3rd Degree the Podcast #331

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah. 3rd degree, the 3rd degree NEP podcast. 3rd degree the 3rd degree NAP podcast. 3rd degree. The 3rd degree 3rd degree. [00:00:26] Speaker B: The podcast is brought to you by our wonderful listeners who support us on Patreon patreon.com thirddegree if you like what we do on the web, you like what we do on this podcast, let's be honest. If you're here listening, then you're our audience. You're the people that make this thing work. And without you guys, this podcast and this website probably wouldn't even exist. So thank you for your support. Why not join [email protected] and enjoy the show? [00:00:50] Speaker A: Well, hello there, DFW area soccer curious fans. Welcome to another episode of Third Degree, the podcast. He is here again with his glowing blue microphone and bushy beard. It is Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:01:06] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh, it is. [00:01:08] Speaker A: Your beard's bushy. You just realized you're just dawning on you that your beard is bushy. [00:01:14] Speaker C: I didn't even know it was there. [00:01:15] Speaker A: Oh, he don't even. It's. It's. And your hero. My hero. Everybody's Hero. Editor, Founder, third degree.net and the original soccer influencer himself, Buzz Carrick. Coming, Buzz. [00:01:28] Speaker B: Peter, I enjoy how you came in like a wrecking ball today. Very efficient. Let's do this thing. [00:01:33] Speaker A: Let's knock this mother out. [00:01:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:36] Speaker A: All right. So, Buzz, I'm just going to say it straight up front. All I want out of this team anymore is to be entertained. I don't care if they win. I don't care if they lose. I just want to be entertained. And you know what? 22 in Portland was a crazy good, entertaining game of soccer at any level. For whatever it was, it was a fun watch, and I dug it. And I know some people are going to be disappointed. Dallas didn't just outwin out, you know, outright win the game. But you know what? Quill has this group of players. He's. He's making lemonade, and he's got them playing as a team, and they're fun to watch. And I'm okay with that. Dallas, too. [00:02:16] Speaker B: Yeah, they scored three of the four goals. Ramirez header was an absolute banger of a on goal. But, yeah, they play some fun. Sagar. I mean, you know, it. It helps that everybody is on the same page now and has been for a while. You know, when you get a cohesive team and you get. And I mentioned this in my burn, like, you know, when you have. You're down to one guy that gets paid a lot of money compared to everybody else, you know, one star player, if you will. Everybody else. But you, you see a lot of camaraderie there. There's not a lot of, like, people scowling at better Musa. I mean, those hugs are all the way around. And I think it's because, you know, Musa works hard defensively for his teammates and. And the cool system is. Uses a lot of effort and a lot of work and a lot of people working hard. And when you guys are all. When those guys are all pulling for each other and things are happening in a positive way, everyone's having a good time and. And they've managed to find a way to score enough goals going forward, and they are usually fighting pretty hard defensively. And that's pretty entertaining soccer, Dan, did. [00:03:18] Speaker A: You think it was enjoyable and fun and entertaining? [00:03:21] Speaker C: I mean, I've enjoyed a lot of the season, so, yeah, especially. Especially that game, you know, shame they. Shame luck didn't quite land on their side and get the win. But how many times in. In history has FC Dallas gone to Portland and led in xg, for example? They. They really had the fight about them. [00:03:44] Speaker A: It was quite a remarkable game. The thing that is noticeable to me that is. That is significant. And the reason why I have hope for what is going on moving forward is that Quill clearly, once he got whatever it was he needed to get out of the way he was, he's able to actually take. This is the thing we used to talk about with Perea all the time, which is Perea was making lemonade out of a group of lemons. He only has one dp. He's got a bunch of guys making a lot of money that either can't or don't participate or, you know, and he's actually got this team playing in a way that I could tell you, I think finally, for the first time this season, kind of what they're good at and what they're trying to do. [00:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I think you got to give him some credit. And it took quite a while and obviously Acosta was a big hang up on that. But Quill constantly. And I think he's pretty good at figuring out a way to make his team succeed. He's even mentioned that a lot of his teams this happens, that over the course of the season, he tinkers with them and tinkers with them until he finally figures out how they work best and then he gets success towards the end of the season, and that's definitely the case here. Now, obviously Acosta, in that the Ill fit of that was a big hang up on that. But the way they play now, the three at the back or, or five at the back if you prefer. Unless you're watching the broadcast and then they Insist It's a 4 even though it hasn't been a 4 two months, you know, you. He's figured out a way to solve issues, he's figured out a way to solve problems and notably in the back, the bleeding goals. He has not had a lot of really functional wings, so he's ended up with a two striker system. You know, I think over the winter we talked about, I certainly talked about how Logan Farrington had made Jesus Ferreira expendable and it probably took Quill a while to figure out that meant that he needed to start the guy. And even though he's not an ideal wing, he's the right guy to be on the field with Musa and some of the other guys that are out there. So, you know, Cabbage coming in was a big part of fixing what was ill in the midfield, you know, and, and moving some guys out of position. Bernie's not a wing back. Romero probably isn't really a wing back. Shaq Moore certainly isn't a left center back. So he's making these pieces work in a way that's, that's getting some results. I mean, is this the kind of thing you want to have like in a. For a complete season as you build your way like and try to get to the top of standings? No, because it's not, you know, regardless of the short term success they're having now you got a bunch of guys sort of playing out of position and right this minute they're relatively healthy, that's working in their favor. If you were in the, the really rough part of the season with six or seven guys out injured, as you've often had with this team in the last decade, you'd be in trouble. But for now it's working and it makes me really excited that they've got a guy who can take a bunch of disparate pieces which, let's be honest, that's the way this team is built and that's the way this team has been built for about a decade and has managed to figure out how to win it with it. So it makes me happy that and positive and, and to see that come together. And I'm now, I'm actually hopeful that each season going forward he'll be able to add two or three or five pieces that'll more play like he actually wants to play and maybe Within a season or two, we might see him actually get to put out the team he would really like to put out, so that would be exciting. [00:07:07] Speaker A: I also found the late substitution that I. It took me a couple minutes to sort out what he had actually done by putting Lawless Abubakar into the game, which was a really weird restructuring and moving of multiple players to accommodate that insertion. Because I think I'm saying this correctly. Lawless comes in for Kaik, which means Romero now goes to Kaik spot and Lulu's above. Abubakar is now going in Shaq Moore's spot, who's now taking Romero's spot. Did I have that correct? Is that how that went down? [00:07:45] Speaker B: Abu Car actually came in for Farrington, Not. Not Kaik. Kaik had already gone out earlier. [00:07:54] Speaker A: Had he really? [00:07:55] Speaker B: Yeah, Kaika went out. I'm looking at the sub sheet right now. Kaik went out for Pedrinho in the 65th minute, and Anderson Julian came over for Delgado in the 65th minute. [00:08:07] Speaker A: So who slid into the midfield position when Padrine Did Padrino take spot? [00:08:15] Speaker B: Really took Delgado's. Well, yes, yes. Pedrinho kind of slid into the midfield next to. For a short period of time. Next to Capis, I think, is what happened. I don't think Romero went inside at that moment. He might have. Pedrinho is pretty walkabouty. He kind of moves all over. So, like, there were times where he was. [00:08:41] Speaker A: And do you say that as a compliment or a criticism? [00:08:45] Speaker B: I don't know that it's either one. It's just his nature, like, so you kind of. Kind of have to combinate that. So really, like. [00:08:49] Speaker A: Because you said that about Delgado, too, by the way. [00:08:52] Speaker B: Yeah, he. He does. Like, if you. If you watch the first two thirds of the game with Delgado, he would be underneath as a 10. He'd be way over on the right side, be way over on the left side. He's wandering all over. They're giving him freedom to do that. But that works because Farrington is recognizing where Delgado is, and then those two guys are sitting back defensively and occupying the spaces they're supposed to be. So that's working. And then Pedrinho came in and Anderson. Julio came in and basically, let me think about how this actually worked. I. I believe, if I remember correctly, Julio Anderson. Julio became sort of the higher player, and Musa and Farrington almost came underneath him in a way because they were letting Julio try and run, and Pedrinho was in the midfield as sort of a deeper playmaker, but it didn't last very long because they got there was the penalty and, and Mooses scored and then they subbed it again at the wait. Then it was Anderson Julio scored and they made that double sub at 87. So it was about 20 minutes maybe that that Pedrinho was sort of wandering all over. And so Ramiro was at that point still ostensibly the right wing back. But he was often checking in if a guy was coming back. It was a very fluid 20 minutes. But you're right that once they brought, once they brought Abubakar in, that settled it down because Shaq Moore went over to the right wing back and then Ramiro for sure came inside and made a, a very concrete, you know, shape back to that solid back five with a four in front that they like to do more often. So like that, that 20 minutes was more chaotic but it, it worked. You know, it's like that's where Dallas was able to get back into the game and, and get some, get forward and get some goals and then they settled back again. So it was a. There was two shifts in that one that were. The middle one was a bit. Because of Padrino. It was a bit chaotic. [00:10:52] Speaker A: Dan, did Dallas deserve to win this game or was the 22 draw a justifiable end? [00:11:01] Speaker C: Little bit of category A, little bit of category B. I thought the first half absolutely phenomenal. They did a good job managing the second half. Portland's quality in the second half completely. [00:11:13] Speaker A: Deserved a point sequence. That little chip and finish for that first goal was. [00:11:17] Speaker C: Oh, that was. [00:11:18] Speaker A: I don't know how you're defending that one much better but yeah, yeah, every. [00:11:22] Speaker C: Time Val they had the ball it was a little terrifying. [00:11:26] Speaker A: He's a scary looking dude by the way. He looks like he wouldn't be very friendly in a one on one interview. [00:11:32] Speaker C: One might find out maybe that's always the surprising ones. Diego Chara, really, really mild mannered, quiet, talks into his chest like that's, that's not the guy that goes and kicks lumps out of everyone and should have a red card in every game without fail. [00:11:51] Speaker A: But now he's sitting on the bench. We didn't get any. Did Charles come in the game? I don't think he did. Did he? [00:11:58] Speaker B: I don't remember him. [00:11:59] Speaker A: I don't think he did well. Fascinating. I, you know, overall, again, I just can't emphasize it was how. What an entertaining game it was. Obviously I've got a bias in this and I wanted Dallas to win it, but if I just thought if you were an MLS neutral that was A banger of a game to watch. There were some good goals and back and forth. It was open and man, that was such a different for a difference from what we saw at the beginning of the season when the team could barely pass the ball past midfield. So kudos to Quill for getting that really sorted out. And I guess the question now, Buzz, is, since you're the one that's kind of keeping tabs on this, the mythical playing game or playoff chase, where does this position Dallas with whatever games they've got left? Because that's going to lead me into another question. [00:12:48] Speaker B: Yeah, they're in a tough spot because lots of other people got wins and points. So they're, you know, they're, they're on 38 with three games to play. [00:13:00] Speaker A: San Jose beating San Diego was a surprise and really hurt. [00:13:03] Speaker B: Yeah. And so now they're on 38 and Colorado's on 40. Now the, the positive for Dallas is that they have one more game than everybody else. So you have this extra game against LA Galaxy. Salt Lake also has a game in hand, but you're less worried about Salt Lake than you are San Jose and Colorado. You know, Portland at 44 is probably out of it. So. Yeah, with the other two teams, Colorado and San Jose have two games apiece. It's going to be real easy for them to get more than 42 points. So. And you know, if they continue to play really well, if those two teams lose out, then you, then the door is really open. So, you know, basically Dallas has enough games left that it's in their hands. I think if they, if they get, if they win two of three, I think they'll, that'll give them. Let's see, that's 41, 44. I think 44 is going to be right there on the mark. You know, I, if you get two wins and something else, I think you'll get it for sure. But if you only get one win, only get three and you end up at 41, I don't think you're going to get it because Colorado's already on 40 and San Jose is also on your same 38, you know, so it's, it's head to head. Yeah, you got one more game, those two guys, which is, cross your fingers, a good position. But remember, one of your games is to go to Vancouver, the other ones to go to LA. Never. While the LA Galaxy is not good, LA is never easy place to play. And Vancouver is gonna be a really hard place to play because Vancouver is really good. Unless they're Resting like if they're out of it. But right now they're tied on for the top spot in the Western Conference. They can't get the shield, but they could get first place and get the buy the home field advantage which they're going to be playing for. They really want that. So, you know, you got to hope that Vancouver is either clenched it or is not or out of it for that number one spot and so they'll rest guys. That's what you really have to hope for. So you have, I, I think you have a slightly better chance than San Jose and Colorado, but you basically have to take care of your business or. Because if you only get one win, you're not going to get it, I don't think. [00:15:05] Speaker A: Yeah. And the Galaxy, by the way, have only lost once in their last four. They're 1, 2 and 1 coming off a win against Kansas City. A 41 home game against Kansas City. Did you in, in that little thing you just rant, you just went on, did you list the games that San Jose and Colorado have? [00:15:25] Speaker B: Did you mention which I did not. Not specifically. Yes. [00:15:28] Speaker A: So Colorado has the rope. What are you gonna say, Dan? [00:15:31] Speaker C: I was gonna say there is a really nice catch for FC Dallas in Colorado's games. [00:15:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Which is they have to play Salt Lake and that's the, and it's at Salt Lake too. That's a, Is that the one you're talking about, Dan? [00:15:44] Speaker C: Yeah, because I mean that's, that's the team directly below and one of the two directly above. I mean they, you know, they can cannibalize each other. [00:15:52] Speaker A: So Colorado has that game at Salt Lake and then finish the season at home against lafc and San Jose has at Vancouver. Just like Dallas ends the season and then they have a home game against Austin. Now Austin is a lock for the playoffs. Correct. [00:16:12] Speaker B: They're not clinch. No. [00:16:14] Speaker A: Oh, they're not. Okay. [00:16:15] Speaker B: No. They importantly are on 44. They're not technically in. But you know, I, I, I don't think that Dallas is going to be capable of getting 44. So, you know, they're not really in the conversation for missing possible, possible but not really. Like, you know, this is a situation where I, I don't think you can optimistically believe Dallas is going to win out and you can definitely tie your way out of this scenario because you have, you know, between Colorado down to RSL or even Houston, that's 40 down to 36. You know, that's six points between those five teams. So you can tie your way out of this thing and you can win your way into this thing. So, you know, I think it's almost, you know, they will score word watch, of course. But at this point it's like, just take care of your stuff and you're fine. Right. You don't have to worry about the other people. Just when you're three and you're in, you know, because with. [00:17:09] Speaker A: With the game and with the game in hand, if Dallas was to somehow pull nine points. [00:17:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:15] Speaker A: You know, magically went out. They kind. They're in. [00:17:17] Speaker B: Yeah. You'd be. I mean, nine points, you'd be very saf. Very good. But that's. That's tough. That's a tough ask. Out of those three games, you know, two and. Oh, and one much more likely. Obviously, you know, two 1 and 0 probably more in the cards depending on what Vancouver's doing that last game. Because Vancouver is a clear, for me, better team than Dallas across the board. Except that Dallas is of course as hot as it gets. So, you know, if they keep riding this hot streak, you know, just tying them won't get it though. You're gonna have to get some wins. Yeah. [00:17:53] Speaker A: Well, I love a fun soccer game and that one was a fun one. Anything else about Portland to Dallas 2 you guys want to get into? [00:18:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I think we need to give a little love to Jacob Action Jackson with his eight saves. That was the second highest save total for a keeper. You know, not as good as the spectacular game, but damn near really good shot stopper. He's looking like he is. His feet are okay in. Close in. Not as good as Clothy, but his lawn passing is pretty decent. Not immaculate, but pretty decent. So he's got some qualities to make him look like a nice player. And he's done a really great job. I don't think as hot as he is, I don't think that even if Martin Paws were not going to Indonesia and was like 100 ready, I don't know that you could pull Jackson the way he's playing. You know, that's too disruptive to what's working. [00:18:41] Speaker A: Were you going to say something, Dan? [00:18:43] Speaker C: Oh, well, I think with. With Jackson, he did really well to not get caught out by a few of those awkward turf bounces that we. We saw some of those dip in shots that just bounce immediately before and always seem to bobble up over a goalkeeper. I'm really looking forward to inside video review on Friday. I just. I'm interested to see what. What happened with the video review around the penalty because I don't Know why the VAR would send the referee to the monitor for that? [00:19:11] Speaker B: Well, is that the one where they were deciding if it was a red card or not? [00:19:15] Speaker C: So they reviewed it if it was a penalty or not. It was Josh Easton that thought it was purely going to be whether it was DOGS or not. [00:19:23] Speaker A: Okay, so do you know officially have they said it? They sent him to the monitor to review if it was a foul, I. E. Penalty at all. Are we just making that? Because that was my assessment based on the. The statement the referee made over the PA just it was a foul, but it was a yellow card confirmed, which was an indication to me that they had sent into the monitor just to review that if it was a foul at all. And they didn't even get into the issue of it being dog. So. Which it was, by the way. [00:19:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm just going that. That specifically, you know, if it wasn't to check that the. If it wasn't to confirm the penalty, you wouldn't say that. You would say, you know, that it wasn't a denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity, yellow card stands and, and everything that's mentioned the VAR review has, has said specifically the penalty check. We haven't heard anything from. From pro. But that will come on. [00:20:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that'll be. That was the second time that had happened this weekend to teams of mine, by the way, when where it was a very clear dog. So that didn't get called or even discussed for whatever reason. So we. I think, I think it's time for everybody to take a. A re education course on the rules around dog. So because this seems to be there, it seems enough time has passed since they changed the dub double jeopardy law that people's interpretation of what that is has all changed. Like, I had a referee in my beer league game insist to me that the new rule was instituted that the only reason why you would give somebody a double jeopardy red card is if the foul they committed was serious foul play or endangering a. An opponent, like a really nasty tackle. And I looked at him and I went, I haven't read that guidance or rule anywhere. I don't know where you got that from. And he was like, he was very adamant that that's how that law was written. I'm thinking, dude, I think you've read the wrong memo or something because that's not the law. [00:21:29] Speaker C: I remember that was the. That was like the belief that would. That that was going to be the interpretation before they actually made it official. [00:21:37] Speaker A: And. But that was awesome. But the crazy part Dan, wasn't that like two years ago when that. When they changed the double jeopardy law? [00:21:45] Speaker C: I mean, give it four months and Arsene Wenger will come up with something there. [00:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah. There's a really good Instagram account by a referee who does these really good reviews with video and kind of going through them and they're all the way down to youth level videos. College Pro American International. And he goes through all these inter. He does a really good job with it. It's called Refs Need Love 2, which is a great name. You will get annoyed that he's constantly trying to sell merchandise. Referee merchandise, while he's also doing these videos. But hey, everybody's got to make some side money. [00:22:23] Speaker B: Speaking of which. [00:22:24] Speaker C: Oh, he's got his own website. [00:22:25] Speaker A: Yeah, he's got a website. He's got his own referee gear that he sells and stuff. Very good guy. I bet he's a great referee, but his videos are really good. And, and, and these specific things where people all have misunderstandings about the applications, the laws of the game. He's really good at kind of spelling out what it really was. And this is another one where I think, weirdly enough, it's like, why Var would think that all you need to do is confirm that was a penalty kick when the rest of us are all like, well, wait a second, that's a dog. So review. So I don't know. It's too bad. [00:23:01] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, you can't barge into someone's back not going for the ball. [00:23:06] Speaker A: Yeah. And I don't remember the. The Portland player's name, but you could tell he was worried about that. He wasn't worried about it getting overturned as a pk. He was worried he was about to get thrown out of the game. [00:23:18] Speaker B: Yeah, he. This face look. He couldn't believe it was just a yellow. [00:23:21] Speaker A: Yes. [00:23:21] Speaker B: The raffles his hand up. He literally looks up at the card and goes, oh, goodness. Thank you. [00:23:26] Speaker A: Anybody ask Will about that after the game? By the way, do we know. I didn't see it in any of the quotes. [00:23:31] Speaker C: Away game ones are always difficult because it's. [00:23:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:34] Speaker C: You know. [00:23:35] Speaker A: Okay. [00:23:36] Speaker C: I mean, like, if it was a home game, I'd have done the pool report question, but you can never guarantee those for a while. [00:23:42] Speaker A: Right. So my. Can I go on to my kind of observation that has nothing to do with the on field stuff necessarily? [00:23:48] Speaker B: Well, I. Well, I have a couple more things I'll say real quick. Well, the first was I really want to double down on Musa with leadership because I thought it was Noticeable in this game in particular, there were several times where he started to do what is in his nature of like a wave of the hands or like us and stopped himself like he clearly is recognizing that like oh no, that's not what we need to be doing and stopped himself from those things that are in his nature to do. You know, from earlier in the season. I'm sure you guys remember them. So I thought that was really nice to see, you know and it is related to this idea that everyone in this team's working for each other and so even when they, he was you know, annoyed that something didn't come off like it was supposed to, he didn't, you know, make a little pity party out of it. So that was really nice. And the second was I thought this game was a microcosm for Kaik of why I'm not right credit ready to anoint him is like oh, he needs to be in there all the time offensively because there was a fair amount of space in midfield. Offensively he was terrific. He had I think he had something like eight shot creating actions and something that's similar in terms of like progressive passes. So like a really nice job at feeding off of campus. I think with the linking play, getting through midfield, something that was non existent earlier in the year and now is completely there. But defensively he was to be polite, pretty much a disaster. He's basically become like a hundred percent reactive and just responding to what he sees. He's not anticipating the game, he's not putting himself in good positions. So he was you know, for example what they call challenges which you try and stop a dribbler. He was only two for six so he's not getting to the guys that are going by him, you know, quick enough, he's not reacting early enough, you know, only had one block and zero intercepts. So like he's just chasing and that's so that that conflict of like has the ability to be something next level but yet mentally in terms of the soccer game and like as if you want to compare him to Ramiro or er, Mindy who read the game really really well obviously way after their huge long term careers. So 19 year old kid versus 33 year old guys obviously the case would be so. But that's why I think like we in terms of like thinking about the direction things are going in the future, you know this still, still is all being held together in a tenuous way and a lot of these things are not concrete, definitive pieces that are like oh he's Going to be the guy next year, perhaps. It's just this game was a microcosm of that for me. That was my last two comments. [00:26:24] Speaker A: I love that. I love that observation comment. Dan, Counterpoint, would you like to debate buzz about this? Prove him wrong. [00:26:34] Speaker C: Pretty dead on. [00:26:35] Speaker B: Thanks, Dan. [00:26:37] Speaker A: Okay. My observation from this game in watching Dallas on the road at a variety of MLS locations and also going to see them play in other places, and this night in particular really highlights for me the insanity of the Toyota Stadium project that is underway. Because the difference in the atmosphere at pretty much every other MLS location that Dallas visits versus the, you know, it is what it is situation going on in Frisco and especially the way that it comes across on television is really, really. I don't know what the right word is. It's alarming. I mean, it's just so obvious that there are other MLS clubs, like every other MLS scene is a really interesting, fun atmosphere and everything that we want Dallas to be. And for the next two seasons, plus whatever it's going to be, we're going to continue to have this weird thing going on. And I just, I just find it. It's just really, every time I watch them on television. Portland in particular is probably not the best case because Portland is so over the top. [00:27:57] Speaker B: Oh, it's the best game experience in the league. [00:27:59] Speaker A: It really, it's really, really good. It just, it just shows you how far the Hunts have to go to get anywhere even close to that. I don't even know if they can at the end of the day, the day. But I, I just, it really came across alarmingly and, and obviously on Saturday night. [00:28:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't disagree. I think, you know, as you say, that Portland in particular is a really massive day ahead of me because that for me is as good as it gets in the terms. In terms of the, you know, the stadium being right on top of the field and the massive fan base and all that kind of stuff and the game. [00:28:33] Speaker A: If you ever get to go to lafc, you may change your mind. [00:28:36] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I should say that, that I've been to in person, I have not yet been to lafc, but compared to every other venue I've been to in the league, which is a lot of them, certainly seen a lot of them on tv, LAFC is pretty fantastic as well. It may be better. But certainly even even when, before the Renault, when Dallas, the stadium was full because of things like the stage, because of the way it's open, you know, there's no like stacking of Fans up above, almost on top of the field. Like, none of that stuff happens. There's nothing really. Like. One of the fascinating things for me about Portland is approaching the stadium. That game day experience is phenomenal because you're, you're either walking or you're riding the T or whatever they call the, the subway up there, you know, and you're getting this. You're walking underneath the stadiums through the arches, and the people are singing and playing the drums under there, and it's echoing and bouncing and it's crammed into this neighborhood. And it's like, it's such a completely different experience from Toyota Stadium. It's for. Of the places I've been, it's the one that feels the most European in flavor or even South American flavor of, like, where it is in town and the neighborhood and that kind of thing. Yeah, so it's such a, such a completely different experience than SC Dallas. Complete opposite in every way. You know, it's, it's notable, Peter. And you're correct about that. [00:29:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it's, it. Well, it's funny because with the announcement that Chicago appears to be getting its new stadium and nyfc, NYCFC is under construction, I think there's another stadium coming. Am I forgetting a third? [00:30:09] Speaker B: Eventually enter Miami. They're not. [00:30:11] Speaker A: Oh, Miami's. Yeah, Miami's opening next year, so. [00:30:14] Speaker B: Oh, is it that fast? Oh, I lost touch of that. [00:30:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's due to open next year. That's the reason why they're trying to get Messi done for one more season so he can actually play in this, in the, in the stadium. [00:30:22] Speaker B: So I think he just extended Messi. [00:30:24] Speaker A: Yeah, he may have. So I, I, it just, it's funny to me that all these other places. And again, because building from scratch can happen faster than tearing down and rebuilding in the same place. That's a different kind of project. I get that. It's just the idea that Miami, New York, Chicago are all going to build entire new stadiums before Dallas can finish their rebuild project is interesting. So there you go. [00:30:47] Speaker B: Amen. [00:30:48] Speaker A: Amen. Okay, so Galaxy are next. They got a home and away or an away in a home. What is it? Away in a home. [00:30:55] Speaker B: So it's home first, right? [00:30:56] Speaker A: Home first. Okay. Home and away. That's right. So that is this Saturday. So Galaxy at home first and then on the road. Buzz. I'm assuming we're just gonna see the same group of guys. Unless Chris Capus has got something more than just a, A cramp. [00:31:09] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that was just a cramp. You know, the, the, there's a point at which some of your older guys look a little weary from playing game after game after game. You know, Romero and Iaga. But this falls under the heading. And the broadcasters even talked about it, like, when you're winning like this and playing like this, you can't change it. The players deserve to stay. Like, I even talked about Jackson. Like, if even the Petter Musa was like, I'm 100, I'm in. Like, they would be like, no, we're sticking with the guy that's, you know, performing right now. Because you have to, you have to let players believe that if they perform well, they will continue to earn the starts. That's part of it. That's part of the belief, that's part of the team cohesion. That's part of the control in the locker room. So there's no reason why you would bench anybody barring an injury, because everyone is playing above average for themselves on the season. There's no one that's playing below their ability and what they've demonstrated to this point in the season. So even if there's a tactical reason why LA Galaxy is the worst team in the league, you should be concentrating on yourself and what you're doing at this point with three games left. So there's no reason to change anything. [00:32:11] Speaker A: Yeah, this is where guys just have to grind it out. I mean, if they're really serious about making the playoffs. Yeah, you gotta, you just gotta go, man. Just gotta do it. And I, I, I would like to think Quill can hypnotize them or whatever the right word is and motivate them to do that, because that would be, it'll be fun to see if they can pull that off. I guess the. My next question is for the two of you. If Dallas figures its way into the playoffs, is this team playing well enough, you think, to get past the play in game? I like if they're playing Colorado or somebody in a play in game, yeah, I can see them winning that one off. But when they're in a, when they get to the next round and beyond, you think they're playing well enough and have the firepower enough to pull that off to make a run? I'm not saying make MLS cup or make the final. I just win, win a game or two, maybe advance to another round past that. [00:33:09] Speaker B: I think you could win the playoff game. But once you get past the playoff. [00:33:12] Speaker A: Game, as you mean the playing game, sir. [00:33:15] Speaker B: Sorry, whatever. [00:33:19] Speaker C: The play around and in and on. [00:33:21] Speaker B: Game, play around game. The TWIDDLE your thumb games, the whatever, the eight, nine game, I think you can get past the wild card game, whatever you want to call it, I think you can get past that game. But then after that you're gonna get the one seed. So you know that's either going to be San Diego, who just mopped the floor with you last time, or it's going to be Vancouver and they're both going to be on the road. So it gets incredibly difficult after that. Now, as good and as hot as Dallas is over the last month and a half, like they're in a form that will give them a shot, but the odds of them actually being able to do it are going to be, you know, like they can remember their road form has been great. Right. Well, it's only four wins. That's great. Road form eight times. [00:34:07] Speaker A: And the good part of the road form came earlier in the season. They've kind of trailed off a little bit on the road of late comparison. [00:34:13] Speaker B: They're not losing games, but they're also not playing. [00:34:15] Speaker A: Right. [00:34:16] Speaker B: The best two teams in the league on the road in the playoffs. You know what I mean? So it's like that's a different question. Is it, is it possible, Are they hot enough that they can make a run? Man, sure. Weird stuff happens in sports. They're. They'll be in every game. But I don't think they have enough to get past those top teams because you know, you'll, you'll get the one team and then you'll get the, you know, two, three. It's just going to be so difficult on the road the whole way, just not. [00:34:43] Speaker A: And just as a refresh the MLS playoff structure is the play in game is a, a one off, higher seed hosts and then after that it. What is the format? Just a reminder for everybody, best of. [00:34:58] Speaker C: Three, highest seed host, game one and three. [00:35:02] Speaker A: That's all the way to the final. [00:35:05] Speaker C: No, it becomes single elimination after that. What it's conference, semifinal, conference final. Well and MLS cup are all just single. [00:35:14] Speaker B: Only. [00:35:14] Speaker A: Only the first round after the play in game is best of three. After that it's higher seed hosts and it's a one off. [00:35:21] Speaker C: Yeah. So theoretically they would go to Colorado, win there, go to San Diego, hope for the best. Three days later come back. Let me think. Yeah, it's over the course of a week and a half. So wild card, that is go straight into the. [00:35:40] Speaker B: Yeah. And if you got to a third game in that first round, it would be back on the road. So like you're going to have to get. You have to. You have to get one game out, you know, at the best team in the league. League. To get out of that first round, you know, again, is it possible? But the fact that they get three games makes it much more unlikely that you're going to upset somebody. Eight seed versus one seed. The fact that it's three games, it's. [00:36:01] Speaker A: A really good time. Yeah, it feels like a really good time for Paxton to come back and just start balling out. Right. [00:36:08] Speaker B: Stop it. [00:36:10] Speaker C: I mean, their best chance in that would be draw on the road, win at home, draw on the road. You know that. And that would kind of go with their form. [00:36:17] Speaker A: He'd run out on the field with a cape. [00:36:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's. It's better than it was. Like before this, you would have said they're not even. They don't even have a chance. [00:36:25] Speaker A: But now, no, we wrote. We wrote this season off, what, a month ago? Six, two months ago. [00:36:30] Speaker B: Every game they're competitive. You have to give them credit for that. But it's still. The odds are just. It's just really, really difficult. You know, it's not. [00:36:38] Speaker A: Well, again, it was a fun game to watch. I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to Saturday. [00:36:43] Speaker C: One thing to note, LA Galaxy plays the. The friendly with the. With Toluca on Wednesday for the, you know, the MLS cup winner Ligament Campiona thing. Yeah, yeah, that giant number one trophy. The. [00:37:00] Speaker A: Just lucky they don't play it in Dubai or something. [00:37:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, it's going to be in la, so it's not like they have to travel, but, you know, that's. That's some high competition to have a couple of days before they. They come in. [00:37:12] Speaker A: All right, well, let's move on now. I guess it was Friday night. I can't. I think it was Friday night. I pop on because I, I for. Oh, Trinity is playing and I'm bored. My wife's out of town on a business trip. I'm by myself. And I was like, oh, I can pop on the peacock and see how the Golden Girls are doing. And I pop it on and they are losing. I think it's four nothing at this point. Four, one. And I watch for five minutes. Buzz or Dan, I don't know if either one of you watched this game, but some did. Did somebody drug Dallas? Because I watched Amber. What is Amber? Wisner. Wisner. [00:37:56] Speaker B: Yep. [00:37:57] Speaker A: I watched her pass the ball from inside the penalty area straight to a Lexington player 15 yards away. I don't know, two, three times. In a row it was. And she's like their best, you know, most veteran player and it was, it was really, really bad, like embarrassingly bad. And then I find out because I turned it off, end up losing. Six one. [00:38:23] Speaker B: Yeah, six one. [00:38:24] Speaker A: What happened? [00:38:25] Speaker B: Yeah, well there's a couple of things happening. I mean remember this is the fourth out of their five on the roads so they haven't had any like, you know, at home comfort play in quite a while. So they're getting kind of beat up with and worn out. All this road travel it's wearing on them. I think they look flat in some of these games. And then I have two observations that I think are related to why they're really struggling. Some of it is related to Misimo still out. So they're still trying to figure out what they're doing in midfield. And basically every game there's a different combination of three in midfield as they try and figure out who the heck is going to play in there and where they're going to play and that kind of thing. And so related to that because they're trying out all these pieces. Celia Strawn's playing really well so she's staying in there. They made a conscious effort, Trinity, to add pace to their team this offseason and the players they added that have that pace are not playing. It's the right back. I should have wrote her name down. It's not, it's not. It's being started in front of by Guidry who's a left back playing on the right and a bolt who's the right wing nominally who is now not playing because see the straw's over there. So those are the two fast players. They add one at the end of last season and one and over the off season. And so they're very non quick at the minute. Other than Henson, Henson's the only quick player they have out there right now. Obugu used to be quick, but it's not quick anymore because she's 57 years old or whatever she is. Dan. I don't remember exactly. [00:40:05] Speaker A: It seems it. That seems like you're being hyperbolic, boss. [00:40:08] Speaker B: I am being hyperbolic in the sense that like I'm trying to make a point that they're not, they, they, they intentionally went out to add pace to play vertically and they're not using it. They're playing in a very build out ball control sort of manner. And the other thing is that you remember that right at the beginning of the season they lost Deb Abaddon. Dan. Right. They Lost their other double pivot player, their other linchpin next to Weisner. So those are, those are two of the three central midfielders that are gone because Miss was gone and she's gone and they're, they're using. It's like playing. It's like trying to play with Diego Garcia and Kaik in there and with Capus. Like the two guys that are like, these young players are inexperienced players, are players out of position. And so the midfield is not working. So they're getting dominated in the midfield by almost everybody they play. And Wis ends up dropping further back and further back and further back and she's picking up balls and looking for outlets. It's not there. And so that's why you're seeing the passenger scene. [00:41:10] Speaker A: I also forgot they were playing down a person for like last 20, 25 minutes of the game. [00:41:17] Speaker B: Gidri, who's not quick, got a. Got beat and got a red card, you know, tackling somebody in midfield. After this, she got beat. So, you know, remember they rebuilt the defense. They got a new center back. They got Giddy starting back there. That's two of the four in the back that are new. Henson's a converted winger. Playing left back, that's like Bernie playing left back. You know, it's a work in progress. Now, all things considered, right, they were in first place until like five minutes ago. They're still in second. They're still one of the better teams in the league, but as this road series goes on, they're. They're getting more and more stagnant and they're getting more and more run over by teams in the, in the middle and losing. They've allowed loss. I think it's two in a row. Is it Dan, the bet pretty badly. Maybe there was a tie in there. Maybe it's two of three. They've lost pretty badly. [00:42:01] Speaker C: So it's two or three. Yeah, they drew Tampa in between those. [00:42:05] Speaker B: Two, you know, so. And I think Tampa's in last place. So, like they've lost pretty badly to Fort Lauderdale and Lexington, I think think if I'm remembering correctly, and those are the next two other good teams in the league. So, you know, the other two good teams just stomped them granted on the road, but so I, I don't think there's bad off as maybe we all want. I think they are just because they've had a couple of results here. But there are some concerning things happening that they need to get straightened out if they can get back on the road. They got to go To Spokane in two weeks. They have a week off. Maybe that'll help, help them look fresh. I think that Game's on a 12 12th I think I have written down for the Spokane game. So they have a little bit of a break. Maybe that'll help them stay home, get a little rest. And then after that, of course Spokane game is the, the big State fair Club America, isn't it Dan? Club America feminale game. [00:42:52] Speaker C: Yeah, the State Fair Classico which as when I was talking to Jim Neal the other week, he's very keen to make sure that people know if they buy a ticket to that they get free entry to the state fair that day. And I think it only costs like $2 more than state fair entry anyway. So help your local team get some money. [00:43:14] Speaker B: Yeah, that should be a fun time down there for, for that. The, the Trinity posted a a little video of some of their players like walking around the. The. The Broadway down there. The you know, having fun at the state fair and all kind of stuff. Good little vibe. So should be fun time. [00:43:30] Speaker A: Yes I was would have liked to have gone but we're on the radio. [00:43:34] Speaker B: That day so I'm working as well unfortunately. [00:43:38] Speaker A: All right. [00:43:39] Speaker C: As I suggested to to Jim Neil, they should book you guys to do a remote from there. [00:43:45] Speaker A: We never got that phone call. Let's see. North Texas lost. [00:43:50] Speaker B: Yeah. 42 to real monarchs. You know they got a lot of banged up pieces and they're playing a ton of kids. But that's good. I love that they're playing all kids. There's even with that loss they're still in eighth place which is the last, last playoff spot. They have one game to go at lafc so take care of your business and you're in couple of things about the game in particular Christian Want who's a young academy player, 17 years old, started at right back. That was his North Texas debut. He was on my academy target signing list about a year ago for an FC Dallas inter squad scrimmage. He got called up to the first team to go head to head vs Allen Blast Glasgow and by reports did fairly well. He's a very bright young player, very versatile. He's the one if you remember that has twice now been the emergency goalkeeper when the keeper's gotten a red card. He's had to go in like in the GA cup and play goalkeeper and made a PK saving stop to help them advance. There was a whole big video on social media for, for this field player making a PK save. Anyway, good young player one to watch for the future. He got that start. They're one of some of their problems are at center back where because Bookley is with New Zealand for the U20 World Cup. They have. They're playing one of their right backs, Dubois, who's the kid from New Mexico was playing center back. So they got guys out of position but you know, they, they're still fighting and still playing. Ali Azura has finally had a good run of like half the season healthy. So he finally looks pretty good. So overall, bunch of kids playing and bunch of kids progressing in a bunch of kids even though they lost, doing well and they can still make the playoffs if they get a good result at lafc. [00:45:28] Speaker A: All right, let's see. Texoma. [00:45:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:45:32] Speaker A: Played the wonderfully outfitted Hearts of Pine. [00:45:38] Speaker B: Yeah. That's up in Portland, Maine. They did lose, unfortunately. They're now in 12th place and they're eight points out of the playoff spot with four games left. But that's not what I want to talk about because somebody up there at. [00:45:50] Speaker A: The interesting part of this club is off the field. [00:45:53] Speaker B: Yeah, someone at Texoma from the infoxoma fc.com email account, I'm going to guess accidentally emailed like all their. I don't know what the list is. Season ticket holders or ticket buyers or something basically like a. [00:46:11] Speaker C: Well, I got it. [00:46:12] Speaker B: So it wasn't season ticket whoever's email. Entire email list of people and basically what is a test email? Like a placeholder email for CC example email for basically this whole mystery Colin County Soccer Club or whatever that they're denying that they have anything to do with came out from their email account. So somebody up there stepped on it or somebody up there is trying to get them in trouble or something. I mean, who knows? [00:46:40] Speaker A: Sabotage. [00:46:41] Speaker B: Sabotage. I called the owner again and he didn't get back to me. So I don't know what's going on with that. However, today I got a really good source feeding me a piece of information that sort of. That is something that we had speculated or had sort of pieced together and thought maybe was the case. And this piece of information is that they are currently doing a deal with Salina that they're going to pay. Taxama is going to pay a percentage of the new Salina High School stadium and they're going to play at the new Salina High School stadium eventually. So when the owner tells us that they're going to be in Texoma and they're playing at the same place next year, you know, so midterm, short term, that all can still make sense. And this whole line. Right, huh? [00:47:32] Speaker A: And he's not technically lying. [00:47:33] Speaker B: Yes. Whoever their partners are and deals with still are good for the next year to who knows what it is? But the reason all this other Salina stuff is happening, apparently, is from my very good source telling me that they're working this stadium situation. It may not be 100% done yet. I don't know the inner details, but that's basically what we had conjectured that might be the case. And that apparently now is apparently the case. And so all these things that are happening make sense under that umbrella. And. Or why, like when they say, no, we're not leaving. No, I mean, they're not. It's like 12 miles down the road. It's all still part of their area. It's all like, you know, and maybe none of it's even 100 across the finish line. But that's basically what's happening and basically why these things are happening and why their organization is sending out emails for this Collin county mystery team on accident. You know, we'll give them the benefit of that. That it's. That was an accidental thing. [00:48:27] Speaker C: But I think from the discord. You are the first person in history that's translated a Laura Ipsum passage of text. [00:48:35] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Well, I didn't know what it said, so I had to go find something with. With the. [00:48:42] Speaker C: Just. [00:48:44] Speaker B: Is it. [00:48:44] Speaker A: It's just. Yeah. Generic language. When you're building a website just to put in text, you just. Yeah, Laura Simpson is just. Just jibber jabber you throw in there. I've never heard. [00:48:57] Speaker C: Yeah, it's. Oh, sorry. It's scrambled Latin text. And it's not from a. It's not from an actual, like, passage. [00:49:03] Speaker A: Everybody just cuts and pastes it these days. [00:49:05] Speaker B: Yeah. When I. When I put it into a translator, it started talking about the qualities of the team and the way they were going to do this and that. I was like, oh, wow, this is like a real thing. I've never heard before. Obviously, I'm not a web builder. [00:49:18] Speaker A: I missed the part where Buzz went and tried to translate, so that's awesome. [00:49:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Never heard of that before. [00:49:24] Speaker A: Look at Buzz being a detective journalist. [00:49:27] Speaker B: Hey, I was doing my thorough due diligence. You were translating the text that was in this thing. Clearly it was a placeholder, because the curious love you, man. Yeah. It was even entitled, like, CC test email or something. Like, you know, it was. It was even, like, had. You know, it was clear what it was. [00:49:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So you never have gotten the word back. And they've, they haven't copped it, any of this? [00:49:48] Speaker B: No. I called Ben again, the owner, Ben Watson, and he didn't call me back. So you know, I reach out, I give him a chance and I gave him a couple days and he hadn't. So I'll try him again next week. [00:49:59] Speaker A: But meanwhile, down here in the Dallas area, speaking of social media output, this is the week we got. What's the word? Competing social media posts between Atletico Dallas and the city of Garland, essentially announcing that their engagement has been called off and the wedding will not happen. In other words, that the city of Garland now I'm going to ask you, Buzz, to help sort this out. But essentially whatever they were going to build, whether first was a stadium and then it was a training center and headquarters office, all of that, that was going to happen along 121 behind the target is now off the table and is, is not happening. And they both sides agree that that is at least the bottom line. [00:50:50] Speaker B: Yeah, they're for sure done on that scenario. I talked to Sam Morton who's one of the co founders of, of Atletico and he said that, you know, give or take, about a week after they had the second vote where it was approved for the training center, they started getting a lack of responsiveness to emails and questions. And a couple weeks after that they were like, oh, and, and they athletico started looking around to cover their bets for other places and effectively the city came back and said to make a long story short, we're not seeing enough ROI and not enough revenue from this development because it is a very prime spot right on the highway. It needs to be of a higher, I don't know, I'm paraphrasing cash value essentially. Higher level of revenue generating project basically. And so the thing ended. So it's money at the end of the day. You know why it happened after. I, my guess is that there must have been a little pushback in from certain parts of the community or maybe some power broker behind the scenes said I can do a better deal. I mean who knows what the end of the day was, what came, why it fell apart. But that's why I fell apart is. Yeah, revenue. [00:52:08] Speaker A: And just to be fair, we, we are, you are kind of telling one side of the story. We, we haven't talked to anybody at the city of Garland. This is Sam Morton's version of events. I'm not doubting his is correct or accurate. I'm just for the record, we're not, we haven't heard from anybody at the city. Correct, correct. [00:52:25] Speaker B: Well, the city thing they put out says that. Says that literal thing, says, okay, I guess that's true. [00:52:31] Speaker A: It did say that, yeah. [00:52:32] Speaker B: Lack of, you know, it being a really hot. They're the ones that identified it and said it's a high value location and said the ROI needs to be higher. That was in their thing. [00:52:43] Speaker A: I, I just. To me, this has always had a really weird and curious feel to it because, you know, the club announced itself and revealed itself and had a launch party in downtown Garland. It was all Garland, man. It was Garland, Garland, Garland, Garland, East Dallas. That community, this, that and the other. Until the Cotton Ball shut. The city of Dallas came knocking and suddenly now it's like that famous meme of the guy holding his one girlfriend's hand, looking back at the other girl that he's just walked past and everybody uses as a. Oh, I have my new hot, fresh thing that I'm more interested in. And it feels like that for a club that had spent a lot of effort promoting itself in Garland, suddenly got attracted by the lifted skirt of the city of Dallas and the Cotton bowl and spent a lot of time and a lot of energy promoting and talking almost exclusively about the Cotton Bowl. And I just, I bet somebody in Garland got their panties in a twist. And I understand why it's totally possible. [00:53:50] Speaker B: But they're skipping the step of like, within a day of their announcement and big hug fest with Garland, the premier USL thing came out and instantly changed the plans of the club. And within a week of that announcement, they had three or four cities around the Metroplex calling and saying, hey, if you guys are doing this premiere thing, we want to talk to you. When they didn't want to talk to them when it was uslc. [00:54:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:16] Speaker B: So within a very short window of time, that's why they had to revote. Because immediately, because of the premier thing, immediately the stadium in Garland went out the window because it wasn't big enough. So that died out of the project. And so that's why they had to have the second vote. And quite fairly, I think, on Garland's end. Yeah, once the stadium, in my opinion, once the stadium went out, that changed all the revenue models and changed the whole focus and the size of that and marqueness of that project. And so at that point, it's almost seemed inevitable that the thing sort of went the other way and sort of fell apart. Dallas was just one of the people that came in after the premiere thing. And as that stadium, of course, in Garland instantly ended the Cotton ball became the best option that was on the table for them. You know, I think that. I think the Garland Stadium ended before the Cotton bowl thing actually became a thing. [00:55:05] Speaker A: Oh, I probably. Yeah. Because. [00:55:08] Speaker B: Because of the requirements of Division 1. [00:55:10] Speaker A: Yeah. And probably Dallas had at least sniffed around and said, hey, this is a thing. Now here's, here's the. You know, this project is challenging, difficult, brave, admirable, all of those things, but it also has a tremendously insane long Runway before it ever kicks a ball. [00:55:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:32] Speaker A: And what I think all of us recognize is that so much can change between now and that date, including the fact that the whole idea of this USL Premier League still has never gotten an inch further from the initial announcement, which was what, three or four? I mean, we haven't heard anything out of anybody about how this is going to look or what it's going to be or how they're going to find the teams for this. We don't know anything about it any more than we did when they talked when it first came out, however long ago that they first mentioned it. [00:56:09] Speaker B: Well, a big money guy just did a huge buy in, a big purchase of a chunk of usl. [00:56:16] Speaker A: Right. [00:56:16] Speaker B: And everyone believes that is laying the groundwork for the USL Premiere thing. They didn't say that, but everyone thinks that's what it's for. So that's the first thing we've seen. You're right. Since the initial announcement that says that it's moving forward is that big, huge buy in, big, huge money thing they just picked up from the, from the Athletico Dallas. And specifically, I know that they've, you know, they already have. We're looking at new practice facility places and I know they're moving ahead with one of them. I'm pretty sure, based on what they said about it being much closer to the Cotton bowl, that it's going to be in Dallas. And that would make sense since Dallas, City of Dallas, is your new partner. So, you know, the behavior of the clubs is that this premiere thing is happening and they would obviously know a lot more than us behind the scenes because the league is not going to talk about it until it's happening. But it's not just them. It's like it's. It's the Miami FC and they're steady and they're announcing, which is made to accommodate this new thing. You know, we know enough about Fort Worth to know that that's the direction that thing is trying to go. So, you know, everyone is behaving as if it's coming, but you're Right. There's no clinical evidence, direct evidence that it is indeed happening. [00:57:23] Speaker A: It's all, yeah, when it comes to business and stuff like that until, until they do it, you know, it's like I'll believe it when I see it kind of deal, you know. And so I want it to work. I think it'll be great and a lot of fun. And I really admire the project and I'm enjoying watching them try to keep themselves out in front of everybody on the, on the soccer radar here locally. And the way they're going about it, like trying to be very grassroots and, and build within that particular community they think is underserved by, by the Hunts, which I, I agree with. I think that's a huge opportunity. I, I, it's just, man, there's so much time between now and then and I'm sure on their side of all this, this is going to go by like lickety split before they believe it. Like we're going to be in 2027 before you know it. [00:58:11] Speaker B: Well, along those lines, they're interviewing coaches already, so I know that they're playing. They're. [00:58:16] Speaker A: Caleb Porter's available. [00:58:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I know, right. He and Corcoran are buddies. I know, right. That's my prediction, remember? But I know that they've been interviewing coaches. They're still on target to announce a coach in the first quarter of next season, next year, 2026, so four months from now. So those things are on track. They're not making a big huge deal about the fact that they're interviewing, but they have, I know at least that they've been interviewing some coaches. So. [00:58:42] Speaker A: Yeah, I saw they're promoting, they have, I don't remember the exact word, so I don't want to say this out of turn, but I think something along the lines promoting the fact that they have already collected 2,000 season ticket. And I'm assuming they mean deposits. [00:58:58] Speaker B: Yeah, that was something that Sam told me directly when we were discussing the Garland situation and he was just sort of underlined that they feel really good about the progress they're making because of the 2000 deposits and the 6000 plus pieces of merch they've sold. You know, they feel like they're getting good traction. He said amount of merch they sold would actually have them 14th in the combined USL and League One ranks of merch sales. So they're doing, you know, just for relative context, they're doing really well for a team that doesn't even barely exist yet more than on paper. So. [00:59:29] Speaker A: Fascinating, man. This is going to be a fascinating and fun ride. [00:59:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:33] Speaker A: Over the course of the next 18 months. [00:59:35] Speaker B: Well, consider that we, we believe that Fort Worth is attempting the same timeline of 2027 USL Championship and we have zip out of them. No name, no stadium. No, not. The only, the only thing that there is out there about them is what we've said. Like there's nothing. No reports, no media, no. Yeah. [00:59:52] Speaker A: So what I, what I think is going to be fun to watch is how everybody navigates the waters of how the usl and I keep calling it Premiere because that's just my de facto way of. Of Premier Championship League one. Right. [01:00:06] Speaker B: Right. [01:00:07] Speaker A: Of how they end up filling out that league. Because what we all know is that Dallas and Fort Worth, let's use those as good examples, will be debut brand new spanking clubs in 2027. [01:00:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:00:21] Speaker A: The odds of them being any good in USL Championship compared to everybody else is probably very low just because of the nature of things. Meaning they're not going to be in a promotion position at the end of that season. There won't be promotion then. Right. But they'll finish the 2027 season and then say, okay, who are we? Who's going to be in the. Who's going to go to Premiere? And it's going to be teams that buy their way into it. [01:00:47] Speaker B: Yes. [01:00:47] Speaker A: Dallas and Fort Worth could be the two last place teams in the championship in 2027 and play in the new USL Premiere because they bought their way into it. And I am not against that. But it also goes diametrically opposite of what everybody who's been rooting and begging and demanding promotion, relegation for and pissing all over Major League soccer about for 30 years is exactly what's about to happen in 2028 with USL. [01:01:16] Speaker B: Well, remember is they haven't actually announced that Pro Rail is happening. They said they're looking into it. You. [01:01:21] Speaker A: Well, that's true too. Yes. [01:01:23] Speaker C: Step further to that is my understanding is while the intention is to do Pro Rail, the league has suggested two teams. It will not happen for the first few years of that division. One year, that division one. [01:01:37] Speaker A: Look, again, from a business standpoint, I think that totally makes sense. But there are a lot of people who are jumping up and down celebrating the launch of all of this because they finally think it's the thing. They've been begging forever. And I think they're all about to get a big smack of American business acumen rubbed in their face in the next 18 months. [01:02:00] Speaker B: So will the teams. Because probably half the teams in USL Championship think they're going up or have expressed interest that they want to go up or their fans think. Probably all of them think the fans think they're going up. But we also know that like half the spots are going to be brand new teams because they're going to want some markets that are have MLS in them already that like if you will like Athletico and Fort Worth who are won't be exactly brand new but because they'll start to play, but there'll be a bunch of teams that'll be brand new. So it's like it'll be a mix of the two things and I think some of those championship teams are gonna be pretty pissed if they don't get it, you know. [01:02:32] Speaker A: Sure. [01:02:32] Speaker B: Because they'll be the one and they're actually going to be in it, you know. [01:02:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:02:37] Speaker A: I mean I think about like San Antonio is a great example. [01:02:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Keep in mind the rules for Division one dictate a certain amount of large markets, you know, to you're establishing your league. It's not just as simple as like the. The 10 teams you think would be fun. It's like you have to. You have to meet these criteria that involve stadiums, that they involve ownership wealth, they involve ability to raise certain kinds of capital. They don't just. Look, it's not just whatever you want. You know, there's a bunch of rules. [01:03:10] Speaker A: Crazy related to that. They were at the Cowboy Packer game. I don't know if you noticed in one of the returns from commercial Buzz. They were flying a drone over the midway in the state fair at night. [01:03:24] Speaker B: Well aware. There was a drone. Yeah. [01:03:27] Speaker A: What do you mean? [01:03:28] Speaker B: Well, you know that I work the in house shows on the. The. [01:03:32] Speaker A: Well but this was the NBC broadcast so I didn't realize we. [01:03:35] Speaker B: We bring in all of their cameras into our facility. So I have the drone and all their steadicams and all that stuff. [01:03:43] Speaker A: I'm sorry, my apologies. I forgot that you were highfalutin like that. But my point was. Or my thought was, is. Oh. So for those listening, Buzz just pointed to his Emmy which is behind him on the shelf. That is always very predominantly in the center of the frame whenever he moves his head out of the way way. [01:04:06] Speaker C: What a jerk. [01:04:06] Speaker B: Such a. [01:04:07] Speaker A: Hey look, I won an Emmy. Buzz Carrick. Anyway, the point I was trying to make was is that the drone shot was really beautiful because it was a. It was flying around the midway and making a loop around big text. I thought it was going to crash into the hand by the way. And I just thought, see, this is the scene that these teams have an opportunity to work with the city of Dallas to figure out how do we build some mini version of this on game days to make going to fair park in the Cotton bowl cool Again. [01:04:36] Speaker B: I'll tell you a TV trick. If you want the ones that are from the Cotton bowl or the big text, all that stuff, those are on tape. The. The drone is live. In that particular case, the drone on that game was live right outside the stadium going up and down. Anything that wasn't the stadium is a piece of tape from an earlier shot thing. That's how most of those beauty. [01:04:55] Speaker A: Are you gonna tell me Santa Claus isn't real next too, Buzz? [01:04:59] Speaker B: Well, I'm just going because we were actually discussing the guys I was working with, like what a cool job that would be to travel around with that drone and get all those amazing. There was even one where they were flying through the. The. The. The Medal of Honor museum. They get. They took the drone into the building and threw it, flew it through the inside of the building, down the hallways. Did you see that one? [01:05:16] Speaker A: No, I didn't see that. But I think you've really broken Dan's heart. He's crying because he thought he saw that drone flying over big text live. And now you've got crushed him by telling him it was pre recorded. I'm sorry, Dan. Are you okay? [01:05:29] Speaker C: Yeah. Because I really watched all of that. Yeah, actually, no, I did watch the end of overtime because I kept hearing people in my building. [01:05:38] Speaker B: Okay. [01:05:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Dan, do you watch a lot of NFL or football in general? Do you know. Do you know the rules of American football? [01:05:51] Speaker C: Yeah. Every 10 seconds you go to a commercial. [01:05:58] Speaker A: I love the English perspective of American football. That's awesome. I think that's great. Yeah. Well, anyway, I just thought about that. I've completely gotten away from my point, which was I saw everybody having a good time at the state fair and thought, why can't we do that all the time on game day at the Cotton Ball? [01:06:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:06:17] Speaker A: Got to be a thing, right? [01:06:19] Speaker B: Yeah, could be. Fantastic. [01:06:21] Speaker C: You know, I was at the state fair on. On what day? Yesterday. Yesterday, maybe yesterday. Yeah, it was great. It was just like an FC Dallas game. There weren't a lot of people there. [01:06:38] Speaker A: And a lot of it was under construction. [01:06:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:06:42] Speaker C: I mean, there's still some stuff going on. [01:06:45] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, there is still stuff going on for sure. 100%. All right, well, very good. All the crazy off field drama. Oh, by the way, breaking news. While we were recording the US was in the U20 World cup today, and they kicked off their tournament. France. In the same group. France beat the South Africa. I think it was two to one. That was the other two, Dallas. The US Was playing New Caledonia real quick, without looking. If I held a globe up in front of you, could you find New Caledonia on a globe without much effort? Okay, you guys are both better than me. I knew it was somewhere in the South Pacific, but I couldn't. I don't know if I'd be able to. An unlabeled globe. I don't know if I could put my finger on it. Anyway, the US Played New Caledonia and ended up winning that game. This is not an error. 9 to 1 or 2? [01:07:50] Speaker B: 1. [01:07:51] Speaker A: 9 to 1. So New Caledonia ended up scoring a goal. Nolan Norris, kids. Your very own Nolan Norris, playing left back, scored not once, but twice. And by the way, his first goal was really good. Did you guys. Have you seen his goal? [01:08:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I shared them on Twitter. They're really nice. [01:08:09] Speaker A: Yeah, it was really, really good stuff. New Caledonia is really bad. [01:08:14] Speaker B: It was seven, I think, at halftime, and he was, you know, he's playing left back, and they were so dominated. He basically went up and played like a nine in the box. That's how bad it was. Lopsided. It was. He's like, ah, screw this. I'm going up, you know. [01:08:26] Speaker A: By the way, New Caledonia is in the lineup for the international playoff games for the Senior World Cup. They've qualified for the playoff games out of Oceana. So we could have New Caledonia in the World Cup. [01:08:41] Speaker B: We were. There was a little talk in the discord today about one of the groups where Nigeria is, like, in third place. And I was like, imagine Nigeria not making the World cup, especially an expanded World Cup. That's like. That's unbelievable. [01:08:53] Speaker A: Yeah, there's actually a little drama in that group. I can't remember which country it is. It may be South Africa who are in danger of having points deducted because they played a player who had been eligible for something, ineligible for something. So I guess there's. I think that may come as Nigeria's saving grace, but, yeah, Nigeria. That would be crazy if. [01:09:14] Speaker B: Yeah, that was mentioned in the discord. [01:09:15] Speaker A: Expanded World cup, didn't make it. [01:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:09:19] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, they missed the last one, obviously. So imagine that they. They release another set of them, amazing kits and. And Nike's just like, well, it's just. [01:09:27] Speaker B: So weird not being in the World Cup. I'm so used to them being a lot. [01:09:32] Speaker C: They weren't in the last one. [01:09:34] Speaker B: I know, but it's still. It's still like in my brain. It's like they're in all the World Cups. It's Nigeria. They're really good. [01:09:39] Speaker A: It's like now do Italy. [01:09:41] Speaker C: They've played in six. [01:09:43] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a lot, Dan. That's like every World cup of my lifetime. [01:09:49] Speaker A: Well, anyway, so Nolan Norris hitting a brace against New Caledonia. Now the hard part comes comes up. But that's a nice soft ramp into the World cup for the U.S. yeah, you should start. Yeah. It would be interesting to see how South Africa and France handle those guys. I feel bad for those dudes, man. That's gotta. That can't be like going to the World cup and then just getting smashed for three games. I guess you can always say I played in a World cup. But. [01:10:16] Speaker B: Well, that's the thing is if you're the us you can't let. Let off the pedal because everyone else is going to smash them too. And you need to build it differential. [01:10:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:10:23] Speaker B: Especially if you're first. You got to really hammer them. [01:10:26] Speaker A: Yeah. And one of those teams is France. And you, you know, that's going to be a battle, man. [01:10:30] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. [01:10:31] Speaker A: 100. Okay. Anything else, boys, you guys want to discuss or get into? [01:10:37] Speaker B: Yes. Aston Villa is the first club confirmed for the Dallas Cup Super Group for 2026. Super Group Aston Villa. [01:10:43] Speaker A: Well done. Dallas Cup. [01:10:44] Speaker B: Yeah, it's pretty good, I think. I believe they're the U18 champion and U18 FA cup champion too. I think they had. I think they did the double this last year. Like I don't know if all those guys will show up, but they're a pretty good team based on the pictures that they. In the press release they put out. That's the case. So really good. Or maybe it's the year, half the season before. The seasons are misaligning. You know that shit. So it could be half the season before, but whatever. A pretty good team over the last couple years coming to the Del sc. [01:11:11] Speaker A: Hey, Dan, is there any chance Luton's going to get promoted back into the championship next year? How they doing? Oh, not good. Not going good. [01:11:21] Speaker C: No, we've won one at the weekend. It's just been pretty. [01:11:25] Speaker A: So I was hoping that if everything kind of fell together, my United and your Luton would be playing against each other again for a home and away in the championship next year. [01:11:36] Speaker C: You know, there's always the FA cup in the League Cup. [01:11:40] Speaker A: Okay. All right. [01:11:41] Speaker B: You think United will get relegated? [01:11:43] Speaker C: Maybe the. The EFL Trophy as well. [01:11:46] Speaker A: At this point, Buzz, anything could happen. [01:11:49] Speaker B: Yeah, that would be. [01:11:51] Speaker A: I mean, I think it's very unlikely, but I also, probably before the start of last season, said there's no way United ever finishes 16th or whatever. They finished last season. So. Yeah, I did. That seemed completely implausible, but anyway. All right, boys. I got nothing else. Dan, you got anything? [01:12:11] Speaker C: Nah, never. [01:12:13] Speaker A: All right, you and your blue microphone, go to bed. Buzz. Thank you much, sir. [01:12:16] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for being here, guys. Appreciate it. Third Degree, the podcast is brought to you by our wonderful listeners who support us on Patreon patreon.com thirddegree if you like what we do on the web. You like what we do on this podcast, let's be honest, if you're here listening, then you're our audience. You're the people that make this thing work. And without you guys, this podcast and this website probably wouldn't even exist. Happy birthday. Birthday again, Dan. [01:12:38] Speaker A: Oh, yes. Happy birthday. How were birthday parties last week? [01:12:42] Speaker C: Good. Yeah. Just, you know, enjoyed people, enjoyed food. [01:12:45] Speaker B: Enjoyed the big 5, 0, big 50th, 39. [01:12:51] Speaker C: The worst part was you said that, and then I had three or I think three people that independently just decided I was actually 50. [01:13:01] Speaker B: It's the beard. [01:13:02] Speaker A: It's a comfortable age. But, Dan, you should just, you know, go. [01:13:05] Speaker B: It's awful. Don't listen. [01:13:06] Speaker A: Tell everybody you're 50. And then it. People go, wow, you look great for 50. [01:13:11] Speaker B: Yeah, fair enough. [01:13:14] Speaker C: No, they just. Oh, you had a paper. [01:13:19] Speaker A: Well, happy birthday, Daniel. Very good. All right, Buzz. Thank you, Dan. And thank you, DFW Area soccer. Curious. We will speak to you next week on another episode episode of Third Degree, the podcast. [01:13:32] Speaker C: It's entertaining now. [01:13:34] Speaker A: Third Degree, the Third Degree. Third Degree, the Third Degree NE podcast. Third Degree, the Third Degree N podcast. [01:13:46] Speaker B: Third Degree, the Third Degree N podcast. Sam.