys. That could be. But maybe one of them is a young guy. Maybe one of them's Omar. Again, not Omar specifically but like that like I don't know Tim Parker, who knows, right? [00:27:20] Speaker A: So see I, I'll tell you. I see, I see. I could predict them taking in Tim Parker and presenting him as their new CB1. [00:27:29] Speaker C: Oh man. [00:27:30] Speaker A: Or Tim Parker and Abuba, you know the, the three Abubakar, Ibiaga and Tim Parker is some sort of reta rotating three for two positions. [00:27:38] Speaker C: Oh yeah, you know, sure, I could see that. But that's exactly what I don't want. When we talked about ambition, like that's what I don't want want because like Tim Parker is old enough that like right now, sure that's a value death piece but that's not a dude who's Going to be three seasons in peak baller. Right? That's. No. So you know that I could definitely see that happening for sure. But I definitely is what I don't want 100%. I would prefer, as you say, two young guys. In fact, if you're gonna give me, give me two U22 signings Initiative signings at center back instead of that, you know, that would be fine. [00:28:10] Speaker A: Well, it's fun to talk about this because after today when the highlights of their game against Bronby came out, Lordy, this is not in its current state. All right, so there's the caveat in its current state, which means it's not a complete roster and it's preseason and all the guys are just getting together. It does not look good. [00:28:34] Speaker C: Yeah, well, there's pieces missing, you know, there's. There's lack of depth. There's guys that are in, you know, a week and a half of training form. You know, it's just like today was really rough. We didn't see much of the first game, but this game was against a team, Bramby, who is, you know, just barely over.500 in the. In the Danish Super League. You know, it was not a really particular. Like they show the. For example, the first half was the starters, effectively, what is probably right now, the starters and they. From the highlights, it looks like they basically had two shots on goal, maybe there was a third and they weren't anywhere close to being on goal. And they had two shots. [00:29:15] Speaker A: Not two shots on goal. [00:29:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, two. Two to three shots. None of them on goal, let alone like actually being something that needed to be saved. And so that's an output. Like if those guys played 90 minutes, you're looking at like four or five shots for the entire game. And they just did not produce any kind of real chances going forward against a team which admittedly is in their mid season break. So a team that's better. But I have no idea what kind of team they rolled out there for this game. You know, for all I know, they play their U23 team. I don't know anything about Bronby. So it raises questions about, you know, how's this team going to look, you know, and immediately there are pieces missing and. And so I think that at this point in the season though, that is just the second game. And as pessimistic as I was watching it, I think you have to give them some time to play in and get it going a little bit. But man, that was tough to watch. The highlights of that thing. It was not comfortable. You know, they gave up another goal on a. On a corner kick. The two goals they scored, one of them was the most ludicrous own goal I've ever seen. Or a guy scored on his own goalie from like, way over on the touch line in the corner trying to center a ball to. To the goalie who wasn't in the goal for some reason. It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. And then Logan got a pk, earned a PK and took it. So it was like. It wasn't. Was not a really great performance. But there are some things we can take away from the two games so far, and that is that Quills is definitely looking like he's locked into a 4, 2, 3, 1. We did see a 4, 4, 2 according to Garam Elser for maybe 10, 15 minutes in the second start of the second half when they brought in Ferencing and played him next to Musa. So that is something they're exploring. But, you know, we're starting to get an idea from some tactics. There's definitely some rotations happening where you can see the coach looking at combinations of players, whether it be across the front line or on different sides or whether that combination includes, you know, fullback to wing and that kind of thing. So it's. These are not formations. I'm sorry, they're not tactical elevens that we should lock in by any means. But we are starting to see some trends in what he's doing. [00:31:32] Speaker A: We also should say, historically, we all know that in preseason this early, the team can look amazing and that or bad. And it has zero indication of how the season's going to go. [00:31:43] Speaker C: Well, when you're talking about a team that might be missing as many as five players that are in the key rotation between missed signings and players that aren't there, you know, it's hard to really get super excited, but this was one of the rougher performances I've ever seen in a preseason. Even though it was just highlights we saw. We saw two different highlight packages and it just didn't look good. You know, try not to panic about it because I, I do know there's plenty of time and, and I think that they're, you know, Quill spent a lot of the first week doing fitness and running, so I don't think that, you know, he wanted us to play. Play with a team that's much more aggressive and, and much more vertical and much quicker and pacer and running a lot. So they obviously needed to work on that a fair bit off of the previous two regimes that didn't play that way. So they got work to do on that regard. [00:32:27] Speaker A: Dan, last week I asked you to take your temperature and you said you were enjoying all this. Are you still enjoying all this? [00:32:33] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, it's absolutely chaotic. It's wonderful. I think we're, you know, we're a week away from really the first test they play Houston preseason and then a couple weeks later play them in the league. That, that's your perfect chance to see, you know, the point where they're, you know, done with early camp where it's mostly fitness and just getting to know people. They're actually into tactics, they're into prepping for the season and, and you know how that part of the season progresses until we get to the opening game in Houston. [00:33:09] Speaker A: It's frustrating because they are so close to the start of the season and there are so many holes to fill and it does have this vibe that whatever you see on day one could be very different a few weeks later as the window continues to stay open. But my biggest fear, Buzz, is that what we're going to hear is well we're, you know, we were, we didn't find what we wanted so we're going to try to do things in July. And that always drives me nuts specifically about this league and this and because we all know that summer additions to MLS teams, historically this isn't a universal lock, ironclad rule, but historically mid season assist additions in this team rarely flip a team's the way the outcome of the season goes. And it also my bigger concern is, is how far, how far gone will the season have gotten from them by the time they get any new additions in the summer if in fact that's the path they choose to go. [00:34:09] Speaker C: Oh, they moved it, they moved the window up a little bit. So that'll help a tiny bit. But that's the thing, right? Like there's, there's a, there's a step in between there. Like yes, if they say, you know what, we're going to wait for the summer, that's better for me than it is to say do something dumb like, like give 31 year old Tim Parker a four year guaranteed contract, right? Like that's worse than just waiting. You know, I, I'm. If you, if you want to bring in, if you want to re sign Omar Gonzalez for one more season just as a pure death piece because you're running out of time in the window, you need a body that I would be better with than doing something dumb and locking up a guy a long time under a contract you can't get out of. So, you know, is that what we want? No, of course not. But it's. I'll take. You know what, we're gonna wait for the window. There's more players available, international wise, big open thing, blah, blah, all that stuff. So I'm okay with that if that's, if that's what it comes to. That's not what I want, but obviously. But yeah, I don't think it's going to come to that. [00:35:07] Speaker A: But, but there's. There's a significant difference in the situation between the center back story and. Yeah, the Alan Velasco replacement story. Because the center back thing they should have resolved a long time ago and, and to not have a quality CB1 in line for this season like they should have had him now he should be in camp with them training right now. The fact that they don't even have the guy and now you got to go through all of this integration and chemistry stuff at the start of the season's frustrating enough as it is. But the idea that you may have to wait another transfer window would be, you know, really. [00:35:40] Speaker C: Well, that's true. If you don't get a Velasco replacement by in the next three weeks, you know, especially because you're trying to wait for Evander, okay, that's fine. But if you don't get a center back after a year of lurk of looking, that's going to be a massive indictment of the people in charge of this club. Because you've been looking for a year. Yeah, right. It's like how after a year you don't have a guy. It's like, come on, you know, there needs to be. I mean, I'll give you, like, maybe it's not going to be tomorrow, Friday or Saturday, you know, okay, maybe it's the middle next week, whatever. That's fine. You're right. This should have been in here already. They should have been here last summer when they had a guy that failed a physical who keeps playing fine, pretty much. But you know, we're. At some point you got to start asking questions, you know, about what's going on. [00:36:25] Speaker A: So let's ask some other questions. And noticing some of the lineups and things like that, like for example, what's. Why is En Asali not playing well? [00:36:35] Speaker C: That's a good question. I specifically asked if in a sale was injured and the answer is no, he's not injured. He was for sure in Portugal. We saw Pictures of him, you know, training. And so, you know, the bottom line is like if he. It's not like he was on the. He wasn't even on the bench today. It wasn't like he was on the bench. Like Tarek Scott was on the bench and just didn't get in a. Sally wasn't even on the bench. [00:36:57] Speaker A: So are they getting ready to move him or sell him maybe? [00:37:00] Speaker C: I mean that really raises red flags for either. He's so bad that the coach was like, you know what? You're not even be on the bench. Which is crazy because they got academy guys on the bench that weren't even gonna. There were no way they were getting in. You know, no offense to those kids, but they're not getting in. When you have other. Like Nico Montoya, for example, is the academy goalkeeper there. You know, they still have collode and Carrera need to play. Nico Montoya is not getting in a real game over there, but yet he's there. I was sitting on the bench. NSI is not on the bench. Okay, what's going on there? So either, either there's such a banishment or falling out that he's like, you know what, you're not on the bench or something such coming down the pipe. I mean that's, that's, that's how we, we come up with these things, is we look around and we go, what is going on? You know, and officially 100 not injured. So, you know, your guess is as good as mine. Like I have a theory and I, my, my theory is I don't think that he's good enough to help FC Dallas, so why not try and recoup something? You know, that's what I hope it is. I guess maybe it's not theory. Maybe it's a hope and not like you're so crap that I'm not even putting on the bench. [00:38:01] Speaker A: Do we, do we ever screw down the veracity of the $3 million transfer fee for him? Because that would have put him in like, like top four purchases in this club's history. I think it was. [00:38:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I had, I had sources at FC Dallas that knew that told me like, it's definitely not 3 million. I tried to pin them down on how much it was and they wouldn't come back. Transfer market has it 2.7, which is, you know, not 3, but. [00:38:28] Speaker A: Well, that's in. That's also in Euros as well, so. [00:38:31] Speaker C: Oh yeah. Okay then they're probably just going with the original three. So I'm told it's not Three, but, you know, I can't get anybody. I think they're probably not super happy with how much it is relative to what he looks like he's worth. So they probably won't ever say until maybe he's long gone. But I'm gonna bet it's, you know, still north of a million. Even at that price, it ain't good. So if you honestly at this point, if you can open up the U22 spot and recoup any of that money at all on some kind of loan or whatever, just take it, you know, sunk cost. Let's go, move on. You know. [00:39:03] Speaker A: Question number two. Where is Show? [00:39:07] Speaker C: Okay, yeah, Show. Coffee, Ma. Now, this is much more important actually, because this is a very important player in the center of midfield. Seeking and sampling has been starting at, you know, that six, eight deep position, which we know Siki is better when he's playing at that high tenor wings. So seeking back there is bad. So show is apparently sick. I don't know what it is, but, you know, he has not been in any of the camp at all. So he's missed three weeks with whatever this sickness is. And that sounds bad, so. Because like when you're talking about, you know, I'm not a doctor, but I know like when I've certainly been sick. We've all been sick. When you're sick to a level like that, you're out three weeks or blocked from traveling for three weeks or whatever. [00:39:51] Speaker A: It'S got to be Covid, right? [00:39:53] Speaker C: I mean, surely, who knows? I don't know. HIPAA wise, they're not going to tell us, you know, not until it's way clear or something. You know, they won't speak about it, I'm sure, but you know, it raises questions about like how fit he would be, you know, when he does come, whenever that is, like how fits he going to be. And he's a very important player, right? Based on other losses, this is a position that they really need him to be there. Because we don't know what's happening with Paxton. We don't know what's happening officially with Irmandi. You know, this is a, you know, that's a key one they got. They need to get him in and get him going because he's going to need to start a lot of games. [00:40:25] Speaker A: Anybody else from the highlights or any of the notes from the two games that you. That you'd like to discuss or. [00:40:31] Speaker C: Well, the kid that. That was the guest player. He was one of three guest players, but the one that they actually he's now played in two games. His name is Alvaro Augusto Dan. Is that Augusto? I think anyway, he's Brazilian Portuguese center back 19 years old. They've now used him twice and like if you get that level of camp integration and training play that makes me think that FCS might actually be interested in him. Now if they are, that's not a player we should be very concerned about. That's going to be a, you know, a North Texas or a very bottom of the FC Dallas roster going down and playing with North Texas. It's not important. [00:41:09] Speaker A: So you say sir. [00:41:10] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean yeah, if that's center back three going into the season where you got problems. [00:41:14] Speaker B: Oh, that's center back one, that's CB1. [00:41:16] Speaker C: Yeah. 19 year old kid from. He plays for a second division Portuguese is U23 team. So like, you know, if they really are interested in him and he's played enough that that triggered in my brain like oh, maybe they really are interested in that particular player, you know, because they did bring over an academy guy who could have gotten those minutes. Ian Charles, who's a nice looking player who's going to ucla. That's not a chump program. You know, he's a good, good player for the United U18 team. So they could have just easily played him. And the fact they played this other kid who's not on the roster at all tells you a little bit about how well interest they might have. [00:41:47] Speaker A: Interesting. And so they got what, one more game left? [00:41:51] Speaker C: No, they're on the way back. They got. [00:41:53] Speaker A: Oh, that's right. They were only doing two, weren't they? [00:41:55] Speaker C: Yep. That, that, that trip was much about getting away and getting sequestered and you know, getting some team building going as anything, you know. And I guess the one last thing from training is that it looks like Enzo Newman is ahead of Herbert Indole at right back. So he's your second right back right now. Newman, the 19 year old kid from Oregon State. [00:42:15] Speaker A: And did we mention or did we know in the last episode about ensembling's contract extension? [00:42:22] Speaker C: We did not. I don't think. I think that was a new piece. [00:42:25] Speaker A: Okay. [00:42:26] Speaker C: I should have put it in there. Should be in the format. It's not. Oh yeah, there it is. Yeah, it's there. [00:42:30] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what made me bring it up. I was trying to pass it off as if I knew as I was talking about and I was casually bringing it up. But thanks for ruining that buzz. [00:42:38] Speaker C: I fumbled that. I fumbled that. Yeah, we did not know about that. So you know, again, depends on the number. But, you know, somebody asked me, like, why in the world would you do that? It's like, hey, man, the guy, he works his tail off, he doesn't complain. Everybody loves him. His number is really cheap. He can play a couple of spots. That's a great. Sometimes you just need dudes in the middle to the bottom part of the roster. You can play him as you can start if he needs to. You're not going to build a championship team around him, but it's a great roster piece. No reason not to extend that guy if the number is good. [00:43:08] Speaker B: I mean, you've also, you've given him a 2 and 2. It's not like you've just locked yourself in for life. Yeah, fair and even. You know, even if he doesn't progress with the team, if his number is, you know, relatively low, he is a fantastic trade piece. He is a domestic player. He has his green card, you know, still young enough, cheap. You've got option years on him, nice and easy. That's something that Miami would dream of. [00:43:36] Speaker C: Well, yeah, he's 26, so, you know, he's. He's starting to move into the, you know, peak. Next four years of his career will be as good as he gets. So. But, you know, a guy could still play for eight years in the league because he's pretty fit, takes care of himself, you know. [00:43:49] Speaker A: All right, so, Buzz, I get asked this question pretty regularly and I gave up. I thought I. I thought I had a solid answer a ago, but now I have no idea what's happening with Alara Mendy and the potential of his return to this team. [00:44:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm going to tell you that he's not coming back. And the reason I'm going to say that is the math of international spots. Dallas has nine, right. They traded for one in. In the Jesus Ferrera deal. So I'm going to count them real quick. And that's, you know, visual, not on paper, so you have to bear with me. But in no particular order. One, Anderson Julio. Two. Peter Musa. Three. Romario, the new Brazilian guy who, by the way, has got a calf problem or something. That's why he hasn't played. 4. Patrick Delgado. 5. Show Cafe Manu. 6. Pedrinho. 7. Ennisali. 8. New center back. 9. New 10. That's it. You're out of space. So, you know, even if. And that's not counting Giovanni J. Zeus, who should be in that list and is not, because we think he's going on ir and that's not counting a second, perhaps center back. That could be in that equation. And then you, you can't get into that list without moving somebody out. So the math just doesn't add up for ermindy. And, and again, effectively, I think Romario took his spot. You know, you're talking about a three year project. I mean, he's 34. It just doesn't make any sense. So, you know, there's nothing official. But I'm going to tell you that he's not coming back, that you can move on from that. [00:45:23] Speaker A: Are we okay with that? I can't figure out. I, I guess it depends on what the plan is, right? [00:45:27] Speaker C: Yeah, it's at this point it's a project, you know, I mean, obviously if Romero stinks then maybe we're going to be mad. But you know, Romero's 31, so that's three years. You could actually probably have him up till maybe 34 and depending on how good he is, you know, his deal is 20 through 26 with, with an option. So, you know, again, just two years. So not, not terrible, but it's all not, not, not awesome. But you know, we all like Armani was one of the classiest players we've ever seen here in this club. But you know, it's just, it doesn't make sense. And the, if you were one midfielder away from making a run, it would be totally different than it was than it is when you're looking at a complete rebuild. Does that make sense? [00:46:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Anything else about preseason or what's coming up? So what's next at this point? They get back to Dallas and then what? [00:46:17] Speaker C: Well, they got, you know, a couple more games. They're gonna do a his damn mention. They got a scrimmage against Dynamo, which. Yeah. Against Houston, which I think is a radio stream and not a, not a video stream. Then they're gonna go, they're gonna play Tulsa FC Tulsa, which is a USL championship team. That's a closed door game. And then they're going to be at Atlanta as their last preseason game. And I'm told that Atlanta's gonna be streaming that game. So you will be able to see that game. [00:46:47] Speaker A: Is the Houston game here? [00:46:50] Speaker C: Yes. [00:46:51] Speaker A: Is it, can you go? [00:46:53] Speaker C: I, I, yeah, if you have season tickets. I believe they offered season ticket holders a chance to buy a ticket, but I don't think it's open door for. [00:47:00] Speaker A: Or walk up or anything like that. [00:47:02] Speaker C: I don't, you know, don't quote me because I don't obviously we're not working for the team. But I'm pretty sure that it's. That I've only seen the season ticket holders offered a ticket is all I know of. You know, I. Maybe you can. I don't know. I do know that I was told specifically no video stream, but the radio guys are going to do a stream, so you'll at least get some level of information out of that game. Hopefully that'll be even Steve Davis and, and, And Owen. Hopefully that's what it means. [00:47:29] Speaker A: I'm. I'm certain they've sent an email out to the media telling them what availability for tickets is. [00:47:36] Speaker C: Yeah, let's try out there somewhere. I actually would like to real quick as we wrap up, like a sort of a. Where we are in preseason. I just want to point out, like, things that are locked and things that I think are a battle, if that's cool with you guys. [00:47:50] Speaker A: Cool. [00:47:50] Speaker C: Can we do that? All right. So at goalkeeper, obviously Martin Paz is one. We don't know who's number two, Carrera or Collodi. And honestly, it doesn't matter until Paz is suspended, hurt, or goes on until it does. [00:48:03] Speaker A: It doesn't matter until it does. [00:48:04] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, now if they end up loaning somebody out and you see a veteran come in, that'll tell us a lot. But at the meantime, like, those two guys can battle and they may not even know between them who's two until it matters. Left back, obviously. [00:48:18] Speaker A: Hold on a second. But before you move on, do you. Do you have a personal preference of one over the other? Because if, let's say Martin Paws gets hurt in the first month of the season, is out for the season, do you have faith that either one of those guys could. Could fill that role for the rest of the season? [00:48:33] Speaker C: You know, Yeah, I have some concerns about each of them, you know, in terms of like, long term and like, even like if you needed to finish the season. I do have concerns about them. They're not Martin Paws, you know, they're both kids. You're both kids. You know, one of them is younger and has and has got more of a profile and more of an Internet youth international experience. That's Carrera. The other has way more actual playing experience, you know, and has actually been in a lot of games when Carrera has been in less games, you know, but him, some of his were international and there's some videos to float around the world of him actually playing against Brazil and just standing on his head making like 13 saves, you know, so career is a little hot and cold. Cody is 6ft 61 and not 65 or 6 7, you know, so there are reservations about both of them, but I'm perfectly content with either one of them starting an MLS game. They both were ballers at North Texas and they're, they were ready to move on and I would love to see both of them play at a level above that like USL Championship. Just to get some games would be great, you know, otherwise cup games are going to be few and far between for those two guys and they're really gonna have life of a keeper. Right. [00:49:42] Speaker A: And I, and I think it's interesting that this is the first time in quite a while that Dallas will not have kind of A1A1B goalkeeper situation. [00:49:51] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:49:52] Speaker A: In terms of experience, I mean I. [00:49:54] Speaker C: Think it probably says something about their faith in those two guys that that's what they've gone with because they had Jim, they could have had Jimmy back, you know, with a bigger offer or something. Maybe, you know, Jimmy took got a longer deal and I think more money to go to Houston. So they probably would have had to pony up. But they must have felt good about these other two guys. I mean Clody was. Had an amazing year. I'm sure that really helped. I mean he is the, you know, MLS next pro keeper of the year. So you know. [00:50:16] Speaker A: Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to derail you on that. Go ahead, keep going there. [00:50:20] Speaker C: Good question. Obviously left back is a lock. Marco Far fan and then nothing. You know, they need. There's guys that you can play there in a pinch but they need a backup left back for sure. They don't have anybody that's really an Eric Will left back. Not right now they don't. Okay, so that's a problem. Center Backley, we've done that forever, you know, Ibiaga Bibakar and that's it. That's a problem. Right back. Shaq Moore is a lock. Pinning him getting like a US national team call ups. He's going to play every game. He's not hurt. You know and some people talked about maybe a Gold cup roster. I don't know if he gets that. That's cool. Enzo Newman to me look clearly looks like at this point the number two. I think they should loan Herbert Endley out. I think he should. Look, he's already done enough in North Texas. If you're going to have Enzo Newman be number two, you might as well let and illegal play in the USL or something and try and improve. I don't want to give up on that asset. But you know, it's. He's not. He's getting passed by a kid who's 19. That's. That's a little bit of a problem. All right, six, eight. This is where, er, Mindy was. They're playing a double pivot. So which one is a six and which one's an eight is a good question. They don't really have like a pure six on this team. And this is editor Buzz coming in here. I should have mentioned Nolan Norris in this section as more of a Pure 6 player, although he's quite low in the rotation in terms of the bigger picture. But right now in training, it's legit and seeking and seing, which is yipes worrying. Obviously it should be show Kafamanga. Sorry, Kaf Manga. Show Kafumana. Excuse me. And Legette. Or maybe Romario is in there as a starting six. That actually be a really interesting question. Once. Once he gets healthy and once Sho shows up, how that breaks out. Because I think legit back there is good. I like that idea. And then of course, the real X factor is Paxton Pamol, who, if he's healthy, is a million plus player and probably needs to be starting. And then I'm super hyped, of course, about the last guy, Diego Garcia, about his future. But, you know, there's some health questions in there and. And we have not seen anywhere close to what we think is the real group in that particular spot. So stay tuned to see how that breaks out. That'll be a fun one to watch because you actually have three or maybe even four guys that think they should be the starter in that spot. And that's going to be fascinating to watch in for two spots. So the 10, the Alan basket replacement, obviously. DP waiting to see what happens. Right now. The first choice is Patrick, Patrick Sindelgado. And the second choice is Anthony Ramirez. So I imagine you can look at that and think, yep, they need a DP in that spot. You do something in that spot. Winger is fascinating because they have like 30 guys that can play wing. But right now, based on the scrimmages so far, Anderson Julio is a lock starter. The question is which side. They've been flipping him around. He's gone. Played on both sides, but has been the left starter twice now. Pedrinho started on the right one game and then Bernie did on the other game and Leo Chu has come off the bench twice. So, like, those are the main four guys that he looks like he's trying to figure out. Anderson Julio and who, you know, we'll see what Quill ends up doing with that spot, and then you can get into all kinds of dudes that can play in those spots if you really had to. Siki Ramirez, you got homegrowns that could go there. You've got, you know, Newman or Indole, you could go. You know, there's plenty of choices. The one that I think is the biggest and most interesting question is Logan Farrington. Could you play him at right wing? Possibly. And I think that's something to keep an eye on because if we now move to the nine position right now, Musa's number one, clearly, and Logan is number two, clearly. Tarik Scott's not even getting into games hardly at all. Just some garbage minutes here and there. So clearly they're locking Logan in as the second nine. For now. I'm not sure if that doesn't tweak out some other way in the long run. So that's. That's the other question. So that gives you, you know, you have maybe like four or five locks in there and then a whole bunch of question marks as we go into week three of the camp. [00:54:18] Speaker A: Lots going on. Let's see if there was anything else I wanted to touch on about the team in particular. That's a lot. That's interesting stuff, Buzz. I mean, there's a lot of holes to fill is what it sounds like to me. [00:54:32] Speaker C: Lots of holes, lots of questions. But, you know, new coach, you know, half new roster, not surprising. Roster's not even finished. You know, lots to be determined still. [00:54:40] Speaker A: Okay. Put on a happy face. [00:54:42] Speaker C: Yeah, Trying to. No panic yet. Not quite time to panic. [00:54:46] Speaker A: A couple of notes, by the way I got. It was really cool yesterday during the insane Champions League, all the games at one time thing, watching Pepe get a start for PSV against Liverpool in the Champions League. His amazing chess pass was awesome for their goal, but his little deft finish and I don't care if he touched it or not. I don't know if it was telepathic or he put a touch on it. Scoring a goal against Liverpool in the Champions League is the coolest farting thing I've seen in a long time. And I loved every second of it. [00:55:18] Speaker C: Yeah. How did Andy ticket? [00:55:21] Speaker A: I haven't asked him yet. I'll find out on Saturday. [00:55:23] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. No, it's awesome. You know, listen, we're all on the pevy hype train, you know, but now. [00:55:29] Speaker A: We found out that he has a knee injury and is out probably for the rest of the season. I don't know what the injury. They didn't say he needed surgery, but apparently it's bad enough that they think he's done for a while. [00:55:41] Speaker C: Yeah, he was just starting to get those big offers rolling in, too. [00:55:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, boy, that's true. Yeah. Well, I didn't want him to go to West Ham because it's funny, right after, like, literally two days before, I saw the rumor that West Ham had put a bit in for him. I had been talking with Lars and Lars had been making the comment that he thought you could do. You could do an entire hour long podcast just talking about what a black hole West Ham is for Strikers. Yeah. [00:56:06] Speaker C: I mean, who wants to play for Nate Shelley? That's ridiculous. [00:56:13] Speaker A: And then the other part of that is, by the way, has anybody else noticed, just ever so quietly, that Jesus Ferrera has yet to play for Seattle? [00:56:22] Speaker C: Obviously not even played. [00:56:23] Speaker A: No. [00:56:24] Speaker C: Oh, my Lord, no. [00:56:24] Speaker A: Paul played in their last friendly, man. Jesus has not yet played for them in a game. [00:56:31] Speaker B: Are we supposed to be surprised by this? [00:56:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I. I'm not surprised, but I feel really bad. I mean, obviously he was carrying something all last year. Really? [00:56:41] Speaker A: Well, I mean, I mean, this comes on the heels of getting dumped from the national team because of, you know, not being game fit. Like, who's game fit in January? [00:56:50] Speaker C: Well, we've talked about Jesus having a little bit of this lingering hamstring trouble and maybe it's keeping him from being able to, you know, really get going and running and something or whatever, you know, I. Or maybe something's left over with the hernia or whatever it was. Boy, just feel bad for the kid. Maybe, maybe they got rid of him at the right time. [00:57:09] Speaker A: Maybe. I just, I just thought that. I found that very curious. I mean, they're still very high on him and saying nice things about him in training, but the fact that he's not playing in the games seems a bit. [00:57:19] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:57:20] Speaker A: Knowing what we know, I feel like we know things that maybe Seattle folk don't know. And. And that's why I'm worried. I'm probably. We're probably more concerned about it than they are. [00:57:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:57:32] Speaker A: Or maybe they're just, you know, smoke disguise, you know, just blowing a bunch of smoke and he's absolutely ready to go. [00:57:39] Speaker C: Well, I'm sure they're not going to want to say that he's trash, you know, in terms of like, injury or whatever. Like, we just paid a lot for this guy. We don't want to like, oh, yeah, he's fine, you know. Yeah, they're not gonna be like he's wrecked, you know. [00:57:51] Speaker A: And Dan, you want to talk about the big U. S. Open cup news and how Dallas gets to play in the open cup this year again. [00:57:58] Speaker B: We finally got the. The format for 2025. We knew that four OSC was going to play in the first round. That was the only one we did know. Texoma gets to play from the first round. FC Dallas is a seed starting in the round of 32. So the first game will be. Well, somewhere in. In DFW. They may not want to host Toyota Stadium with the construction. But yeah, a really weird breakdown of it where it's. It seems like they're kind of limiting every. Every team to two competitions. Right. You can either play Leagues cup and Leagues cup and Champions cup or some combination. You can't play Leagues cup, Champions cup and. And Open Cup. But Effectively it's the 16 worst teams in MLS that are. But the positive with that is that one of the worst teams in MLS won the open Cup. [00:59:02] Speaker A: So once upon a time. [00:59:04] Speaker B: No, no, no, no, no. I'm saying FC Dallas will not get dumped out of the cup by Sporting Kansas City because they are not in the open cup thanks to the Champions Cup. [00:59:14] Speaker A: Clear path, Claire. I. All I know is that I have my fingers crossed for the inevitable whatever round it would be. Matchup of Michelle. FC Dallas versus Michelle for. [00:59:25] Speaker C: Oh, he's not involved for. Anymore. [00:59:28] Speaker A: I know, but still, yeah, like four. Oh, having to play FC Dallas somewhere here in the Dallas area. God, it would be awesome if they played. No, no. They get to play at that four zero facility down there off of Preston down in the creek bed on that hard fake turf surface that the. That foro is home. That. That would be very funny. [00:59:47] Speaker B: Don't think they're allowed to use that. [00:59:49] Speaker A: They're not. I'm kidding. I'm totally kidding. They would never play there. [00:59:53] Speaker B: But can you imagine it? It's a Prince of Peace. Prince of Peace school. [00:59:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:59:59] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah. They play it. What? They play at plant. Is that where they play their games at Prince of Peace? [01:00:04] Speaker B: They're open cup games. Yeah. [01:00:05] Speaker C: Oh, wow, Peter. That's vibes of old Denton Stadium. When Billy sleath for the Seattle Sound of Select PDL One hand stomped FC Dallas into the turf. [01:00:14] Speaker A: Yep. [01:00:14] Speaker C: Got himself an MLS contract. [01:00:15] Speaker A: Yep. Those are the days for sure. [01:00:18] Speaker C: That's a throwback deep cut, by the way. [01:00:20] Speaker A: And then yesterday the big news and depending on where you fall into the following of things of women's soccer, it either was a tree that fell in the woods that Nobody saw or it was a massive earthquake. Again, you're, you're paying your attention span with that kind of stuff. Very much varies on this, but Dallas Trinity announcing that Lexi Misimo is going to be playing for them. They signed a contract with her through the 26, 27 season. This is a big deal in terms of women's soccer and USLSL and NWSL and all that stuff. [01:00:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't think this is going to move the needle in the general audience of the world, but it's definitely in the women's soccer game. A massive, massive signing. I think this is the biggest signing in USL Super League history. You know, they lost Sam Mezza, but I think this is an upgrade over Sam Mezza and this is a player that for sure had offers from NWSL teams and maybe had offers for international teams as well. You're talking about the, you know, the all time. Everything at University of Texas, you know, came up through every youth national team you can imagine, up through the U23 team and was even. And part of that most recent futures women's national team futures camp that they ran. You know, she and Trinity Byers, her friend at ut, they're probably the last generation of elite women that, that came out of, you know, your elite academies here in Texas and went to college. Those girls are all now signing at 17, 18 years old, straight to NWSL teams and maybe eventually here super league team. So she may be the end of the, the generation that actually still went to college, but an absolutely phenomenal player. You know, she's a she. They gave her the 10 jersey. She's a very prolific sister and goal scorer. Like, she comes out of the midfield on the late runs, scores boatloads of goals and gets boatloads of assists. So a really exciting player if you're into women's soccer. Yeah. [01:02:22] Speaker A: I was thinking a lot about this and trying to figure out what, what her reasoning for wanting to do this because I'm sure she had big money offers to sign with nwsl and I'm assuming I kept. I think the question is what can Dallas Trinity offer her that NWSL can't or wouldn't? And I, and I'm gonna guess and speculate that it has something to do with control. Like I get, I bet whatever deal she signed with them, even if it does run through 27, if Lexi decides she wants to move somewhere, she controls that in a way that she couldn't if she had signed with an NWSL team and probably prevents her from being loaned out or whatever in a way that she couldn't, she couldn't control that. [01:03:11] Speaker B: One thing as well is NWSL has a pretty restrictive salary cap. The. I think Sophia Smith's the highest played paid player in NWSL and she wouldn't register as a DP and mls. [01:03:25] Speaker C: Yeah, in the, and the. They obviously of course didn't give out any details about her contract. But in the press conference she talked endlessly about, you know, coming home and playing in front of her parents and her friends and her family and in this market she grew up in, this town she grew up in, you know, talked about her solar coaches and talked about all these influences on her life that are here. Like her whole family was at the thing, like multiple generations of, of of people. You know, it obviously is a huge deal on that end. I think, Peter, you're probably right about, you know, the financials and the control being a big part of it. But she definitely is, you know, calling her own shot here and, and going to a place that she seems to have wanted. You know, this isn't like I didn't have anything else and I'm just taking this because I can. It's like this is clearly her choice and they're really lucky to have her because this is a phenomenal player. [01:04:14] Speaker A: I think it's a win, win for her all the way around. I'm sure she got an amount of money that is great. I think she gets to play at home in front of her family and help the local soccer scene and that team ramp up. And I think that she probably has some level of say in how her future goes. You know, if she really rockets off and they finish off the season strong, she decides she wants to leave this summer. I'm sure she probably has the right to do that or she can stick through the end of the 26, 27 season and, and, and just kind of play it out and however it works best for her. I bet this is a win, win, win all the way around for Lexi. 100%. [01:04:54] Speaker B: That's a massive win for the league as well. We've been talking about, you know, not, not necessarily commercially with the, with the attendances, but in terms of a disparity between NWSL and USL Super League as, you know, first division leagues, you've suddenly got one of those young, absolute elite players to have gone the other way. [01:05:19] Speaker A: Well, and this is all happening at a time that the NWSL is losing some of their biggest name players to overseas. I mean, the Naomi Girma situation, the night swunger sale, what was the other one I saw Today she went to Arsenal. Who was it that went to Arsenal anyway? I mean, there's multiple, you know, big name players, national team players that are leaving NWSL and their competitor here in the United States just signed probably arguably the best player out of college. So, yeah, you know, it's interesting times. [01:05:54] Speaker C: And this is a statement of intent kind of signing too from Dallas Trinity, because I talked to Charlie Neal about this kind of concept. You know, way back when they started this team, they left the 10 jersey open. You know, they knew that they were going to have some kids coming out of college. They knew that there, because they were on a different calendar than nwsl, that there would be certain players that would come free and be open to be signed in this window. So like, I don't know if they had this Lexi somewhat seat up from back in August, but they certainly had something like this in mind and obviously quite smart of them to have waited, you know, and, and done the loan for Sam Mezza to fill the gap, you know, and then when that loan ends at the end of the first half of the season, you now go in and splash for a player that's even more of a big name and an exciting prospect. It's really a smart play on their part. [01:06:43] Speaker A: Well, hold onto your pants because the spring half of the season kicks off in essentially two weeks. They've got the game at the Cotton bowl against Tampa bay on the 15th. So I'm assuming she'll be available to play then if she wants to. So that may be a good day to go check out Lexi Missimo and her debut for. [01:07:02] Speaker C: Yeah, she's been training with the team for about a week was my impression. So I'm sure she'll be ready to go. [01:07:07] Speaker A: And I will give you the exclusive news that we are scheduled to have Lexi live on the kick around this Saturday. I think we're supposed to have her on towards the end of the show. So she is scheduled to appear. I will caveat it with that. We'll see if she, if we actually make it happen. But that's, that's on the books for Saturday, so please tune in. [01:07:26] Speaker C: Right. [01:07:27] Speaker A: All right. On to other things. Oh, Dallas Trinity also resigned. Julia Dorsey. Did we mention that already? I'm sorry, no, we have not. [01:07:35] Speaker C: She's their right back, right wing back. She was with North Carolina. She was one of their draft picks this last year and they did not pick her up at the end of the season, so she was free. And then Dallas resigned her. So she was a, you know, basically every game started for Them. So it was a good get her signed up and locked up. [01:07:51] Speaker A: And in a not very well kept secret, we doubt we now know where the Garland USLC teams stadium location is going to be and a lot more information tied around that. And man, I got to say it's pretty exciting that we're going to have a second division league team here in the area playing a little bit closer to the urban core and they're going to have their own 10,000 seat stadium right along the George Bush Freeway in Garland. That's pretty exciting stuff, Buzz. [01:08:21] Speaker C: Yeah, right there at Horford there's a plot that's already been cleared and they, they put out a little video that showed, you know, the, the 10 employees they have standing in the middle of that field and then the, you know, the Garland, I think it may or maybe. Oh, it was Matt Valentine, the owner was talking about the specifics. You know, it's going to have practice fields for their team, their headquarters, some community soccer fields and a 10,000 seat stadium, you know, and it's currently going through some city council stuff, but everyone's pretty excited about it, you know, and, and Honestly, obviously a 10,000 seat stadium is a perfect venue for this, that level of team, that USL championship level of team. The one really fascinating thing is it's pretty close to FC Dallas. It's like it's within like a 30 minute, you know, that, that what you would think of as the Desi Dallas core. It'll be really interesting to watch how that relationship goes over the years, but yeah, super exciting. And from all I can tell, this thing is supposed to be ready for when they start play in 2027. So that's. [01:09:17] Speaker A: Did they have any drawings of it? [01:09:19] Speaker C: Not yet, no. The video is more of a hype video and it just shows sort of the location. If you pause the video, you could tell where it was. You know, I don't know. I'm sure that somewhere there are renderings and drawings and stuff. To be, you know, two seasons out from this thing going. Keep in mind that like this kind of stadium isn't like building Toyota Stadium. You know, this is just a 10,000 seat stadium. The, the economies of scale and the timeline and stuff is much different, but still very exciting and very cool. And one of about eight pro teams we're about to have here in Metroplex. It's just crazy. [01:09:54] Speaker B: They're also doing a pretty smart, slow rollout. They're not. You know, the branding is going to come. I think it's the end of May, you know, it's not a case of let's get everything out and then sit on it for two years. It's like, keep the hype going. Have that like, slow build. [01:10:10] Speaker C: Yep. [01:10:12] Speaker A: It'll be fun to keep an eye on and see where it heads. I mean, it's obviously a bit in a ways off, but it'll be. It'll be pretty great. Okay, and let's see. Didn't Tacoma announce a new center back signing today? [01:10:26] Speaker C: They've done three players in the last two days. Two center backs, a guy named Preston Kilwin and Jordan Chavez, Jordan Javez. Both of those guys have. Actually, all three of these guys have been in and out of the USL Championship, maybe down to USL one and back and forth, and a left back named Jorge Corrales. So they're starting in the back and going forward and the goalkeeper was the first guy they got. So I'm sure they'll keep knocking them out over the next. I mean, they're. They're a month from playing too, and they don't. They got like four players announced, so they got to get going. But, you know, I'm sure it'll come fast and furious from here on. [01:10:56] Speaker A: Does it bother anybody else? Tacoma can sign center backs. [01:10:59] Speaker C: Yeah. Lefty one. [01:11:00] Speaker A: In fact. [01:11:04] Speaker B: You know what? I think they've got that really cool little team store and I think a really great T shirt would be. Damn it, Peter. Tacoma's in Washington. [01:11:12] Speaker A: I keep saying Tacoma, don't I, Texoma? Gosh, I'm such a. [01:11:17] Speaker C: It's because of the Toyota truck that's right down the street. [01:11:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it is. It's that. Because I'm an idiot. It's about those things. Come on, Texoma. Gosh, I'm so sorry. I. I don't know why I keep reading that as Tacoma. Well, anybody. Let me start over. Anybody else notice that Texoma can sign center backs? [01:11:36] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm sure those guys in the USL Championship that are available. I mean, if that's your cup of tea, you know. [01:11:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:11:42] Speaker C: Maybe Quill will call out some guys from North New Mexico or something. You never know. [01:11:46] Speaker A: Let's see what else is on the list here. North Texas has signed a couple players. [01:11:51] Speaker C: Yep. North Texas signed Sam Sarver. Who's the patch? Some POMCL clone in their second round draft pick. Same size, same hairline, same tenacity. [01:12:02] Speaker B: Well, well, well, well. Paxton Paul's hairline is like. Is much closer to his eyes than Savers. [01:12:10] Speaker C: Is it though? [01:12:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah. The. When I saw him in practice, it was a bit of a Windy day and his hair was fully blown back. I look like Hulk Hogan. [01:12:18] Speaker C: Well, if you go watch Sam Sarver play, you'll think think it's a pax and pommel call clone because he has the same sort of tenacity and energy and run through a wall kind of vibe. Winger or nine, I think he'll probably be a winger long term. You know what he replaced for North Texas? I don't know. He was the second round draft pick. By reports he did fairly well in FC Dallas's first week of camp. But they did not take him to Portugal, which is understandable because they have 5,000 wings on a team already. But. So he signed with North Texas ahead of camp even opening, so they obviously like him enough. And then the other signing is a kid named Zach Malomo. Pretty sure. I don't know if this is a hybrid deal or not, but this is a guy that was on my projected homegrown target list. He's a. Technically he's a U17 right now, which means he's about 16, 17 years old. He's a left back of this. The FC Dallas loves this converted striker, nine to outside back, but he's a left footed guy. Good size, good power, good pace and plenty of skill too. Like it's a good. He's got a good YouTube video out there. Everyone wants to watch it. So my guess is he'll basically get every start at left back with North Texas next year because basically there's no player between him and the first team open left back spot. You know, he. Obviously he's not. That spot's not his now, but this is a guy that in my estimation in two seasons should be in the first team competing for a starting job. [01:13:43] Speaker A: Man, we just pounding through all this stuff. Anything else that you guys wanted to talk about? Any kit talk? Is there any kit talk to be done today? [01:13:50] Speaker C: Oh, there was a couple more drops, weren't there? As I look up the Discord channel. [01:13:55] Speaker A: Now, I don't think there. I don't think she was in. Oh, Houston. Yeah, Houston was nice. [01:13:59] Speaker C: Oh, that kid is fantastic. [01:14:01] Speaker A: Dude, if they wear it with white shorts. [01:14:03] Speaker C: Yes, well, that's always been their problem because a sea of orange is awful. But that particular kit has got a little throwback to it and it is just really well done. I mean it's. [01:14:13] Speaker B: It's got two throwbacks to it. [01:14:15] Speaker C: Yeah, go ahead, Dan. [01:14:17] Speaker B: That's it. It's got two throwbacks to it. [01:14:19] Speaker A: What are they? [01:14:20] Speaker B: The first, the 2005 shirt, the one that had the collar it's got the same, like, swirly pattern as that. And then it's got the. The light Blue from the 2006 and 2007 when they won MLS Cup. [01:14:34] Speaker C: And I think Dan pointed out that both the time, both of those kits he's referencing, they wore white shorts with it. So that obviously has been real. Would be really great. You know, since they brought black heavy into their brand, which coincided with James Harden buying a chunk of the team, they've not done that. They've not had white shorts. They've always had the solid orange, but they look so much better with the white, you know? And look, we all hate Houston, all that stuff, but I'm enough of a soccer aficionado, a kid aficionado, that I'm like, I don't care, like, if they have a good kid, that's good. That's good for the league. It's good for the game to have good kids. [01:15:04] Speaker B: It'll be upsetting. [01:15:06] Speaker C: Yep. And Orlando's new, new purple looks fantastic. And they're wearing it with white shorts, which is great, too. It looks really good. [01:15:15] Speaker A: Damn it. [01:15:15] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:15:16] Speaker A: Damn it. Damn it. Damn it all the hell. [01:15:19] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:15:20] Speaker A: All right, well, so Dallas is getting a third kit this year. [01:15:25] Speaker C: Yes. I, you know, I think Dan has more details on that. [01:15:29] Speaker A: Dan, we turn to you. What will the new third kit kit look like? [01:15:32] Speaker B: Sir, it will have a neck hole and sleeves. [01:15:38] Speaker A: Do we know what color it's going to be? I mean, I'm assuming because they have a red kit and they have a white kit. Is it just. Is it going to be a. Is the third kit going to be. [01:15:48] Speaker B: Blue, given the theme of the ones last year? Forget Miami, because they have no. Nothing to throw back to. You know, LAFC went for that kind of La Aztecs ish shirt. [01:16:03] Speaker A: Right. [01:16:03] Speaker B: LA Galaxy went for their 96. Portland went for the Clive Charles maroon from the. From the 70s or 80s. It's going to be throwback. Right. So that means one of two things. That means burn or tornado, I'm going. [01:16:19] Speaker C: To say, because the new secondary kit is theoretically this light gray, light bluish kind of color that this secondary kit will be of a dark burn persuasion. [01:16:32] Speaker A: But I don't know what that could be because burn colors are. The burn jerseys have been red and. [01:16:37] Speaker B: White, except for the best one they had. [01:16:40] Speaker A: Well, there was the black one, right. [01:16:42] Speaker C: The throwback black. [01:16:44] Speaker A: Oh, so they. So. [01:16:45] Speaker C: So if you're talking third jerseys and you're talking about SE Dallas, the third. [01:16:49] Speaker A: Jersey could be black. [01:16:51] Speaker B: What you got remembers. It's also it's not necessarily. And it's not necessarily an exact throwback. It could be like a reverse retro kind of thing, like. Like the NHL does, where they kind of flip the colors on. On the old styles. [01:17:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, Interesting. Now I'm intrigued. [01:17:10] Speaker C: Some fertile ground there to play with. I mean, it'll be fun to see what they do because those other kits that they did last year, they're almost all fantastic. So I have really high hopes for this new, you know, third kid. And there should be a set of gazelles that go with it, you know, and some streetwear kind of stuff. It should be real exciting. [01:17:27] Speaker A: Yeah. That I have a. My. In my collection. I've got the black athlete Athleta shirt with the. Yeah, I love that thing. That was always one of my favorite burn shirts from the back in the day. [01:17:38] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And they were with red socks, too. Black shorts and red socks. [01:17:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:17:43] Speaker C: That was cool. [01:17:43] Speaker A: Cool, man. I didn't even think about the option of the third kit being black. That would be cool. I was assuming it would be blue just because that would round out the trio of team colors, but if it's going to be a throwback, blue certainly wasn't one of those back in the day, so. [01:17:57] Speaker B: Well, I mean, Portland doesn't play in Claret, Miami doesn't play in Teal, so, you know, it's totally feasible. [01:18:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I suppose. All right, well, we'll just keep our eye open on that. Yep. Good kit talk. I suppose. All right, boys. Well, I don't know anything else. Are we done? [01:18:16] Speaker C: Man, that was a lot. [01:18:18] Speaker B: Yeah, That's a late one. [01:18:19] Speaker A: Oh, wow. We're over an hour. I didn't realize we'd. We'd cross the hour long Rubicon. Okay, let's just. [01:18:25] Speaker C: Let's just double down on the idea that, like, it's okay to be concerned and it's okay to be worried. You know, I would suggest not to panic in terms of acid Alice yet, you know, give them some time into this, you know, a couple of weeks of the season and then, you know, but at the same time, if you're. You're paying client, you know, and you're not happy with them, you know, let them know. They don't know if you don't tell them. [01:18:48] Speaker A: So wise and sage words from the original soccer influencer. [01:18:54] Speaker C: They certainly don't listen to us. So, you know, you might as well get out there and get in their ears. [01:18:59] Speaker A: Well, they don't have to listen to us. They have their own podcast now. [01:19:01] Speaker B: And, you know, if. If you Want to complain about it too much? I've got a team that was recently in the Premier League and is about to be in League one. That I can show you. [01:19:10] Speaker A: Yeah. What in the world is going on with Lewton? [01:19:13] Speaker B: Oh, let's see. We had a coach that kind of just went away from Logic and started playing a back three, even though he didn't have three center backs. [01:19:20] Speaker A: We heard of that before. [01:19:22] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:19:22] Speaker B: Yeah, it's amazing, right? They've been chasing a striker from Wickham who is evidently not upcoming. So, you know, they've. They've been a weird one. If you want to talk about kind of cheaping out and stuff. The Premier League parachute payments are like 50 million a year, right? For two. And they're not spending it in the summer. Every transfer was a free transfer except for one, a six. They spent 6 million on a center back. [01:19:50] Speaker A: That's got to be so aggravate. Is that because they're using the money to pay the players that they still have under contract from the Premier League season? [01:19:59] Speaker B: No, they just wanted to do the funding on the stadium differently. So they channeling that money that way. [01:20:07] Speaker A: Interesting. I'm sorry, Dan. Two. Two straight relegations would super suck. [01:20:13] Speaker B: I mean, we had three, so. I'm not gonna cry myself to sleep about it. [01:20:17] Speaker C: Just wave it Rexon, as they go by the other way. [01:20:20] Speaker B: Yeah, that ain't gonna happen in a million years. No, they're gonna top out soon. There's nowhere to, you know, they're gonna hit a point where you actually have to invest money, and they're not going to do that. [01:20:30] Speaker A: Wow. All right, Very good. Well, thank you, boys. Let's see what happens between now, because by the time we do this next pod next week, the window will be wide open and hopefully we will have heard something. Some sort of give some. Some sort of indication that movement is happening. Right? Right. [01:20:48] Speaker C: Well, yeah. [01:20:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. [01:20:50] Speaker B: Gosh, there's definitely movement, you know, there's definitely. There's players that they've been linked with. The have turned them down, but at least they're, you know, they're making. They're trying to make those moves. [01:21:06] Speaker C: They're giving it the old college tribe here. [01:21:09] Speaker A: I love it. I Love the College Tribe 33. [01:21:12] Speaker C: The podcast is brought to you by listeners like you. If you enjoy this podcast, if you enjoy our coverage at third degree, why don't you join us on our Patreon and give us a little support. If you do, you get a little extra content there. And if you join at the Three Amigos level, you get access to our wonderful community on our discord patreon.com third degree, thanks again for all your support. [01:21:30] Speaker A: All right, well, thank you, boys. Very good. Thank you, Dan. [01:21:33] Speaker B: Thank you. [01:21:33] Speaker A: Good luck this weekend. And thank you, Buzz. Always great to talk to you. [01:21:37] Speaker C: Yeah, man. Thank you, both of y'all, for being here. [01:21:39] Speaker A: And thank you, FC Dallas Curious fan. We're in this together. We will speak to you next week on another episode of 3rd Degree, the podcast it will all be okay. [01:21:50] Speaker B: 3Rd Degree the 3rd Degree Ned podcast. [01:21:54] Speaker A: 3Rd Degree the 3rd degree NEP podcast. 3rd degree the 3rd degree Ned podcast. [01:22:02] Speaker C: 3Rd degree.