3rd Degree the Podcast #322

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Gonna throw in something about league's cup. [00:00:02] Speaker B: I don't know anything about league's cup. [00:00:04] Speaker A: Well, wait till you hear this. Yeah. Woo. 3rd degree, the 3rd degree NEP podcast. 3rd degree, the third degree NEP podcast. Third degree, the third degree NERD podcast. 3rd degree 3rd degree 3rd degree the. [00:00:32] Speaker B: Podcast is brought to you by you, our wonderful listeners, those of you that choose to support us on the Patreon patreon.com third degree. If you like what we do on the web or the podcast, or our reporting on social media and all the great soccer and dfw, why not join us on our Patreon Third Degree the podcast. Here we go. [00:00:52] Speaker A: Well, hello there, DFW soccer curious fan. You. Welcome to another episode. We haven't done this in a while. Episode number 322. We're up to 322 of third degree the podcast. Now I have some sad news. Dan Crook is not here because he died. Oh, wait, no, not he died. I'm reading this wrong. His computer died and he's having to. Wow, okay, well, this is a little different. I thought this was going to be like the saddest episode ever. Dan Crook is very much alive. His computer is dead and he's got a bios problem. Now that sounds like he should still call a doctor about. But that Dan Crook will not be with us during this episode. I also have a suspicion that he just chose not to be part of this because of the topic du jour. That said. Well, hold on, let me introduce you first, sir. That's the voice of your hero. My hero, everybody's Hero, Editor, Founder, third degree.net in the original soccer influencer himself. And he's here and very much alive and he's back in town. Buzz Caric. Come in, Buzz. [00:02:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I believe only Dan's is going so well that he's upgrading his equipment for the stream. [00:02:05] Speaker A: So that's 10 gigabit pass through? [00:02:09] Speaker B: Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Full live. Doing a sweet do live streaming and. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:02:15] Speaker A: Funky lighting and all that stuff. All right, well, very good. So it's just you and me today, Buzz. Boy, the two original. [00:02:23] Speaker B: I gotta. [00:02:24] Speaker A: This is the. This is my thing I've been thinking about since Friday night, which is it's funny to me how fickle and how quickly how fickle we are as fans. And I'm including myself in this and I'm gonna include you. [00:02:37] Speaker B: Okay. [00:02:38] Speaker A: And how quickly things change because it was just less than a week prior to Friday night. We were all like, you know what? Here it is. This is the moment. This things are going to change. They're going to make a real run from the playoffs. And we were feeling really good. And we're all like, Sam servered up. We got our pants are all Sam Sarver crazy. And then Friday night at home against NYC FC, a legitimate MLS team, not St. Louis, okay. And the team absolutely throws out. One of the most bizarre performances I can recall in some time is Dallas loses again at home despite what like four or five lead changes, four to three to the pigeons and the season is done and dusted. [00:03:28] Speaker B: Isn't it, Bus? Well, it's probably close. And believe me, you're not the only one that was bizarrely felt mystified by that. You know, Eric Will in the post game press conference was the word I would use, was disgusted. He was absolutely disgusted by the mental breakdowns and the letdowns and especially given how good it was the week before. He literally said that. He said, we were really so good, we thought we'd figure some things out. We were real excited. And then we do that. And it's just as he said in that press conference. It was about mental concentration and group togetherness. Defensively, you know, they know what they need to do and they're just not delivering, they're not producing. And at the end of the day, that's the difference between good teams and bad teams. Good teams can produce and deliver and come through in moments and bad teams don't. So. [00:04:13] Speaker A: All right, so I want to talk about this because I read, I did not watch the press conference, but I read it in the press release that they sent out afterwards. So I'm reading the press conference notes and this is the quote. These are parts of the quotes that I want to ask you about. First off is. And how you're switched off in the first minute of a second half on the set play is beyond me. So I have to look at it very hard. But to me, every goal was a mental switch off. And then later in the same kind of thing he was going on, he said, we had four mental lapses tonight. For me, tonight was disappointing, especially how we played last week and how collective we were on both sides of the ball. I didn't see this coming. I'm really, really surprised. This is what tonight turned into. And I read these things and I think to myself, Mr. Quill, Mr. Quill, Mrister you're the head coach, manager, man of this group of team. Isn't this kind of your responsibility, sir, to make sure they're switched on at the beginning of the second half and continue on with the momentum from the. I mean, this is kind of your thing, sir. Am I wrong about that? [00:05:21] Speaker B: A little bit, yeah, I'm wrong. Yeah, a little bit. Okay, not all, but a little bit. It's true that coming out of the locker room, you would think like the coach would be responsible for some level of that. And that's true tactically, it's true system wise. But we've talked many times, I've talked many times that the soccer is the game where the coach has the least amount of influence on the game itself. Once the game starts, you know, the. For a long time, there never. There weren't coaches. You know, there's a reason why the coach is called the gaffer. You know, captains on the field are really important. Leadership in the player is really important mindset and the players is really important. There's a reason why lots of goals happen lately and have some late in the game and it has to do with being tired and then your brain gets tired. So, yeah, sure. You know, being switched on, like in terms of a rah rah speech at halftime is the coach's thing. And obviously he felt that he had done that to whatever extent was necessary because he was. He could not get his brain around, it seemed to me like how in the world you switch off like that? And he. And I. I use the term disgusted, not lightly, you know, like the tone of voice is missing from those quotes because it wasn't just like, oh, you know, it's, we made a mistake. He's like, how do you make a mistake like that? You know, he's just at his. It seems to me like I know him enough that I can tell he's at his wits end. Like he's trying and trying, trying to get these guys to focus and stay, you know, dialed in and it's not happening. So, like, you know, sure, maybe in the big scheme of things, there's some coaching culpability there. Absolutely. But at the end of the day, players play the game. And this is the thing I've always said is it's always the players, man. You know, look at any coach that has come in and taken a bad team and turned it into a good team. They change the players. You know, if you're at a big, huge European club, you can spend lots of money. You can go buy E6 for $200 million, you know, and make your team a lot better. But coaches in a musk can't do that. You know, he's. In fact, I'LL go one further, like, so there's a reporter. I won't say his name because I didn't ask him if I could say his name. But he actually asked the really ballsy question of, you know, does your roster fit the way you want to play? Like a big picture roster kind of question? And I call it ballsy because he asked in the postgame press conference, post game press conferences are about what just happened. So to our sort of Ask Quill, like this big picture roster build question was kind of like. And Quill just basically spun it and ignored it and said that, like you can read between the lines. He said something like, I'm just trying to figure out how to win with what I have. You know, and in a way saying like, yeah, this is the cards I have. These are the players I have. I'm doing the very best I can with these guys. We're playing the way we are because it's the best way for us to get results with who we have. So you can, you can see his level of, I mean, watching it and reading it are very different. His level of frustration, his level of I can't believe this continues to happen to us over and over and over again is on. It's like, he's just, like, this is just ridiculous. And there's a certain point at which he, he laments quite strongly, lack of leadership on the field. You know, in the answer to the question about do you have enough to play the way you want to play? You know, he didn't answer that, but he talked about leadership and talking about not having guys in the moment stepping up and, and talking to each other and, and working together and, and how in the world you walk out of the locker room and fall apart the first minute, second half is a part of that. So, you know, whether you think that he's the problem or whether you think something else is the problem depends a lot on what you think of him as a coach, you know. Well, end of the day, that's what's going to come down to with the ownership too is like, because they're at a point they got to make a decision. I think. [00:09:21] Speaker A: Well, I think, and we've talked about this and this was part of the, the concern going into the season, which is, you know, having an oddly constructed roster on its. Into itself is a problem. Having a brand new MLS rookie head coach unto itself is a problem. And when you put those two things together, it's a bad recipe for a season. And so there's a part of me that, you know, when Eric Quill says I don't, you say about, you know, you're talking about how players play the game. There is a part of me that, you know, we're. We're three quarters of the way into the season and we're seeing the same mistakes over and over. And it makes me wonder is Eric Quill not yet mature enough of a manager to know the tricks of getting guys to break those bad habits? Is a Bruce arena type or somebody else who's more experienced have a know how a knowledge set of how to get their guys not to do those things anymore once they do it, is it a fear factor? The other part of it is how much of this is a roster made up of guys that don't have a lot of threat to lose their jobs. You know, there's not a lot of pressure to perform because they're not going to lose their jobs because the roster is so shallow, especially at center back. I mean, you know, it's funny, we talk about what who's the leader on this team and visually what I see is the one guy that's constantly talking and trying to help and direct is also the guy that probably is the most hampered in Ibiaga. Like Ibiaga works really hard to communicate with the rest of his teammates, but he's also the guy that gets caught in bad moments and he's a little slow or a little slow to react and you know, he's a little older and maybe this is a little above him. You know what I'm saying? That that to me is part of the problem is is that you is. Is all of that stuff mixed in is this godforsaken season is that. Now the other thing I was going to ask you about because in going to the game against whoever they played on Burn Night, I forgot last Saturday night. Thank you St. Louis. And then watching this game on Friday, I we talked about this last week which is this very apparent in this new formation with three in the back or five in the back is quite. Quills. Yeah, same thing. Quills decide Quills setup puts this team regularly in a situation where they're really counting on Kaik and Ramiro to do an ass load of work as the only two guys in midfield. And more times than not the wingers are either all the way back or all the way forward. And man, I thought New York really took a ton of advantage of that. And, and I do truly believe at the core of this team's problems, as many things as they got going on at center back and some things at wing. The core of the problem with this team is that Kaik is too young and Romero's just not good enough. [00:12:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I, it's possible Romero might have been good enough, you know, a few years ago but he's too limited his mobility today's and yeah, and it's, and they're, you're right, they are asking a lot of those two guys. Kaika has the range to cover up a lot but Ramiro basically stays at home. Part of the problem is that the two wing backs and the reason it's called a three, four, three, you know, this is the wing backs are supposed to be contributing in the wide midfield. Right. But Torcata is 17, you know, and still probably figuring out how to play wing back. I don't, they didn't play a lot of wing back in the academy, I can assure you that. And Shaq Moore on the other side doesn't really play defense. He just kind of goes forward and that's about it. So you know, if you look at any sort of build out charts, they, the FC Dallas, this current version of it always builds left. They don't build right. You know, for whatever reason the Shackmore side is not capable of build. So you're playing lopsided that way. In terms of possession you're right. The two guys on the wings are getting way up wide which is actually okay as long as you're recovering and getting back. And one of the reasons why you want rangy center backs and why you need good rangy center backs is because you have to be able to cover wide spaces. You know, you can even look at any team that plays this way and the three center backs don't stay in the middle. They, they, you know, they shift, they cover, you know, they go wide in possession. It's a complicated problem. You're right. Ibiage is the most vocal leader they have back there and yet is one of the weak links in center back. Irigide probably is trying to be but I doubt that English is really high on his list of languages. I have no idea if he speaks English at all but certainly he doesn't do a lot of as much talking as you might like him to. Other options they have out there are far fan at center back who's really an outside back Norris I guess but who's young, who's gonna listen to him? So you're right, the collective is not good enough. And I know for sure, I've, I've heard this from multiple people that are Very connected and from inside the club that like, they, I think they really, really were counting on Paxton being able to play. Because one of the things I've heard mentioned many times now to me is like, they really want a big time midfielder who could play in there with Kaik. You know, I say playing there with Kaik because the idea that like you would take a big time midfielder, then put him in with Ramiro, who's stagnant, wouldn't help you any. Like, you need a guy who can cover the ground like Kaik Cam, like. And I think that they thought that that was going to be Paxton. So, you know, they've got a couple big decisions to make this window. We're talking about that later in the thing, but that's one of them. And, and the bottom line is that right now, while this 343 is better, until you upgrade some of the players, it almost doesn't matter what you do. You know, like you, at the end of the day, you can only coach up a particular group of players so much. You know, you can only get a certain amount of improvement out of a group. We know that like, progression in soccer takes time. You know, we talk about guys hitting their peak and they plateau. Like, so like a tweak of the tactics or some good game planning or some good practice on particular skills or maybe teaching a guy something I didn't know, like that's only worth a little bit, that's not worth a lot. So, you know, you can look at like, if you want to talk about Bruce Sereno, you can say, oh, look at Bruce arena did in San Jose. Well, you know, he also brought in like 10 players, right? So it wasn't just that like he went in there, coached guys up. So like, you know, sure, like a more veteran coach might be very different with his team, but again, what veteran coach would take this job? So like, you know, Quill is what it is you're gonna get. If they, if they were to get rid of him, you just get another coach of a similar cut. You know, like, there's no, there's no Bruce arena walking in the door saving the day here in Dallas. And you know that as well as anybody. [00:16:18] Speaker A: Yeah, and I, you know, the thing with the, with those two guys that is problem is that because of the way they're playing Dallas, the two wing backs are pushing way forward mostly because they're bypassing the midfield and just playing very directly. And then Dallas is not good at winning that first ball. So now suddenly Dallas has lost the ball and now they're back into defensive transition and their two wide midfielders are 10 yards deep this other half of the field and they're having trouble recover or alternatively, Romero or Kaik are responsible for playing the ball forward and end up losing the ball. And again, the two wide midfielders are deep into the other half of the field and have to hustle back and Dallas is exposed. And I see that happen a lot with this group. And I. And. And that's. That's just the biggest tactical problem in. [00:17:13] Speaker B: My mind, specifically the goal, this goal, the third goal, the one that happened just after halftime, the one that seems to be making people the most mad, like that was that they. They had booted the ball up to try and do a press over there. But Kaik got too high, Ramiro got too high, and the dude just runs past Romero like the guy's got cement blocks on his feet. But it wasn't just that shock. Moore was really high. Lalo's a Boubacar, of all people, is up there pressing somebody. It's like, dude, you're one of the three center backs. Where are you going? You know, like they. They totally overextended themselves into that press, you know, And I guarantee you there's no way that that's the way it was drawn up to leave two guys back. One of them was Shaq Moore. And then. And watching a guy just run past Ramiro like he wasn't even there, you know, and it left Ira Gee day with a really tough assignment. And he mostly covers that guy up in terms of his play into the middle of the field. But the dude Ibiaga's tracking, Ibiaga just lets run away like 15 yards away from him. [00:18:17] Speaker A: Yeah, Ibiaga's like. Ibiaga like tried to like cut him off at the pass or something, and. [00:18:24] Speaker B: It was so weird. [00:18:25] Speaker A: He let him go wide, so he started running more vertically or back towards Pause, and by the time he gets there, the guy has nothing but net to shoot at. And by the way Pause is keeping on, that particular one was pretty. And the New York guys on their radio gave him all sorts of crap about it because that was not good goalkeeping. [00:18:45] Speaker B: But that goal, like Ramiro's high, Kaik's high, Morris High, Abubakar's high. [00:18:50] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. [00:18:51] Speaker B: That's four guys. Abby doesn't track the runner, and then Lawless can't get close to his guy and pauses off the post. Like eight people made a mistake. So it's like that's what school's Talking about. It's like you come out at halftime and it's like everyone's asleep, you know. And I'm sure that he didn't. He probably gave some kind of talk of like trying to get him off. Hey, we're winning. Was. We got this. You know, I mean, I'm not in there. It's impossible to know like what Quill's doing that maybe is bad. I mean, who's, who's the. No. Like, unless you can get in there and watch coaches do halftime, it's impossible to say. And none of us are going to be allowed that kind of access. [00:19:24] Speaker A: Well, I'm not, I'm not trying to dump all of this on Quill. [00:19:28] Speaker B: Yeah, he's made mistakes for sure. That's not. [00:19:30] Speaker A: Well, I, that's what I wanted. And one of those things I have to ask Buzz is this very weird decision to put on Chris Christian captain Kappas at halftime. Now, Torcado did not have a good first half and they were talking about this on the broadcast and it was very clear that New York's manager had taken the tactical decision to double up Wolf and Illich on. On poor. [00:20:00] Speaker B: Josh. Yeah, 17 year old who looks like. [00:20:02] Speaker A: A U15 or U13 out there and double up on him. And he was getting torched left and right. But I thought sticking Chris Christian Capus out there for an entire 45 minutes on his debut was a very questionable decision and probably very unfair to Mr. Kappas. [00:20:21] Speaker B: It is. I think that that just shows you how desperate Quill is to have guys that he can trust because Cap is his guy. [00:20:29] Speaker A: But why not put Far Fan out there? [00:20:32] Speaker B: Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the current ongoing discussions with Tigris over by a Far Fan and may have influenced that. Also. Norris isn't on the bench. You know, Ragidi has to come out at some point. So you need Far Fan to possibly be a center back. [00:20:56] Speaker A: What about Alvaro? [00:20:58] Speaker B: Well, you. What if you need two? I'm just saying that like there's an influence there that like if I bring Far Fan on as the wing back, you know, I, I get it. Like there's, there's kind of. It's, there's. There's more than just like, why, why not just stick Farfan on there? Now I agree with you. You should have just stuck Parfait on there. But I think he's just really desperate to get Capis integrated. And Capitz just looks like a guy who got off a plane, has no idea what the team's doing and has no idea who anybody is, you know, or where to stand or where to be like. And he's not a wing back. He's a. I know. [00:21:34] Speaker A: I feel terrible for Capis, because. And I also feel that you and I were done hard because we've done. You specifically have sung that kid's praises. And there's a whole lot of people that saw him for the very first time Friday night and were like, this guy sucks. [00:21:50] Speaker B: Yeah, he won. Good. [00:21:51] Speaker A: And, and the, the acclimation to the heat that he hadn't experienced in a while. Coming off a plane, not playing with the team, playing out way out of position. Has Chris Capus ever played wing back ever, that you can recall? [00:22:04] Speaker B: He probably has been stuck out at like, left back. I don't know about wing back. [00:22:08] Speaker A: So I just thought, I thought Quill really did that guy disservice. And if I was Christian Capis, I would have given Quill an earful. Like you asked me, you came back to this is what you were talking about because I just, that that was totally uncool. [00:22:24] Speaker B: Well, you know, we've talked about the idea that, like, it's been five years since we've seen campus play, but like, I, I know what the kid's made of. So, like, worst case scenario, I think he's gonna be give you about what show gave you, and I don't think so. Like, if all you did was dump an international for a domestic player, that's fine. You know, he's a guy that will buy in on whatever Quill's selling. He'll be one rowing in the right room. We talk about this, right? You know, I want guys that are going to go the way I want to go. When I say run, you're going to run, right? This is my dudes. He doesn't want guys that aren't going to be pulling them the direction he wants to pull. So I, I think Cavis is going to be one of those guys for him. You know, worst case, that's what he is, is a role player, good locker room guy, guy coach can trust if he actually recover some of his game. Because Quill is his guy and he actually is capable of a better game. Like, remember, I rated him better than I rated Paxton when he was 18. [00:23:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:20] Speaker B: So, like, I, I. But I also said that his career hasn't gone like I expected. So I'm hoping, like, it's a little bit of a reclamation project in between the age of. He's 25, so. 25 to 27. Under a coach that likes him, I'm hoping that we're going to see more than, than what we've seen Game one. So it is Game one. We talk about guys needing six months. [00:23:38] Speaker A: Well, I'm not even sure you can count that as game one. I mean, I just. That, that, that, that is, that was unfair to him. I will say I was a bit surprised because I hadn't really paid too close of attention to Capis's career. One, I had didn't realize how many years had passed since he left the team. Two, I was a bit surprised when I looked at his stats that he was just by and large kind of a mid tier Scandinavian league midfielder. He wasn't outstanding or terrible in any way. So I'm curious as to what that translates to in terms of MLS and is he just going to be another. Who's the Canadian midfielder that we got for a couple years? The, that we didn't. [00:24:22] Speaker B: I know who you mean, but he's the name. [00:24:25] Speaker A: That's how, that's how memorable he was. I can't remember his name, but the one that we always were like, did that guy actually do anything in the game? Is he going to be like that? Is he going to be like show? Is he going to be more like Alarmendi? Like that's where I think the, the, the, the, the trajectory of Christian Capus is one to keep an eye on Liam Frazier. Liam Frazier. Thank you. [00:24:46] Speaker B: He ain't going to be Armin, I can promise you that. Yara Mindy is probably the best pure soccer player we've ever seen. [00:24:52] Speaker A: Is he going to be Brandon Cervania? [00:24:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I think he could be that. [00:24:55] Speaker A: Is he going to be Sebastian Legette? [00:24:57] Speaker B: Well, that's a completely different kind of player, but he could be show, I think quite easily. You know, look, we'll see. But like I, I will point out that like when they put, after they put him in at wing back, New York gave up on that side. Like Capis didn't do anything. He, he hardly had any of the ball. He mostly just stayed back and stayed in position. But like they stopped making hay down that way. Yeah, their fourth goal came through the middle into the other half of the field. [00:25:24] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:25:25] Speaker B: So like that's not, you know, so Cabbage didn't paint himself in glory and get like three assists and five goals, but at the same time, like he stopped the bleeding that was happening over there and managed to get through the game without getting a yellow guard. [00:25:38] Speaker A: But he also didn't help at all going forward. Like He. No, no, he was completely a ghost getting past midfield. [00:25:46] Speaker B: For all we know, the job was go in there and stop that size from getting wrecked. I mean, that's possible. That's all it was. [00:25:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:52] Speaker B: You know, and that. And notice they immediately tried that press play with him up on. With him on that side. Now, he didn't get exposed. It was the middle that got exposed on that play. Not like having so like I. But I agree that like, that's not the start that we, that we as people that were singing his praises would have wanted to see. I'm sure he's not exact excited about either, but Quill might be like, hey, good job. You shut down what I asked you to shut down. You know, so some of that stuff is impossible to know. You know, we're not. You're not going to get a whole 30 minute, like breakdown from Quill about exactly the tactics, moves they were making in various situations. You know, it's just. [00:26:27] Speaker A: What makes the game so unusual is that Dallas went into halftime with a lead. They were up three to one. Or was it three to two? Three. Excuse me. Three. Two. It was a crazy first half. Five goals. And we always talk about, you know, hey, if you. Whoever scores in the minutes before the end of the first half, that is a huge advantage. That's always the worst time to give up a goal. And then the other worst time to give up a goal is in the opening minutes of the second half. [00:26:58] Speaker B: Yeah, that, that was, that was one of Quill's frustrations. He said we should be talking about Logan Farrington having two goals. We should talk about what a great game that kid had. Instead, when you're talking about how he collapsed again, you know, it's like, well. [00:27:11] Speaker A: I do want to take a minute because the Petter Musa goal, the, the past to him was fantastic, but the three touches to score that goal are as nice as you will see in any league in the world. I mean, that was outstanding. And, and, and Musa is legitimately a reason to go see this team play. He's that good. Everything else may not be very good, but Peter Musa is legitimately good and he. If he was playing for a real contender in this league, I. God only knows how many goals he would score on another team. [00:27:48] Speaker B: I think you got to give Patrick some. Delgado some love for this game too. I thought he played really well. You know, he had the pass to Musa on that goal and he was involved in several other really nice plays. So, like, you know, for a guy that's basically taking on the Lucho Acosta role, you know, nice looks is improving. You know, all you want to see out of a kid that age is don't make the same mistake over and over. When you make a mistake, learn from it and improve. And like, the, the first game he played this high roll, his set plays were really good, but I thought, like, other than that, I thought he was not very good. And, well, then he had a game off because of rotation. Now he's back in on this game. And I thought he had the set plays again were pretty good, but he also had really two or three nice splitting passes, not just this one. [00:28:29] Speaker A: Well, speaking of Delgado, he came off in the 61st minute for the return of Juan Lucho Acosta. [00:28:36] Speaker B: What a disaster. [00:28:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I, that's bad. It's. I don't know, man. He passed it 70%. He had no shots. He had zero XG. He played 29 minutes. I'm trying to look at the rest of this. Oh, that was the thing, by the way. He came out there and almost instantly committed two of the cheapest, most lousy fouls. The one deep that gave New York a free kick. And then there was one. Not more than I was like, are you trying to get thrown off? Is he trying to get ejected? [00:29:11] Speaker B: I, I, I, you know, at this point, I don't know what he's doing. You know, 75% passing. I can live with 70. [00:29:18] Speaker A: 70, not 75. 7, 0. [00:29:22] Speaker B: Well, FB ref have has him at 63, so. [00:29:25] Speaker A: Oh, wow. I was reading the MLS stats. [00:29:27] Speaker B: Okay, Alma stats suck. Don't look at them. [00:29:30] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [00:29:31] Speaker B: Today I learned, yeah, Delgado was at 73% and Lucho was at 63%. You know, two progressive passes from Lucho, you know, one progressive carry. I mean, that's not. And the more important part, like, you can quote stats all day. It's just, I test that game. Dallas looked great until they took Delgado off and brought on Acosta, and they brought an aasa, and the thing fell apart part. It's like, when Acosta comes into the game, everybody stops. Musa gets worse. Everybody else quits running, quits passing. It's like, I don't know whether they expect Lucha to do everything or they hate the guy or, you know, which one is it? I don't know, because, like, they act like they don't want to play with him now. I, I don't know whether it's intentional that they don't, that they act like that or whether it's just, you know, the game just died. Like, everything Dallas was Doing just died. The minute they brought a cost to him, it was just awful. And I give, I give Quill credit for the, being the mature and, and I will give Lucho credit because I'm not aware of how this relationship worked. But those two guys got to a point after all that that happened, they got to the point that, okay, Acosta, you can be on the bench and we'll see what happens. And Quill put him in. Okay, that was your chance, right? And it was so bad, it was awful. Like, if I'm Quill, that's it, dude. I'm not playing him again because Cool's gonna get fired. If you're gonna go down because your record stinks, you might as well play the guys that act like they want to be there. And think about how many times Quill said in the last two weeks, look how good we looked when everybody on the field wanted to be there. And that was when Mikasa wasn't there. So, like, if I'm Quill, I'm not playing that guy again. I don't, you know, go down swinging if you're gonna go down. [00:31:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. And this is where I get super frustrated with the fact that we, that this club is run by people who refuse to get out in front of this with the public. Like, where is Dan Hunt? Where's Andre Zenata in all of this? Commenting about the state of the team, the situation going on, commenting about, you know, the Lucho situation. [00:31:37] Speaker B: I can tell you where he was. He was at the North Texas game celebrating Zenata. [00:31:44] Speaker A: Well, that was the next day. [00:31:45] Speaker B: It's down there on the field holding the trophy, acting like he won it all. Yeah, all right, I know what you're saying, but like, you know, they're never going to get out there post game press conference style that I knew that. [00:31:56] Speaker A: I, I don't, I don't even even expect them to do that. I just, I wish somebody in a controlled environment because the, the answer I'm going to get back from the front office is off the record, on background. [00:32:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:09] Speaker A: Is what we'll get is, why would we do that? Because all we do is open ourselves to more questions and chirping at us, and nothing we can say is going to satisfy anybody. So now my answer is, well, then why don't you, why don't you put it in, in the, in the framework of something controlled where you just issue a statement where you don't have to answer questions. Well, they won't even do that. And so I, I, everybody's Left to just speculate and bitch and moan. And I feel terrible. I felt bad for, I felt bad for Lucho, I felt bad for Nico, I felt bad for Lucine. I, you know, any of those guys, it's just this endless stream of just managers getting hung out to dry while Dan and Zenada, I don't know what they're doing every. [00:32:59] Speaker B: Historically, for the last, I don't know, I'm going to say since Cincinnati took over, you know, since Clavio passed, we get a press conference at the beginning of the year with Dan Zanata and the coach. Then if the coach gets fired, you get a, you know, Dan Zanata press conference. [00:33:17] Speaker A: Not if, when. [00:33:19] Speaker B: Well, yeah, when they've gotten fired, you know, and then, like, if they get a new coach, then they, they'll be there. And then they'll be there at the end of the season, or those are the four events that will get you, those two guys in front of a camera. Other than that, they're not getting from a camera. They'll do stuff, you know, they'll host a media luncheon and talk to everybody. Sort of off the record. They'll, if they're out of training and you can, if you're up there, you can, you can sometimes get, get them, but, you know, Sonata. But not like he doesn't do like a media session. It's just like, if you happen to go over there, you can have a word with him or whatever. But I've never found him to be in those times. I've gotten those kinds of conversations, which is not very many. It's maybe five times. I don't know that he avoids me, but it's just not something that happens. [00:34:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:08] Speaker B: I have not found him, found the situation where he doesn't. I've not caught him lying to me. Not saying that, but I'm saying that, like, he's not particularly forthcoming about things in a deep way. He'll give me some superficial things, you know, but not. And, and I find, like, if you read the other people that talk to him, I think it's kind of the same way. He just plays his cards really close to the best in terms of, doesn't talk about any of that kind of stuff, you know, oh, we really like, blah, blah. Okay. [00:34:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I, I understand all that. I just, I think when the team gets into the state that it's in now, the fans and frankly, the team itself and it and their manager deserve the front office to stand up in front of everybody and say, hey, here's our Thoughts on what's going on. And this is kind of our plan to correct it, but particularly because just we talked. [00:34:59] Speaker B: What we just talked about is the players really matter. And we know, everybody knows here that the coach is not picking the roster. The roster is made by this committee. Right. And there's this group and they're the ones that put the whole thing together. So when you get to a window, we ought to hear from them about the state of the team, what they think needs some help, where they're going to maybe go. Look, I'm not getting any of that stuff. You know, you're lucky if you get a printed statement when they're released and they sign somebody, you know, well, we're moving on. [00:35:27] Speaker A: They have got the Timbers coming up next and, you know, I don't know. How are we feeling about that? [00:35:35] Speaker B: Well, I think that there. The. The Timbers game is not till next week. We actually have a podcast before now and then, so I don't want to go too deep. [00:35:43] Speaker A: Oh, that's right. This is the. This is the one. Yeah. [00:35:47] Speaker B: Off week, so. But I think, you know, that rest means that, of course, that Saaza Gede can play for sure and start again and probably go quite deep, maybe even the whole game. That's a big help. Norris got some time with North Texas, so now he's available. If you like him at left center, back, left wing back, left back, six, any of those things. That's a possibility. Anderson Julio is off IR as of last game, but did not make the bench, which is not understandable. Which is understandable. It's not a shock. But with two weeks, maybe he's in contention to even start. Certainly he should be on the bench with a chance to come in and have a good impact with the whole two weeks, maybe even he could be. Maybe it's a little early to start. I don't know. I could be the way on that one. But they're going to have a tough decision on that because both Delgado and Farrington are playing really well. So that may let those guys keep those spots. Are you getting anybody back in the midfield other than maybe Norris? But I don't know that Norris would start over Romero. That feels like something I would do, not something a real coach would do. You know, we'll look. The Tigress Farfin thing is that talks are real. Is he still on the team? Is it Darkado? Is it Norris? Like, so there's, you know, two weeks is a long time in the window, right? I mean, you never know. We could be Talking about a new player by then. Will Deetson have his visa? I'm going to bet no, because he's from Haiti. [00:37:30] Speaker A: Is that the hold up on him right now? Is his. His visa situation mean. [00:37:34] Speaker B: I have no idea. No one's going to tell us that. But, you know, I would just assume the way visas are going these days. I mean, North Texas had some problems getting guys in. They had one guy, they just cut his contract and said, fine, just we can't get it done. Texoma had like four guys that were like two months late because of visas. It's just not like it was, you know, and particularly a place like Haiti, which has got political sensitivity about it, you know, that's not necessarily the easiest visa in the world. There are only 10 games left in the season anyway. So, like, as you pointed out before, maybe, you know, it probably, you probably have to get near 40 points, which is 15 points out of 10 games, to give yourselves a shot to get in. That's a lot to ask given the way you're playing, right? I mean, so, like, I hate to say that the season's over. Like, they're not going to say that, but I'm going to say it's pretty close. But there's. You're at a point in which it's like, are we are says it time to play for next season. Should we just have Alvaro in the whole time? Should Norris play a boatload? Should Diego Garcia start getting games? You know, it. Should Torcado start every game? You know, you have to ask these questions when play Delgado, a bunch of, you know, stop playing guys that you don't want for the future, you know, because it's not likely you're going to grind out with these veteran guys who haven't been producing to this point, you know, so you might as well sort of move ahead a little bit, you know, because I think you're right. Like most people pointed out that that loss at home to New York probably is going to, you know, put a capper on your playoff chances, even if mathematically it hasn't. Probably has. [00:39:20] Speaker A: Well, and they've got 10 games left. Half of them are on the road, half of them are at home. [00:39:27] Speaker B: Well, that used to matter, but with this team, I know. [00:39:29] Speaker A: Well, I, you know, if you just kind of work off their running pat pace for both home and away games, getting 15 points out of a possible 30 just seems like a huge hill to climb. [00:39:43] Speaker B: Well, Austin, you know, you never know with Austin. LAFC is tough. Galaxy are terrible. St. Louis is pretty bad. You got Austin again. Colorado's good, though. Portland's pretty good. Thankfully they have the Galaxy twice and they have Austin twice, which are teams that are at or with you or or near you or below you. You know, unfortunately, you have Vancouver, Portland twice, and LAFC again. So it's about 50, 50. Whether you feel like any of those games are winnable or not in my book, homer way at this point doesn't matter with this team. [00:40:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:15] Speaker B: So crazy. But like, it's going to be tough, man, because you'd have to, you have to win five in my opinion, to give yourself much of a chance for this. For a team that's got this record to turn to all of a sudden be a.500 team is not, you know, that's, that's a long, long, long shot. [00:40:33] Speaker A: So. And not to be super downer about it, but with 10 games left, do you just sit Paxton for the rest of the season on what is now turning out to be the worst knee bruise in the history of mankind? [00:40:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Well. [00:40:51] Speaker A: Or do you just call it? [00:40:52] Speaker B: I think you got to call it. You know, when you play 55 minutes and then are out two months, that's not, it's certainly not a million dollars. So like this, they have the, the window goes till August 21. And they have a couple of tough decisions they got to make. Well, one is they got linked with a guy today. Do you know this guy? [00:41:14] Speaker A: No, I don't know. [00:41:15] Speaker B: Nam Polis Mendy, He's a French Senegalese holding. I mean, you're a big girl guy. I don't know. He's a 33 year old holding. Mid. Like, to me that's like, obviously if that interest was real, that tells you what they are. They recognize their real problem. But independent of that, number one, Paxton on a million dollars has to be addressed at some point. Like I, you and I love Paxton. We've known this as he was 15 at least. I have. I assume you have too. We want the best for that kid. But at a million dollars, you need to resolve that. You need to get that off of your books. It's been, he's been so hurt now that no one else is going to give him any money at all. If you really want to give him a chance, put them on a really cheap deal. But you got to get out of that money. And you have to make a call on Lucho Acosta because Lucha Acosta is 4 million. So if that guy's not the answer for you, you have to make a decision. They have one buyout left for this season. If you don't use it by August 21, the end of the window, then you can't use it. And then you would go into the off season potentially needing two buyouts as the season starts with Acosta and Paxton, and that would remove your ability to do anything else to cut to buy out any other contract that you might want to get out of. So, like, I think that they need to pull the trigger on one of those two guys, this window. Now, whether you want to pull the trigger on a cost or not depends on whether you can admit that you've made a mistake, it's not working, or if you so believe in Acosta that it doesn't work with Quill, that you're going to pull the trigger on the coach. Because I don't think you either back the coach and get rid of Acosta. Not that those guys are like at fist blows in the locker room, but it clearly doesn't work on the field. Clearly, to me, it doesn't work on the field. So you might as well. You got to fix one or the other, or you're just going to have the exact same problem next year. So, like, either the coach has to go or cost has to go. Do you agree? [00:43:18] Speaker A: Yes. And? Well, the problem is, as you commonly talk about, that means the front office has to admit they made a mistake. And they either made a mistake with Eric Quill or they made a mistake in Lucha Acosta. [00:43:28] Speaker B: It's okay to say, like, hey, it didn't work, right? It's not like we all told you it wasn't going to work. We were all like, Lucho Costa, why wouldn't you do that? It was an idea on paper that looked great, but it's not working. So, like, you gotta. If you want to win this league, if you want to win games, if you want to win championships, you have to be willing to analyze the decisions you make and realize that one of them didn't go right. They've made a bunch of great moves. Irigide is fantastic. Alvaro fell out of the sky and landed in their lap, and they got lucky. But, man, good job spotting that and getting him actually signed. That's a good addition. I mean, like Kaik, 4 million bucks, you overpaid, but whatever. He's got some potential two or three years down the road. He could be great. Okay, Ramiro doesn't look good, right? Analyze your decisions. Realize it's not either get rid of the coach or get rid of Acosta because you're. You're wasting $4 million on. It's not all in your cap, but it's $4 million as a DP slot. It's a big cap hit, you know, and you got the Paxton problem. So either Paxton or Acosta needs to be bought out this summer, this window and you have, you have just under 20 days. [00:44:38] Speaker A: Yeah. I would just think that at some point the front office would understand from their own success and failures that bringing in post 30 year old midfielders is not a winning formula. And if they do, if it turns out that there's actually something going on with this Mendy character that just tells everybody. Well you effed up by hiring Romero because they're essentially the same player. They're both holding, they're both defensive midfielders, they're both 33, they're from different leagues. But you know, it, it just doesn't make any sense to me that you would replace a 30 something year old midfielder with another 30 something year old midfielder. Like why would you do that? [00:45:20] Speaker B: For all I know this is just some coach, some agent. [00:45:23] Speaker A: Sure. [00:45:23] Speaker B: Saying they love to drop FC Dallas because no one in Europe has a clue what FC Dallas is doing. [00:45:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:45:28] Speaker B: So they love to use FC Dallas for that. [00:45:30] Speaker A: But like, but the thing is, would it surprise you if they. [00:45:32] Speaker B: No, no, not at all. Yeah, it's that signing would totally 100 be in line with ever the way they do business. 100, right. Yeah. Yeah. Because he was really expensive, high contract and now he's free and you know, free agent and he's free, you can just sign him for whatever. So look at, we got the star player from. [00:45:52] Speaker A: Well it's like the Deetson signing. I mean here's a guy who's playing second division, was it Belgian soccer and he's from Haiti and I, I, but he's young and I guess the idea is well we can play him and maybe turn him into something and sell him for some a profit. [00:46:09] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean at least in his case he did like go to high school in Atlanta and was a member of, I think it was Atlanta United's academy. So like, or something similar. So he, he, he at least is like should have a comfort level in the United States which some of these guys don't when they come in. But yeah, this, that, that. When I saw this guy link today I was like oh that's perfectly, that's exactly FC Dallas. Sometimes I just want to remind them like boys, it's hot here. You know, it's like getting a mid 30 year old guy and ask him to run around Like I did an hour yard work today. It almost died. It's like, come on, it's like, let's get 20 year old. [00:46:46] Speaker A: That's why I thought the Christian cap is appearance was so hilarious. Because here's a guy that grew up in Texas, yet he has spent the last five years floating around in Scandinavia and he came and melted on the spot. That pasty skinned little sob almost melted like an ice cream cone out there on Friday night. [00:47:08] Speaker B: Well, he's like me. He turns red when he's. When he was in the academy here he was more red than he was white. [00:47:12] Speaker A: But it was a bad scene and I. It was and it's crushing. It's really sad because all the good Sam Sarver juju just went out the window. And in fact, I thought it was really interesting when they brought. When Sam started warming up and it was very clear Sarver was coming on. You could suddenly hear the energy in the building change and. But the team was performing so badly, it took all of about five minutes to completely evaporate any of the Sarver energy. And even Sarver kind of like, oh screw, this is a big total waste of time. And he kind of let up too. [00:47:46] Speaker B: I love that he, Kaik and Alvaro, all three get really excited when they make a good play. You know, like even Alvaro on a good tackle will be get up and be like, yeah, I made a good play. Like they're 12, you know, I love that about. It's. It's hard not to like a guy that seems to really actually enjoy what he's doing and not run around looking like a sour puss, like he doesn't want to be there. I'm not name any names on that part, but you know what I mean. [00:48:12] Speaker A: No, I totally. That's why, that's why. It's why I got instantly enamored with the kid on Saturday night was because his enthusiasm and his passion and he was the one guy out there that really seemed to care about the club beyond the regular celebratory hey, look what I did kind of thing. It was like collectively trying to get the fans fired up and really was infectious. And I thought it was really sad that it was. It took all of that pretty much burned out in less than a week's time. So that's unfortunate. [00:48:47] Speaker B: Yep. [00:48:47] Speaker A: All right, so as we said, the crazy thing about Portland is do you realize that we get Portland on the 9th? They will have played their Leagues cup game three days prior to that. [00:48:59] Speaker B: Tough for them. Yeah. [00:49:01] Speaker A: So today they revealed and announced the structure for leagues cup, which hand to God, I had totally forgot was about to happen. And probably part of that is because Dallas is one of the few teams not participating in the league cup. [00:49:17] Speaker B: I'm not paying attention either. [00:49:18] Speaker A: Yeah, so I was. I wasn't paying attention. And so the league announced the format for it and it's crazy. They've essentially somehow figured out a way buzz to construct this so that all the way through the quarterfinals, every game is a MLS team versus a league on team. [00:49:36] Speaker B: That's good. [00:49:36] Speaker A: And it goes all the way until, I think the semifinals where eventually leagues, teams from the same league can face off against each other. [00:49:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:49:44] Speaker A: So that is kind of. I. I think that's a really interesting and cool idea. And if you go through the schedule, you know, the first game is Columbus and Toluca. [00:49:54] Speaker B: The. [00:49:55] Speaker A: On the first day, Toluca and Columbus, Montreal and Leon, NYC FC and Puebla, Tigris and Houston, LAC FC versus Mat Salon and Pachuca versus San Diego. Cool lineup. Second day, Miami, Atlas Nicoxa, Atlanta Pumas, Orlando, Minnesota Quattaro and America versus Salt Lake and Portland versus San Luis. [00:50:24] Speaker B: That's a lot of fun. [00:50:25] Speaker A: That's a cool format. I dig that. Too bad Dallas is. Because now Dallas is just kind of sitting there with their thumb up their butt. For the month of August, they got three games, one of which is against Portland. The other one is against Austin, who another team that's not in the tournament on the 13th. And then they've got Colorado on the 20th. And I think Colorado's. Is Colorado in the tournament? I think they are. [00:50:51] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't remember. [00:50:52] Speaker A: I don't know. Maybe. No, Colorado is the other team not in it. And then they've got Portland again on the 20th. That's not till the 27th. I'm sorry, I'm looking at the wrong place in the calendar. They have Austin, who's not in it. Then they've got LAFC who will have played a game, and then they got the Galaxy. So it seems weird that they're playing three teams that are playing in the. In the tournament and really not doing much other than that, so. [00:51:17] Speaker B: Well, you know, they got the Open cup instead, which I'm okay with. I prefer the Open cup, but no, they don't. [00:51:22] Speaker A: They're out of the Open Cup. [00:51:24] Speaker B: Well, they got it instead. Oh, I don't have it going forward. Instead they got it at the beginning of the season. [00:51:30] Speaker A: There would be the problem of bailing, falling out of the Open cup so early. [00:51:34] Speaker B: Yeah, but I Was they got to participate in the Open cup. And if I, if I'm picking, I'm picking the Open Cup. Leagues cup is very. I like that they've changed the format so it's all USA versus Mexico. That's great. That of course means that some MLS teams are going to be out of it. So if there's now a incentive to be good enough to get into leagues cup and that people want to get excited about that, great. You know, if people get excited about these tournaments, that's fun. You know, if it's boring and no one cares, that's not fun. You know, I don't like it. At the loss of the more teams participating in the Open Cup. I mean, I think that I understand it, but I think that in soccer I think you have a duty in a way to the history and that MLS has a responsibility to the history of the Open cup that they should be playing in it and everyone should be playing in it. I think you have a responsibility. I know why they don't. It's money. But I don't think money should be the answer all the time. Which is why I'm poor on a podcast and not rich and owning MLS team. [00:52:35] Speaker A: All right, let's. Let's move on to other stuff. Texoma did lose in the USL cup and to come. [00:52:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I went on the road and got smoked by a USL championship team. They're last in their group in that tournament. Now granted that tournament's hard for them because, you know, they're playing at a lower level team, but they've also chosen to rotate quite a bit. Like they're not taking it too seriously, you know. And a lot of the USLC sides are not taking it too seriously, which is a shame, but I understand it. Again, like I understand why these things happen, but it's still fun tournament even though they're in last place. However, they go back to league play next Texoma does against Charlotte Independence and Texas. Almost still seventh currently, I believe in the playoff mix. So good for them. And their second half of their season has still been just absolutely bonkers. Good. Minus this setback on the road which was not so great. [00:53:26] Speaker A: Let's see the. Oh, the U20 Threes in the league of League of clubs semifinals were up in Frisco this weekend. The U23s played against Napa Valley and and lost. [00:53:39] Speaker B: Yeah, that's Hitches team. They lost two nothing to the FC Dallas. Did FC Dallas. The weird thing about this league is that they did not do a good job recognizing when guys had to report back for their colleges. So Dallas, FC Dallas, for example, was missing eight starters, and they only had three starters left. And so they, you know, because all the eight were. [00:54:00] Speaker A: Had. Had to go back to school. [00:54:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:02] Speaker A: Okay. [00:54:03] Speaker B: And I'm sure other teams got hit by it, too. You know, that game was fairly even and until my man Diego Hernandez missed a pk and then they got a counterattack right the other way and scored to make it two nothing. So a team called Met Oval won the whole thing. But on beat Hitch's team on Saturday. But it was still a great run by the FC Dallas G23s. They stomped a lot of people when they had all their good players, but then those guys all had to report back to college. So they'll have to work on the schedule for that league to get that right. Yeah. [00:54:32] Speaker A: Trinity has started camp. There's nothing new, really, and Dan's not here to report on it. I'm sure he'll have more about that next week. [00:54:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I did a Little Rock roster breakdown to sort of show positions and give you a little bit of information on each player. It's on our website. Training doesn't put out a ton of information, but I try to get some from various places. They brought back about two thirds of the roster. Maybe more defense turned over than anything else. So their season's right around the corner. Their first game is August 23rd, I think in Spokane. So, yeah, right around the corner. [00:55:04] Speaker A: I saw the new Brooklyn shirts they promoted the other day. I saw them. Yeah, those are good. Yeah, I mean, they're kind of a variation of what they were last year. They're black, but they're good looking on. [00:55:15] Speaker B: On the kit front with Trinity, the thing that I'm interested in is that we know last year because they signed with Nike so late, they just got generic men's training gear as their kits, like, off the rack, like, so this time they should, knock on wood, be getting, like, an actual. It may not be a bespoke kit, but it'll be a women's design kit, I believe. Something. Something that's made for them. Even if it's not going to be bespoke. I don't know about that or not. Damn. Maybe you could have told us, but it should be a step in the right direction. Hopefully they keep the mismatched sock thing. Even though that was an accident of. Of availability. It still now is the thing. So keep it. That's good. [00:55:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree 100%. [00:55:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:58] Speaker A: The other thing that I realized, this is the second week in A row where in the famous red crayon run sheet where Atletico Dallas is in parentheses. It just says nothing. And it dawned on me that this is really the challenge they face, which is they've launched this brand, they've launched this identity and now the struggle for them is keeping themselves relevant and people excited about it in Mass for two years. [00:56:26] Speaker B: Yeah, they're doing a bunch of these from dust things with these local businesses and local, I don't know what you'd call them, influences. Like they had the Rangers. I think he's a play guy for the Rangers. I don't listen to Rangers radio. [00:56:40] Speaker A: They did Josie Records the other day. [00:56:42] Speaker B: Yeah, there's been a couple of companies. It's all centric and focused. Dallas Garland. So they're, they're really doing a lot of community stuff. But you're right, like news drops are not there. Like the things that we're into, which is like obviously coach, that's going to take a year. So like how do you stay in the news? Us being the news is a good question because obviously like this, this stuff, this community stuff they're doing, while it's interesting, it's not something we're going to be talking about on the podcast beyond just that they're doing it so well. [00:57:15] Speaker A: Is, is that stuff effective at building relationships with the community? I, I guess, I hope so. [00:57:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:22] Speaker A: I, I, yeah, I mean it's obviously limited to how they distribute it through their own social media. It's not like it's going out through mass, mass media outlets or anything. I just find that to be an interesting challenge. I don't know the answer to it, but that clearly is the, the, the thing for them is their Runway is so long. How do you keep the pace up through the entire, you know, canvassing of that Runway until you launch the thing. [00:57:48] Speaker B: And the opposite of Trinity, who had like a two month Runway and was clearly way too short. So like maybe they overreacted and went a little early. So we'll see. [00:57:58] Speaker A: Well, I find what's interesting about this question is then you've got the yet to be announced Fort Worth USL team which may be trying to find that sweet spot between all the Runway Dallas gave itself, the no Runway Trinity gave itself. And maybe they're going to find the sweet spot of, of when they finally decide to announce. [00:58:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I tried real quickly to look and see if I could find anything on Fairington Field and that, that vote of that situation and I didn't go deep but I didn't see anything right off top of the bat. So we'll, we'll. Hopefully we can find out some more in the next month or two. We'll see. [00:58:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Speaking of stadiums, I, the other observation I had has work on the Dallas on the Toyota stadium project just stopped. [00:58:43] Speaker B: It looks to me like it has. I, you know I, because I went. [00:58:47] Speaker A: To the game Saturday night and I was shocked to see that the buildings on the east side to the left and the right of the main entranceway that are still there. Like I thought all that stuff would be gone by now and there's still parts of the roof that that was shared between the buildings is now just kind of flopped over the end of one. And I'm curious as to what the pro process progress of this is because it. For a project that was supposed to have started in January and I know got delayed for a whole bunch of reasons, doesn't feel like it's gotten very far in the time since they officially kicked this thing off. And I'm maybe it's going to plan and going to schedule. I don't know. It just didn't look like there's much going on. [00:59:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I, you know I, I look at that live camera every once in a while and it basically has looked the same to me for like a month now. So like I don't, I don't know what's happening in terms of underneath maybe that there's some things happening but like you know, like we're, we're roughly a year away from the flip. Right. It's mid season next year that they're going to flip the fan sides. [00:59:57] Speaker A: Right. [00:59:57] Speaker B: Isn't it? Which. [00:59:59] Speaker A: Well, I, yes. Which would require not only them demoing. Demoing everything they need to get done now. They got to build an entire structure. [01:00:06] Speaker B: Yeah. The, the east side needs to be finished basically a year from now. Like July of next year is when the flip happens. I think, I don't think there's any. [01:00:16] Speaker A: Way that get that happens. [01:00:17] Speaker B: I mean what do I know? I look at that camera and I think there's no way but you know, maybe there's a bunch of stuff happening that we're not aware of that's like somewhere else or something. [01:00:26] Speaker A: I just thought because I, you know this was like the third game I had been to but there's been so much time between games in my presence I thought oh, this is going to be one of those things where I'm really going to notice a day difference. And I walked in and I was like this looks exactly like it looked the last time I was here. So maybe there's something else going on, like you said underneath or something else. Who knows? But, yeah, we know those projects take a long time. And I think we also said at the very beginning, whatever they told you and showed you, it would look like at the end, at the beginning of this process, just know it's not going to be that by the end of. [01:00:58] Speaker B: It, some parts of it would be the same, but a lot of it's going to be very different. Yeah. [01:01:01] Speaker A: Yes. And that's just how it goes with the Hunt family stadium projects. It just. The original drawings never turned out the same. The hall of Fame got big at it, and this will too. [01:01:13] Speaker B: So I'll go so far as to say I'll. I'll be. If the roof stays and they actually end up with the roof, that'll be a huge win because, like, that thing costs a lot of money for not a lot of, like, direct. Like, was it. Somebody said to me one time about stadiums, it's like, think, think about stadiums in timers, what actually delivers revenue? Like, you know, like a roof doesn't deliver revenue. Like a big TV screen delivers revenue because you can put ads on it. But the roof has one ad, maybe, but it's the same ad that's on side of the building. So, like, you know, it doesn't really, you know, so things like, like, when you think about what gets cut, you think about what gives revenue. And so to me, that's like, the roof is like, you know, I mean, please, I really want a roof. But you know what? I'm not in charge, so what can I do? Clearly. [01:02:00] Speaker A: All right, well, by the way, I also, I. I initially on Friday night was cursing out the MLS kit assigner, who I hate with a burning passion of a thousand fires because there's Dallas wearing their away kit while New York wears their away kit. I'm like, why isn't Dallas wearing their brand spanking new Everybody Loves Dallas burn shirt? And I'm like, okay, it's because of the. And then I realize I'm cussing at the wrong person because it's probably really due to Dallas's agreement on the sponsorship, but that shared jersey sponsorship between Southwest and Children's Medical, which is the same people, just that stupid deal drives me nuts. [01:02:42] Speaker B: I think I've been told that they're only going to wear that burn kit three times this season, so you'll get to see it two more times. But I think it carries over. So I think you'll get it next year. But it's Only going to be three times this season. [01:02:55] Speaker A: Brutal. [01:02:55] Speaker B: Bummer. Because it's such a good kit and the secondary kit is so bad and the current home primary kit is not that great either, so. [01:03:03] Speaker A: Well, secondary kit is so bad it makes the previously really bad home kit tolerable. It's just the wrong fair color. [01:03:12] Speaker B: Fair. [01:03:14] Speaker A: Did you order your own burn shirt yet? [01:03:17] Speaker B: I did. I'd ordered the day that they went on sale, but it's like everyone else. Mine isn't in the mail. It hasn't even shipped yet. [01:03:23] Speaker A: So yours. You ordered the authentic? [01:03:26] Speaker B: Oh no, I. [01:03:27] Speaker A: Okay. [01:03:27] Speaker B: I'm a rough okay guy. [01:03:28] Speaker A: All right. [01:03:28] Speaker B: I don't care. The tenant you replica means means very little to me. It's about the money. [01:03:33] Speaker A: Well, I. Well and these I thought because of the way the materials of the badging and everything and the authentics in the and the and stuff is cool, but I also want a number on mine. Not name but number. And I been waiting to figure out the best path so I haven't ordered one yet, so. Yeah, and then I find out there aren't really any to be had anyway. So I'm not really missing out on anything. [01:03:54] Speaker B: I just ordered mine. I haven't gotten it yet, so. [01:03:56] Speaker A: All right, well, I. It feels like time to shut up. Sop. But I purposely left the most important part for the end of the podcast so that we could end on an upbeat note as the most successful thing in the history of Hunt Brothers soccer in North Texas DFW area once again has won yet another trophy as North Texas Soccer Club won 31 over Club Deportivo Tapio. Tapatio. Tapatio. That's right, Tapatio. As they did the inaugural Next Pro Invitational which is the champion of MLS Next Pro Pro versus the championship of league MX B side Whatever Nago. [01:04:38] Speaker B: Apparently there was one last year. [01:04:40] Speaker A: Oh really? [01:04:40] Speaker B: Yeah, because they all. Curtis when Ali Curtis was doing the trophy he's like oh, last year we had so and so and I was like man, I totally missed last year that they did this. [01:04:48] Speaker A: And so now I will say it does feel like Dallas pulled a fast one because they essentially sent half of their senior team roster down to play in the game. Which seems like a cheap. A cheap maneuver on their part. [01:05:03] Speaker B: Well, Tapatio is. Is Chivas's reserve team. They had a 27 year old guy too. So like I'm not saying that they that both teams did this, but FCD Alice sent down Alvaro. [01:05:16] Speaker A: The defender. [01:05:17] Speaker B: Yeah, the defender who's played Mill's played seven games for them. Codi has only played two games for them, and he went down the goalkeeper, right? Y. So. But, you know, he's played two games. That's fine. Sarver and Scott both went down. Now they're. They've been North Texas players all year, so that's fine. We'll give them those. But Padrino, seeking, sabbling and Nolan Norris all made their North Texas debut this year. Now, I'll get. I'll get you the whole, like, seeking these men. So. Okay, but Ziggy's 27, 28 or whatever. He doesn't need to be going down there. Pedrinho's down there because he's in the doghouse, you know, and to his credit, he did what Padrino does, and he was amazing for 20 minutes and scored twice. And then he went on vacation for the next 80 minutes and did nothing. And it was great to see Nolan out there. And they. The. Nolan must have been on a minute restriction because he played 45 minutes. And then they pulled him because he's just coming off an injury, so. But still, like, they loaded out North Texas with as many, like, first team players as they could afford to send down. So, like, you know, most of them sort of had. A half of them had a North Texas connection, but, like, but you remember they did this last year with the mls, with the championship, when they, when they use that rule. And they sat Farrington on the bench for four games and they didn't put him into the game, but because he was on the roster for four games meant that they could use him in the playoffs. So they brought him down and they played him over. Tark. Tarek Scott was the leading scorer in the league going into the playoffs. And then they sent Farrington down, took all his minutes away from him, which is stupid because Tarek Scott's an up and coming player you should have given those minutes to. But they cared more about winning than they did about developing the players. Which is why I say North Texas is upside down. Like, man, this team's really good at winning Division 3 Reserve titles. Great. Good job, guys. But that's not what you're in the business of doing. You're in the business of winning MLS titles, are you not? I would have thought so. You know what? It's cool. They won the channel. A bunch of dudes played, they had fun. It was a good time. It was a good game. It got feisty. There's a guy named Essel, Aaron Essel, who they've signed as a 6. I don't really care much about him. At the 6. But they put him at center back for the second half after Norris went out and it looked much better. He knows what he's doing at center back. I liked it way better than I liked him as a six. So whatever. [01:07:38] Speaker A: What was in seing must be thinking with that assignment. [01:07:42] Speaker B: I mean, like, did you see his. Did you watch the game this weekend? Did you see his face when he was the last guy left over there not subbed in? He. [01:07:50] Speaker A: He was. [01:07:50] Speaker B: He. He basically looked like he was at his own funeral. You know, like, this is not going well. I mean, clearly he's not. Quill is not on team in Zebling. So, you know, it happens. Guys like who they like, you know, he. Capis is right in and s never getting in. Sent him down. North Texas, you know, CQ is fine. He did all right. Played in. They. They played a 3, 4, 3. Played a double pivot, which is interesting because they haven't really been doing that. But obviously that shows that like Camille's like, to me that's a sign that Quills is committed to it because North Texas is now replicating it. You know, that tells you that how that works, right? So crazy. [01:08:27] Speaker A: Well, congratulations, Dan Hunt. You've won yet another third division title. [01:08:33] Speaker B: Yeah, this. There's a fun picture I shared in the discord of Matt Denny, who should be there, but Zenada Sandro, who's the technical director under Zada and the chief scout, all down there holding the trophy. Look what we won. It's like, come on, guys, I get it, I get it. You're excited, celebrating, but it's T3, man. It's like, that's not the point. You remember that when they. This, this really bugged me at last year when they won the MLS next pro championship, they had some quotes where they said, this reinforces the FCD way. It proves our system works. Winning a reserve championship proves your system works. Winning an MLS championship proves your system works. Yeah, I just thought. No, it doesn't. It doesn't prove that. It proves that you. They. They loaded that team up last year with all the fringe. First team guys that weren't playing that are now all banished to USL championship and will never be back. They're never going to play for FC Dallas. And this is the same thing. Like the guys that actually got them to this thing are gone and they just threw out whoever they could put piece together just to win a championship and feel good about themselves. Maybe that makes me an but like I don't care about winning MLS next pro titles. I care about. [01:09:48] Speaker A: I yeah, that's all I care about too as a day one fan of this club is I just wanted to win, I want them to win MLS cup and I and after that how they go about being a regular contender is completely up to them. But I there are so many times I think that the entire point to this thing is so ass backwards and it's quotes like that that just, just tell you man. I maybe, maybe this is how they want to run this thing and you just don't get it. So I feel bad because everything after Saturday night last Burn Night was in such good positive vibes and it all just got blown away with just a really poor outing at home once again. So maybe, maybe something good will come out of it. [01:10:32] Speaker B: The kids in North Texas, they had a great time. They really enjoyed themselves. They were celebrating as hard as anybody ever celebrated. I think it's aw that they won a title for themselves. But let's not confuse what it is as the reserve team winning a championship is that great for those reserve team players. But let's not act like that's this crowning achievement that like the club as a, as a larger organization should be excited that look how great our system is when none of those dudes are going to play for SC Dallas. [01:10:59] Speaker A: Well, I said I wanted to end the podcast on an upbeat note, but I am going to put, I'm going to put ourselves to the sword here. So Dallas is four games in August. Home game against Portland, away game at Austin, home game against LAFC and then an away game against the galaxy. There are 12 points on the board. Buzz, how many points will FC Dallas get out of 12 points in the month of August of the year of our Lord 20? 25? [01:11:25] Speaker B: 4. 4. [01:11:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I think you're probably, I think. [01:11:28] Speaker B: They either win at Austin or at LA Galaxy, one of the two and then they get another point in. You know they're going to win one of those two games on the road and then get another point somewhere else and they'll probably lose to LAFC in Portland here at home or maybe get a tie against Portland perhaps. That might be the one point. [01:11:47] Speaker A: Yeah, the only thing the, the, the, the factor in there is if LAFC progresses far enough into the tournament, that game on the 23rd is bracketed by games on the 20th or the 26th. I don't think it matters. [01:12:01] Speaker B: You know, LAFC is too good. Yeah, probably right. They'll have enough key guys available that it won't matter. [01:12:08] Speaker A: Do you see they picked up that midfielder that used to be at Montreal. [01:12:11] Speaker B: Perfect example. Yes. And this is a bigger topic of discussion because. [01:12:19] Speaker A: Is this the conversation about ambition? [01:12:21] Speaker B: Yes or no? It's also a conversation of LAFC is owned by the same people that owned that other team that he's being loaned from. [01:12:28] Speaker A: Oh, yes. [01:12:30] Speaker B: So, you know, easy to get him under the cap when the loan is tiny or whatever or something. I mean, yeah, if you're a good team. Game the system like Miami adding this bonkers level DP as a not dp, you know, game the system like, like, like the German Mueller, Mueller going to Vancouver. They're gonna, they're. The contract that's apparently being put together is that he'll be a TAM player for the rest of this year and a DP next year. We'll figure the DP out next time. And meanwhile, like, I mean, what do you got? [01:13:09] Speaker A: We got a cool third jersey. [01:13:11] Speaker B: We do have a really great third jersey and I will give them all the credit in the world for that. But it goes back to things like, you know, Iring, you know, Velasco and, you know, and figuring out how to solve the problem later. You know, their mechanics and just. And signing USL championship players are back or journeyman reserves and claiming that now all of a sudden at the age of 31, they're going to be a three year frontline starter for you and thinking that's a good idea. Like just for every great decision they've made, every great sign they made, there's a complete debacle of assigning the other way. It's just they cannot get it all together. And, and we're talking in this podcast here about a 33 year old Journeyman 6 that nobody wants anymore. So now he's being linked to Dallas. [01:13:57] Speaker A: You know, so much for ending the podcast. [01:14:00] Speaker B: I got an upbeat to end it on, but this is an. At least they went and got Lucha Costa spent the money to get him. I'll give them that it didn't work, but I'll give him that they spent the money to get them. You gotta give them credit for that. Spent. They spent the $5 million. [01:14:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I was having a conversation about, with somebody about this the other day, which is. But should they have had the foresight to understand that that was a bad pairing to begin with? [01:14:23] Speaker B: They probably should have. If they had done their scouting of Quill and Lucho, then maybe they should have foreseen it. [01:14:32] Speaker A: I mean, Lucho Costa, it's not like he was an unknown entity. And I mean, everybody knows what you're getting when you're getting Lucho Acosta both on and off the field. And in fact, as we talked about last week, Zenata made a big joke about how he's Brazilian and knows how to deal with these types of people. So it's like they knew what they were getting. So I, I, I, that's where the failure was, is not recognizing that this was going to be a difficult pairing. But I also want to say, and I want to repeat, if we were, if they had ended up with a crummy season and we found out that they passed on the opportunity to sign Lucha Acosta, which we'd be equally as sideways about that. [01:15:10] Speaker B: We can't be, we can't be hypocritical about that. But in hindsight, now, though, now you can say it's not working, you know, and, and maybe like as a, as the professionals that, who are in there all every day scouting and watching tape, maybe you could have known that it wasn't going to work very well. As you say, maybe it wasn't going to be a good fit. But I think it comes back to the idea of this, this idea that they're just getting the players and they want to be as flexible. They get this big old pile of flexible players and they just dump it on the ground and they go, now coach it up. You know, like that whole idea. To me, I can't get past this idea that, like, there's no cohesive plan between the coach and the people getting the players, that it's just like, here's a bunch of players now you coach, figure it out. Like, figure it out. Like, to me, that's backwards. [01:15:53] Speaker A: It is. And that's where I think it's the pairing of the way you do the roster and hiring an experienced manager that really bites them in the ass. Because maybe a more experienced manager could do a better job of that task of trying to make something out of Alphabet soup. I don't know. But that's, I would. That's the only thing I can figure out. [01:16:14] Speaker B: A lot of people don't know this story, but when Steve Morrow was the coach here and Nielsen, Steve Boro hated that idea. He did not want the Nielsen want nothing to do with him and fought and fought and fought and fought to not have it happen. And only because he bitched about it and complained about it so much did they only did a one year deal with Danielson and thank God, even though they fired more really quickly, thank God for Morrow for doing that because otherwise they'd have been stuck for two or Three seasons with that guy on crazy money back then. So, you know, sometimes you're right. A coach that's been around like Morrow was a first time head coach, but he had played in the Premier League for, for million years, you know, and so had a better firmer grasp perhaps and a sort of a greater belief in himself to stand up and be like, no, I don't want that guy. And even once he got him was like, I'm not putting him in. You know, he's terrible. Until they were, you know, getting killed and then he did or whatever. But you're right, like maybe a different coach. But remember that Quill had only been here a very, very short period of time. You know, he'd just been hired. [01:17:19] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [01:17:19] Speaker B: So like any other coach that had been hired there, I don't care how experienced they are, I might have been like, sure, give me, give them to me. But I reserve the right like at the mid season window to be like, it's not working. Get rid of his bum. [01:17:30] Speaker A: Well, I, I just, I'm curious if somebody like with a more experience would know how to maybe make this group of team, these guys work because they've been through that before or have been part of a club that have done that before. Quill's just so new at this. Yeah, especially at this level that I mean, Quill's got to go into a room like this and he's got to establish authority and gravitas and respect, expect. And that's hard to do when you've got an Alphabet soup that you've also at the same time got to figure out how you're going to put all these weird fitting pieces to fit together. And if a Bruce arena walks in the room, a lot of that is just immediately out the window. Oh, it's Bruce Arena. And Bruce says, all right, this is how we're doing it. XYZ and moves from there and I. And that's why I think the pairing of those two things is such a problem for Dallas. And we can probably always be because this is just how Dan Hunt allows everybody to run his business for him. [01:18:23] Speaker B: Unfortunately, with Acosta, like the, the times, it's falling apart for him. It's because people didn't give him the players that he wanted around himself. Right. He wanted out of Kansas City, sorry, Cincinnati, because they sold the players that he liked, you know, sold Vasquez, you know, didn't give him who he wanted. Same thing with D.C. if I remember correctly, like he was mad that like they didn't keep this guy or didn't get that. [01:18:43] Speaker A: No, D.C. was because PSG wanted to buy him and D.C. shut the door on that deal. [01:18:50] Speaker B: You're right. Well, you know, it's like. But you remember, isn't. Aren't. Doesn't he have the quotes from Cincinnati about like Chris Albright wasn't. [01:18:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:18:59] Speaker B: You know, it was a liar or whatever. And I'm sure it was all. It was all related to that kind of thing. So, like, you know, there's probably some cases like here where like, for example, you know, this is not point a finger anybody. But the picture that came out with him with Acosta and Padrino and that coach where the, the headline says, oh, you know, these are real tens. And if you know, you know, is like, well, that's like, that's like a sort of like a. This is who should be playing, who should be playing with him, you know, and we even heard talk from Quill early on about he. He was trying to get Acosta and Pun on the field at the same time, you know, but has not been able to. So, like a lot it comes back to these same things. Like to me, Acosta thinks he knows how the team should be playing more than he thinks the coach knows what the team should be playing. And so that's the root of the problem. I think that's why it's not ever going to be fixable, you know, because you're right. Acosta thinks he's more qualified than the coach. Then I think this is my read. I'm not putting words in his mouth, but the behavior is that, like, I know better than my coach of how this should be happening. That's how I see it. [01:20:03] Speaker A: Well, Eric Quill is not the one trying to pass out of three. A three man mark and turning the ball over and then standing there. I know all the time. By the way, who is tinier, Lucho Acosta or Maxi Morales? [01:20:19] Speaker B: It's close. I don't know. Lucho's legit. Five, three. I don't know. [01:20:25] Speaker A: I've. That other dude may have been smaller than Lucha. [01:20:28] Speaker B: Might have been. He might have been. He's tiny. [01:20:30] Speaker A: That guy's tiny too. And he's thinner. Yeah, that's crazy. He's a good player, though. [01:20:35] Speaker B: Very good. Yeah, you can play at that size if you've got really good core strength and balance. Can hit, take hits, fight them off, you know. [01:20:44] Speaker A: I like those and why I like. I like those second shirts, those second kits for the pigeons. That's a good look. [01:20:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. They usually have Good branding. [01:20:52] Speaker A: Okay. And by the way, I officially want to put on the record, I am so pleased that the club finally bought into the pigeon's nickname. Did you see what they did with the float I heard about the other day? So they, they, they put a big raft in the Hudson river and floated. Or was it the East River? I don't remember. One of the. One of the two rivers. And they floated this massive inflatable pigeon within an NYC FC jersey on it down the river and it was pretty great. So I'm glad they finally came to their senses and just bought into the whole pigeons thing. [01:21:24] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a good nickname. [01:21:26] Speaker A: It's a fantastic nickname. It's so good. It's really, really good. In fact, this, that's the other thing that happened this week that pleased me greatly is we had another soccer, a brand new American soccer club do proper American soccer branding as it should be done, as Dallas Trinity did, which is city name, Americanized team, club nickname. And then if you really have to do it, throw in your sports ID suffix of SC or FC at the end of it. So Denver Summit fc. I thought it was great. So there you go. [01:22:02] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a good name. Yeah. Good brand. Yep. [01:22:05] Speaker A: I agree. Everybody else, stick to that, please. All right, Buzz. Well, hopefully Dan's computer comes back to life for next week. [01:22:13] Speaker B: You want me giving my positive finisher? [01:22:15] Speaker A: Oh, yes. I'm sorry. Yes, please. [01:22:18] Speaker B: Justice Jones and Christian Guillen Lopez, who play for the FC Dallas U15s are. Have been named to the U15 national team for the CONCACAF championship. [01:22:28] Speaker A: Oh, that's fantastic. [01:22:29] Speaker B: So two young guys in that team from FC Dallas, so good luck to them positions. Justice Jones is a left back. Christian Guillen Lopez is a center back. And there probably will be two more kids in other teams. I have not seen the official announcement yet, but there's a kid from Mexico probably and a kid from Puerto Rico probably, and when they get announced, we'll give them a shout out to them. [01:22:52] Speaker A: All right, fantastic. See, everything's good now. I feel much better getting call ups for the kids. Love it. [01:22:58] Speaker B: Third Degree, the podcast is brought to you by you, our wonderful listeners, those of you that choose to support us on the Patreon patreon.com thirddegree if you like what we do on the web or the podcast, or our reporting on social media and all the great soccer and dfw, why not join us on our Patreon Third Degree, the podcast. [01:23:17] Speaker A: All right, well, everybody pour one out for Dan's computer and Buzz, thank you. Very much, my friend. [01:23:24] Speaker B: Oh, thanks for being here, man. Appreciate it always. [01:23:26] Speaker A: For sure. This is the best part of the week and we thank you to DFW soccer Curious fan you. We will speak to you next week on another episode of Third Party Degree, the podcast. [01:23:44] Speaker B: I kept waiting for Dan to do something. Oh, yeah, he's on here. [01:23:49] Speaker A: Third degree, the third degree. Ne podcast. Third degree, the third degree. Ne podcast. Third degree, the 3rd degree. Ne podcast. Third degree degree, the third degree. [01:24:04] Speaker B: Never. [01:24:04] Speaker A: Careful, Sam.