3rd Degree the Podcast #333

[00:00:01] Speaker A: I had some gas to expend there first. Yeah. 3rd degree the 3rd degree Nepal gas 3rd degree the 3rd degree net podcast. 3rd degree the 3rd Degree never gas 3rd degree 3rd degree 3rd degree. [00:00:32] Speaker B: The podcast is brought to you by our wonderful listeners, people just like you. If you like what we do on the Internet, whether it be social media, reporting on our blog or this podcast, you can support our [email protected] thirddegree give us that support and help us keep bringing you the fantastic coverage of professional soccer in the DFW area. Thanks again for your support. [00:00:53] Speaker A: Well, hello there, DFW soccer. Curious you welcome to another episode of Fun and Merch Earth and Frivolity of Third Degree, the podcast. Now, I say all that just to kind of pad the bad news and that is Dan Crook is not with us tonight. He was very busy doing work. His very fine and hard and difficult and laborious work. We miss him today. But the money man, the guy you're actually here to listen to and enjoy is here. Your hero, my hero, everybody's hero. Third editor, founder of thirddegree.net and the original soccer influencer himself, Buzz Caric. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:38] Speaker B: Thanks, Peter. And by the way, that, that while that's the official reason Dan's not here, the unofficial reason, he told me he's only doing victory pods from now on, he could not take the loss. He's only here for the joy and the wins, so he's out for this one. [00:01:54] Speaker A: The combination of FC Dallas and the Luton Towns just got the best of him. [00:01:57] Speaker B: Yeah, and Trinity got smoked and North Texas didn't play and Tex, they're out, they're eliminated. You know, just these are not good. [00:02:06] Speaker A: Days for the one Dan Crook. [00:02:07] Speaker B: No, no, he said I'm done. [00:02:09] Speaker A: Not at all. [00:02:10] Speaker B: Well, call me when they win. [00:02:11] Speaker A: Yeah. So this is definitely, this is unfortunately, but definitely not a victory pod. As Dallas goes out to what I think we decided last week was a must win game. The opportunity to go to Galaxy, the Galaxy, and grab a win and solidify their place somewhere in the mls, play in or playoff games or whatever it was going to be. But they end up dropping that game and losing and unfortunately means that they have painted themselves into an even tighter corner. Because the weird irony out of this Buzz, is that despite losing this game, with all the ancillary other troubles that come along with how that game went down, which we'll get to in a second, is that they're essentially in the exact same place they were in before the Galaxy game because San Diego lost Colorado lost, Salt Lake lost, and even Portland lost. I mean, Dallas is actually still in a position to grab seventh place if they win in Vancouver, giggle, and also get some other things go their way, like Portland also losing. So it's a weird one Buzz, but it does seem to be a difficult mountain to climb at this point. [00:03:30] Speaker B: Yeah, the, the scenarios are many. There's actually a scenario where they could. Dallas could lose and still get in because there's four teams basically for two spots. You're right, they could jump Portland in certain scenarios, but that's not Portland's end. Just they could just get ahead of them. So if Dallas were to lose, for example, and then two of the other three teams were to fall, Dallas would still be in because Dallas right now is the top of those four teams. So they have lots of ways that they could get in. The most obvious which is to win, you know, even if they tie. There's multiple scenarios where they get in, you know, if specifically RSL or Colorado either one, lose or draw, then Dallas gets in with a draw. You know, those other teams all need to take care of their business and then have Dallas stumble. So because Dallas is in a good position, but as you say, and I'll probably get to it more in a bit, Dallas chances of winning are really, really small. So you're gonna have to hope that some other results go your way. [00:04:33] Speaker A: So I think if I'm reading this correctly, Dallas's magic number is two. [00:04:43] Speaker B: Yes. [00:04:44] Speaker A: Well, no, that's not correct. [00:04:46] Speaker B: I don't know what the magic number is because they can draw and if RSL and Colorado both win, Dallas would be out because Colorado. So like one is not enough. [00:04:56] Speaker A: Right. [00:04:56] Speaker B: One can get you in if somebody else stumbles. But you know, like so and you can't get two. So you're either getting one or you're getting three. So two is probably as well good an answer as any. [00:05:07] Speaker A: Well, the magic number means the number two to lock you in would be three. Like a three point win means that other teams can't catch you. Right. So it is still three like it was last week. So I guess that is correct. But to your point, there are so many different machinations of results between wins, loss and draw or losses and draws that Dallas should still get in. Now the, the, the cat. The crazy part of all of this is, is the fact that Dallas does have to go to Vancouver. Now Vancouver themselves have something to fight for. Hold on, let me. [00:05:43] Speaker B: Yeah, they are currently in first place. They're three points ahead of San Diego. Yeah. So San Diego is, San Diego is at Portland, a team that we would like. Portland we would like to lose. [00:05:56] Speaker A: Right, Right. [00:05:57] Speaker B: So San Diego was going to one home field advantage. They're going to play. Portland has stumbled a little bit. So the. Vancouver knows. Vancouver has to play. Vancouver needs to perform. I think like I, I didn't look at the tiebreakers, but with them being three points ahead, I can whip up the standings really quickly. [00:06:13] Speaker A: Vancouver just needs a draw to nab first place. [00:06:16] Speaker B: No, because the first tiebreaker. Oh, you're right. If they were to draw. [00:06:20] Speaker A: Right. [00:06:21] Speaker B: And if they lose San Diego and win San Diego wins. San Diego would pass them. So Van Hoover's got to play. They can't just send out 15 kids. They got to play. They, they need a point at least, if not a win. So the thing about Vancouver though is that they haven't. They're 3, 0 and 2 in their last five. They haven't lost since August 9th at San Jose. They haven't lost at home since June 25th versus San Diego. They're. They only have two losses all year at home, so. And only four ties. They have 10 wins at home. So they have a spectacular home record. And going up there and get a point is going to be even. A point is going to be incredibly difficult. A win is going to be an incredible long shot. Now, FC Dallas is really resilient. They really battle, they really fight. You know they're going to be in every game mentality wise. But Dallas has put themselves in a really bad spot because of who the last opponent is and how good the last opponent is and how good they are, what form they're on and all that, that kind of stuff. So they're going to need help. [00:07:18] Speaker A: Yes. And that's where we get into the ancillary storytelling, the extra components of what happened in Los Angeles on Saturday night. As not only did Dallas lose, but how they lost is very much an FC Dallas way of going about things. Buzz, because let's, let's save the red card for a minute. Not last, but just a minute here later. Yeah, obviously the other knock on effect of that game is now not only are they going to be missing Mr. Logan Farrington pending an appeal. That may happen while after you listen to this podcast. But we're going to assume that's not going to happen and I'll explain why here in a minute. But now they're also having to play this game without Romero who was on a yellow card suspension watch. And yes, he got a yellow for a very clumsy tackle that I thought in itself should have been reconsidered for a red if you were really looking carefully at that. And then, yes, the awful moment that Peter Musa got suckered into a bad thing by one Edren Cereo himself and he got a yellow and so now he's suspended for the game. [00:08:31] Speaker B: Buzz. [00:08:31] Speaker A: So they have to go to Vancouver without the Beaver, without the Moose and without the Hedgehog. [00:08:39] Speaker B: I like that one. Yeah, yeah. Two. At least two of their most important players and then one that's also high up there. [00:08:47] Speaker A: I'm very much looking forward to your starting 11 prediction, by the way, but we'll save that. [00:08:51] Speaker B: Yeah, me too. I'm looking forward to. I haven't figured it out yet. There are so many questions in that, but we'll get there eventually. Yeah. So in my three things I talked about the idea of what I call situational awareness. Man, you have to know you have to play knowing you're in danger of a yellow card suspension. And not only that, you have to have context for the game. This is true of everybody in the game, but in particular the guys that are on yellow card accumulations, because it's not just like, oh, I could get suspended. LA is fighting for the bottom of the table to not be the worst team in the league. Right. They have nothing to lose. They don't care about anything at that point. Right. They've just been beaten. They probably thought they deserved the game the week before. So they're mad and they're going to want to play spoiler and they're going to want to be physical and they want to. They're going to want to cause a ruckus and. And cause a spoiler effect for Dallas, that all of that is going to be true of the game. And Peter, you remember when the US would go against these teams maybe 10, 15 years ago, and the various teams they would play there were kings of the dark arts. Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, Italy, maybe in El Salvador or Honduras. These teams that would just screw with the US and they would just take them right out of their heads and they do something stupid. They would get beat. Right? LA is going to be like that. They often are like that. Edwin is like that, you know, so you know that some of that stuff's going to happen. Have that in your head that this is not the same kind of game as if it was week two of the season. So you. You have to have that understanding going in. And all those guys, including Logan, and we can talk more specifically about when we get to the red card, just got Baited and brain farted and brain fogged. And. And Colin Clark used to say that when at the end of the game when Les get tired, the brain gets dumb because all the blood leaves the brain. And one of the biggest signs of not being fit, and I'm not saying these guys aren't fit, is that at the end of the game, you make dumb decisions. And that's true of almost everybody. Towards the end of the game, you start to make dumb decisions and those guys got those cars and now Dallas is in trouble. So not smart. [00:11:02] Speaker A: No. And having to take essentially a B team to Vancouver just doesn't set up for everybody to feel hopeful about the outcome. Set your expectations accordingly, kids, is what I would recommend to you. Now, this is where I get super pessimistic and try to get real with everybody. But I do think, Buzz, that there's an argument to be made that not making the playoffs may in some ways be the better outcome for this team. For a whole lot of off the field reasons and discussions that we've had well before they went on this stretch. Like we had written this season off. And I agree that what has been happening over the last couple of months has been wonderfully fun and magical and pleasing. As a fan of this team. [00:11:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:49] Speaker A: But do you agree with me that if we get to the end of this weekend and Dallas has once again, for the second season in a row, which I think would be the first time in club history to miss the playoffs in two consecutive seasons. No, they've missed. [00:12:04] Speaker B: Yeah, Shallow's missed twice. [00:12:05] Speaker A: Oh, that's right. Yes, yes, yes. Okay. [00:12:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:08] Speaker A: But my point is, is that missing two seasons in a row would be a very, very. A Berry. Berry bad thing. [00:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah, the. The. If they make it this time, they sort of give themselves a. Oh, see, we're better than we thought we were. We told you this is a playoff roster. By the way, strangely enough, Dallas has a tendency to miss twice. [00:12:32] Speaker A: Why do I have it in my head? They only miss one. [00:12:35] Speaker B: They missed. They missed 03 and 04 back to back. South Lake and Clark's first season. Ah, yes, they missed 2008, 2009 back to back, which is Shells Hyman. Yes. And then they missed 2012 and 2013, which is also Shell Simon. So Shellis missed twice, then made the playoff for the MLS cup, had two seasons, including an MLS cup run, and then he missed twice. So. Well, one of those. One of those, One of those misses was Shells's half season. So I guess he took over for Morrow and missed. [00:13:05] Speaker A: I Guess I blanked all that out of my burned brain. [00:13:08] Speaker B: Well, yeah. Shellis had four misses in six years. Although again, one of them was taking over, so. [00:13:14] Speaker A: That's right. That's always the. The oddity of the Shellis story, which is he got the team to its only MLS cup final, yet also missed the playoffs four times. [00:13:22] Speaker B: That's arguably their best team they ever had in 2010. Certainly defensively it was for sure. Yeah, yeah. So tends to get people fired. So like, you know, there was multiple firings each time that happened and that happened again. Like they've missed twice and as people are getting fired left and right. But the thing is, is like really quickly, is Quill gonna get fired? I think there's no way now that gets fired because the back end of the season salvaged himself and he's gonna. If he misses, he's gonna miss by like a point. And like, you don't change your evaluation based on one point. Like if he was in the cellar, like if, if getting rid of Lucha would have not rebounded the team. If they would have finished how they had started and they were like 15th or 14th then, then, yeah, then Quill will get fired, but he's not going to now. [00:14:01] Speaker A: I don't. Well, I admit I have put on my cynics hat, which is very worn and broken in. [00:14:09] Speaker B: There's a hole in the back after. [00:14:10] Speaker A: 30 years with this club. But the reason why I think missing the playoffs actually helps in the long run is because I am convinced and have been convinced in large part since the beginning of the season with the stadium project, that this team is working under some sort of restricted spending budget. Now, I know somebody's immediately going to throw out the Lucha Costa 5 million dollar purchase. And I admit that throws a hiccup in my thinking here, but just stick with me for a second because obviously that didn't work and they had to fail fast and they got that, most of that money back. I think I'm saying that correctly. [00:14:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:14:49] Speaker A: Is that working under a reduced budget because the revenue has been cut so, so dramatically with the stadium project if they make the playoffs that I, I worry, I'm not saying I'm right about this, but I worry that they're going to go away thinking, okay, it worked. We got into the playoffs. That was our bar. We made the playoffs and we didn't even have to have Lucho. In fact, we were better without the $5 million lucho, dude. So now we go into 2026 and, you know, maybe we only need one DP. Maybe we don't need to go out and sign a second DP because our revenue is going to be even less next year than it was this year. [00:15:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:27] Speaker A: So you see where I'm going with this? [00:15:29] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because if they make it, it'll reinforce, like, see, we can do it like this. We don't need to go get anybody. Whereas like. But the thing, but my point that I wanted to make is that it shouldn't. It's like you should not change your evaluation of this season for a one point difference. Having make the playoffs or don't make the playoffs with one game left. Like, your evaluation should be done at this point. Like, while you think of the team and what you think of how it's working, whether you win this weekend or not shouldn't change anything. But it will because, like, it almost can't help it because they're gonna go, see, look, we told you playoff roster, right? So, you know, I, it's. We don't necessarily want to reinforce the. That this is okay now. Quill is hyper competitive. There's no way that he's not down there kicking the doors down saying, you're gonna give me X, Y and Z players, you're gonna go spend this or whatever. Now whether they listen to him or. [00:16:20] Speaker A: Not, Eric's got that kind of pull. [00:16:22] Speaker B: Or he doesn't have that kind of juice, but he will not shut up about it. I promise you that. The dude is relentless and hyper competitive. So, like, yeah, it'll. Some of it will depend on, like, how much they can just be like, you know what? I don't. You complain all you want, Eric. You signed up for this gig. You knew the stadium was gonna be empty for three seasons. So shut up. You know, you knew the job was. [00:16:41] Speaker A: Gonna be dangerous when you took it. [00:16:43] Speaker B: Mr. We told you the reno was happening. We told you the budget was gonna be limited and you said yes and took the job. And that may be true. They may have told him that he may have agreed to it with a limited budget. Yeah, because he wanted to be a head coach. Which goes back again to like, people are like, oh, you could get this coach, that coach. No, you can't. Because of this is the exact same reason you can't is because you can add this, this stadium conversation onto everything else about this club, that it means you can never get Bruce arena to come here. You already couldn't anyway, let alone if. [00:17:12] Speaker A: You have, Bruce may not make the playoffs either. So. [00:17:14] Speaker B: Well, whatever. I mean, you know what I Mean like big name, your sock buzz, big name, whatever. Yeah. He also, like, has turned their team around massively. It's not like Bruce is going to get fired either, so. [00:17:23] Speaker A: Right, okay. So I guess the. I mean, I'm hopeful that they see the results of the season and do spend money. I just anticipate with the revenue issues that they have because of the stadium project, which is going to be going on for a while, that they're just going to be a lot more cautious about spending. And they're already a cautious and conservative club to begin with. [00:17:45] Speaker B: Yeah, they've. [00:17:46] Speaker A: They've spent money. I mean, to be fair, they went out and they bought Musa and they paid the 5 million for Lucho and they've done this and done that. Hell, they even spent all that money on Eric and As Solly at one point. So. [00:17:59] Speaker B: Yeah, not as much as you think, but. Yeah, but I think, I think this season will have convinced them that, like, oh, look, Eric can do this. Eric can get us into the playoffs even if he doesn't quite get there. Aaron, Ken and Derek did it without X, Y and Z. So that's impressive. So, like, I'm hoping that they will look at, okay, we were willing to spend 5 million on Lucho. Didn't work, but we got all the money back. So we still have that 5 million we're willing to spend is my hope. Because you need to make, you need to make one more, at least DP to replace that body. You do something. Because as we, we talked about in our discord today, the idea of points per game, right, the back end of the season has been really good. They need to, if they want to compete and want to climb the table, they need to make a leap up to about 1.5, 1.6 points per game, which will be about fifth or sixth in the West. That's the next step you want to take. And if you can get a DP that can pay off and function in whatever way Quill wants it to pay off and function, if you can add that center back, I think you can easily do that. And then you can talk about if you establish that next season and it works out, then you can go, okay, now how do we take the step to get the top of the table? Now that's where you're going to start to run into problems. Like because they have some salaries they can move out that you can get in a center back they moved out of Costa, you can get in a dp. So your budget will be the same, right? You're not. You're not talking about going more than you went this year. You're talking about equaling what you went this year and spend. It's when you ask them to spend more that you're going to run into a problem. [00:19:20] Speaker A: Yeah, it's going to be an interesting conversation after the season is over, whether that's after this weekend and the next episode or some episode shortly thereafter, or maybe they make an MLS cup run and lift Silver. Who knows what happens? [00:19:34] Speaker B: Do a 2010 Colorado Rapids. [00:19:36] Speaker A: But there is an interesting conversation coming between the three of us of how much change is going to happen between the 25 and 26 roster. [00:19:45] Speaker B: Yeah, that's for a different day. [00:19:47] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, well, let's get into the game against la, which obviously, as we mentioned, did not go well for Dallas. And, you know, it was 2:1 LA. [00:19:59] Speaker B: Before. [00:20:00] Speaker A: Before we get to the red card. How were you feeling about Dallas's situation? Meaning did you feel like a win was imminent or you were. [00:20:13] Speaker B: No. [00:20:14] Speaker A: 5050 on it? [00:20:15] Speaker B: I was. I was still 50, 50. I was still absorbing the game. I had some concerns that were popping into my head already. I wasn't super confident, like, they weren't going to run away with it. LA was looking better, obviously, getting Peck back. I don't know exactly when he showed up, but that dude is a monster. So, like, you know, having him be on was obviously a big problem. You know, they. They met, they lost pencil, but then they got picked up. So it's like, man, that's tough. You know, winning on the road is always tough. So it was not it, but it was. The game was there for the taking. Like, up until the red card, Dallas was in position to take advantage of the game. There. There were. After the red card, there were multiple problems that read their head. You know, some of which are associated with the fact that you're down a man that's always going to be bad. But, like, it wasn't just that they were down a man. There were. There were some mistakes that happened that I was not pleased to see, red card aside, that I think are worth talking about. [00:21:08] Speaker A: All right, you want to talk about the red card? [00:21:10] Speaker B: Well, let me do one. Before you get in the red card, let me talk about the two goals because I was quite disturbed to Note that Osaz IR made a mistake on both goals. He wasn't 100% at fault on both goals, but the guy that usually cleans it up didn't clean it up, made mistakes and got and. And was at least partially responsible, if not a large Bit responsible on both goals. [00:21:36] Speaker A: So who. Who was partially responsible on the first one because Eric G. Just misplayed the header and the ball got past him. [00:21:45] Speaker B: He did somebody upfield that allowed that. [00:21:47] Speaker A: Oh, the ball to be played upfield in first place. [00:21:49] Speaker B: I mean, that. That number 22 is like a central midfielder or a right. Right wing, backish kind of player. He's not. They have a really weird system they were playing, but, you know, he's coming from. He's running past five or six other players. Gideon steps up on him and makes a mistake, and the guy runs past him. And so your giddy is not as much more at fault on that one than he is on the second one. The second one, he's trying to recover coming across, and he's trying to get over in front of Peck, and Peck jukes him and goes past him, and you're just like, oh, he clearly looks like I just got smoked. And he did. And the guy got a lot of him shot. So, like, you know what degree is. He's at fault on each goal was either a lot or just a half. And either way, when your best player makes two mistakes, you're gonna lose the game. Your best, especially. [00:22:33] Speaker A: Yeah, especially when you're down. [00:22:35] Speaker B: Especially when you're down, man. So I just wanted to point out that, like, as much as, like, you feel like they were competing and fighting, it's like guys that are really, really important are making mental mistakes. So it, again, it wasn't just Ramiro Musa. Farrington is. It was also Irgide. It was also, you know, like, there were lots of mistakes happening in that game, mentally speaking. [00:22:55] Speaker A: I was really impressed with Camungo's defensive efforts. He got. He got Peck so mad at him. One point, Peck got a yellow card for kicking him because he stole. [00:23:05] Speaker B: He. [00:23:05] Speaker A: He stole the ball or took the ball away from Peck and tried to dribble away from him. I thought he did a really solid job, especially for a guy that's new to that position. Bernie's transformation into something slightly different has maybe been one of the brighter parts of this season. [00:23:21] Speaker B: Yeah, particularly when he plays within himself. Like in the last 20 minutes, he started overextending and getting up forward where he shouldn't have, and people had to cover back for him. And one of those people is Anderson. Julio, who is the person you want to have that opportunity at the end of the game, not Bernie. So, you know. [00:23:35] Speaker A: Yeah, I said all that, and I. I should. I should punctuate that with the moon shot, which was maybe the team's clearest opportunity to tie the game, to finish it out. But no Bernie. I'm sure Bernie's been ass whipping and beating himself up over that one. [00:23:53] Speaker B: Yeah, Bernie's gonna have a tough winner, I think I'm predicting. What do you mean we'll get to that? Well, because I don't. I think there's a formation change coming. [00:24:01] Speaker A: Okay. [00:24:01] Speaker B: And the formation change will means that Bernie is going to be back deep on the bench, so. But we'll get to that. Yeah. [00:24:09] Speaker A: Cue the dramatic music. Okay. [00:24:11] Speaker B: Okay. Red card. Yep. [00:24:12] Speaker A: Red card. Okay. Buzz, was that a red card? [00:24:18] Speaker B: I think it was not, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me why it is. [00:24:21] Speaker A: But I think I'm gonna tell you based on what I saw and what you saw and what the camera saw. I think we all look at that and go, I'm not even sure I understand what he thinks is a red card. But now I'm gonna. [00:24:35] Speaker B: I know that part. Yeah. [00:24:36] Speaker A: Yeah. So I'm gonna take this from the point of view as somebody who tends to be pro referee, somebody who spent a little bit of time doing it myself, and also watching it enough times to watch the reactions of other people in. That's in the immediate area. And what I think Marufo saw was that as Logan was getting up, his. I think it's his right foot looks like it kind of moves into the player's groin. [00:25:03] Speaker B: Yep. [00:25:04] Speaker A: Like he made a purposeful effort to not lift his foot straight up and out, but instead it went forward and out. And the thing that. And. And what I think triggers Marufo is the three Galaxy players literally standing right there that all thought they saw the same thing. And I think that's what gives Marufo the confidence to say, I think I just saw that. The problem is. And everybody's going to say, well, then why didn't. Why didn't VAR get involved? Well, I'm sure Var did look at it, but there is no conclusive. The way the VAR thing works is that the referee tells Var, this is what I saw. And VAR's responsibility then is to say, well, we have evidence that tells otherwise, that you've made it clear. An obvious error, and there was no angle that disproved what Marufo thought he saw, and that's why the red card stood. And I. And as somebody that's been in that situation, the Galaxy players reactions to the moment match what I think Marufo thinks he saw. And maybe there's more to it than those of us that are Burn fans want to admit. And that's, that's kind of my takeaway from it after watching it way more times than I should have. [00:26:19] Speaker B: Yeah. And, and that's why on appeal, it's not a foregone conclusion that it'll get reversed on appeal. [00:26:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think it will. [00:26:28] Speaker B: You know, you could, I think if you sat back and tried to make a judgment call based on the video, I think you could judge that he didn't kick him. But I don't think there's going to be enough, as you say, to definitively declare he didn't drag or whatever it is that Ruble is going to say happened. So, like, I don't think they'll be able to reverse it. I think there's a window, there's a chance, but I don't think it's going to be clear and cut. I would say like 15, 20% chance. [00:26:55] Speaker A: I know Jair Marufo is not anybody's favorite referee, and I know a lot of people were really upset with how this game got referred. But let me, let me just say for the record, Marufo is only given two red cards this season. He's tied with like 10 other referees and I think he's fifth. I think everybody with two red cards is fifth and lower. Marufo is ninth in the league in yellow cards this season. He's the second most tenured referee in MLS yet he, I think, is barely top 10 in red card, Red cards given out. So it's not like Marufo is a guy that just hands out red cards willy nilly. I don't take him as that way and I'm not saying he made the correct call, but as a referee, you see what you see and you make that just subjective decision and you also take into consideration the other kind of intangible things going on in that moment and that's how you make that decision. And Var just couldn't overturn it. And I, and, and so I, I don't like it. I think it's soft. I don't think Beaver was trying to step on his junk. I just. [00:28:03] Speaker B: Not either. No. [00:28:04] Speaker A: I think it is just a function of circumstance and I, But I also don't think it's the reason why Dallas doesn't make the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, you know, Dallas only won 10 games this season, kids. And I know they were on a hot streak moving into this, but there was also a four or five game losing streak in the middle of the season and a lot of games buzz that you said you're going to draw yourself to Death. [00:28:25] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, this, this hot streak is only 500 ball, right? Yeah. [00:28:31] Speaker A: It's not like the hot streak is 500 ball. [00:28:34] Speaker B: Yeah. So the thing about. I'm with you. I think, I think it's not likely it gets reversed. There is a small window that it does. But I also think that there's a really good chance to learn from this for anybody, whether it be Logan or whether it be anybody else. And I want to walk through, like, for me, like, what I saw happening as it went down. And I, in my head, like in the morning, I predicted something like this was going to happen. And in my head, as it was happening, even before the moment where the card comes out, I knew something was going to happen. [00:29:04] Speaker A: Something. You could tell by the body language of those two players something was about to go down as he was shielding that defender. [00:29:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Even before that. Like, here's the thing, like Maruvalo, we joke, we call it like he's. You're going to get maroofalo today. And like I predicted that in the discord that they would doubt that it would happen because that guy likes to put himself into the game. He wants to be involved as a referee. He wants to be decisive. He wants to make decisions that are going to impact the game. He doesn't want to be a passenger. Ruflo doesn't. Based on the way he referees, watching him for a decade. This is my take on him and lots of people's take. And we talk about this all the time with him. If you challenge him, he will not back down from challenge. He will come at you and respond. So like I predicted early in the day that something was going to happen with the ref. So we get into the game and this was again part of the situational awareness. Like know that this ref can be reactive and wants to be involved. So, you know, going to the game knowing that you go into the game knowing that LA is going to be. LA is going to be physical. That one in particular. Right. So as the game's going on, there were two or three moments prior to the card moment where stuff was going down with Logan and other people. Because Logan is a very physical player. He has a rep for it. He also has a rep for not backing down. So there were as moment these moments were happening in my head. I'm watching the game, I'm. I'm thinking, Logan, dude, you're gonna have to go remember the situation. You gotta have to run away from some of this stuff. You're gonna have to defuse some of this stuff, you can't keep escalating. As I'm watching, these plays happen two or three times and I'm like, this is not going in the direction. And so that particular play happens. And I, in my head, there are three moments in that singular play where Logan could have done something different and not gotten a red card. Now again, I'm with you. I don't think he kicked him, so I don't think the red card is deserved, but at least not on purpose. Not on purpose. He put himself in a spot for it to happen. And so the first thing that happens is the guy comes in from behind and he's found him from behind and Logan's grabbing him. And they're very physical. Okay. If you're a king of the dark arts, you flop right there. You go over and it plays dead, right? Logan does. Logan flops. The next things that happens is there's a spin around moment where the guy grabs Logan and kind of throws him into the other and he hits that other Galaxy player as they go down. And there's a moment right there where Logan can stay down. Yeah, just lie on the ground. Don't get up. Just lie there. And the ref will have seen that guy throw you down. And maybe he gets a yellow card and you've defused the situation. But he doesn't. Instead, he gets up quickly and aggressively steps through the player. Now, he doesn't kick him, but he marches straight through him as the guy's still on the ground. So even if you want to stand up, stand up and then back up. But Logan, being a physical, aggressive minded player, has lost his composure because of all the fouling that's happening. And so he aggressively walks through him and drags his foot and that's the red card for kicking. So like there was about five or six moments in the game up to that point and three moments in that play where if Logan would have been thinking about the situation, thinking about the ref, thinking about the other team going into the game with an awareness that they're going to come at him because he's physical, goal, he could have not gotten that red card. Now, do I blame him? [00:32:39] Speaker A: Yeah. No. [00:32:40] Speaker B: But these are the dark arts of soccer. This is the high level pro. He's still a young, inexperienced guy. This is the Housery at the highest level. And they baited him into a red card. Even if he didn't actually do it, they baited him. Remember, you don't have to make contact, right. Swinging a miss is still a swing. Rufalo sees him sort of go with his foot between the guy's legs. He's like, oh, he just kicked him in the balls. So, like, you know, that's my beef learning moment. [00:33:07] Speaker A: Nobody's gonna like this, but if Suarez is in that exact same situation, he's on the ground as soon as that defender comes up and tries to initially touch him, and he. The whole thing's dead right there. [00:33:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Fish. What would a fish have done? What would Graziani done? They would have flown. Flown 10 yards and rolled eight times and bled out of every hole in their body. Like. Right. [00:33:31] Speaker A: I mean, I love. I love the Beaver because he. He's not. He's a very honest player, and he doesn't want to do those things. But to your point, Buzz, those are the situations. And here's the other part that I think Marufo is at fault at. There were two earlier incidents in the game that I think he could have gotten much better control. First off, Edwin's tackle on Musa, I think it was. That should have been a yellow card that he didn't give. And then Bernie's tackle that Bernie puts in in Dallas's defending half and. But the ball spills out to la. Marufo plays advantage. He should have gone back and given a Bernie a yellow card for that tackle because it was dirt. It wasn't dirty. It was just clumsy, and it was. Was a bad tackle. LA just got lucky that the ball spilled out and Bernie did, too, because I think Marufo forgot to go back and give him a yellow card or chose not to. I think if he gives yellow cards for either or both of those incidences, you know, one for la, one for Dallas, I think the tone of the game changes a lot because after both of those, the game just got a little nastier, a little saltier, and then. [00:34:39] Speaker B: The red card happens, and you can tell he's starting to lose control of the game because look how all the players react to that play. They're. Both sides are running to that confrontation. [00:34:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:48] Speaker B: Not just like one or two guys, but like five or six guys. They're ready to throw down before the card comes in. And. And Marvo may have felt like he had to do something or he's about to have a brawl, possibly. But you're right, he should have taken a little bit more control of the game a little early on, diffused it a little early on. It's not all on Logan. Other people could have diffused it too. Like, where's the captain of your team at some point in all of this? Telling your Guys to be like, hey, remember the scenario. We need this game. Stay cool. We can't get ejected. We've got to win here. You know what I mean? Like, don't get baited, stay above it. Like, again, this. That's why I use the US national team analogy. Like they had to learn how to win against those teams. You know, you can just get mentally taken right out of a game at this level of soccer. Yeah. [00:35:32] Speaker A: I just, I want to make sure we summarize this for the curious so nobody comes away misunderstanding our position. [00:35:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:40] Speaker A: Neither one of us think it was a red card or should have been a red card. [00:35:44] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:35:44] Speaker A: Both of us understand how Marufo chose to decide that it was a red card. [00:35:49] Speaker B: Yep. [00:35:50] Speaker A: Fair. Is that a good way to say it? [00:35:52] Speaker B: 100. And I. And I go further to think that say that Dallas made mistakes by not mitigating their behavior in the moment to keep themselves in the most important game of the year. Yeah, right. They were talking about every game's a knockout game for like the last month and a half. And then you got, you know, mentally taken out of the game. You got gamesmanshipped out of it. [00:36:13] Speaker A: And we also agree that's not the reason why Dallas, if they do miss the playoffs. [00:36:19] Speaker B: No, no. The killer was that that four game at home losing streak. Yeah, losing streak. [00:36:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:36:26] Speaker B: Yeah. When irrigated was hurt and Lucha was in prime. Lucha ness. You know, that was that really awful stretch right before the really good stuff happened. [00:36:34] Speaker A: All right. And it's not like Dallas didn't have opportunities to tie or take. I mean they came out in the second half. Quill take makes a couple of really interesting substitutions. And LA is so bad that I was, I was sitting on my couch going, I'll be damned. He's going to throw in Julio Anderson. Julio. And my favorite new player, Sam Sarver. And they're going to walk away and win this game and not have to worry about the loss of those players for Vancouver. I really seriously thought Quill was about to pull this one out of his butt. [00:37:06] Speaker B: He almost did. Man, that subs, the, both subs are really good. Like. And part of that was moving more over to the right side that way, freeing up Sarver to get forward. Anderson, two players of verticality. Sarver's infectious. Like the team doesn't lack effort. It's not that. But Sarver has a never quitness, a battle to the end, a, a, A fearlessness, you know, that they needed at that stage to like a never quit kind of thing. That was really good you know, the adjustment was just really nice across the board and it almost worked. And I think you got to give Quill the credit in that moment for that. You know, the things that cost him in this game were not anything to do with their Quill. They were to do with. Other than perhaps maybe he should have reinforced the. The whole scenario of like, stay sharp because they're going to come at you, you know, and. [00:37:53] Speaker A: Well, I. I think a gold star should go to the forehead for Mr. Garces, the center back that LA was playing, because he saved their skin at least twice by tapping the ball away both on the Anderson Julio breakaway and on the server breakaway. That I thought for sure one of those two were going to go in for goals, especially the server one, because he's been scoring goals like that for North Texas for a while now. But, man, that kid's quick. That defender's quick. And he caught up and he just poked him away. [00:38:21] Speaker B: I think the commentator said he has the fastest sprint time in the league. He's. I mean, he's one of the fastest. And he's a center back. I mean, he. And he caught Sarver and I know a lot of people blew up saying, that was a foul, dude, that was a clean tackle. [00:38:33] Speaker A: Both of those. Both of those were world class. Poke the ball away, just diffuse it right there. [00:38:39] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it was maybe a little bit of a chicken wing, but he gets the ball and has won the ball before any of that. And then server's off balance at that point, you know, and. [00:38:47] Speaker A: And Sarver didn't complain. Sarver knew. [00:38:50] Speaker B: No. And he would have if it really been a foul. Yeah. Sarver needed, because of that guy's pacing, his sovereign needed to shoot for much higher up on that particular play before the guy caught him. He needed to put it. Put a shot on goal. [00:39:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:01] Speaker B: You know, Sarver's quick, though, so he's probably not thinking like, that guy's going to catch me, but that dude is ridiculous. I mean, what an interesting player that's going to be over the next couple of years. I don't even know the guy's name, but, like, he was really impressive. [00:39:11] Speaker A: Garces. [00:39:12] Speaker B: Garces. Yeah. [00:39:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:13] Speaker B: Good looking player, man. [00:39:14] Speaker A: Well, it's interesting because that's the difference between the league that Sarver's been playing in. There probably isn't a center back that catches that situation and next pro and the gap between that and, you know, mls, because that's the nasty reality check for somebody like Sam who's thinking, man, I'm just walking this one in and then some dude, some center back, for Christ's sake, shows up out of nowhere and pokes it away from him. [00:39:41] Speaker B: It doesn't value. [00:39:42] Speaker A: I mean, it doesn't value. Yeah, exactly. [00:39:44] Speaker B: Let's talk about how great that Al skull is. Too great. Head on by Shaq Moore to release Sarver. Great cross into the wide open. Anderson. Julio. Who doesn't bone it. Like, when you have that much time, it's hard not to screw it up when you got that much time. [00:39:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:57] Speaker B: No pressure like that. [00:39:58] Speaker A: All of it. Every single element of that goal was fantastic. And it absolutely. I mean it. The body language on la when that goal goes in, I thought they were toast. I literally. I was convinced they were toast and Dallas was going to pull this one out. [00:40:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it was looking good for a minute, but Pack was too much. Yeah, he had a great game. Goal assistant. [00:40:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess the. I guess the question is, if Dallas had tied and gotten the draw, I don't think that really would have changed anything for this weekend. They still would have needed, Oh, a win, wouldn't they? Because that would have put them on 42 instead of 41. [00:40:39] Speaker B: Yeah, it wouldn't have changed anything. [00:40:40] Speaker A: It really wouldn't have changed anything. [00:40:42] Speaker B: Yeah. So tiebreakers would be the same as they are, you know. [00:40:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:46] Speaker B: Differential would be very much same as they are. Yeah. [00:40:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:48] Speaker B: One of the interesting things about Peck is that he's a U22 initiative player. That's what a really successful U22 player looks like. Dallas does not have one of those. They have four of them. They don't have a guy like that. [00:40:59] Speaker A: No. Crazy. Well, it's an unfortunate way for that game to end, especially with the Ramiro and Musa fallout along with the red car. But. But missing them for Vancouver and I. And I just as we kind of look forward to decision day, the game is on Saturday. Decision day this year is on Saturday, not Sunday. Hasn't decision day typically been on Sundays? [00:41:24] Speaker B: Oh, man, I don't. I don't remember. I don't think so. Because the league almost always plays all their games on Saturdays. Because this is football season. [00:41:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:30] Speaker B: You're into like NFL. You're not going to go missing the bell. [00:41:32] Speaker A: Something in my head had it on happening on Sundays anyway. All right, so they play at 8pm Central Time up in Vancouver with one Mr. Thomas Mueller, who, by the way, scored a really nice gold to win that game for them the other day. Did you see the one he hit at the top of the box? [00:41:47] Speaker B: I did. I Mean, that guy's so. He's been one of my favorites for years. The guy is such a quality player. There's a bunch of hysterical quotes where people talk about Mueller, where they're like, they go to training, they're like, this guy sucks. And they play in a game with them. They're like, oh, my God, this is the greatest player I've ever seen. [00:42:03] Speaker A: You know, he and son look like they're having so much fun playing in mls. [00:42:10] Speaker B: Well, it's those. Those are two guys too, that still have some game and take it seriously. Like, they're two. They're guys that have come over here to play golf or on retirement that have looked like utter ass and embarrass themselves. But they. Those two guys are not. Those two guys are still playing, and those are. Those are the kinds of older players that I think are okay. Like, it's the guys that want to go on vacation that I want nothing to do with them. [00:42:29] Speaker A: Right. [00:42:30] Speaker B: Get him out of here, you know. [00:42:31] Speaker A: All right, so let's assume Farrington does not get his appeal and red card overturned. Who in the world is. What in the world is Eric Quill going to do to line this team up? Is he about to pull off his greatest moment as a head coach yet? [00:42:48] Speaker B: Maybe, but he'll have to. Honestly, the replacing Musa is easy. That's Anderson. Julio, because he's actually played as a 9 sum, so that's, you know, you could use Sarver there. But I think Anderson's experience gives him the nod. The other wing position is tough. You know, I'll come back to that. Delgado would still be this tennis kind of thing. Bernie at wing back, left Capus, Kaik, that's all fine. Right wing back is a problem. This is where you get into how many things do you change? How good has more been at that left center back? Is there anybody else that can play right wing back? You know, and whether that be legit who came back and was on the bench? Maybe legit could be that right wing back and you could leave Shaq Moore at left center back. Or do you really just think, you know what, I'll put Shockmore over there and then I'll just play a Biblicar. [00:43:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:45] Speaker B: Iraqiri and Ibiaga. That's the conservative choice. Abubakar irrigated with Shaq Moore, right wing back. But if you want to, if you think, man, well, I got some interesting and special to win in Vancouver. Maybe you try Sebastian Legette over there in that spot. And then you know that that's the only thing I can think of that actually might work, man. [00:44:07] Speaker A: So coming the idea of asking legit to have to bound up and down the field at his age and his. [00:44:13] Speaker B: Yeah, but he did it like a month and a half ago. You remember they played in a right wing back. He started a game in Romero's spot. Like, you don't. You're not going off. Yeah, yeah. You don't need a whole game out of him. You need 45, 50, 60 minutes maybe. And then you bring in you. You at that point, you'll have a center back on the bench because Shaq Moore will be playing less center back. And then you bring in Abubakar or Iaga or whatever and put more over there. And now you have three in the back, you know, so you can, you can go more defensive if it works. So there's. That's just an idea that I had that I could come up with other than just the boring and conservative shackmore right wing back Bukar in. Because then at that point you're like, if I need a center back sub, I got only Alvaro, who's done. Has so little experience. [00:44:53] Speaker A: Quill is going to need his Delgado to have his best game of the season. [00:44:58] Speaker B: Yes. [00:44:59] Speaker A: He can't, man. There's just so much loping about and. And half assery out of that dude for stretches of the game. He really is now the most maddening player on the team because he'll hit a banger and he'll do something really good and then you'll just, you'll look up and they have turned the ball over and everybody else is chasing back and he's just kind of like, you know, thumb up his butt kind of attitude. [00:45:24] Speaker B: So the other wing spot opens up a whole bunch of possibilities. Yes, Sarver is a possibility, but Sarver's played, you know, 30 minutes in MLS. Deedson will be back. Can do you start. Dietzen, who just scored again for. [00:45:40] Speaker A: Who are you referring to? [00:45:41] Speaker B: Who is this Deetson, who's played like 20 minutes but is a Haitian international, Just scored again for Haiti and it's vertical as hell. And like, if you're gonna have to sit back deep in a counter, it's possible. Okay, here's some more ideas, though. Okay, wait, hold on. [00:45:59] Speaker A: You could totally see a scenario where Deetson goes on either as a starter or a sub goes out there, it's a winner for Dallas. And suddenly everybody in the front office is just like, see what we've done? The plan came. I love it when a plan comes together. [00:46:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So Entirely possible. Deetson starts because. [00:46:19] Speaker A: Okay, that's. [00:46:19] Speaker B: Sarver's a kid who's played 20 minutes in MLS and only has played the next pro. Right. [00:46:25] Speaker A: Possible. [00:46:25] Speaker B: Quill's. Quill's a big one for trusting people. And a side note, he might have lost a little bit of trust in Farrington, this whole thing, but that's the question for every day. So Deetson's possible. Here's another possibility. Bernie Camungo up top with Julio and someone like Josh Torcato at left wing back. Okay, 17 year old. [00:46:47] Speaker A: I'm listening. [00:46:48] Speaker B: These are. These are ideas. When you're like, your backs against the wall, try and mix it up or leave Brady at wing back and go more to that double 10. Pedrinho and Delgado underneath. Anderson. [00:47:02] Speaker A: No. [00:47:02] Speaker B: No starting. [00:47:04] Speaker A: I don't even turn the game on. [00:47:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. For you. So like that. To me, that's a crazy one. But, like, there was. There's been a couple of times where Quill has talked about how he really loved, like, Lucho Acosta and Padrino together as two, like a double string puller kind of thing, and how exciting that was. I'm just saying that, like, when you have. When you're. When you've lost these big pieces and you're scrambling and you're trying to. [00:47:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Bring something together, he's gonna have to be inventive. Yeah. Yeah. No doubt about it. [00:47:30] Speaker B: It has to be inventive because, like, at some point you have to figure out, you know, a. How do I not make my team worse, but also how can I surprise them and do something unexpected? And I think there's a couple of ideas in there that are really interesting and worth exploring. You know, the. The conservative one, of course, is, you know, the three center backs, the more ranking back, and you just put on Deon and you let Deon and Anderson, Julio play vertical. You just boot it and let him chase it for 90 minutes and hope you get lucky. But that's not sexy. That's not fun, that's not interesting. You know, giving legit a run at wing back, keeping more at center back. You know, maybe try and Bernie up there or, you know, or even decent Julio with Elgato and just, you know. [00:48:12] Speaker A: You could try the boring thing for 45 minutes and see what it gets you. [00:48:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:20] Speaker A: And then if you feel like the game is there to be had or you're behind or whatever, then you go balls out in the second half of the last 30 or whatever it is. [00:48:32] Speaker B: Yep. [00:48:32] Speaker A: I just worry that if you try to go With Buzz's interesting resolution right up front, you're setting yourself up to fall behind pretty quickly. [00:48:41] Speaker B: Yeah, that's fair. Like, if you can get halfway or get to 60, then you could bring in legit wing back. You could bring in Padrino for Delgado. You could bring in Sarver for Dietza, maybe at that point, something like that. Whichever way you want to go. [00:48:55] Speaker A: Right. [00:48:55] Speaker B: I. I did have an interesting question. Like, I'm not sure that Sarver's gotten into a game when Deetson was available. Like, if Deetson's been on the bench, I would have to go. Look, I think Sarver's only because, remember, he was originally an emergency signing. [00:49:08] Speaker A: Right. [00:49:09] Speaker B: And then they signed him to a real contract. He only got a couple of minutes after that. I don't think he's mostly been with North Texas. [00:49:14] Speaker A: You know, somebody else, a good listener. Ty Webker asked me this question about this, because doesn't Sarver have a North Texas playoff game the next day? [00:49:23] Speaker B: Yeah, Sunday he does. [00:49:25] Speaker A: I mean, would they sacrifice him playing for North Texas in a playoff game? [00:49:31] Speaker B: Quill would. Yeah. Quill doesn't give a. About North Texas. [00:49:34] Speaker A: Well, good. I'm glad to hear that. [00:49:37] Speaker B: If. If. If he thought he needed Sarver, he would not pause even for a second to take Sarver away from North Texas. [00:49:44] Speaker A: Right. [00:49:45] Speaker B: And that's perfectly fine. [00:49:46] Speaker A: Can Logan play for North Texas this weekend? [00:49:48] Speaker B: No, because he did not sit on the bench. He had to be in the roster for five games to be able to be in the playoff roster. So. [00:49:56] Speaker A: But the red card. If he had done that, the red card in MLS would not have applied to MLS next pro. [00:50:01] Speaker B: I don't. I don't think so. I'd have to check on that one, but I don't think so. [00:50:05] Speaker A: I just saw a giant red question mark appear over Buzz's head. [00:50:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Because it's a different league. I think it's different, you know, but, yeah, I don't. I. I think if Quill thought Sarver was the answer, that he would screw North Texas over in a heartbeat. [00:50:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:50:18] Speaker B: You know, because he doesn't. It doesn't even factor in at all in the conversation. But I also don't think that. I think that Sarver. I actually think that they did a disservice by signing server when they did. They should have just kept using him as an emergency and waited to this winter, because I think. I think he had an expectation when he signed him. They're like, great, I'm gonna be with FC House now all the time. And then he Wasn't they. They used him for 20 minutes, they bounced him back, and now you're like, what the hell? Like, as a kid, you're like, that's right. Now I'm mad. Should have just waited to the winner, in my opinion, but that's a whole different conversation. So, like, I, I don't think that. I think there's a point at which, you know, he has enough healthy bodies. Remember, Diego Garcia's back, too, and Legit's healthy now. Like, you know. Yeah, you got in a solid which you can stick on the bench just as a body. Like, you know, just for laughs. I don't know if they, if without Ramiro, do they need Paxton will be on there anyway. I'm trying to think of. Just trying to do the quick math if they even needed. Because Garcia replaces Romero, and then who replaces Moose and Farrington? Yeah, they might actually need server on the bench, even with Deetson back. Yeah, I think they need him. Yeah. So I think North Texas is not gonna get server. I think North Cyber will be with FCDLs. [00:51:37] Speaker A: It all comes down to this, kids. Dallas's fate of the 25 season comes down to a road trip to VANCOUVER Saturday night, 8pm on your Apple TV. [00:51:52] Speaker B: What did Dan say? So tight sphincter time or whatever. [00:51:55] Speaker A: It's squeaky bum time. [00:51:56] Speaker B: Squeaky bombs. Same thing. [00:51:58] Speaker A: Some same thing. [00:51:59] Speaker B: Something British. [00:52:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm not British. I don't know. Those quaint little, Little quaint little things like that. All right, well, there we go. Anything else? By the way, the burned kits look awesome. That was a great black versus white, very good winter. Winter chicken dinner. Love it. [00:52:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I, I, I don't have a definitive answer, but I'm, I, I'm fairly confident that those kits will continue next season because, like, more teams are getting that third kit. And I, the, the, the vibe I'm getting is that Dallas will keep getting to have that one too. [00:52:32] Speaker A: They've got it. You know, I, I still have not bought mine because I wanted an authentic, and I wanted to be able to put a number, not a name, a number on the back of it. And I, you know, that was such a mess in the, in the day that it came out. The days, the weeks that it came out, I've been waiting to figure out. I don't even know where the best place to go get that set up. An authentic and an extra large with a number and the correct patches and stuff is today. I don't even know. Does that. Is it, is it soccer 90? [00:53:02] Speaker B: Yeah. They have the badges? [00:53:03] Speaker A: They have them? [00:53:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:04] Speaker A: Do they have authentics? [00:53:06] Speaker B: I don't know about that. [00:53:07] Speaker A: See, I was under the impression they were out of stock on. On certain stuff. [00:53:11] Speaker B: So they were. But they would be the ones that would have all that stuff. [00:53:13] Speaker A: Okay. All right. [00:53:14] Speaker B: I think, I don't know. The authentics on like MLS's website, I don't think have the patches and stuff. I think they. Even though they're authentic. [00:53:20] Speaker A: Ah, okay. [00:53:21] Speaker B: Although I'm not the kit guy. That's the damn question. [00:53:23] Speaker A: That would be a damn question. But he's forsaken us. [00:53:27] Speaker B: I'm a kid nerd, but I'm not a guy that knows the official answers. Yeah, wonderful. [00:53:33] Speaker A: All right, what else? Let's see. Let's move on to other things. We'll set Dallas aside. Speaking of bad news, Trinity lost again. They were up in Spokane. They are really stupid people. Live in Spokane. [00:53:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. It was like 45 degrees. [00:53:52] Speaker A: So what stadium is that? [00:53:54] Speaker B: They built a little stadium there along with the city. You know, it's like a 7, 10,000 seater. [00:54:00] Speaker A: I think that's a cool little stadium. [00:54:02] Speaker B: They have them, they have men's and women. The WINS team is USL 1, so you know, Division 3, but you know, obviously still better. They play high school stuff there too, football and soccer. So it's a mixed use kind of thing, you know, not mixed use. Excuse me, mixed sport. Yeah, City and county and you know, like everybody does and I like those. [00:54:20] Speaker A: Kind of purpley silver kits. [00:54:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:23] Speaker A: Spokane wears lilac or whatever. [00:54:27] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Those are nice looking kids. It was a fun kit game because both those teams have good looking kits. So it was nice. [00:54:33] Speaker A: Yeah, you don't see, you don't see kind of a Romanesque maroon and lilac. [00:54:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:39] Speaker A: In a kid assignment very often. [00:54:40] Speaker B: The thing annoys me about those games though is like whatever the super league they still are using, using relatively low end productions. And so the game cameras are always just horrible quality, particularly the main game camera. You can't read the numbers or names and the faces are all smudged out like it's all witness protection. It's just awful. [00:54:55] Speaker A: It's nothing. [00:54:55] Speaker B: Don't get me started. Yeah. So obviously Dallas Trinity is still trying to figure out the magic sauce this year because they tried another player in Mizzima Spot and that was Uber Gogu this time, who's usually their left wing. And they started tomorrow, Boltz on the left, who's usually on the right wing and. But see the strongest playing right wing. So they kind of mixed all that up and it's not going well in terms of getting the ball up the field to her in good scoring positions. That's her biggest problem. The Golden Boot winner and the other thing they did was because Guidry was out on a red card, they put Hannah Davidson at right back. It was a center back and they moved Brooks. Not Brooks, I'm sorry. Wisner. Wisner. Gosh dang it. Wisner. Back to center back was Amber Brooks, who's a great center back. But that meant that now you don't have your big humongous leading, you know, game breaking six in there. So you have Gracie, Bryan and Balada playing as a double pivot. It's just like, it's not good. So you know, he's still clearly like shuffling the cards and retrying every game to figure out who the hell's going to play in what positions and try and make this thing work. Because right now it is not working. You know, they've been on the road and they're getting really worn out and tired and you can see it in them, you know, and they got. It's funny how short of a bench he plays. Chris Petrocella, the GM signed all these players and Chris Petroslide, the coach, doesn't play them. He still plays the same small rotation. Now he was on a red card suspension, so his son Nick, who's the one of the system coaches, actually coached game. But I'm sure he was there. Chris does was. But anyway, not good. So, you know, they still are at the top of the ish of the league. They're in fourth, you know, they're one point behind third and three points behind first. [00:56:48] Speaker A: League is so ridiculous. Yeah, there's so much. They're not even to the break yet. I'm not. [00:56:53] Speaker B: I'm considering Spokane's played nine games and for a lot of us played six, you know, so like there's a big miss of like good miss of like who spoke in because it gets cold out there in the winter. They front load and then back load and all that kind of stuff. So just like Trinity's had a whole bunch of road games, whatever they got. But anyway, the state fair class goes coming up on the 18th. Big huge game. Yeah, that's fun. As of today, Peter, how many tickets would you guess they have sold as of today? [00:57:20] Speaker A: As of earlier today, are we using. With no air quotes? [00:57:25] Speaker B: We're using the number that they've told me they've sold as of earlier today. Monday. [00:57:33] Speaker A: I'm going to guess they told you they've sold 12,000 tickets. [00:57:37] Speaker B: You're close. 14,000. Okay, so we'll see. But that's a pretty good sign. Hopefully they actually have sold that many, and hopefully there'll be a good crowd. That would be really nice. [00:57:50] Speaker A: I think I'm going. I got they. Well, here's the deal. I. I didn't think we were going to be able to go because it. The game kicks off right when we're typically on the air with the kick around. But this happens to be one of those weekends where SMU is playing an afternoon game, so we're doing the noon to 2 slot. So I get off at 2. I'm gonna have to scramble home, go let the puppy dog out because my wife's out of town, and then scramble back down to the Cotton bowl to attend El Classico. So that should be fun. [00:58:25] Speaker B: Yeah, it will be fun. Have you been to a game yet? No. It's okay. [00:58:32] Speaker A: No, no, I'm in. No, I'm. I am genuinely embarrassed to admit I have yet to go to a Trinity game. The most awful. I feel terrible admitting that, but that is the truth. I have not been to a Trinity game. This will be my first Trinity game, and I'll get to go to the state fair and have a corn dog and all that Jim jam. And you're not. You have to work this weekend. [00:58:53] Speaker B: I have to work. I'm working. Yeah. So I'm out. But that's super cool. I mean, we're in the time of year where I'm working every weekend. You know, Friday, Saturday and half the Sundays with cowboys or whatever. [00:59:02] Speaker A: Maybe Dan's beard will be there. [00:59:04] Speaker B: I don't know what he's doing. He might, but it's a busy weekend for me. So anyway, Trinity stumbling everywhere. Hopefully they can get it worked out. There's still zero word on Missimo when she's going to be back. You know, depending on who I ask. I get very varying beliefs about how soon she'll be back. [00:59:24] Speaker A: I think everybody at this point should just hedge their bets and assume it'll be the second half of the season. [00:59:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm not optimistic at all that it'll be this fall, that it'll be in the new year, actually, when the spring segment of the season kicks in, if they're lucky, if there's not something really, if she's not doing a palm of all. So we'll see. [00:59:46] Speaker A: Please don't say that. All right. So hope everybody is there at the Classico this weekend. If you get a chance to go get a ticket you get to get into the fair for free and it's actually cheaper than buying the actual state fair ticket, which be fun. [00:59:59] Speaker B: That'll be a good crowd. [01:00:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I hope it's a great I Man, if they get over 10,000 people, that'll be a massive of success for them. Now hopefully they don't get crushed by a superior League MX team, but your mileage may vary on that deal. [01:00:13] Speaker B: Yeah, okay, well it's a friendly, you know, whatever. [01:00:16] Speaker A: Sure. North Texas did not play. They had their playoff game this particular weekend as we mentioned earlier, against San Jose there. [01:00:24] Speaker B: Well, against the town is the name of that team. It's San Jose's. And they've moved that. Yeah, it's so cool. The town. The town FC probably. Actually they've moved the game to pay Ball park. So it'll be the big stadium, so maybe it'll be there. The town was in second place and they picked Dallas. Look at me. They picked North Texas who were in sixth. So maybe Sarver will be with SC Dallas. [01:00:48] Speaker A: So if Sarver goes and is on the bench at for Vancouver, only plays a little bit or none at all, do they throw him on a plane to San Jose? [01:00:58] Speaker B: Oh yeah. [01:00:58] Speaker A: Time to make the game in San Jose. [01:01:01] Speaker B: Oh yeah. [01:01:01] Speaker A: What time's the game in San Jose? [01:01:06] Speaker B: That I don't know. Hold on. [01:01:09] Speaker A: You're Buzz Carrick. You're supposed to know all these things. [01:01:11] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:01:13] Speaker A: You're the original soccer influencer, Buzz. [01:01:15] Speaker B: 8:00Pm Central. Oh, so that's. [01:01:17] Speaker A: He could practically drive there from Vancouver. [01:01:19] Speaker B: Yeah, from Vancouver. Like you could catch a morning flight or even probably a, you know, evening flight the night before. Down from, from Vancouver down to San Jose. Piece of cake. [01:01:28] Speaker A: Well, no, no. The day before is Saturday. He will have been playing with the team Saturday night. [01:01:33] Speaker B: Yeah, but the if the game. You don't think a city like Vancouver would have late night flights? [01:01:39] Speaker A: Oh, I think during the day. Like a, like a late day flight. Okay, maybe whatever. [01:01:45] Speaker B: That or that morning. Absolutely. A guy like Sam Sarver, young, fit. If he plays 20 minutes. Yeah. Get him on a plane. He can absolutely be there. [01:01:52] Speaker A: What if Sam Sarver hits the winner to solidify Dallas's place in the playoffs? Gets on a plane, goes down and bangs a few goals in for the. [01:02:03] Speaker B: Junior team to get one of the greatest single player. That'd be so awesome. [01:02:09] Speaker A: And there's only one player that can pull it off for this club and that is one Samuel Server. [01:02:13] Speaker B: Yeah. This weekend anyway. There's only one player. [01:02:15] Speaker A: Yes. [01:02:16] Speaker B: Yeah, that's exciting. That Would be fun. Matter of fact, I hope they do it. Hope it happens. [01:02:20] Speaker A: All right. Texoma playing their final home game at their current home. [01:02:28] Speaker B: Well, of the season. Of the season. I'm pretty sure, pretty sure they're going to be in that venue again next year, you know, and maybe even for a couple years until the Salina thing that we know about that they have not announced it gets done. So, you know, probably at least one more year, but this is the final home game of this year. Some guys walking off the field looks a little bummed, like they know that maybe they're not going to be around. You know, I think there's going to be some. When you finish 12th and you have a new coach and a new club and a new team, you know, expansion teams, half those dudes aren't going to be back. Especially because like a lot of those contracts are probably one year contracts and so even your good players might get better offers. You know, they're going to. It's probably going to be almost a rebuild really. So they want. They won one nothing. They have two road games left. That's a tough finish. I think about that. Mentally you're out of it, you're eliminated and, you know, I have to go to two road games to finish out the season. And then they're playing the one Knoxville, which is one of your favorite team names, I know. [01:03:25] Speaker A: Yes. [01:03:26] Speaker B: Up next. So tough, tough season for. For Texoma. They had a great rally in the middle of the year, but then they lost it and fell apart and couldn't hold together. So they got a couple nice players that they really, really need to bring back. Garcia, though, he may get a much better opportunity given how good he looked over the year. That's the keeper, by the way, who made like six or seven PK saves during the course of the season, including two in one game. Spangler is really good. I hope they keep Bram Padilla, who's the former Dallas Academy player that he has. Could be. Could be interesting. [01:03:59] Speaker A: I do like a game that features Bird and Street Address as the two opponents. Yeah, my funny nicknames. Because one Knoxville sounds like a street address, so. [01:04:10] Speaker B: It does. It does. [01:04:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes. Very good. All right, well, and then Atletico Dallas. Nothing new with them, I guess. Really threw out some new swag. If you're up, if that's your jam. [01:04:23] Speaker B: You weren't a big fan of this run. [01:04:26] Speaker A: I liked the ads they put together for them, but it's certainly not merchandise with me in mind, I guess. [01:04:32] Speaker B: No, no. [01:04:33] Speaker A: Although the golf shirts were maybe my age. Appropriate for me. But some of the other stuff was not. [01:04:39] Speaker B: That's what I bought was the golf shirt. The golf shirt, yeah, yeah, yeah. The urban streetwear for 23 year olds is not necessarily my jam. I did buy like one or two of those kinds of things for them, you know, because it's the first, whatever. [01:04:53] Speaker A: So, yeah, I, I, I've said this on social media and I'm going to repeat it and I may have even said it here, but the Mexican athletic supplier Charlie has been doing some really cool stuff. In fact, they're the ones that did the really sweet Oakland Roots stained glass kits from last season and they did another kit for Roots. I think it was Oakland Roots this season. Like a third jersey. That's so cool. And, and it, I, I just feel like Charlie would be the perfect partner for Atletico Dallas. [01:05:29] Speaker B: It would be good in their debut. [01:05:30] Speaker A: Season because it's the right, you know, it's Hispanic culture ties and all of those things and the stuff they make looks really good. And the, and I have one of those Oakland Roots stained glass jerseys and it's, it's really nice quality and everything. So I hope, I hope that they're in consideration to be the partner. [01:05:51] Speaker B: Well, you remember my Caleb Porter prediction. [01:05:53] Speaker A: Yes. [01:05:54] Speaker B: As a coach, I actually, I'm not going to make a prediction, but I thought of a name this week that I want to throw out that I just think would be a really aggressive statement. Higher as a manager for this club. As a manager, as a coach of the club that I think would make a statement and sort of say something about their, the direction they're going. [01:06:13] Speaker A: And Emerson Hyman. [01:06:15] Speaker B: No. Oh no. Ugo Perez. [01:06:19] Speaker A: Yeah, boy, right. I mean that's who I wanted the national team to hire. Boy, that would be a baller right there. [01:06:26] Speaker B: I mean a massive US name. A guy who's fully cognizant of the Latino player and market and has a credibility in that segment. [01:06:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:06:36] Speaker B: A guy who's coached, hasn't broken into like that next level as a inside the US Pro soccer game, but as coach. National teams like El Salvador wasn't as El Salvador. [01:06:45] Speaker A: Yes. Oh yeah. Did a really nice job with them too. [01:06:48] Speaker B: Yeah, like so, like an ambitious hire of. We're going to play a certain way with a certain kind of player. It's going to feed into our market. We've been targeting our style that we've been targeting. That would be a ball or higher. I think I thought of that this week. [01:07:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I like that one. Buzz. That's a, that's a Good one. That seems like a big paycheck for that league. But maybe Sam and Sam and Matt may be up for that. Well, I mean they got all these new investors and now they got Kyle Martino money coming in. [01:07:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:07:19] Speaker A: And we know Kyle's from a super rich family, so he's got some coin. Right. [01:07:23] Speaker B: Well, you think of Hugo Perez, right, as a coach but like who is he coached as a pro team? He's only coached. [01:07:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:34] Speaker B: Like as an assistant in like USL and stuff. And then he's been a national team coach. He was a US U14, U15. He's El Salvador's assistant. El Salvador Olympic team, El Salvador Nashville team. He's never coached like pro teams. So like there's a little bit of an adjustment there. Like you don't. He doesn't have like a MLS career or USL career. [01:07:53] Speaker A: Maybe it's. [01:07:53] Speaker B: So he would want to be establishing himself as a pro coach perhaps. So maybe like okay, USLC is a good step for me. You know that they're going to try to go Division 1. Maybe that's attractive to him. I just think it's like a super ambitious hire. That would, that would, he would, he would be interested, I think because it was this. It's the right market for a guy with a heavy Hispanic, Latino influence in his game and his style and his connections. It plays to what that I thought it goes doing. It's just. To me, I just want to thought of that just made so much sense to me. I think it'd be a great, great move. I have no idea if he's on their short list or not. If they've talked to him, who knows? I have no clue. I don't even know if they've talked to Caleb Porter. I just thought like what a great hire that would be if they could pull that off. I just think it'd be super cool. [01:08:36] Speaker A: Well, I should. My an observation I have about Snake and Wolf is the smartest thing they've done so far is essentially buy Renegades because anytime I'm at Spectrum and a couple of times out in the Richardson area, I've seen kids walking around in Atletico Dallas youth jerseys because they play for that club and that's not. I mean that club's got a lot of teams and so they instantly bought a marketing machine that's helping get at least a little bit of the word out. [01:09:07] Speaker B: Yeah, somebody sent me a thing today. They have like, they have 10 teams in the Dallas cup that's coming up here or something like that. [01:09:13] Speaker A: Do they really? [01:09:14] Speaker B: Yeah, on the girls and boys side, four or five on each side. So yeah, you know, that's a pretty quality club. It's not of the same tier as sc, Dallas or Solar or yet no Texans. You know, it's not there yet, but it's probably right there with BVB International or Hornets or like right there in the next level. So, you know, it's. It's. Now you've had a pro team on the top and if you can show a pathway, like a legit pathway, that'll be very attractive. [01:09:42] Speaker A: Well to it instantly becomes the only the second club in the area with that capability. [01:09:47] Speaker B: Well, think about how many people like in that talking about that segment now, how many people hate FC Dallas. Oh, and will do anything to screw FC Dallas. And if you can say to them, hey, we got a pro pathway for you, kid, parent, coach, whatever, that's not FC Dallas. Stick it to the man. Come play for us. You know, when, when you. There's no territory rights in usl, right. You don't have to deal with that. You just come to us and play. [01:10:14] Speaker A: Wow. Crazy stuff. All right. Speaking of which, has there ever been any more news or updates about what's happening with Fort Worth's USL team? [01:10:23] Speaker B: No, we. We had a. We had a vague understanding of when. When we thought or when we were sort of expecting an announcement to happen and it didn't happen. So I don't know why. We don't know why it didn't happen. We don't know why they buy they went past that expected date. It was like a window and we were pretty confident we would hear it and it didn't happen. So honestly, they are super tight and secretive over there on that side of the town with that club. Theoretically, they're starting play in 2027 just like Athletico. So, you know, you would have thought by now you would have heard something and there hasn't been. So we're trying to figure out, you know, if. If it's gone wrong or gone sideways or if they're just keeping it tight, you know, But I thought it go suck all the oxygen out of the room and then come in hot last minute. Kind of like Backdraft, Backdraft fc. Blow the door down. [01:11:17] Speaker A: Well, Buzz, I hope this wasn't the penultimate episode of the season. I hope. I hope not. I hope we have more than one more. [01:11:26] Speaker B: Yes, that'd be fun because it would. [01:11:29] Speaker A: Be a victory pod and maybe Dan will come back. [01:11:31] Speaker B: Probably. [01:11:32] Speaker A: Probably. [01:11:33] Speaker B: I guess they could lose and get in. That's what's so Weird. They could slide in back to. [01:11:36] Speaker A: Okay, so here's the question. [01:11:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:11:39] Speaker A: Just to. Just to test Dan's thinking here. If Dallas loses yet still makes the playoffs, will he appear on next week's episode of Third Degree, the podcast? [01:11:52] Speaker B: No, because the eight, nine games, not playoffs. [01:11:56] Speaker A: That's right. That's a comment playing game. [01:12:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I think he would. I think he would find that knockout play to be resisted, resistible. [01:12:04] Speaker A: What if. Yeah, okay. Yeah. [01:12:06] Speaker B: All right. [01:12:06] Speaker A: Well. Yeah, I think so, too. He can't help himself. He's not. He's not that principled of a human being. [01:12:13] Speaker B: He probably is, but that's not a hill you're gonna die on necessarily. You're only doing victory pods because then it'd be a long winter because, you know, we have to do. [01:12:22] Speaker A: Yeah, all right. We'll cross that bridge when we get. [01:12:24] Speaker B: I guess the other thing we should throw out there is that, like, based on all the information we have, I would bet that camp is opening for FC Dallas like the first week of January, and they're playing like the second week of February. It's going to be a quick turnaround because of the Woke up. [01:12:39] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [01:12:40] Speaker B: The season's moved up, so it's going. [01:12:42] Speaker A: To be like one hundo. It's going to be a weird one for sure. [01:12:46] Speaker B: It'll be a tight, tight off season. [01:12:48] Speaker A: All right, well, thank you, sir. I don't. I only have you to thank for doing this today. Anything else? [01:12:54] Speaker B: I mean, there are other people we could thank. I mean, it's not just me, but. Yeah. No, nothing else. [01:12:58] Speaker A: Okay. [01:12:59] Speaker B: Thanks, man. You're welcome. Thanks for not taking this one off. I would have been struggling by myself. [01:13:04] Speaker A: I won't leave you stranded like that, Buzz. [01:13:06] Speaker B: Thanks, man. [01:13:06] Speaker A: You're welcome. I got. [01:13:07] Speaker B: I had to do that once. It was tough, just me ranting for an hour. It's like. Okay. [01:13:14] Speaker A: Trying to do the Rush Limb ball bit. The toughest. The toughest style of radio to do is the solo show, man. I'm telling you. [01:13:20] Speaker B: Oh, well. Yeah, I know, I know. That's the worst. [01:13:23] Speaker A: Yeah, that is absolutely the worst. All right, well, hopefully if you guys. Are anybody listening or out at the Classico this weekend, keep your eyes peeled. If you see me, please come by and say hello. I'll be by myself. I'll be lonely. I'll be looking for people to talk to. Feel free to engage. Maybe we can go have some cotton candy together or turkey leg or. Somebody said there's a crushed. There's something called the Cookie Chaos milkshake. And apparently it's a cookie butter milkshake and I have been told it's the best thing they've ever eaten or had consumed at the state fair. [01:13:57] Speaker B: That's probably $50 to sue. [01:13:59] Speaker A: Yeah, it probably is. [01:14:02] Speaker B: They have some crazy ass stuff at the state fair, I'll give them that. [01:14:05] Speaker A: They do, they do. And I can get me some shamwows while I'm there too. [01:14:08] Speaker B: I just like a regular old corny dog, don't we? [01:14:12] Speaker A: That's what good Texans eat when they go to the State Fair. [01:14:15] Speaker B: 3Rd Degree the podcast is brought to you by our wonderful listeners. People just like you. If you like what we do on the Internet, whether it be social media reporting on our blog or this podcast, you can support our [email protected] third degree give us that support and help us keep bringing you the fantastic coverage of professional soccer in the DFW area. Thanks again for your support. [01:14:37] Speaker A: Thank you Buzz and thank you DFW Soccer. Curious you. We will be back, rain or shine on another episode of 3rd Degree the podcast hopefully with Dan. The 3rd Degree podcast 3rd Degree the 3rd Degree NE podcast 3rd Degree the 3rd degree NED podcast 3rd Degree the 3rd° N podcast Sam.