3rd Degree the Podcast #323

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Third Degree the Third Degree NEP Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree Degree the. [00:00:26] 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. [00:00:46] Speaker A: Well, hello there, Dallas Fort Worth soccer curious and aficionados alike. Welcome to another episode of Third Degree, the podcast. No, Dan is not here. Buzz and I are actually recording day early for a whole bunch of reasons and Dan couldn't do it. So it's just the two of us and there's not a lot going on anyway. So this will be a short one. This will be a shoddy. Right, Buzz? This, we'll knock this out in like 15 minutes. [00:01:09] Speaker B: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Every time you say that, it's like an hour and a half. But yeah, it'll be 15 minutes. [00:01:16] Speaker A: There he is, your hero, my hero, everybody's Hero, Editor, Founder, third degree.net and the original soccer influencer himself, Buzz Garrick. [00:01:23] Speaker B: One of the nice things about this podcast, Peter, is that it's just three people, usually three people that, you know, like to just talk soccer amongst themselves. And so we just talk soccer and it happens to be fill the air with lots of stuff. [00:01:38] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes. I'm going to go this way. First, Dallas plays Portland next. They hadn't played, obviously it did not play this weekend due to leagues cup or whatever scheduling ridiculousness was going on. And so that's what's coming up next. And that game is at 7:30 on Saturday. So we got a bit before then. Do you want to talk lineups or predict what you think they're going to do before we get into transfer window? [00:02:05] Speaker B: Yeah, a little bit. Let's talk about Portland first real quick. They beat K. Rotaro. Am I, am I saying that correctly? The Mexican team won nothing yesterday in leagues cup and they have Club America on Wednesday. And you know, I, I quickly looked up a couple of, you know, things in the paper on them just to see who was playing, what their writers up in that area thought about it and they rotated a bit yesterday. So probably with an eye on Kwartaro has was 0 and 2 or is now 02. Club America is doing a little bit better than that. So it looks like they probably have more of their guys ready for Wednesday. So you might see a little bit of, you know, rotation out of Portland, you know, when they come, when, when they end up playing SC Dallas, they are fifth in the league. So you know they can afford to rotate a bit, you know, when they're playing SC Dallas, but. So you probably won't see a full strength team but they're, they're close to 500 on the road as discussed last week. The same is in Dallas. Unless I'm. My mind is. [00:03:08] Speaker A: No, it's, it's here. [00:03:09] Speaker B: Yep, that's what my mom was telling me. I was making sure that was right and then. But you know, Dallas is only 28 and 2 at home. So this is not an easy game. We went over the schedule last time and this is not one that you can assume you're going to win. This is one you're going to really have to work to be able to win. So when we get to FC Dallas, you have a couple of questions up front. You know, there's no reason why it wouldn't be Peter Musa and Patrick Elgato and Logan Ferington who've done fairly well the last couple of games. However, Anderson Julio came off the injury report before, right before the last game, but then wasn't in the 18. But two weeks later, two weeks of training that might be enough that he could just walk right in and start. I'm not gonna bet on that because the other three guys were playing fairly well. But I certainly think that they'll try and get Anderson Julio in, you know, pretty early, if possible to try and push him towards being a starter. And then you get into interesting questions about who sits. Is it Logan Ferrington who's the more direct replacement kind of player? Or is it Paxton Delgado who's filling a little bit more of that Tenny type 10 type role that Okasa is not playing currently. And by the way, coming off last game, I would say Augusta shouldn't play again. If I'm Eric Will, that's the decision I'm making after he came in and derailed the team completely in the last game. As you saw, midfield's pretty obvious, you know, Ramiro and Kaik at this point. Like I don't think there's anyone like a legit or somebody else that's out playing those two guys in terms of the qualities needed for Quill's new three four three. You know, Logan, we'll talk about this just a minute. Far fans going away. So your left wing back's probably going to be Torquato, maybe That's Norris. Maybe Norris factors at left center back perhaps. But I think, I think more than likely Quill will still be in. Technically, we're alive for the playoffs. So I think you'll see the, the Irigide Ibiaga Abubakar trio with Shaq Moore with plenty of time to rest over these two weeks at right wing back. Now, couldn't you have an argument about whether you're actually alive or not? Because they probably need. What did I say it was? [00:05:32] Speaker A: They're in 12th. They're in 12th on 25 points. They're five points behind Colorado, who have. And you have a game in hand on them. [00:05:41] Speaker B: Yeah, but you have to, you probably have to get to 40 because Colorado's playing at 1.2 points per game. So they're going to hit 40 almost certainly. So you're going to have to get above 40, which means you need 15 points out of 10 games, which means you got to win five of 10. That's a tall ask. So like, so theoretically though, Quill might be saying mathematically we're alive, so we're playing veterans and going for it or whatever. I think this, you're at a point in which you might start looking at Alvaro and Norris like Norris at left center back and, and Alvaro Wright's center back with Regiday is the middle guy. We talked last week about communication. We talked about it a little fair bit actually, since your Getty has been hurt and my dumb brain forgot that he grew up in England. So he's perfectly, speaks perfectly good English despite the fact that his background is all these other countries. He actually, you know, spent a lot of time there. So he's perfectly capable of coordinating the back. You know, I, I think because they don't have a great lefty, center back has been left and Iaga's been in the middle. So, you know, at what point do you play for the future if you're Eric Quill? The. That's an interesting question. So otherwise I think it's pretty straightforward. I don't think there's a lot of debate about who's going to be in there in any of those spots against Portland. [00:06:56] Speaker A: What do you think the conversation is in the front office over the Lucha Acosta situation? I mean, they paid a lot of cash to get this guy. [00:07:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:06] Speaker A: Did we see some reports at the practice they held in the stadium that season ticket holders got to go to that he was being like, as they say, the body language wasn't optimum. [00:07:18] Speaker B: Yeah. He and Pedrinho came out of the locker room last for training together, yucking it up. And you know, again, you can't take a lot away from a short sighted kind of stuff they're doing where fans are allowed to watch. But you know, he wasn't necessarily with the first group and he wasn't necessarily looking like a guy who wanted to be there or a guy that wanted to be a leader. [00:07:39] Speaker A: So what do you think the con? Are they like, hey, look, you're the coach, you make the decision, or do you think he's under any pressure to play him? [00:07:45] Speaker B: Well, that's what they say they do. At the same time, you know, Eric Quill can read a MLSPA roster drop as well as anybody and knows exactly what the guy's getting paid. You know, and, and part of the conversations we've had is that because of his salary, Acosta has a lot more juice, there's a lot more push to play him. Like, why is our $4 million player not playing? You know, you're going to get that question from your co, your owner and your td. Padrino doesn't have that protection, so he's a lot less likely to be back in the mix. But, you know, they, we talked before the last game, we talked about the maturity that Quill and Costa both had to a certain point to get to where Acosta was back on the bench and came into the game. But then it was awful. It like completely killed the game, the team. So like, I instantly thought like, man, there's no reason to play Acosta anymore. Like, it just doesn't work without him. Musa scored five goals in three games when Akasa wasn't playing. So it's like, why would you play him? So the conversation has to be, I don't know that it is, but it really has to be a recognition that it's not right, that it doesn't work, you know, and, and we've said a million times we're not trying to be revisionist in our history here. We all thought this was a good idea, but it's not, it's not happening. So, you know, you can either sit around and stink for two or three years with this kind of salary load and this kind of player who seems to not want to be here, or you can, you know, move him on probably more likely in the next window because, you know, and not this one. But at the same time, the third option is to get rid of the coach and try and find a coach who can, who can coach up Lucho Casa. But they, you know, the Quill's Got him. Probably has more than. Certainly has a multi year deal. And they, and they just got him and they're making moves for him. They continue to make moves for him. So it seems like that's the guy they're betting on. So I think you're, you're at a point that, like. And I wrote in my window piece that because there's only two buyouts, you better use one of them. You have one left right now and you, and you have to use it by the end of the window, which is August 21st. So like, you better use it on either Acosta or Paxton. And I said Paxton because there still is a chance you can move Acosta, a small chance, but a chance that you can move him in the league or sell them to Argentina and then use the buyout this winner to make up the salary because nobody in Argentina will pay him 4 million either. So, like, you're going to have like. But you might be able to sell them or loan them to Argentina at, I don't know, a million. What do I know? But you'll have to eat that gap, that difference with your buyout. Um, but it can't be done. So I think you have to be thinking about that. You have to be thinking that's what's going to happen because it's, it's. This is just about as big a disaster with a single player as I can recall, other than Danielson. Like, is there a worse single mess? [00:10:43] Speaker A: No, I mean, they've really painted themselves into a corner. And again, we've said repeatedly it's not one we necessarily blame them for. No, because for all the things that we've talked about, it just hasn't worked. But they did paint themselves into a corner financially. Who's going to take Lucho Acosta, who's now run himself out of three straight teams, one of which in record, the last of which in a record amount of time is on 4 million bucks in salary. Dallas is going to have to. I mean, this is going to cost Dan Hunt so much money. Now in Dan Hunt money, it's probably not a big deal, but it's still an amount that's embarrassing to the club because they're going to have to eat the five. I mean, nobody's getting. Giving them five. Well, let me say this. Unless there are two other MLS clubs who suddenly in this window feel like they've got to have a Lucho Acosta to make a solid win. Now, MLS cup run, I. Who are, who are two teams that are going to get into a negotiating battle to take that deal over, I don't think. And to your point, who oversees outside of MLS has 4 million bucks a year for a guy who's 30, not. [00:11:57] Speaker B: In South America, Right? [00:11:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so now we've checked all those boxes off. So Dan Hunt's about to lose the 5 million bucks he just handed to Cincinnati. And he's about to lose whatever the buyout is going to cost him to buy out that contract, which is form the amount he paid him this year. And wasn't it at least another. Was it a one, an additional year with an additional optional year? Was that what it was? [00:12:21] Speaker B: That's correct. It's. It's through 20. It's through next season with an option. But you're right, the only other league that could afford him would probably be Mexico. But, you know, and there actually might be some great fit and synergy there. [00:12:31] Speaker A: Okay, so there'd have to be two clubs willing to do that because whoever, if there's just one, they're not giving Dallas what they want to to break even for this guy. So it's a, It's a bad situation all the way around. And I don't know how it gets better quickly. [00:12:49] Speaker B: Well, accounting wise, you have to consider the 5 million you paid for him a sunk cost. It's gone, right. It's out the window. You only can think about, have to think about as you make this decision now, what it costs you going forward, which is whatever's left this year and then next year's 4 million something, that's what you're really buying out. And the season is. Only has a third left, so it's not even a half of that. [00:13:10] Speaker A: I know, but that 4 million bucks next year represents about what, like one third? Like equal to 1/3 of their total wage, Bill. [00:13:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:20] Speaker A: Isn't it like at 15 or something? [00:13:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't remember this off top of my head, but it's huge. That's a huge salary. So, like, I think you absolutely 100 have to get that off your books. Unless you don't try to win. If you're not trying to win, whatever. But if you're trying to win, you know, you. They have a third DP spot, so they could go into next year and just eat that salary and have two DPS and just have a cost of doing nothing. But that's to me, that's crazy to. Because in terms of your MLS roster, remember a DP slot is only that right around. What is it, 550 600. I think it's like 600k right now, right? It's not the 4 million. The 4 million is just the Hunt's budget, you know. So like to them it's just a DP salary. So, okay, in a way that's the same as Ibiaga, who's a TAM player. It's the same number on your cap. So, like, you can make yourself think of it as no big deal if I eat that in salary terms, but if you're the owner, you're mad. You're eating $4 million, but you're going to have to eat it or you have to pay yourself. So you really want to try and work a deal. You want to get somebody to take some part of it, even if it's not all of it. Take part of it. Just like they did with Jesus Ferreira, just like they did with J.J. hermanez. Right. They had to use the buyout to eat up half of his salary, just like they did Frank Ojara when he went to Mexico. They'd use the buy to eat up half of his salary. So that's what you have to do. You have to look forward. You can't look backwards. And you have to admit that it's not right. And you got to do something. Now I understand why some people say wait to the winter. Okay, I can. That's fine. But you know, that means I think you need to do Paxton now. Because if you go into the winter needing to buyouts already, automatically, you're jumping. [00:14:59] Speaker A: Way too far ahead, way too fast. I'm not even there to the transfer window yet, Buzz. I know, I just. Hold on. I don't want you to burn your. I don't want you to burn, Burn your powder. Before we get to that part, just real quick about the Portland game, because I, I, you know, Dallas's poor home record is additionally marked by the fact that they keep losing games at home to teams at the end of lengthy road runs or whatever. And Portland's is also interesting because Portland will be coming off of back to back league cups games, the biggest one of which is Wednesday, three, four days earlier against Club America, which they're going to be all up for. Whether they win or lose that game isn't important. But then they got to get on a plane and travel to Dallas to play. That's a game Dallas has. I mean, that's a game in MLS the home team wins more times than not. [00:15:49] Speaker B: Yeah, and Portland's going to be looking past Dallas because after that, Portland has Cincinnati, San Diego, Minnesota, like Three really tough games. Yeah. So they'll be looking past Dallas. So like in terms of Portland, you're going to get Portland as weak as you're going to get them with the Wednesday game and possible rotation possibly looking ahead. But that doesn't mean that it's not a tough game because their road record is pretty good. You know, you're going to have to bring your A game. You're not going to roll in there with nothing and win this game. [00:16:17] Speaker A: Yeah, they've got, they really need to win Wednesday's game against Club America's. The format of Leagues cup really almost requires you to win all three of your group games to to progress and Club America's already lost their first one, so they're on the precipice of getting knocked out of this thing. Wait, they're playing tonight, aren't they? They're playing against Charlotte and they're tied right now. That's right. So I, I, my point being in all this is, is Dallas losing to Portland no matter where they are in the standings at home, with all of the minutia and circumstance around, it would be a super bad look, which just compounds the problems that Eric Quill has. [00:16:54] Speaker B: Losing at home's a bad look no matter what. Like, remember that prior to this season, Dallas hadn't lost a home game in like two years and they're just a mediocre team. Like home games should be won. You know, somebody tried to send me an article about how MLS is changing and how the road value in MLS isn't what it was, but because I'm an idiot, I lost the article. [00:17:16] Speaker A: I saw the headline, I need to go find it. [00:17:18] Speaker B: Like the league is changing. And I think in part it's because we're starting to see the development of these power teams. Like it used to be that there was so much parody that every home game really, really was a huge advantage. But now you have these clubs at the top of these leagues that are just winning home and away at a really good clip, you know? [00:17:37] Speaker A: Well, so Dallas has Portland. The Timbers come to Town Saturday 7:30 up at the project. All right, let's talk window, transfer window. And yesterday was the day that the word leaked that son is moving to LA from Spurs for somewhere between 20 and 25 million dollars. And the thing I was thinking about, Buzz is, is the rank and file Dallas fan have a reason to be upset, bitter, angry, frustrated, et cetera, et cetera. When a club like Miami goes out and gets DePaul or LA goes out and gets son of all people or some of these other deals that have gone down in this window while Dallas. Oh, by the way, for the Portland game, the one thing we didn't talk about is Deetson. We should talk about Deetson, if his availability for that game. Do they have a right to have a negative reaction to the fact that while everybody else is doing cool stuff like that, Dallas is out signing a guy who's playing in this Belgian second division and another guy, you know, a guy you used to have who's coming back from playing somewhere in Scandinavia. [00:18:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, and it's always coming back. That's hype. [00:18:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:50] Speaker B: Christ, yeah. That's huge. Yeah. You have the right to be upset. Look, as a paying customer, as a ticket buying customer, should they be upset, though? [00:19:01] Speaker A: Well, maybe that's the better question. Obviously you have a right to be upset. [00:19:06] Speaker B: Totally right to be upset. Yeah. [00:19:07] Speaker A: Should they? [00:19:08] Speaker B: You. I think as an FC Dallas fan, you need to have clear vision about who your owners are and understand the team. Because you're going to drive yourself crazy if you don't come into FC Dallas fandom with that understanding. You know, this club is not going to spend 25 million on Sun. You know, like, I get that people might want something like that, but like, having a desire for it is not the same as knowing that this ownership that owns this club will, will never do something like that. I. I don't. I don't know that that means that you shouldn't be mad. Because I think if it's what you want, I think you should demand what you want. You know, like, you people are allowed to be emotional. They're allowed to be thinking, why can't my club do that? But I still just think that, like, you have to be a bit pragmatic, I believe, as an FC Dallas fan, and temper your expectations in a sense, like know who the club is that you support. You know, have some understanding of where they fit in the sports world and where they fit in the MLS world and what their owners are like, you know, because it'll just make it worse for you if you don't. You'll just be pulling your hair out all the time, which is not. I mean, you and I have been here for 30 years. We're jaded. We know what it is. But yeah, people may not feel that way. [00:20:25] Speaker A: I think a lot of people, especially people, are relatively new to all this. All they see is that the owners of their soccer team also own the currently the most successful NFL franchise. And they think, well, then why isn't that happening? Here. And I think the part of that story and the context that gets left out is that Kansas City Chiefs fans sat around for 50 years. [00:20:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:47] Speaker A: While Lamar Hunt and his children, and then subsequently Clark Hunt and the family farted around with a really mediocre NFL team until they did two things. I hired Andy Reid and they lucked into Patrick Mahomes. Locked. Or however you want to say it. Let's give them credit. They had the wherewithal to draft and put those two things together and magic is happen. So don't. [00:21:13] Speaker B: Don't. [00:21:14] Speaker A: I. I wouldn't. For anybody who wants to complain about the disparity between the Chiefs and the Burn, that's only a recent deal. I mean, for the majority of the time that the Hunts have owned both of these things at the same time, it's, it's, it's been a poor run. I mean, actually there was a period of time where FC Dallas was a more successful, consistently more successful season by season team than the Chiefs were up until five years ago. [00:21:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Left. Yeah. I think, I think if you look at the Chiefs, though, I think they run the organizations in relatively the same way. Like if you, if you go look at the Chief's history and you read things about like game experience or quality of the franchise top to bottom or what it's like to play there or all these things, you'll see very similar reviews or ratings or whatever you want to call them. Just feel free to google them and go look them up. You'll find them very similar. Along the lines of those clubs, it's not like, it's not like they run the Chiefs like Mark Cuban around the Ma Mavs, where you try to make everything as luxurious as possible, or the Yankees just spend crazy money or the Dodgers these days, they run the Chiefs just like they run FC Dallas. They just have figured it out and have a really great coach and one really great player. You know, they probably were hoping that some, an academy kid was like, we're going to be there. Really great player like a Jesus or a Paxton. And then they just got to get the coach right. But they haven't been able to do it, you know, so, you know, somebody asked me today, like what. What I thought about what, why does Dallas never win anything? And I honestly think that's it. You know, it's the top of the organization. You know, some clubs are just run like LAFC and Miami are run and other clubs are not. So. [00:22:55] Speaker A: Oh, I fully believe that probably sometime in our lifetime at least. I'd like to think so the stars will align perfectly for a season and Dallas will fall into an MLS cup for the first time. It'll happen like it did for Colorado. You know, it just. Yeah, but they. Them being a consistently MLS cup powerhouse, especially as much as the league is changing with a lot of this money spending that's going on is. Is unlikely for sure. Okay, so you did write a big article. Everybody can go read it [email protected] talking about what you think the club should do for the window. [00:23:31] Speaker B: Yep. [00:23:32] Speaker A: Let forth, sir, the audio version. [00:23:35] Speaker B: There's a difference between what I think they should do and what I think they'll happen. Like, the first thing is what we talked about with the buyout. Like, because there's only two. It used to be one, but now it's two. I think you need to use one. Do one now on somebody. Something that, because you want to be able to have. I think that you have to. You have two things this winter you have to buy out and you don't want to use both of your bios and the name of yourself. So you have one now. It's expiring. You might as well go ahead and use it. So to me that means Paxton. Now, it's possible that there's some behind the scene minutiae with the union or something where someone will tell me you can't use it on entry player or whatever, but I don't know anything about that. As far as I know, there's no reason why you can't buy Paxton out. And as much as we love him, a million two for a guy hasn't played in two years really is, you know, that's just as bad as Acosta. And when you talk about a guy who played 55 minutes and then it's been out two months since, it's like, come on, man, just. [00:24:30] Speaker A: Worst knee bruise ever. [00:24:32] Speaker B: Yeah, don't feel bad for Paxton. He gets his money either way. That's the thing. That's the buyout is like, he's going to get his money. You know, if you really love the kid, then find a way to keep him around the club and employed. And if a miracle happens in two years from now at 27 also he's like, I'm back. Great, then we love him. Sign him, you know, put him on a 50k deal, whatever. Eat a Rasha, spot something if you really want him around. But get out of the 1.2 million and give yourself the flexibility. That's a, that's a big DP level salary that it's not just a tam. I mean, it is technically a tam, but that's high end tam. You got to do that. And then. But the, the real quandary now is, is there ability to do anything else? Like, I've been riding for three years to get a center back, and I still think that's true. But if you look at the moves. [00:25:21] Speaker A: They made, right, Buzz, they got a center back. Garage. [00:25:24] Speaker B: Another one. I need another one. Oh, both. Both Abubakar and Ibiaga are too deep in their career and get paid a lot of money. You know, maybe they think they need to wait for one of those deals to come off before they go get another guy. Okay, whatever. That's fine. [00:25:37] Speaker A: The gusto's not him. [00:25:38] Speaker B: Well, he might be in like three seasons, but, like right now they're playing three at the back, so you need one regardless. But even if it's Augusto, like, it's not gonna be a gusto like next year. Really not if you're trying to compete. If you want to wait three seasons, then, yeah, it could be a gusto. So you. But you need a guy. And. But the thing is, is that like, right now you're kind of looking at a zero sum game, right? And Carrera went out, they brought in a keeper. Sarver is a bottom roster supplemental player. He doesn't really count. Show left. Capus came in. Right now they technically have one open roster spot that belongs to Solly. He's coming back. [00:26:13] Speaker A: He is. So wait, we know for sure he's coming back? [00:26:15] Speaker B: He posted on his Instagram a picture of himself with a US flag and an arrow with soon. So he thinks he's coming back. You know, whether he'll be on the roster or not, it's a different question. But they have. They have one open spot that theoretically belongs to him. Now you can, you can always do some shenanigans with North Texas to open up a roster spot. So that's not a problem. Far Fan is unofficially has been sold. Bogart reported it done. I have no reason to doubt that. It's just a question when it gets announced. So basically that's the spot. When. When Far Fan goes, you'll basically have one pretty solid chunk of salary and one defensive spot available to which to do something, and you have two weeks to do it. So can they do it? Can they get a center back? Because they're not going to replace a left back. That's the whole point is that Toato and Norris cover you at left back. Yeah. That's why Far Fan, who. This isn't Anton Far Fan. This is good business. That's why Far Fan's going right. You have backup right back in Newman and you have got some guys in the pipe too at right back. So like you're short right now. That's because of injuries. So like get the center back. The only other option might be like to go get a big time central midfielder. But I think they'll probably see what happens with Capis and see how that goes, you know, so they have the spot. Once Farfan goes, they have a spot to do one legit solid, you know, because Far Fan's on roughly the same amount of money that Irigide is. And this winner, you can get out of Ibbie's money too. So, like, you have the ability. Okay, go do it. [00:27:45] Speaker A: I want to. Real quick, I just want to point out and have this discussion that at least the initial word. I don't know if this is official that Dallas is getting 2 million American dollars for Marco Farfan, not pesos dollars. Is that true? [00:28:02] Speaker B: I've only seen that report. That number reported one place and it wasn't an account with like 10 million followers. It was a much smaller account than that. So I don't know that I would bet my bottom dollar that they're getting 2 million for far Fan, but. [00:28:15] Speaker A: Because that would be remarkable. That would be remarkable. Yes. And it would prove that Andre Zenata can sell ice water to Eskimos. [00:28:24] Speaker B: Yeah, My, my guess, my, my expectation was about 500k. So if he pulls more than 500k, then that's a pretty good sale for Parvan, you know, especially because it was a player that at this point you don't really need here, you know, so. [00:28:41] Speaker A: Well, the other. I was thinking about this because we all know that Zenata clearly has proven himself as a seller of talent. And I was, I actually had put a poll. I was trying to find it. Here it is. [00:28:53] Speaker B: Yeah, he makes the money, he gets it in. [00:28:54] Speaker A: Well, I was putting a. You know, because it. I mean, it's. Dude, it's remarkable. Like 11.7 million for Alan Velasco. Yeah, I mean, there's a world where maybe that number is right on Far Fan. And then this season alone on two players, two player, one player who's got a knee injury. You still don't know what you're getting out of the guy you got almost $12 million for and a second guy who had been trending down for a while and it probably been used up a little bit. And you got 2 million for him. I mean, almost 13, 14 million bucks between those two would be a remarkable number. And then you go back, you go back and you start to think about other, I mean, the Brian Reynolds money he got. He got like 7.9 million for Brian Reynolds. [00:29:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:45] Speaker A: What was the other one I put in the poll, Pepe? Yeah, 19. I mean we all thought that was the most ridiculous amount of money for Ricardo Pepe at the time. I mean, you got to think of them in the context of the moment it happened and why those numbers, all of those numbers are truly remarkable and just continue to remind me that there is zero chance he's ever losing this job anytime soon. [00:30:10] Speaker B: Yeah. He's consistently gotten a couple of million more at least for everybody. Like of Alaska we thought would be eight when it was 12. It's like, oh my God, you have to do that deal. Pepe we thought, I thought was going to be 15 and he was 20ish. Reynolds I thought was going to be like 5 and he was like almost 7. You know, it's. And all these things include sell ons almost all times. [00:30:32] Speaker A: He got four for Tanner. [00:30:34] Speaker B: That sounds right. I don't remember exactly because that wasn't, I didn't look all these things up. But the only one that was low was Chris Richards. But his sell on is bonkers. And they've made just a boatload of money off of. Yeah. Richard Richards that they weren't, probably weren't expecting. Yeah. There's no question that his ability to sell and make money is off the charts. That's fine. The questions are about talent recognition and incoming and overpaying on incoming. Those are in the Mrs. That are like, you know, guys that he's raving about that are like, you know, swapping Romero in for Yara Mindy. It's like, you know, I, I don't know how you can watch Romero play and think that that was a good idea. You know, there's too many miss that this investment as a frontline starter and paying him such for Ibiaga, you know, for the last three years, which was at the. We said at the time was a terrible idea and still is a terrible idea. You know, Shaq Moore doesn't play any defense at all and he's making a lot of money for a right back. You know, he's not outplaying Ron or anyone else that's come through that position in the last couple years and probably making more money. So it's like some of those deals are not. [00:31:40] Speaker A: So do you, do you think they're done? [00:31:42] Speaker B: I do I, I think it's probably likely because we would have been. We would have seen some noise. Like it's impossible all these days almost to get no noise at all. Like the far fan noise. If it's inside mls, you can keep it quieter. So like they basically, once the far fan deal goes, if there's not something announced within like a day or two, then I don't think they're getting anything. I think they'll just sit on it until the winter, you know, because they, they really need to move out. We've just talked about they have 4 point something in Acosta, 1.2 in Paxton. You could probably throw in. I would throw in 700 on Ibiaga. You know, you're looking at like, what is that, like 6 million to clear, you know, that Solly's coming back. You know, it's just. I would. I wish that they had the center back lined up ready to go. But we know how they've missed on. [00:32:44] Speaker A: Yeah. It took them three years to find Ira Gede. [00:32:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And he's great, but remember, he was their second choice and there wasn't even a guy the year before, so like it took like three tries. So like they. For all I know, they're out there right now putting pen to paper on a guy and I hope that that would be. That would be great. But at the same time, I'm not sure that they agree with me that they need a center back. [00:33:03] Speaker A: When does the window close? [00:33:04] Speaker B: I believe it's the 20th. Well, it's something like the 21st or 24th. One or the other. It's that within a couple of. It's within a day, they're like basically probably the end of the. Whichever one of those is a Friday, probably. [00:33:17] Speaker A: Well, there's not a lot of the season left, so buying somebody now really is more about next season than this season. [00:33:22] Speaker B: It is. [00:33:22] Speaker A: So it is. And we'll see how that goes. [00:33:25] Speaker B: All right. [00:33:25] Speaker A: Very good. [00:33:25] Speaker B: Well, that's the other reason why you might sit on it is just because you want to see how it plays the last 10 games, presumably not playing Acosta, you know, and see where you are, see what your problems are, you know, because it's going to be a different dynamic without him. In my opinion, they should not play him anymore. [00:33:42] Speaker A: I bet Lucho is tons of. Just a bucket of fun on the bench when he's not starting a game. [00:33:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, you. I don't think you either. If that's the case, if you're not going to play him anymore, then you don't even put them on the ATM roster. You just let him sit in the stands because there's no reason to leave them over there pissed off because the cameras will keep showing him. You know, it'll just be awful. So. [00:34:01] Speaker A: All right, let's. Let's move on to other football clubs in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Dallas Trinity is very close. I think they're what, 20 something days away from starting season number two, and they had a friendly and Buzz was there in person. [00:34:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Their first game's on the 23rd. They're definitely in late preseason form. I believe they have one more scrimmage to go for sure, maybe two. They went on a little NWSL tour last week and played Gotham and Spirit, but you didn't see any of those scores reported. It's kind of weird. I didn't even know they were playing. They were out of town. But they beat SMB1 nothing. [00:34:39] Speaker A: Sorry, say that again. You said that really fast. They beat who? [00:34:42] Speaker B: SMU 1 nothing. [00:34:43] Speaker A: That okay? [00:34:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. SMU rotated in like 30 players over the course of the game. Trinity, basically, he played there starting 11, and then had like four subs, maybe five subs. You know, it's. It's pretty much who you would expect. The. [00:35:01] Speaker A: Is Lexi back? [00:35:03] Speaker B: No, I'll get to that. Just a second. They had a new center back in there who looked okay that she actually played half the game and central midfield. Their other good midfielder was not back from playing with African combinations. Her name is dropping out of my head right a second. But I talked to Charlie Neal and he told me that they're being really slow with M because they don't want to mess it up. They're being really careful because she is their star player, money player. [00:35:31] Speaker A: Do we know what that injury is? [00:35:33] Speaker B: Well, he's. He said to me, broken foot. But I looked at the article from when she got hurt and it says that it was a strained ligament. So which one of those two things is wrong? I don't know, but they're. They're trying to be careful with her because they don't want to have something go wrong and it be the whole season. They'd rather her come back late, you know, and be patient and don't. Don't strain it. So he said, you know, kid gloves, we're not really worried about it. Well, he. Tell me. He says that Charlie said there's. They're very comfortable with Chris Petrocelli starting the season as coach like we all predicted. [00:36:11] Speaker A: I'm sure they are. I'm Just how Petrocelli feels about it is a different thing. [00:36:14] Speaker B: He is not excited about that at all. But I think, like, you know, because the. Everybody else is in the middle of their season that, you know, colleges and NWSLs and whatever, they, you know, they're probably content. I would guess they'll maybe wait till the middle of the year or so. Those seasons are winding down and see what's out there. Perhaps the contrary to information I had previously gotten. They're wearing the same uniforms as last year, same kits, no change. Well, one change, there's going to be a sponsor on the front, but other than that, no change, which is a bummer. I was. I. I had been led to believe that there was going to be a new kit this year, and that's not the case. [00:36:53] Speaker A: I kind of like those kits. I'm kind of glad they're not changing, actually. [00:36:57] Speaker B: I don't like that. I like the color scheme. I don't like that they're not cut for women. They're not a women's uniform. They're a men's uniform being worn by women, which is, I suppose, nothing wrong with that. But they just look kind of boxy and lame. They don't have juice. They're not cool. What else? Of the players, that of the new players, one I really liked was Kylie Delaney, who came in at right back, and she can fly. I really thought that was signing player. Something to look forward. Bruno Guarda. For those of you FC Dallas or SMU fans in the past, Bruno Guard is working with them as a skills coach. He has a little company that does soccer skills, does clinics and does coaching. They brought him in originally because Tavara Bolt doesn't speak English. She's Brazilian, so she only speaks Portuguese. So they. They were like, hey, Bruno, come in and translate. Hey, while you're here, start doing some skills coaching. So he's been helping out with that great player. I don't know. You know, people don't remember. Bruno Guada. Really good player, really skillful player, knows his stuff. [00:38:00] Speaker A: So that's SMU great. [00:38:01] Speaker B: SMU great. Yeah. Played for Shellis, Played for FC Dallas under Shellis. Traded too much to get him, but, you know, whatever. That's a whole different story from back in the day. So he was. [00:38:13] Speaker A: He was more of an SMU great than a Dallas great. [00:38:16] Speaker B: Well, yeah, we were slashing a little bell, but they did pay a bunch to get him. I'll have to make that joke about. But the other. The other news on the kit is that I'm Being told that they're working up something special for the October game against Club America. So we might see something fun, cool with that game. In terms of kit, I'm told it might be fun. So. Okay, not official there, just a little vibe. I was given a little vibe check. [00:38:41] Speaker A: And the 20th, the. The season starts in 20 days. Is it a game at the Cotton bowl or is it a road game. [00:38:47] Speaker B: At the Cotton bowl against Spokane Zephyr? Well, yeah. So right out of the gate, fun. But Thornton's there. Brooks. Oh, sorry, sorry. She got married. Wisner still captain. Davidson in the back is still there. Bago's still there. Bolt, you know, lots. Most everybody, most of the core is back, particularly offensively. I still think Hitson looks like she's the left back going forward. Right back. So. Good question. Oh, that's another thing. He told me I really like Dorsey last year and I. And I wondered why she wasn't brought back. And he said it was just. She decided it was time to move on with life. You know, sometimes you see these players that are not on like the tier one level will say, you know what, I'm cool, I'm good. Yeah, I'm playing. I'm gonna. So even though she's relatively young, she was her choice to move on and they did like her. So, like, right back is wide open in terms of who's going to be there in this game. They played four at the back at the end of last year. They were at a three at the back, so. And I think whether Misimos are playing or not may alter those sort of tactical questions. But Cameron Lancaster still there, looking good. So lots of solid pieces coming back from last year with a couple of new interesting questions and bodies going on and everybody should go out and enjoy Trinity. [00:40:00] Speaker A: Cotton Bowl, North Texas played and in the crayon it says they got wrecked. [00:40:07] Speaker B: Yeah, they got 4. 4 to 1 by rapids to. They are playing a 3. 4 3. Like FC. The first team, which is how you know that their first team is. Well, it's one way. You know, the first team is really serious about it because. Or North Texas was following them and it's not working really well. They've really struggled the last few games in that shape. John G. Continues to make choices to me that are a bit hard to understand. The emphasis is definitely from. I'm going to say this from the choices he's making. His emphasis is definitely on defensive effort, toughness, grit. The. The same like Nico grinding out kind of results thing. And I don't. I don't get it. He's using a left back as a left wing. He's playing, you know, these Euro retreads that are tough in fighting battle, but there's nothing really special about them. Like, some of the kids that are 17, 18 years old have these. These things that make them exciting in terms of someday being something for FC Dallas, because they have something special about them. They can make special plays, they can do exciting things, you know, Tariq Scott, Caleb Swan, Alura, you know, Diego Garcia. Sam Sarver scored again, still leads the league in scoring. So I'm not 100% sure what's going on, except that it seems like he's really, really concerned about grinding out points. And I'm like, that's not what North Texas should be about. But then again, they lifted that trophy the other day, so everyone's feeling good about all that crap. [00:41:43] Speaker A: I will say the. The. The mockups of the new Mansfield Stadium and the surrounding walkable area looks great. [00:41:54] Speaker B: Did you see that story today that there's a $2.5 billion AI hotel in that facility, in that complex? [00:42:01] Speaker A: No. [00:42:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. [00:42:03] Speaker A: What's an AI hotel? [00:42:05] Speaker B: It's a. Well, you'd have to read the article. It's a hotel that has all this AI built into it, that has sensors and reads this and that and biometrics and, like, it sounds really. [00:42:15] Speaker A: Vibrating beds and condom dispensers. [00:42:19] Speaker B: I think, theoretically, it's supposed to, you know, read you and your. Whatever it knows about you and tailor your experience, tailor your room, tailor the temperatures, tailor. [00:42:31] Speaker A: You know, it's like, kill me now. [00:42:33] Speaker B: I know. [00:42:35] Speaker A: The pictures look great. [00:42:36] Speaker B: They do. [00:42:37] Speaker A: One of the kids. [00:42:38] Speaker B: $2.5 billion on a hotel. That's insane. [00:42:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Tramel, one of the kids that kids. One of the young men that occasionally runs the board for the Kick around, lives in Mansfield, and he says he's walking distance from where they're going to build. Where they're building this thing. And he's a soccer fan, but he's all in on going to North Texas games when they're playing over there. He's so excited that they've got a team playing in Mansfield. So I'm excited for him. And the pictures look good. I mean, to be honest, there's a lot about those mockups that make that stadium look nicer and more inviting than what we've seen for the upgrades at Frisco. [00:43:16] Speaker B: I know. Same with Farrington Field. The Bacchus we saw for that look awesome. [00:43:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:22] Speaker A: Hey, you know, I meant we should probably Say, on the last episode of this podcast, we asked the question, are they actually doing anything in Toyota Stadium in terms of the project? And then now it turns out that they are. Dirt is being moved, holes are being drilled, machines are moving around. [00:43:39] Speaker B: Peter. Clearly they listen to the podcast and responded, oh, wait. [00:43:42] Speaker A: Oh, Buzz is listening. We must get to work now. [00:43:46] Speaker B: Total coincidence. But it was just funny that, like, the next day they started digging holes. [00:43:50] Speaker A: Or whatever, you know, people started talking about. That's the other thing that came out, which was the schedule for next season. [00:44:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:44:01] Speaker A: For Dallas. [00:44:02] Speaker B: Yeah. It's a bit bonkers, isn't it? [00:44:05] Speaker A: Oh, like, why even bother with next season? Because. All right, so those who don't know. [00:44:11] Speaker B: Me not play it well. [00:44:13] Speaker A: I mean, like, let everybody just set your expectations for the 2026 season for very low, because there's two things going on. There's a stadium project that's going to require them flipping from one side of the stadium to the other midway through the season and to the World Cup. [00:44:32] Speaker B: Right. [00:44:33] Speaker A: So because of the stadium project, Dallas is going to have to do kind of like some other MLS teams done have done in the past, where they're going to have to play a schedule that accommodates the switch from everybody sitting on the west side of the stadium to the new, supposedly new east side of the stadium. [00:44:54] Speaker B: Correct. [00:44:55] Speaker A: And. And so the first half of the season is going to be loaded up with games at home. [00:45:01] Speaker B: Yeah. February to May, and then there's a. [00:45:03] Speaker A: Break for the World Cup. [00:45:04] Speaker B: Yep. [00:45:05] Speaker A: And then when they come back, the last half of the season is essentially exclusively away games. [00:45:14] Speaker B: The first part of it is. Okay, yeah, so here's the schedule. So they're. They're going to start the season in, quote, early May, early February, which, by the way, side note, early February, if that means, like February 2nd, that means camp opens mid December, six weeks out. If early February means the 14th, then camp opens January 1st. I'm just saying that's earlier than before. So February to May, Dallas will have eight to 10 home games in that window. And then the World cup break is May through mid July. Two and a half months, MLS shuts down. And then when they come back in mid July and August, Dallas will go on the road and play like a six game or more road trip. Well, I'll be one trip, of course, and then that during that time is when the seats will flip. And then in September on, Dallas will play their remaining seven to nine home games, depending on how many they get in prior to the start. [00:46:18] Speaker A: I heard a story. So Some friends of mine have been season ticket holders dating back to the Cotton bowl days. And they have historically sat in the very towards the front, in the dead center on the. On the east side. [00:46:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:31] Speaker A: And they've had. And I think they may buy more than five seats, like maybe seven seats. It's a big family. [00:46:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:41] Speaker A: And I was talking to one of the family members the other day and. And they now are sitting somewhere very different from on the. On the west side than they normally sit. Like they're not sitting down on the front row or front 10 rows or whatever it is. [00:46:57] Speaker B: Okay. [00:46:57] Speaker A: And he said that they're afraid that when this adjustment comes next season, because the tickets for those people who sit in essentially the same section on the west side pay a lot more money for their seats than they do for that same section on the east side. Until the stadium is done. They will get bumped from their seats upon the move to the other side of the back to their. Their side of the stadium because people are paying more. I mean, it's the silly. It's the craziest thing I've ever heard. And so now they're not. I mean, obviously, I think they're like, well, wait a second. Those are our seats. We've had them since the stadium opened. [00:47:42] Speaker B: That's the language in this. Because this all came from a webpage that's sent out to see these dig holders. This isn't like. We're not making this up. No, it's still out there on the web. And it says there in the language that, like, we can't guarantee that you're going to get your same feedback because it's like everyone's got to go to one side. So. Yeah. Yeah. [00:47:58] Speaker A: And if you're pay. If somebody's paying, you know, $6, 100 section 106 money, they're gonna get the. Their priority on the. On the. At least until the crazy. It's the craziest price. People are gonna write some sort of business thesis about this project someday. And whether it was successful or not. [00:48:21] Speaker B: Yeah. It's going to be fascinating for sure. [00:48:23] Speaker A: All right, let's move on. Texoma. They tied Charlotte Independence, which is obviously, as we've talked about, talked about before, coached by former Burn coach Mike Jeffries. [00:48:35] Speaker B: Yeah, this was a bonkers of a barn burner of a game. It ended up three, three. But Tex. Texoma went down. I think they scored first and then they gave up three unanswered and came charging back in the second half. And they had two guys score in like the 72nd and 82nd minute or something like that. A third minute. Yep. Luke McCormick and Brandon McManus got those goals. So like on the road, like it was at FC Dallas. Road, like charge back from down, down 3:1 to tie it up. You know, it was a. It helped that the. The guy at the other. Some. Sorry. Somebody on the other team got a red card at the end of the first half. There was like two minutes of AD time and it ended up turning into eight minutes of our time because of this violent tackle and straight red the guy got. So, you know, then up, up a man. They. Sorry. It took some up a man managed to come back on the road. So cracker of a game. If anyone wants to watch it on YouTube, it might still be out there or. Certainly the highlights are so fun to see. And I don't remember who they got. Oh, they got FC Naples next. Which former North Texas and FC Dallas academy player Breck Evans plays for them. So a little small connection there. [00:49:47] Speaker A: Let's see, Atletico, Dallas, not much going on there. They've got some promotional thing they've got going on. [00:49:54] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's. I've never heard of a 1v1 tournament before, but I, I looked at the list of players and it's actually some people that I've heard of like a couple of futsal guys. So like some legit talent in terms of like, if, if like you or I to go out there, we would get wrecked, embarrassed. [00:50:11] Speaker A: Speak for yourself, Buzz, dude. [00:50:13] Speaker B: Like, these are national team futsal players. They're gonna kill you if you tried to do this. And then like the, the influencers they have playing are like soccer Dave or whatever is like the first one they announced. I was like, so they're gonna have like social media people in this tournament against like legit professional futsal guys. Guys that are like in the TST tournament and stuff. So like, okay, I'm sure it's all going to be fascinating, but I don't know what it's all about. Not my bag, but if you're into that kind of thing, maybe it's a. Maybe it's a social media event or something. I don't know. But. [00:50:47] Speaker A: Well, good luck to them. I will see how it plays out over the. The course of. When does that happen and where are they holding it? [00:50:55] Speaker B: I don't have the details of this thing. I just thought it was so crazy. [00:50:57] Speaker A: Go find [email protected] yeah, I'm sure that. [00:51:00] Speaker B: They'Ll be happy to tell you. I just have never heard of a 1v1 tournament before. So I'm fascinated to see what it looks like and how it works. [00:51:08] Speaker A: Nuts. So our friends Garrett and Steve and Ryan over on the FC Dallas podcast did a bit. Are you aware of this bit that they did? I don't know, the five A side bit. [00:51:19] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I saw it. [00:51:21] Speaker A: So Garrett, Ryan and Steve each got to pick a 5 a side team made up of FC Dallas/burn greats. [00:51:31] Speaker B: And. [00:51:33] Speaker A: I thought this was an in. This actually was an interesting experiment. [00:51:39] Speaker B: Yeah. The players were based on their form in their prime for. Right Dallas. [00:51:44] Speaker A: Right. Not, not 57 year old Mark Dodd as a goalkeeper today. [00:51:48] Speaker B: But not 24 year old Hugo Sanchez for Real Madrid. No, it was like what they look like. Flavored house. Yeah. [00:51:56] Speaker A: So. So. And this is, I actually think this is an interesting exercise for people who are relatively new to the team because now you can really get back into the, the, the. The deep and wonderful history of some of the really cool players that have played for Dallas over the years. So Garrett had. Well, I'll start with Steve. Steve's list I thought was interesting. Steve has been doing this longer than you and I have. If anybody knows his, his history, it's the dean, Mr. Steve Davis. So he had Carlos Ruiz, Alon Suter, Ira Gide, Paxton Palm Call. And in goal he had Dario Salah. Now I don't know how they got to do. I don't know if they had like a draft. They must have. Ryan had. By the way, I got to actually listen to them on the Friday night game on the broadcast. They did really, really well. Ryan in particular. Ryan. Keep, keep your ears out on Ryan. Peter Moussa, Morrow, Diaz Breck, Shea, Matt Hedges. And pause. Okay, okay. And then Garrett Little baller. Garrett Pick. Jason Christ, David Ferreira, Michelle Ryan Hollingshead. And in goal, the great Mark Dodd. [00:53:13] Speaker B: So yeah, Dario Salah. [00:53:14] Speaker A: I said Steve had Salah. [00:53:16] Speaker B: Steve has Allah. Yeah, yep, yep, yeah, yep. [00:53:19] Speaker A: So who's, who's winning a five aside with that setup buzz Team Garrett. Yeah, he doesn't have any defenders on his team. [00:53:29] Speaker B: Five aside, you don't need defenders. Both his defenders can score from anywhere on the field. He has a keeper with really good feet. [00:53:37] Speaker A: So here's the thing. I think the problem where your argument falls a bit apart is on Steve's team because they have little Pogba in Uruguay Day playing. So while Eric Day is a defender, that's a dude, I think that can carry a ball and hit a ball for fair piece and also defend the 5 aside. [00:53:59] Speaker B: Is super small tight space nifty on the ball. Like I just think that, I think that Michelle and and Holly said would play enough defense and can literally score. Like every one of Garrett's guys can score from anywhere on the field with the, with a moment's notice in the ball at their feet, you know and the keeper that can has good feet as well and really good tight space reactions, you know. So like I think like if you're talking about trying to play in a big open huge real soccer space, then his team wouldn't win. But I think if I was Saudi would win. [00:54:31] Speaker A: So good solid P1 I think to both the kick around and this podcast. Mark Spence replied to the tweet with this awesome answer. He said I'd like to answer this as though I was Peter. And he picked for me obviously Ted Ek, Ariel Graziani. [00:54:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:51] Speaker A: Zarco, Bobby Ryan. And then he said goalkeeper's tough. Maybe Peter, Peter would pick Jeff Cassar. And I had to respond to him. No. If Mark Dodd's not available, my number two pick is the one and only Garth Lagerway. But the Garth Lageray with cornrows. That's it. [00:55:10] Speaker B: Right? Right. [00:55:11] Speaker A: I don't want any other Garth log away. I want the Garth that was wearing cornrows and that's my goalkeeper and my five aside. And I think they kick everybody's ass upside down and sideways. [00:55:22] Speaker B: No, no way. The team is terrible. [00:55:25] Speaker A: That team is awesome. [00:55:27] Speaker B: It's awesome in your heart, I will give you that. Well who of the three guys that really did it, who did you have? You had Steve. [00:55:35] Speaker A: I, I was really torn cause I think you make a compelling case but I think Uruguay is a better small sided player than you think than you're giving him credit for. [00:55:43] Speaker B: No, I, I, I hear he's a pretty good small side player. I just don't think that, I don't think he brings what would really pay off in terms of like, like if you've ever gone to first team training enough, they do a lot of this thing where they put really small space fields but with full size goals. Yeah, right. And there's an ability in those spaces that this ability like, like, like a tattoo kind of guy was spectacular. And those Jason this instant turn and blast from anywhere anyhow. Like defenders that can score everywhere. Like a guy like Hedges for example, not really good in that kind of space. Anyone that needs like a setup touch, not really good in that kind of space. And you have just with, with Garrett's team. I just thought that you had guys that were too explosive across the board and then like in there and the guys that if you say, well, they're limited in their mobility. Small space, man is tiny, that drops away. [00:56:45] Speaker A: I. On Garrett's team, Michelle, I think is the, this is a very strong use of the word, the liability. Although he gives them the free, the, the set piece, skill set with the left foot. [00:56:56] Speaker B: But he played professional indoor futsal too. It's like he's the one guy in there that actually has done that. [00:57:02] Speaker A: That's true. I had forgotten that. The other thing that I think gives Garrett the advantage is that he's got Mark Dodd who at least in my feeling is the best in that sport. Small sided because Mark was so good at the MLS shootout. [00:57:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Super quick, tight space reactions and really. [00:57:18] Speaker A: Good at coming out and challenging for a ball and being brave. I, that, that, you know, Dario just ended up punching somebody in the face. So. [00:57:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean Dario had really great feet for a keeper. I mean, Steve's team is really close. I mean I, I barely gave it to Garrett. To me, Ryan's is the worst team and he won the vote because everyone has recency bias with Musa and Mar Dias. But like I thought Garrett and, and Steve's teams were very, very close and I just barely gave Garrett's the nut. [00:57:44] Speaker A: See, I, I actually wonder how many people who are fans of this team in 2025 remember who Morrow Diaz is. [00:57:51] Speaker B: Well, it might be all better. Musa. [00:57:53] Speaker A: Well, it could be Peter Musa and Martin. Pause. [00:57:55] Speaker B: Yeah, fair, right? Yeah, well, consider that. Pause. His feet are horrible. That's his biggest weakness. Right. So he's a terrible 5 a side keeper. That's an awful choice. [00:58:03] Speaker A: And I also watched Brek Shea play seven aside, as literally as recently as a couple of months ago. So he wasn't bad. But in this, in this collection of people, I just don't know if. Well, no, I guess we're looking not. Okay. We're not looking at current Breccia. We're talking about heyday Brecc. [00:58:18] Speaker B: Even then Brech Shea's a runner. Like he needs. That'd be like putting. That would be like pitting, picking Fabian Castillo. It's like, no, give me Ramon Nunez if you want to go. [00:58:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:58:27] Speaker B: Or Toha maybe somebody like that in small spaces like, you know, Hedges or Goodson. Those are bad choices. [00:58:33] Speaker A: I really did. I, I didn't spend a lot of time. I tried to think if There was another five guys out of the entire collection of 30 years that I would put in here legitimately as a 5 and I. There's probably. I'm sure I could do it if I really sat down and thought about. I'm just curious if you came up with a different five. [00:58:57] Speaker B: Well, I, I would have to look at it, but I would tell you right out of the gate, Zach Lloyd. [00:59:02] Speaker A: Zach Mark Santel. [00:59:04] Speaker B: Mark Santel, a wide player, but super good with the ball at his feet. I definitely would go. I definitely would pick Zach Lloyd as one of my defenders. I would consider. I mentioned Juan Toa already in small space. No, I, I was thinking more like maybe Jose Lisa Vaca. Yeah, I'm trying to think of strikers. [00:59:29] Speaker A: I'm thinking. I want to make sure I. Not Raquel. I'm talking about the guy that they brought in that they thought was an attacking or a holding mid and turned out to be a. An attack. The deep lying playmaking guy. [00:59:40] Speaker B: Yeah, something with a peep. [00:59:42] Speaker A: No, no, not, not Pineda. I'm talking about like in the last three or four years. Oh, he came in and Ricarte. Yes. Yeah, Riccarte I thought would be a really nice play. [00:59:52] Speaker B: I was thinking Blas Perez, quick trigger, played some indoor. You know, maybe I'm like, I really would need to sit down with like the all time roster really to do this justice. But you know, I can, I can think of a couple of guys that would really excel in those small space, you know, Oscar obviously could be good. Perhaps Jesus Paxton for sure. Well, there. Somebody picked him. Maybe on Jesus. I was gonna say Simo Vallecari, perhaps. I'm trying to think of like guys who were. Could operate in tight. Like it's the kind of thing I really would need to break down. [01:00:27] Speaker A: But it's a fun game. I, I enjoyed it. That was, that was cool stuff. Okay, Buzz, anything else? [01:00:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Strangely, Dallas Athletico has qualified for the opening qualifying stages of the US Open cup through the Metroplex Premier League. Say what you notice, I said Dallas Atletico and not Athletico Dallas. [01:00:49] Speaker A: Oh, that's right. There is already a Dallas Athletico amateur team that plays in. I think they play in dsa, don't they? [01:00:57] Speaker B: I thought it was the Metroplex Premier League, but they have this. Dallas Atletico has qualified for the regional first round of next year's U.S. open Cup. Like, like Foro has done. Like Rados has done. So then the next up and somebody sent me this tweet and they're like, oh my God, Athletico is going to be at the cup next year. No, wrong Athletico. Different team. But it's really funny because it's, it's Dallas Athletico and not Athletico Dallas. Slightly different. But, you know, it still made me laugh that I thought people might get a fun kick out of the idea that it was really. That it was the same team, you know, and be and react appropriately, but just a fun little bit. [01:01:37] Speaker A: All right, very good. I think we did it. Look, we did an hour buzz. [01:01:41] Speaker B: Yeah, of course. Of course we did. [01:01:44] Speaker A: We'll never short the curious. [01:01:46] Speaker B: No. [01:01:47] Speaker A: Even if we have to use other people's content to achieve it. [01:01:51] Speaker B: Oh, Drew Moore. Drew Moore might be a good defender in five side. Solid feet. Yeah. [01:01:56] Speaker A: Okay. All right, very good. Well, we'll just sit here and twiddle our thumbs, see if the team does anything between now and next week and they'll play a game and hopefully that'll go better than it has all season long. [01:02:08] Speaker B: Yeah. And fans, I think, are probably gonna mostly be interested in, like, what happens in this window. And I think far Fan is a tipping point. Like once far fan goes through, they would have the easy wherewithal to add a relatively thick contract, like a TAM style contract or something similar like an irigoti irrigated, excuse me, south contract. So there's a chance, even though there's only a couple weeks left. It's, you know, the fact we haven't heard a lot of smoke means it's probably not. But you know, you never know. Okay. 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 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. [01:02:58] Speaker A: Well, excellent, Buzz. Very good. Well, hopefully Dan will rejoin us next week. Stuff. [01:03:05] Speaker B: Busy man, busy man. [01:03:06] Speaker A: Very, very busy. Very busy. All right, very good. Well, thank you, Buzz. Appreciate it, dude. [01:03:12] Speaker B: Thanks, man. Thanks as always for being here. [01:03:14] Speaker A: Yes, and thank you, Dallas Fort Worth soccer aficionado and curious alike. We will speak to you next week on another episode of 3rd D. Read the podcast, then come back. 3rd degree, the 3rd degree podcast. 3rd degree the 3rd degree NE podcast. 3rd degree the third degree Ne podcast. 3rd degree the third Degree Nearby. [01:03:49] Speaker B: Sam.