3rd Degree the Podcast #334

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Totally weird Sunday podcast. [00:00:02] Speaker B: Yay. Victory Pod. Let's go. [00:00:05] Speaker C: Yeah. Third Degree the Third Degree Nepodcast. [00:00:18] Speaker B: Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree. Never get Third degree. [00:00:28] Speaker C: Third degree. [00:00:30] Speaker A: Third 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. [00:00:53] Speaker B: Well, hello there, DFW soccer curious people. You welcome to a Victory Pod of Third Degree, the podcast. With a big old beaming smile of happiness on his face, it's Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:01:09] Speaker C: Hi. I can't match your enthusiasm. I'm sorry. I'm just not at that level. [00:01:15] Speaker B: It's okay. We don't expect you to. You are our very chill, somber British friend. Or English friend. So there you go. [00:01:24] Speaker C: Thank you for the correction. [00:01:26] Speaker B: Yeah, sorry about that. All right, sorry. Well, let's move on. Your hero, my hero, everybody's hero. Editor, founder of third degree.net and the original soccer influencer himself, a very happy Buzz Carrick. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:40] Speaker A: Peter, I had this really clever thing I was going to say to you, and after working, like, three straight days, I can't even begin to remember what it was, so it's very boring. [00:01:50] Speaker B: You just know it was super clever. [00:01:51] Speaker A: Oh, it was super good. It was super funny. I was going to laugh a whole bunch. [00:01:55] Speaker B: And was it at my expense? [00:01:58] Speaker A: No, I don't think so. It was relevant to something that we had been talking about, and now it's like I got nothing. [00:02:03] Speaker B: I got about a suggestion that maybe I should try the Landon Donovan hairpiece. [00:02:09] Speaker A: No, it was not, but that's a good suggestion. Yeah, it looks pretty good. [00:02:13] Speaker B: You know, I thought he did until on Instagram, he posted a video of him from the side. [00:02:19] Speaker A: Not good. [00:02:20] Speaker B: No. It looks like he's wearing a dead muskrat on his head. From the side. I agree. It looks good from the front. From the side, not so good. [00:02:29] Speaker A: Well, I'm a big believer in confidence. Balls can be beautiful. You know, as long as you like yourself and believe in yourself, just do what comes naturally, it's all good. It's easy for me to say. [00:02:36] Speaker B: I'm with you. I hear you. Look at us, guys. Here we are on October 19th. Yes, we're recording this a day earlier than we normally are. [00:02:46] Speaker C: My fault. [00:02:46] Speaker B: Sorry, guys. And FC Dallas, a team we had dead and buried two months ago, has not only managed to get into the playoffs, but their incredible run unlikely result in Vancouver in combination with the epic just flame out of every other team around them in the Western conference means that FC Dallas is in the actual 2025 MLS playoffs, not the play in the playoffs is the seventh place team. And what a remarkable result. Result it is Buzz and are you Dan and Buzz in agreement with me that the credit for this goes 130,000%. [00:03:36] Speaker C: To packs and Quill. Oh. [00:03:40] Speaker B: To Eric Quill. [00:03:41] Speaker A: Yes, yes it does. Yeah, look, this turnaround is bonkers. And credit to FC Dallas for posting this stat from mid July. Over their last 12 matches, according to FC Dallas, they've played it a 1.83 points per game. That is an absolutely astounding rate. And that that kind of points per game puts you right there with San Diego and Vancouver who are both at 1.85 on the season. Granted of course Dawson knew for the season they did it for a third of the season. But that is still a remarkable turnaround, a remarkable number. And it all stems from the willingness of Eric Quill to take the risk of demoting and then demanding, presumably demanding the sale of his star number 10. We changing the entire system. Of course getting Oz greed a back healthy helps, but going out and getting a guy he wanted specifically in campus, changing the formation, it's just been an absolutely phenomenal turnaround and he deserves all the credit in the world. If you, if you played at this pace the whole year, you would be one of the top teams in the whole league. Now they got a ways to go before they're actually going to be one of those teams. But this run has been just off the charts ridiculous in its turnaround. It's so good, it's incredible. [00:04:58] Speaker B: It really is. And you know, I, I think in my observation, I'm curious if you guys agree with me. The two big things that change this team for the better is one is the most obvious one is correcting the front office's mistake of buying Lucho Acosta in the first place. Look, I get it. It was a deal you kind of had to make because everybody would have given you crap if you hadn't. But I also think there's an argument to be made that if your job is to assess what is the right thing to do for your roster, that was probably an obvious bad fit from the jump and maybe you should have been brave enough not to make it in the first place. But that's a different Conversation. Correcting that mistake quickly. That's. That's the big solve, right? That's the first correction. The second one was adding Christian Capis to this team. And I also want to give Eric Quill 100% credit for that edition. That is not an Andres Zenada front office edition. That is Eric Quill going out, calling Chris Captis and saying, I need you, please come here and getting that deal done. Those are the two things that fundamentally change the course of this season for this club. [00:06:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll go even further with the Acosta thing because. And let a little bit of cat out of the bag when, when my sources came to me with the whole thing about him getting dumped in California, where he got benched and then sent back, eventually sent back home. The people that let me in on that little secret, that little happening, went so far as to say that Quill has decided that he's going to save his team, save his locker room, save his job. Basically, they are paraphrasing what they were telling me, that he knew he was in trouble and he knew he had to do something radical to save his locker room and to save this team and keep it going, because he was about to lose the whole thing. You know, And I'm not going to say Acosta was in there deliberately sabotaging, but Acosta's behavior was being allowed to happen, and Quill had to do this. He had to do something. And it wasn't just bench him. It was like once he bench him and then he reacted the way he did, which was to go out and then caused even more trouble, say, okay, that's it, we gotta get rid of him, you know, and, and also, you know, Pedrinho got caught up in that mess, and Quill has been smart enough to allow that guy to work his way back in. It's not just jettison. Everybody automatically, you're all screwed, you're all out. He clearly identified what he had to do, and he did it. And the same thing is exactly true, as you say, of Capis, identified the guy he needed. This is the guy I want. This is the guy I need. Go get him for me and compare his signing to Deon signing. Deon's a guy that the scouting department was after for a couple years and wanted to get and not Quill. That's an organizational thing that kind of wanted to happen versus the guy that Quill wanted to have happen. And the, the way how quickly they were integrated and how important they are shows a massive difference in those two players. So 100% to Quill, with a tiny little caveat of IR getting healthy. But the defense, when IR was healthy and it was a back four, it wasn't working. It was the back three or really back five in the compression of the space to help cover up from a six. That was the huge adaptation tactically that made the difference. Dan, you buying it? [00:08:02] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. But Peter, if you want any validation, I asked Dax McCarty in the Week, and he basically said exactly the three points that you just raised. [00:08:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:08:13] Speaker B: I mean, it's so obvious and clear to me. Eric Quill deserves so much credit because I've heard the same thing, Buzz, that Eric Quill essentially said, screw it. I don't care what Andres and I or Dan, I don't care what anybody else says. I'm saving this. And he set it on the correct course and said, I'm not playing with Lucho Acosta. Screw that guy. He's killing the rest of this locker room. Look, I don't think Lucha Acosta ever really wanted to be here in the first place. I think he wanted to go to South America, and they couldn't make that deal happen, so he ended up here. This wasn't going very well. He never was a good fit for Eric's system, the brand new manager system, and he kind of pouted his way into a deal. And. And if Andres and I don't deserves any credit, it's that he was able to finagle a deal to get him out and send him down to South America, and they got most of their money back. So I suppose if you want to give Zenata credit for something, that would be it. But Zenata is also the same guy that signed Lawless Abubakar, who is unbelievably unqualified for this level. And, and. And really, I just want to throw things at the television every time I see that guy play for the team. So I hope that doesn't happen anymore, but that's it. We'll get into that here a little bit later on. But Eric Quill, 100. I'm gonna trademark this one. Quill will. It's the power of the Quill Will. A heavy injection of Quill will push this team to MLS playoffs in 2025. [00:09:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't want to go so far as to make it sound like we feel like, or I feel like Lucha Acosta was intentionally destroying anything, but he. Perhaps unintentionally, he definitely was. It was causing a ruckus on the field and off the field, and you have to give credit Quill for recognizing that that's singularly what the problem was. Well, not singly because we just identified. There's a couple other areas too, but. And being so adamant about it and being like, okay, if I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down with the dudes that we want to be here. And you remember like in the next two or three games, every post game was about the chemistry of the guys that are here and want to be here and that are on the field is everything. And he said it like for a month he kept saying it. And that was all you needed to know that that was the case. That's what was happening. [00:10:26] Speaker B: I thought the video that the team posted of him celebrating in the locker room with the like revealing the beer can out of his hoodie pocket was pretty awesome. That's a really great moment. And I, I said I, I just think it's great, it's a great story. I, I'm mixed, I don't know how you guys feel about this. So reticent to get too excited over the fact that here we are in season 30 and we're celebrating Dallas squeaking into the playoffs again and we're not at a point where Dallas is, you know, a super strong contender. I, I wish they were those things. But, but to get to this point, based on where we were back in Jan wherever, that four game home streak that they lost, those four crazy games in a row, to get to this point is such an improvement, it's hard not to celebrate even this kind of playoff entry. [00:11:16] Speaker A: Yeah, that was in week 21, was the fourth of those losses. But yeah, I think I have to give them a little leeway because, you know, we talk about this team is a collection of seasons. You know, many seasons that we've been here watching this for these guys, for this coach. Yeah, for this coach and most of these players, it's maybe last year a little bit, but a lot of them, it's this year. This is a new thing for them. And they were dead and buried and they, and they did like, they almost did like major league where they, they didn't literally have this, but they, when they had the mannequin, like we have 38 games, we got to win 38. It was kind of like that, right? This. Every game's the final and they did it. And so like they've celebrated this accomplishment that they put together of even making the playoffs at all from how far out of it they were. So I'll forgive them a little bit of early Celebration. You know, we, I don't think anyone, including us, would consider them a real cup contender. Of course they're going to be in any game because of their mentality, but that's not, that still doesn't mean that they have to make an incredibly hard road run to actually make that happen. But in the meantime, I'll forgive them a little bit of a celebration when they had it clearly earmarked so far out they were, they were 22 points out of it. It's ridiculous in 12 games, something insane. You know, that 1.83 per game is just a bonkers run that they put together. You know, and even then it's not as good as some teams put together when they're at the very peak of their prowess that get you to 63 or 70 or points that we, some of these teams get to. But you know, I, I'll give them their, their time and their moment and, and they definitely have a we can play with anybody mentality and you know, we'll talk a lot about how they're going to match up with Vancouver, but in the moment they're going to feel like they can get on the field and go head to head with ANC on their face. [00:12:55] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think it's appropriate time to kind of move into the ridiculousness of how this happened because FC Dallas, a team that a week ago went to the last place LA Galaxy in a winning end game and got on the wrong side of a dodgy red card and ended up losing that game. And then in the most. Oh along with not only one of your players due to suspension, but your two other best players are better players. One of your best player and another guy you really need. [00:13:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:27] Speaker B: Really important guys who are now out because they have their own suspension issues due to yellow card collection. And you now go to mission impossible last game of the season decision day. You got to go to Vancouver, who are in first place in the Western Conference, have one of the best home records in the league and you go there with a collection, a motley crew of backups and children from the academy and you get on the right side of another dodgy red card decision. There's a perfect example of those things balancing themselves out over the course of a season and they managed to win that game 2 to 1 and they're in the playoffs. And Buzz, you made a really good point in your three instant reactions which was do, do the thing that you mentioned in the video about the substitutions because I think that is such a remarkable factoid about that game. [00:14:21] Speaker A: Yeah. The fact that they in a sense, ran out of bodies, you know, but they effectively. They brought in Josh Torcata, who's 18, Diego Garcia, who literally turned 19 like three days ago now, and Nolan Norris is 20. They brought in those three guys in Paxton. That's when I sprang in. But Jet was still on the bench. [00:14:37] Speaker B: You know, one knee Paxton. [00:14:39] Speaker A: One knee Paxton, who can run it like 80% of his normal. But he did Paxton things and was Paxton in every way imaginable. But for Quill to like, because Quill, if you don't trust those kids, you just ride the veterans that are out there. You know, hey, dig deep. You're gonna have to finish the game out. Nope. We're bringing in three teenagers and we're gonna. We have faith that you guys are gonna close it out. And that's remarkable. You know, obviously he's not the point where he's gonna start those three guys and go all in on the kids, but he had faith in the kids when it mattered most. And that's pretty cool. Love it. [00:15:09] Speaker B: Can we all just take a moment of honor for Paxton Palm McCall going out there and absolutely getting stuck in on Sebastian Berhalter and winning his 50s, winning that FN50. It was so great. I mean, I was worried that he was going to come up with his knee exploded in a thousand pieces, but it was still great. Anyway. I loved. Every second of that was so wonderful. [00:15:34] Speaker A: That play was so packed and you can see why everyone in the whole organization is praying that he'll be fit and healthy and back. I mean, the odds are so long, but we got, you know, it's. If it can happen, it's going to be great. [00:15:45] Speaker B: All right, well, let's talk about the game because it was very wheels off in so many ways. I don't know how to begin this other than just get straight to the jump with Sam Sarver. The great Sam Sarver. Maybe my. Not. Maybe my favorite new burn player who gets his first MLS start. Long ball. Who played that long ball, by the way. [00:16:07] Speaker C: Cake. [00:16:10] Speaker B: Good for Kaik. [00:16:11] Speaker A: He had a good game. [00:16:11] Speaker B: Server gets in behind and forces a defender to run across. And look there. It's a dog. So decision. I would have been totally fine if they had just given him a yellow. I I, it's, you know, I. But this one of the, you know, earlier in the day, the Crystal Palace Bournemouth game was a very similar situation. And the referee did not give the red card. He went over to the monitor and Var worked the way. It's Meant to. He watched the video and he was like, no, I'm right. This. This is not a dog. So this is not a red card. And he got on the MOT and he said, look, it's. It's just a. It's just a foul. It's not a dog. So I think Alan Chapman did the opposite. I think he talked himself into a red card that didn't need to be a red card. But you know what? Like, last week was dodgy. It just happened to go Dallas's way this time. And they end up getting to play a man up, although it didn't look like it for the next 80 minutes at all. [00:17:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. [00:17:07] Speaker B: Is that a fair way of describing that play, Dan? [00:17:10] Speaker C: Yeah, actually, I'm really looking forward to the inside video review thing that pro puts out. They. The one they did the other week. I can't even remember which it was. It was the. The penalty against LA or Portland, whoever it was, where they ended up reviewing it for a. Potential dogs, though. And it was a really good discussion. Like, you kind of really got the. The points. Why they. They didn't go with the card with this one. I mean, Sava's positioning isn't what I'd say is clear and obvious. He was, you know, off to the side. I think the thing by, like the seventh angle they showed, the thing that made me go, oh, wait, maybe this is. The keeper was a mile off his line. The next touch he had was a shot. [00:17:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I. I agree. I mean, I could see why you would talk yourself into it. [00:18:02] Speaker C: Yeah. And then you see Anderson, Julio in the middle is beating his man. So it's a square ball tapping like. Yeah, you could easily talk yourself into it. But, like, say, I mean, I wonder how much of it, like in the back of your mind, maybe with the. At the. The video review center, someone's like, yeah, they really need to make up call for last week because that was terrible. [00:18:27] Speaker B: We'll talk about that. There's an interesting note about that that came out that we'll talk about the Farrington red card here a little bit later on, but, man, that just suddenly changed the course of the game and we all. I know I'm sure you guys had the same reaction I was, which was, holy cow. Okay, this is the best of all outcomes for Dallas. They're up a man with 80 minutes to go. I, you know, it was, you know, it was a great way for the game to start. And shortly, you know, it didn't take long before Dallas was up 1 nothing. [00:18:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I think you can be really positive about the way the game bounced for them. But, you know, despite the fact that the team doesn't change its nature, you know, like Dallas, yes, they got up one nothing, you know, and they got the result they wanted. But even going up one nothing, but with a great header by Irigida, by the way, which is weird because he wasn't jumping at that. He jumped and then came back down and the ball still came to him. He still had it in. But, you know, Dallas didn't change its nature. They didn't. They didn't suddenly become a possession team. They didn't suddenly own the ball and not let Vancouver have it. They didn't suddenly turn into, like, not want the ball. FP ref has the at 31%, which is even lower than MLS did. That's 69% for Vancouver. Vancouver is a very, very good team. And even down a man, they were better with the ball and ow more the ball than Dallas does. But Dallas is so ingrained in keeping that low block shape, keeping the discipline, keeping it tight. Now, that's what got them where they are. And they did not want to give it up. They didn't. They're not going to change their stripes. They got their goal on a set play. They got the second one off of man, I don't even know you'd call that drop off the kite gig. Almost. Might as well have been a set play. He got such a clean look at it. You know, it's just all their stuff happens against the run of play, which is fine. That's the way Air Quill plays. He doesn't want to dribble you to death, you know, pass you to death. When he gets the ball, he wants his team to go forward and go forward fast, and they still do that. So even though they're up a man, they're still not going to not play the way they want to play. They, because they were up a man, they. They began to get a lot more opportunities than I think they would have if that card had not happened. I think, you know, that would have been completely different game. But it is what it is, and they took advantage of it and they. And they got the moments that came and they. And they delivered when they needed to. You know, it didn't have a great offensive flow. Dallas doesn't, but they never did. You know, it's about the work and the energy. And Anderson, Julio ran himself into the ground. I thought he was either cramping or pulled some at the end of the game. You know, Sam Sarver burned himself out. They really needed all their subs in this game, the way they were working themselves, you know. And Quill complained to we be at halftime about getting out worked, but I don't know that they got out work necessarily. I think Vancouver is just really good with the ball. And so Dallas was still having to chase it, still having to press, you know, so they had to work really hard to make this game happen. [00:21:22] Speaker B: We've failed in the first 23 minutes to mention really the star of the game, which was Mr. Collode, who had an absolute burner of a game in the pipes. That save he made on the Burhalter free kick was because Burhalter had buried something just like that, I think the week before. And I just thought, man, that was such a good one. The Mueller stop down, I think to his right that he got down on quickly. I mean, that's Thomas effing Mueller that you just saved two or three shots of. I mean, that's, that's got to feel good. What a performance, performance from that guy. And I know on your discord, man, the, the, the discourse on Buzz's discord about who's going to be the starting goalkeeper for this team, not just for the playoffs, but for 20, 26 is a bonkers discussion. [00:22:12] Speaker A: Bonkers in a good way. [00:22:14] Speaker B: Yeah, well, yeah, it's fun. It's a. It's a good problem to have. Is Martin Paz. I mean, do you sell him? Do you. Do you keep him? [00:22:20] Speaker A: Do you. [00:22:21] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:22:22] Speaker A: I think there's a discussion we can have long run about that. But the short run is that Quill is the guy that likes to ride the hot player. You know, he definitely seems to carry out. You win, you. You staying in. You know, Cody too has great feet, you know, and if you're going to weather the press or the high possession of the Vancouver, then you're going to need a keeper who can pass the ball around, particularly when your weaknesses in the back are related to passing. Like, you know, your giddy is a good passer, but the other two guys are really not. You got to get through there to cap us until you find another good passer. And Kai can be. When he's not being marked tightly, he can be a really good passer, as we saw in this game. You know, he had a couple of really nice passes. But Dallas, you know, once they got ahead, they went into this, you know, mode like they do when they are ahead and being tight and. And then at that point you need Collode. Excuse me, to be a shot stopper. And, you know, we have talked about the. The deficiencies Collodia has relative to pause are those top, high corners, those big, huge vertical drives across the net. And in this game, he came up on those plays and he made the saves. So, like, if you. If you felt that that's his deficiency, which relative to pause, which I have said publicly that I think he is, well, he didn't look like that. Not tonight in this game. This is incredible, you know, and Dallas had four shots after halftime, and Vancouver had a lot more than that. And so Collode, you know, came, bailed his team out. Not bailed him out. That's a little strong. But had a magical performance. Six saves. Just phenomenal by him. Everything you'd want. And remember, we talk a lot about if you're not the clear number one guy, if you're the dude that maybe is coming off the bench and now is holding the spot when the number one guy air quotes is back, a lot of how you help your team is just being confident and letting them be confident. And that was clear. I think in this game, even the commentator said that not only did he think he had a better feet than positive, he said, he said he thought Claudia might have the best feed in the league, which is a remarkable thing to say. So, wow, that just shows you where some of that confidence comes from, his ability to pass it around. [00:24:24] Speaker B: Dan, do you have a favorite Collode save of the game? [00:24:28] Speaker C: I think that one. He got low. That was such a good reaction save. [00:24:33] Speaker B: It was really good. Yeah. Fantastic. And Buzz, he was your man of the match, was he not? [00:24:38] Speaker A: He was, yeah. [00:24:38] Speaker C: He was everyone's man in the match. [00:24:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, you know, as the game was going on, I was thinking about other players. I thought Capus had a really nice game. Just on the eye test, just watching him control the middle of the field, you know, Sarver, again, his. His never say die mentality feeds off Anderson. Julio, I thought, you know, filling in for having to go the bulk of the game for when he hadn't done that in quite a while, you know, put in a lot of effort. Irgidde was terrific. Commentators singled him out of how great he was doing. But at the end of the day, Collode was, you know, for that was the one spot in the lineup that when he. People saw it, everyone, whoa. I was, okay, if everyone's gonna go, whoa, you better show up and bring it. And he did. And that was why he was the clear man of the match was the. The overall levels of his performance and when his team really needed it. If he would only had, you know, 5% less ability on the night, it would have not gone well for Dallas. Even up a man. [00:25:33] Speaker B: I thought the best thing Quill did on the night was finally give up on Lawless Abubakar, who, man, I just can't. I'm sure everybody is at least I assume, like me, so frustrated in that moment for the goal. They give up in the pk. [00:25:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:50] Speaker B: When he has an opportunity just to clear the stupid ball, but he just so awkwardly fumbles it and then is forced himself into taking the guy down and giving up the pk. And that is. And, and you know what? When, when they signed him, everybody from Colorado said, look, you're just going to have to be prepared for the Lawless Abubakar brain fart. It's going to happen. And there it was. And I, you know, and I just feel bad for Uraguide because he's having to do so much work to cover up, not just for Abubakar, but even for Ibiaga, for that matter, because neither one of those guys can play with the ball. Like, every time the ball goes to either one of those dudes more Lawless than Ebiaga, it just, it's. It is such a sphincter tightener because they're just. If they're under press, if there's any kind of press coming on those guys there, it. It's. It's a frightening sight. So moving Shaq back there, a guy with a little bit more ball skill, I thought was probably the best thing Quill did on the night in terms of changing the team. [00:26:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And really this entire tactic shift, Dan, I'm sure you probably think the same way I do on this. This entire tactic shift is about the fact that those other two center backs aren't good enough. That he doesn't have a second guy as. As good as your G day, Dan. And I know, I know you understand this quite well, that when you put. When you go to three of the back or really five, it actually tightens the space and it makes every. It simplifies everything in a lot of ways. So, you know, that's what this formation is all about. And you are right, Peter, that those, those boneheaded moments. And for me, what drives me crazy, it's. It's not just that the guys, those guys are who they are. We knew who they were. It's the contracts they're on. [00:27:23] Speaker B: Right. [00:27:23] Speaker A: Make me scratch My head, Dan, go ahead. [00:27:25] Speaker C: I think you know the simplest way you can put that with the. The back four to a back five. When it was a four, there was that giant space between Lala Sabibikar and Shaq Moore that got exploited so often. I can't remember what the team was, but they just popped a ball straight down the middle of the two of them, had a really fast guy just get to the end line ahead of them both. You add an extra defender in, you cut out those half spaces. Just as simple as that. [00:27:55] Speaker B: It is probably the irony of all ironies that this team somehow managed to get to the playoffs with a three man center back line when that's literally the weakest position on the team and the lowest amount of depth. Like we were freaking out when they needed two center backs, but now they need three center backs every game. [00:28:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:16] Speaker B: And somehow Quill managed to make that work. [00:28:19] Speaker C: At least this year they're actually playing center backs at center back. [00:28:24] Speaker B: Well, except when they're playing Shaq Moore in that position because he's not, I mean, he's still. [00:28:28] Speaker C: Here's a better center back than Marco, honestly. [00:28:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I think he's a better center back than wing back. At this point. I, I have to say that it. Maybe it's not time to do season long evaluations, but Shaq Moore is his right wing back for me, has done absolutely nothing this year. I think he's been terrible. [00:28:42] Speaker B: No, I, Yeah, no, I agree. [00:28:44] Speaker A: But he is as a center back, it doesn't take all that much to be better than those other two guys, in my opinion. [00:28:49] Speaker B: You know, no credit to Quill for figuring that out because he, it. It really. I mean, I'm convinced if Abubakar had stayed in the game at center back, they would have lost that game. [00:28:59] Speaker C: He should have been sent off not long before he went off. [00:29:02] Speaker B: Oh, 100%. Yes. Yeah. [00:29:05] Speaker A: Yeah. He was lucky that wasn't a red card. Even the pk, he was lucky. Like, I don't think it was a red card, but given the records we've seen, you could have easily. It was for sure a pk. But like. [00:29:14] Speaker C: Because he wasn't gonna play for the bow. [00:29:16] Speaker B: No, I, I thought it met all four criteria for a red card, including and not, you know, no intent to play the ball. He played the man, not the ball. And I was convinced Var was going to tell him to go look at the video. I was shocked they didn't do that. [00:29:29] Speaker A: The only reason I thought maybe it wouldn't be was I thought the angle that they were going at was sort of. Of leading them away from the net and not to the net. And that's kind of why I thought maybe it didn't. But it easily could have, for sure. I mean, I was. I was not convinced of that. I only. I only talked myself into that when it wasn't afterwards. And I thought, yeah, well, why wasn't it. I was like. That was all I could come up with, was the angle of approach, basically. Yeah. [00:29:51] Speaker B: Like. Like the Vancouver red card. If they had called it a red instead of yellow, I would have understood it. I would have been. You know, I wasn't. What. Didn't make me any less frustrated by Lawless Abubakar. [00:30:00] Speaker A: No, no. [00:30:02] Speaker B: I thought he took a little too long to get Bernie off because Bernie was getting just absolutely roasted by that guy over there, and he was carrying a yellow. You know, Bernie's shoulder a lot of burden this year, and I think he's come through with flying colors in many. [00:30:17] Speaker A: Ways, but he cannot play on the right. [00:30:19] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. And then, of course, he had that moment just before halftime where he should have squared the ball to Sarver and he shot right at the keeper instead. Boy. [00:30:27] Speaker C: Or dink it over him. Not just shoot, like, low. [00:30:31] Speaker B: I thought Starver was going to go over there and just absolutely lay into him. [00:30:35] Speaker A: S. Doesn't have that kind of juice. Sorry. Would have. [00:30:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:38] Speaker A: But Sarver was pissed. [00:30:42] Speaker C: Speaking to him. [00:30:43] Speaker A: He's. [00:30:43] Speaker C: He's very about seniority, so Sam is. [00:30:47] Speaker A: Yeah, sorry. Yeah. [00:30:48] Speaker C: So as a rookie, he knows, like, he's. He doesn't want to, you know, ruffle too many feathers, because if he's. [00:30:54] Speaker A: He's. If that's a North Texas play, he absolutely would have been roasting that guy because he's captain down there. Yeah. It's very different than when you come up. Yeah. [00:31:03] Speaker B: And Sam has scored that goal how many times from North Texas. I'm sure he just slots that one in perfectly. If Bernie makes the cross. Yeah, absolutely. Lots of other things about the game. Buzz, you mentioned him. I thought Christian Capus was outstanding as just absolutely stalwart throughout the game. Covered so much ground. Just ran himself to death. [00:31:24] Speaker A: Yeah. I haven't dug into the numbers yet, but I just. The whole game, like, every time I turned around, he was in a great position defensively or he was in a great position for an outlet. He was constantly providing people the ability to escape pressure, like. And I mean, look all around him. Kaik, Bernie, all the center backs. Like, everybody, he was. Every time a guy be like, oh, Crap, I'm screwed there. Cabbage would be providing an outlet pass. And the same thing defensively. Every time a guy, one of their guys would turn and break through midfield, they there he was like staying in the right place. Now again they're up a man. So that's how it should be. But that doesn't mean that everyone that's been played for us has done that. Right. He put in a really remarkable performance, I thought. And just like his command of the middle of the field. When Kaik has no command of the middle of the field, he's just a jackrabbit running around. Cabis is going, you know, 80% of the field pulls you square all the way up and down front back. It's just phenomenal to play on his part. [00:32:17] Speaker B: I will say I'm still not sold that Kaik was a good purchase at $4 million. I have no idea if that guy is going be any good or a, a true MLS starting quality center midfielder. But what I will say is that Christian Capus has made Kaik a better player because he covers up a lot of his deficiencies that Romero could not do. [00:32:36] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. You know, and if you look across the field of Dallas players, for example, I'm trying to real quickly look at Capis numbers. He had the highest passing percentage of anybody forward of the back line. He had five progressive passes, you know, just in general doing the business that he needs to be doing. Only one dispossession all game from him under all those, all that pressure in the midfield, all those flying bodies that Vancouver plays with. Right. He had six recoveries which led the team. You know, let's look real quick about key passes. One key pass, five passes into the final third, which again ties for the lead on the team. So I'll just. Phenomenal front back play on his part. Just a really, really strong game. Three blocks, six clears by captain. [00:33:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it's ridiculous. [00:33:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:27] Speaker B: Hey, real quick, let's talk about Sarver a little bit more. Just because he also not only got the red card, but he also had the assist on the Kaik goal really smartly played that ball to him that allowed that set him up to finish it pretty easily and he ran his tail off and he brings a new kind of energy to, to the team. And, and I think his return of value in the limited minutes he's played for this team this season is off the charts too by the way. [00:33:56] Speaker A: Yeah, he's adding really nice contribution on his side, which is the right side comparative in a way to Bernie on the Left because he and Bernie both had, you know, three and four progressive carries and were two for two and one for one on take ons. So they're going at people so like it's a lopsided shape. You know that Sarver's. Because the Anderson Julio is taking up that main middle channel spot that Musa does and Sarver's playing like Farrington playing off that striker and Bernie is getting high so high up on the left side it almost becomes a double wing situation. And both those guys are doing a job and, and Sarver is more well rounded and understanding of the complete game than Bernie is. But you know, in this particular game, both of those guys were doing the job. Sarver had two shot creating actions, you know, just, just a quality game on his part for a guy that has hardly played with the first team. I mean how many minutes did he have before this, this start? Like half what he played in this game. It seems like. Yeah, if it was 30, I'd be amazed because I would have said it was less than that. So a guy that's getting a moment almost forced into it because of all these other suspensions every else got and has risen to the occasion, man. And it makes you really positive about. Make me, make me think positive, Dan, about next year, don't you? About where he might figure into the rotation. [00:35:09] Speaker C: Oh yeah, 100. I think he's kind of, he's in that position that Logan Franklin was last year of like he's just really put a stamp on the team and made you think, okay, this guy needs to stick around. Obviously with Logan that made Jesus Ferreira expendable. Not saying it's going to make Peter Musa or Logan himself expendable for, for Sava's rise, but yeah, he's, he's bringing something great to this team at a lower salary as a draftee. And I think one thing we saw yesterday that I don't think we've, we've had the opportunity to see. I mean maybe with North Texas sc, his defensive side was, was fantastic. He was covering that ground back that you see Peter Musa getting back. He, you know, had two blocks, he had attack or, or an interception. He was, he was pressuring. He was, you know, while not actually clearing out, you know, he was getting balls upfield from a defensive position. [00:36:13] Speaker B: Anybody know what the status of Patrick Sin Delgado is after that? [00:36:20] Speaker A: No, I don't. [00:36:22] Speaker B: Has anybody heard what the injury is? Is it a hamstring or his hip? [00:36:27] Speaker C: Right. So anyways, when he turned. So yeah. Okay. [00:36:33] Speaker A: All right. [00:36:33] Speaker B: I want to talk about Game State for a little bit. When I was at my beer league thing today, somebody had said they had turned on the game and they're not active followers of the team. And they were like how bad is this team that they're playing a man up and they've given up 70% possession to another team and they just can't keep the ball. And I tried to explain the context of what was going on last night in Vancouver and the fact that Dallas was again as I said at the beginning of this, rolling out a motley crew of backups and kids versus the best team in the Western Conference. Even down a man, they're just a better group of guys. But I am curious about Yalls opinion on the game State. Could Dallas have done better with the ball? Could they have? I thought Pedrinho was maddeningly ineffective when they tried to play out. He just couldn't keep the ball. I thought his decision making was really poor. I find him incred incredibly frustrating as a player for this team. They really, in a moment they need a guy to hold possession and let everybody kind of catch up. He was repeatedly just too easily dispossessed. [00:37:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:37:41] Speaker B: So I'm curious if you thought the team A could have done better with that group of guys and B, if Dallas didn't. If Dallas had Musa and Romero and Farrington and their complete collection of guys, meaning Shaq's playing in the back and Ramirez playing on the right, would that game have played out significantly differently last night? [00:38:02] Speaker A: Or. [00:38:02] Speaker B: Or is Vancouver's roster if. If best 11 vs best 11. Vancouver's roster is just so superior and there's such a better team than Dallas that it probably would have played out similarly. [00:38:13] Speaker A: Well, Vancouver's roster is better than Dallas's, that's for sure. But it would have played out similarly. But not because of that. It's because of the nature of these two teams. FC Dallas is not a good a possession team like people often don't understand necessarily that in the modern game, particularly in the last several years, a better team doesn't always look like Man City or Barcelona. A better team doesn't always out possess you. And I will think of the most famous example I can think of right now and I'm not saying that this is who else the Dallas is, but the famous, you know, Euro snob example is Nottingham Forest, which last year finished seventh. Peter, correct me if I'm wrong on that, but they only had like 30 possession or some something insane like that, right? And they just skip forward in a direct vertical sort of Way and essay. Dallas is the same way. Dominating possession doesn't mean anything anymore. Right. Whether you're a press team or a counter press team or a team that sits deep and then gets forward with quick, not necessarily over the top direct play quite like Nottingham Forest sc, Dallas does it more on the ground, but it's still very quick and very direct getting forward. [00:39:19] Speaker B: Right. [00:39:19] Speaker A: They often play a very sprint up style or play quick passing combinations. They don't want to maintain the ball for a long period of time. They want to wait for you to make a mistake and grab it and get at you before you have recovered. So that even if you have all your best pieces that you own, that FC Dallas isn't overnight going to over one red card, going to become man City and pass you to death and break you down with 100 passes. Right. They're still who they are. [00:39:45] Speaker B: Yeah, but I'm not even suggesting that. What I'm wondering is, is that if they had their best 11, could they have collected the ball, won it in their hand in their end and played directly forward and created opportunities that way last night? [00:39:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:58] Speaker B: Even though they were up a man, they were just panic clearing the ball and nobody up front could collect it and keep it. [00:40:04] Speaker A: It would have gone up some. But remember that FC Dallas, you know, when they have all their best people is like the second or third lowest possessing team in the league. You know, they just don't do that. You know, they. They would have had more concrete chances perhaps. They might have given up a few less chances. Perhaps. But Vancouver's very good play that way. Yeah. You know. Yeah. You can, you can look at over the course of the season like how often does Patamusa have like a hall of high volume of touches? He just doesn't. Right. The sign they play, it's just, you know, the nature of the beast that they're. It's very important for them to have good clinical finishing because they don't have a high shot volume opportunity. It's all about getting a good places, good chances. [00:40:50] Speaker C: I'm not sure we really want to talk about best 11 versus best 11 because Vancouver was without Tristan Blackman, Ryan Gold, Brian White. They, you know. [00:41:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:05] Speaker C: Best 11 was not present. [00:41:06] Speaker A: Yeah, they're a lot better than Dallas. On paper. On paper. [00:41:10] Speaker B: Yeah. And we'll talk about that here because obviously Dallas is. I think, I think Dallas actually had said that no matter what the results were this weekend, Dallas was going to end up playing Vancouver. If they got out of the play like they were going to end up Playing Vancouver, whether they got to the seventh place or they got in out of the playing route. Because if Vancouver had won that game, they would have been in first. And if Dallas had won the playing game, they would have played Vancouver in the first round anyway. [00:41:37] Speaker A: That sounds right. [00:41:38] Speaker B: Yeah. I think that's how it worked out. So speaking of. [00:41:42] Speaker A: Speaking of finishing, I just want to take a moment to toot our horn that we. All season or for the last half of the season, we've been saying 42 points, 42 plus points and Dallas ended up with 44. If they would have ended on 42, they would be exactly in the same spot. They would be one point ahead of RSL. They would be an eighth instead of seventh. So that 42 was indeed the number because 42 would have put them one point ahead of the three way tie of RSL San Jose and Colorado. 41. So 42 was indeed the number. [00:42:11] Speaker B: I. I had stopped looking at the standings when it turned out Dallas had won. Did. Did Salt Lake end up winning that game? [00:42:18] Speaker C: 2. 2. [00:42:20] Speaker A: They tied. Which is why they ended up on 41 points in a three way tie with San Jose and Colorado. Colorado. [00:42:25] Speaker B: Right. So if Dallas had just gotten a draw last night, they still would have ended up in eighth place instead of ninth and they would have hosted the play in game against Salt Lake. [00:42:33] Speaker A: Yes. [00:42:34] Speaker B: Okay. [00:42:35] Speaker A: Yes. [00:42:35] Speaker B: All right. [00:42:35] Speaker A: Because they would have had 42 instead of 44. Yeah. And Salt Lake was on is for. On 41. And they won the tiebreaker with having 12 wins over 11 for San Jose in Colorado. [00:42:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:47] Speaker A: So Dallas would have been 8th hosting Salt Lake and 9th if they tied. [00:42:52] Speaker B: Wow. Let's see. What else about the game in Vancouver do we want to talk about? Can I give. [00:42:57] Speaker C: I know you said Pedrinho was really frustrating. Can I give him some flowers if you. [00:43:03] Speaker B: Sure. [00:43:04] Speaker C: His physicality was solid. What he was bringing to the game. He bullied Sebastian Berholtron in parts and FC Dallas as a collective did a really good job of keeping him quiet. That is a really influential player to try and minimize their impact. [00:43:25] Speaker A: I know what you mean. He didn't shy away from the game, Dan. I, I will give him that. [00:43:29] Speaker C: In possession. Yeah, terrible. I, I thought off the ball. His. What he brought was. Was actually fantastic. [00:43:36] Speaker A: I think what drives Peter crazy is the four turnovers, three miscontrols on one dispossession. That's. That's going to, you know, drive. [00:43:44] Speaker C: He's an attacking player. That's the part he should excel at. [00:43:47] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. I just, you know, that's a team that is desperate to get somebody to put their foot on the ball and hold it and not just allow the other team to take it from you and repeat. [00:43:59] Speaker A: Well, that's. That's one of the things that they're missing most by missing Musa and Farrington is both those guys can do that, can hold up and let them release. Delgado can a little, but not as much as other two guys and their replacements. Sarver can actually do that. Sarver, even though he's small, he can. He can hold it like that. Yeah. Whereas I would say Anderson, Julian doesn't. Anderson, Julio does not do that. Does not hold the ball up and allow his team to release. And neither does. And Petrino tried to do that in a level that at least Delgado does, but he was not able to do it as well as Sarper, but he at least did it a little bit. But you're right, Peter, not nearly as much as they needed him to. You know, relative to missing both Farrington and Musa, you know how they were missing one component of a double ability to hold. They only had Sarver doing it, and Sarver was doing it way out on the side. And so they lack that ability up the middle, you know, and hopefully Delgado will be okay because Delgado has earned his opportunity to be the guy. And if he's not the guy, if he's not going to be available, then I think you have to ask some serious questions about what you're going to do, because I don't know that starting Padrino is the answer in terms of like filling the role that Delgado has filled since the God has taken over for Anderson. Julio, you might have to start looking at some different ideas. [00:45:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Delgado is slightly better than Padrino, neither of which I'm supercharged excited about. How about that? Is that fair to say? [00:45:24] Speaker A: Sure. [00:45:28] Speaker B: Okay. Is there anything else about this game, or are we ready to move on and kind of preview the playoffs? [00:45:34] Speaker C: The next game will be the same. [00:45:35] Speaker B: Which will be the. Well, but I think it will be very different because it will be back. [00:45:39] Speaker C: At the same location. [00:45:40] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [00:45:41] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:45:42] Speaker B: Dallas at least will have all of its firepower back. And I. And I. I guess it's also an opportunity to find out if in either one of you know, if Vancouver will be back at full strength. Obviously missing the one guy that got Laborda, that got the red card. [00:45:56] Speaker C: Ryan Gold is on his way back. He was on the bench. He played a little bit in their last game. I want to say Brian White's still out. I have no idea about Tristan Blackman, but they're going to be stronger coming back. [00:46:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's the thing is like Vancouver down, a man went to a shape where Mueller was playing both nine and. And ten combo. He was playing false nine. Right. So like if they have a real nine in front of him and he's more focused on being just the creative playmaker, the off striker, the. The ten, and they have a real striker up in front of him, that's going to be a very different game, particularly if that striker is Brian White. That's a very different combination of play because all of a sudden you can't just ignore what's in front of Mueller and you can't just double team Mueller. You know, there were so many times where he would turn and get by a guy and there was an FC Dallas guy available, quite often Chris Cappas, when it was coming central or IR or. Or Iaga, you know, just. They did a really nice job putting a box around those couple of guys in midfielder ball. Bear halls are coming forward. That's going to give you a very different combination. When they have all their people and even when Dallas has all their people. Now Dallas will fight and they'll do a really good job of keeping tight defensively. But there's a reason why Vancouver has, you know, 63 points and, and a plus 28 goal difference, you know, and 10 wins at home and only three losses, including that one that they got because of the red card, really. So it's going to be a tall order. And I. But I don't think the nature of the game will change. It'll look very similar. Just they'll have another guy out there that you'll have to account for and that'll make it very difficult. [00:47:38] Speaker B: What do you think, Dan? [00:47:40] Speaker C: I was just. I was trying to find out Brian White's injury. He's carrying a hamstring, so I'm not sure that they. While the. While they said they were hoping to get him back fit for the playoffs, which would be this game. Do you bring back a guy on turf with a hamstring injury? [00:47:59] Speaker B: Fair question. Now, before we get too deep into this, why don't we reset for everybody MLS wacky playoff format rules. Because this is a best of three. [00:48:11] Speaker C: Yep. [00:48:12] Speaker B: But how does that work with wins and draws and losses and all of that stuff? It's. It's at Vancouver on the 26th, at Dallas on the 1st and if needed. And part of what I'm trying to make sure we're all on the same page on is what Makes that needed a third game on the 7th of November back in Vancouver. [00:48:32] Speaker C: They're playing at the. The kind of modern way of screw extra time. We're going straight to penalties if there's a tie. First to two wins makes it nice and simple. No tired legs. [00:48:45] Speaker B: So at the end of game one, if that game is tied, it doesn't draw. They go to PKS and decide a winner. [00:48:50] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:48:51] Speaker B: Same thing for two. [00:48:52] Speaker C: So you. [00:48:52] Speaker B: Okay. All right. Do we like this? I don't know if I like that. [00:48:55] Speaker C: I do. Because the last thing you want to do is have three games where suddenly you're playing basically a fourth game in it, and then go on to the conference semifinals dead on your first. [00:49:06] Speaker B: All right, fair enough. [00:49:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Because they changed that because you could have teams that were like, just tied a couple of games and got through, and you really want people to win games. [00:49:14] Speaker C: I mean, you remember that. That first year they brought in the away goals rule, and it's been such. Seattle played the most boring. Nil. Nil. To knock Dallas out. [00:49:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:49:28] Speaker C: Yes. [00:49:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:49:29] Speaker B: God, they've changed the format rules so many times in 30 years. Somebody. I. Maybe it should be me. I don't know. But to actually go back and do it like a report of how many times and list out all the different playoff structures MLS has done in 30 years, it would probably be rather fascinating and quite hilarious. [00:49:50] Speaker A: Well, part of that is the nature of, like, we're not used to having playoffs in soccer in general in a broader sense, but yet American leagues, including mls, always want to have one, and so they're still trying to find what makes the most sense. So it's a balance for MLS between getting more games for more television, as Dan was trying to say, and the costs associated with that and the fact that you're traveling across country and opening up stadiums and not necessarily drawing well, playoff games don't sell really well if you don't have a nice, good ticket marketing group on your side. You get these games with, like 5,000 people at them sometimes. So, you know, there's more things pulling at this than just the quality of the competition. What the best answer is in terms of pure competition is not necessarily what the best answer is in terms of what makes business sense for mls. And that's why it has been changing a couple of times. So it's. It's weird to me that the rounds are different, that this first round is the best of three, and then it goes to a knockout. That feels weird to me. [00:50:48] Speaker C: With extra time. [00:50:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Just a single game situation but didn't they. [00:50:56] Speaker C: I mean, it was funny when they announced this, this format was it. It might not have been this form. It might have been, oh, the format before the best of three. But then the COVID season happened and they had to delay that format, bring an extra format in, just a sandwich in the middle of it all. [00:51:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think I'm exaggerating to say if There have been 30 MLS seasons, there have been 25 different playoff formats. [00:51:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, obviously this, this format makes the, the single home game that Dallas has is incredibly, massively important. You have to win that one and then you have to try and get a road result somewhere. And Dallas is pretty good, relatively speaking at road results. Vancouver's better at home results. But you know, if anyone's going to be able to go somewhere and get a road game, it's this, this Dallas team. [00:51:42] Speaker C: But even psychologically you think like, all right, if you tie that game or you lose it, you go back there next week. Not winning a game there since 2018 with Vancouver on this long unbeaten run, suddenly you go there and you say, yeah, forget the circumstances, Dallas won there. There's momentum suddenly and they won there without 34 goal contributions from three pretty important players. It's huge. They, you know, they found a way to, to expose Vancouver in part use the zip of that, that turf, pump balls up field and get fast players running on it. It causes problems. I think there's, there's a few, few big decisions. Now do you stick with Collodi after that game? Do you find a way to trump somehow wedge Sam Sava and or Anderson Julio in the lineup despite the fact that you are getting back Pat Musa and, and Logan Farrington just for their pace? [00:52:45] Speaker B: Well, you're, I guess we're all going to probably assume Delgado's out, so that opens up a spot for somebody. [00:52:53] Speaker C: You've also got a factor in Ramirez because he's captain and Quill's gonna want to depend on him. [00:52:58] Speaker A: Well, Romero being back I think is easy. You put him back at right wing back and you put Shaq Moore back at left center. [00:53:02] Speaker B: Yes, please. [00:53:03] Speaker A: The team is better with that combination, you know, and then you have to. The real question is pattern Moose is a no brainer. The real question is, has Sam Sar ever done enough to keep Logan Farrington out of the game, out of the starting 11? And I think that I'm of two minds about this one is that Quill really likes to ride the hot guy. But again, Sam Sars played like one game to this Point and Logan Farrington is a big part of what, how you got here. On the other hand, if you're right and Delgado's out, I don't know that Pedrinho is necessarily the answer. The answer might be Sarver as a second, like off striker kind of guy and he and Farrington, because Farrington likes to drop back too. So those two guys sort of take turns dropping back or being the high agitator. [00:53:46] Speaker B: Not Anderson Julio? [00:53:49] Speaker A: No, I thought Anderson Julio was okay, but you know, Anderson Julia was filling the patter Musa role. And the question is, did Sam Sarver do good enough to keep Logan out? Or if Delgado can't go, is Sam Sarver good enough to start over Petrino? Because Anson Julio is not going to fill the Delgado role. Delgado is the underneath guy, the 10, and you're three, five, two. But if you put Sarver in there for him, you can go vaguely like a 3, 4, 3 ish kind of thing, which I'm not super excited about because it does change the tactic a little bit more. But I'm not sure Pedrinho gives you enough by himself that you wouldn't get more out of Padrino. Excuse me, out of Sarver and Farrington sort of taking turns being up and back and up and back and the chaos that would create and put Vancouver on a little bit of an off footing perhaps, you know, they know what they're going to get out of Padrino. If they see that guy, they go, oh, we got that. We're going to ball. Bear Halter's going to eat his lunch, you know, in an 11B 11. Whereas Sarver might be mobile enough and crazy enough that accommodations him and Farrington moving. And that would be very different. [00:54:49] Speaker B: What's happened to Sebastian Legette? [00:54:52] Speaker A: He just can't really go 90 minutes anymore, you know, it's just not quite fit. [00:54:57] Speaker B: Could he start that position? [00:54:59] Speaker A: Yes, but it's. If this is like when I suggested him at wing back, you could, but you automatically 100% know you have to sub him out and by doing that, you've handcuffed yourself slightly. You know, he can't go 90. So, like by. By starting legit on that spot, in my opinion. Yeah, you start legit on that spot, you handicap yourself in terms of taking away a sub automatically, you know. You know, I don't think he can. [00:55:24] Speaker B: Do it, but you probably have to. You'd probably have to end up subbing Server too. [00:55:29] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a difference between probably and for sure. [00:55:31] Speaker B: A question. Did Server end up playing for North Texas? [00:55:35] Speaker A: No, they're playing right now. [00:55:36] Speaker B: Okay, so he's not on the, he's not in the 18? [00:55:38] Speaker A: No, no, he's not. I'm double checking, but he's not. [00:55:42] Speaker C: No. They took Garcia over Alvaro and someone else on the side. Okay. [00:55:50] Speaker B: Well, it is fascinating. I guess the question is, Buzz, how do you feel like a fully loaded minus Patterson, Delgado, Burn lineup against Vancouver? [00:56:01] Speaker A: Well, in the long run, not very good. You know, for one game, I think that they could probably, you know, hold their own and compete and maybe win a game. But the problem is you have to do it two out of three, and that's going to be virtually impossible because there's a reason why Vancouver has 63 points. They're very, very good. Dallas can compete and win any individual game, but after a while it adds up. And I just think that they have too much talent on that team and, you know, the fact you'd have to play there twice and Vancouver always gets a friendly referee situation. In Vancouver, they, they play very physical. They play through the ball, they play through the man, and they don't get calls because it's in Vancouver. I don't know why. It's always true. So it's probably just nature of being your, the home team. So it, I don't like their chances over three games. If it was one game, I think Dallas would have a better shot than they do in three games. Three games makes it worse. [00:56:57] Speaker C: Three penalty shootouts. [00:56:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I actually don't necessarily like their penalty shootout chances either. [00:57:06] Speaker C: That's kind of when you went when you want pars. Although I said collode was really good for North Texas. [00:57:13] Speaker A: Pretty good at him, too. And I'm not worried about the keeper situation. It's more about, you know, having five. [00:57:19] Speaker C: Players that can score. [00:57:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Being good at PKs. Taking PKs as much as anything, you know, they don't have a bunch of clinical finishers, you know, So I, I, I, I, I worry about the big picture. I really think that, like, you got to get this first game, like, up there. You got to surprise them. And that'll be tough when you just played them because, you know, if, if they win that one and they come down, even if you win at home, they're going to feel really good about going home and playing that third game at home, you know, like when, because in order to beat them, you have to win, you know, one of these two games in their park, and you just won a game in their park, so you have to basically win two out of three in their place. To beat them and go through. That's a lot, you know, and include one in your own place too, in there also. So you basically would have to be. Because you played them last game of the season, it becomes a four game series in a funny way. So you'll have to beat them three out of four to go through. [00:58:14] Speaker B: That's true. I hadn't thought of it that way. [00:58:16] Speaker A: It's a, it's a weird way to think of it, but that's going to be very, very difficult to do because they're going to get to know you and they are better than you. You know, as good as we think Dallas has played, they are better than. [00:58:26] Speaker B: Yeah, no. Quill said this has all been finals. You know, they're. Every game they play is a final. And. And so you're absolutely right. They're gonna have to beat Vancouver and Vancouver three out of four times to get out of this round. I mean, that really is. [00:58:39] Speaker A: I think it better be this one. You better get them now while you're still feeling good about yourself. Get up there and punch them in the face and then come back and win your one at home. And then. Because I think it looks really bad if you had to go up there for a third, fourth one. [00:58:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I think. And this is not the episode to do it, it'll happen after the season's over. But I am very much looking forward to everybody's attitudes and opinions and observations about what 2026 looks like for this team. [00:59:05] Speaker A: We have a lot of time to talk about that. [00:59:06] Speaker B: We do. We do. [00:59:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:59:08] Speaker B: But this changes. I mean, we've talked about the impact of the team making the playoffs and, and, and the potential of that being potentially a negative thing because the club thinks that they had success this season, you know, and what does that mean in terms of who they need to go out and replace and how much money they need to spend? [00:59:27] Speaker A: Well, it shouldn't. You should have already decided that quote was your guy. You should have already decided who on your roster you're keeping. Like, they shouldn't have known last window. Who they were keeping and not keeping for the next one. You know, like, no. In the 10 games we've had since that window closed is not going to change your opinion about what. Who's sticking around, who's not sticking around, you know, what your holes are and what we just talked about the tactics being changed for the whole back end of the season because of the deficiencies, you know, and why that is. [00:59:53] Speaker B: Well, look at us. Here we are, FC Dallas in the 2025 playoffs as the seventh seed. Children, I can't believe we are actually here. Based on all the conversations we've had week in, week out for the last however many months it's been, this is a remarkable turn of events and again, 100 credit to Mr. Eric Quill and the power of Quill. Will, let's move on. I know it's cheesy. Just roll with it, Dan. [01:00:22] Speaker A: It's good. [01:00:23] Speaker B: Dan. We're looking forward to your report from the Cotton bowl as Dallas Trinity hosted Club America for the State fair Classico and lost 3:1 in front of a sizable crowd. Announced crowd. [01:00:37] Speaker C: Yeah. 22, 838 was announced the to break the the record for women's soccer game in the state of Texas a little bit. Let me think. It was a what was surpassed the largest crowd for U.S. pro women's sporting event in Dallas which was the Indiana Fever playing Dallas Wings last year year with Caitlyn Clark. That was 2409. Yeah, I mean yeah, I think the only thing they fell short of was the largest, the largest attendance of a professional women's sport event in the country. They really impressive crowd. Didn't. It's funny like Toyota Stadium. I can tell you like what an announced crowd is versus what a button seat is. I the Cotton Ball, so weirdly deceptive with the size it is. I couldn't really tell you exactly what it was, but it was, it was big. I wouldn't be shocked if it really was 20,000 people. Despite the, the, despite the rain, despite this fact, the State Fair was actually batshit crazy with it being the, the last weekend. Great crowd, great crowd. Predominantly Club America obviously, but really good to see. [01:02:02] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I was curious about was the, the makeup of the crowd in terms of supporters. And I guess the question is can Trinity be successful in converting some of those Club America supporters who are I'm assuming all Dallas Fort Worth, the majority of them at least Dallas Fort Worth residents, into becoming Dallas Trinity fans. [01:02:23] Speaker C: You know, I, I asked Charlie Neal that after the game and he kind of dodged it to a degree. Just, you know, kind of gave the, the, the proper answer of I know that the identity of the team and everything else just kind of goes to show what Dallas Trinity is. I'm sure a bunch of people went there that had never heard that team before they saw the, the advert for Club America. So yeah, I mean there's Trinity does does a good job of, of using like Hispanic culture in, in elements of the club. So you know, hopefully for them, that resonates. And this isn't just like a big one off revenue bump, that it is something that. That helps grow that crowd. So, you know, for the league, it's an impressive crowd. I think they had the second highest attendance last year. So if they can grow that and become the first, that'd be amazing. [01:03:17] Speaker B: How was the game itself? Unfortunately, I said. I told everybody last week I was going to the game, but that was. [01:03:23] Speaker C: Based on the fact I said, saw your credential. [01:03:25] Speaker B: I know. Well, here's the thing. So we originally were scheduled to do our kick around show early on Saturday from noon to 2 instead of 2 to 4. And then it got shifted because of SMU football and stars hockey. We got pushed back to our normal two to four slots. So I was still on the air when the game kicked off and the idea of trying to get down to the state fair and all that, I would have. It would have been halfway through the second half by the time I got there. [01:03:50] Speaker C: They. They delayed kickoff half an hour just for you. [01:03:52] Speaker B: Just for me. And I blew it. [01:03:54] Speaker C: Well, that and the weather. [01:03:55] Speaker B: Ah, okay. [01:03:56] Speaker C: Mostly. Mostly the weather, but also. Peter, welcome. [01:03:59] Speaker B: There was like a thing on the cotton ball video board. We're all waiting for Melon head to show up. [01:04:06] Speaker A: Tropical Storm Peter, that dude with the. [01:04:08] Speaker C: Flag, just running around like crazy. [01:04:12] Speaker B: I was back home trying to find the old Inferno floor flag of greatness to unfurl it out at the trend now. So I'm sorry I didn't make. So how was the game? Was the game good? [01:04:23] Speaker C: The first half was not particularly good. So. Interesting. Okay, so start with a positive. If you compare the game against Barcelona last year, Dallas had more possession in the first 15 minutes than they had in the entire game against Barcelona. Wow. [01:04:40] Speaker B: Okay. [01:04:41] Speaker C: They. They competed. Club America is not a slouch. They beat Orlando Pride 20 in the CONCACAF W Championship A couple months back. They played a pretty strong lineup. They only played in midweek anyway. But I think half the team were starters. The other half, I mean, there was no. There were no reserves. Everyone was a starter or a normal bench player. It was a fairly small bench too. Both teams, they played it pretty much in line with league matches. Definitely dominated play early on. The three goals really came from bad mistakes. There was a really bad giveaway by Amber Wisner on the first. She was dispossessed. Poked it straight through to Stephanie Luba for a virtually a tap in. There was one. The other two were basically mistakes by Sam Estrada. One she got. One was a player. Got a Free header on the very corner of the six yard box. From a corner and it just looped over like there was just no reaction to. It was. It was unfortunate. Substitutes were great. Sealy Strawn came on middle of the second half. She was fantastic. She got the goal back post header. Caroline Swan was. Was fantastic as well. [01:06:08] Speaker B: She. [01:06:09] Speaker C: She should have had a goal. She had a couple that were just blocked just shy of the line. Like absolute laser beams. I think, you know, if. If North Texas can turn around the game right now, then there's a. Potentially a very good week for that family with Caleb starting for North Texas. Yeah, I mean, you know, second half was really good. They grew into it. I think they. They actually had quite a bit to take away from a friendly, which is rare. So that, that was nice. Halftime entertainment was a little weird there. Joey Chestnut doing. They crowdsourced what he was going to eat against a bunch of random people. And someone came up with, I guess people. Enough people voted for the crab and mozzarella arancini, the one that won the best savoury food this year, gross. So he got. In four minutes. He ate 114 of those, which I calculated to be $580 worth of food or about 17,000 calories. [01:07:16] Speaker B: Jeez, does he immediately just run around behind a wall and just vomit everywhere? [01:07:23] Speaker C: He was hanging around taking photos with people for. For a good long while after that. He was. That was a drop in the ocean supposedly. He. He actually told the. I heard someone from Neil family over say like when they were talking to him before and he's like, yeah, I might be able to get to a hundred and yeah, 114. I think the next closest was 30 or 20. [01:07:46] Speaker B: That's the difference between a professional eater and an amateur eater. [01:07:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:49] Speaker C: Oh, he was just taking. Yeah, he was like taking four down at a time. It was really funny because they had. They had kids with the little flip numbers and when he hit 100, this kid just lost it. He could not, you know, he was like, wait, I've got three now, dude. Flashing up 900 and then nine and yeah, it was. It was interesting actually. It streamed on Victory plus for free and they. They took the stadium feed. So it. You could technically go back and watch it if you wanted to be put off eating at State Fair ever again. Yuck. [01:08:26] Speaker B: No thanks. [01:08:28] Speaker C: Weirdly, Fulham's mascot was their little badger. No idea why Fulham. [01:08:34] Speaker A: They do eating. [01:08:35] Speaker C: Yeah, Fulham, yeah. [01:08:36] Speaker B: Why was. [01:08:37] Speaker C: The funny part was they were trying to. The person from Fuller's. Fulham's U.S. office was like Trying to guide him up the stairs of the Cotton Ball. He got halfway up. I guess it's not even that steep, but just really struggled and had to go back down. [01:08:51] Speaker A: It's too hot. [01:08:53] Speaker B: It's clearly not a honey badger. It's just a plain old badger. [01:08:56] Speaker C: It was a nice cool day. It was great. Also the, also first chance to have a game in that new press box. Oh, my God, that's amazing. [01:09:04] Speaker B: It's nice. [01:09:05] Speaker C: It's, it's. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's not better than. [01:09:08] Speaker B: Toyota Stadium's press box, is it? [01:09:13] Speaker C: Not a bad. [01:09:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:09:14] Speaker C: Toyota Stadium's got a better press box than Austin. It's got a better press box than Houston. So I mean, I, you know, it's not a horrible one, but this, I mean, they've made it for, for college sports. So it's like a modernized version of the one at Globe Life. Oh, okay. Nice. The old Choctaw Stadium. Sorry. [01:09:33] Speaker B: Nice. [01:09:34] Speaker C: I dig it. [01:09:34] Speaker B: Did you have a corn dog while you're down there? [01:09:37] Speaker C: I did not. They did. They did have Rudy's cater everything though, so got a brisket sandwich out of it. [01:09:44] Speaker A: Quality. [01:09:45] Speaker B: Good for you. Well, thanks for going there and congratulations to Trinity for pulling off. That's a great turnout and I wholly hope for their sake they're able to convert some of those people to their own season ticket holders and fans. [01:09:59] Speaker C: One nice thing as well is they, they had all the, you know, the printed up, the, the shirts with the, the little, you know, state Fair classico, yada, yada, yada. It was good to see Lexi Misimo in a full kit doing a jersey swap with Bruna Vielma. No. Was it Bruno Vielma? Yeah, it was good. So that was encouraging. And to see her jogging across the field was nice too. [01:10:25] Speaker A: How were the special kids, Dan? The little. The one offs. They had Trinity. [01:10:29] Speaker C: They didn't. They just didn't wear the regular. [01:10:32] Speaker A: No, they didn't wear the black and red thing, although. [01:10:34] Speaker C: Oh, that. So no, that was. They did that for warm ups. That was. Chilangos did a sponsorship with him. That's what that was. [01:10:42] Speaker A: Oh, I thought that was a game jersey. Okay. [01:10:44] Speaker C: Wow. They looked really sharp though. They had the, the kid mascots wearing them too. [01:10:48] Speaker A: Yeah, it was black and red stripes. [01:10:50] Speaker B: I have to see them. [01:10:51] Speaker A: So. By the way, Trinity is in sixth place and I just wanted to point out that they've played the least amount of games in the league and somebody. Spokane, as many, as many as 10. But Dallas is minus 7 goal differential, which is not really good. Their offense is not putting it together and their defense is letting in too many goals. So like they were in a good position maybe three or four weeks ago, but right now they're in not very good position and they have a week off for their next game. So they could be even further behind in games played than everybody else. [01:11:16] Speaker B: Well, we know from, from last season things can change very dramatically from the first half to the second half as it did last year in the. [01:11:24] Speaker C: They're also going to have a really home heavy schedule towards the end with this with the road stand and they. [01:11:30] Speaker A: Might have a misimo heavy schedule if she ever plays again. [01:11:34] Speaker C: Hopefully they got to figure out how to use her then. [01:11:37] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. Well, if they're going to play this shape, it's obvious where she'll play, but I don't know that they'll necessarily keep playing with this shape. She's been out so long though, I have to rethink a lot of things. [01:11:47] Speaker B: Moving on. North Texas was off, but they are playing as we speak. We've mentioned that. [01:11:53] Speaker C: Two down. [01:11:54] Speaker B: They're down two. Is this a one off at one and done kind of deal? What's the structure? [01:11:59] Speaker A: It's. Yeah, one and done. It's a straight knockout. This is the one game. They're the lower C. They're on the road so they gotta, they gotta win this game. You know, this was the. They got a little bit of rest at the end of the season and then right now they're down to nothing and it's not going. [01:12:14] Speaker B: And they don't have Sam Sarvin now. [01:12:16] Speaker C: And they've had two shots. [01:12:18] Speaker A: Yeah, well, let's understand that the town is the second place team. I think a second or third. They're pretty good. They have quite a few nice players. And, and Trent, North Texas, excuse me, is missing server. Of course, their captain and their leading goal scorer tied for one goal behind the Golden Boot winner in the league. So that's a big loss for them. And like we said in the last podcast, if Cyber's helping us to Dallas, they don't give a about North Texas. So that's a big shoe to fill for them, you know, and they're playing some kids. They've got, you know, Diego Garcia and Contreras is 17 and Hernandez is 18 starting up front. Swan is just turned 18 like a month ago. You know, like they're playing a whole bunch of kids, which is good. [01:12:55] Speaker C: Right? [01:12:56] Speaker B: That's what they want. [01:12:57] Speaker A: If they don't win because they're playing the kid Essels back Who's John Gall's favorite player? He's back. [01:13:01] Speaker B: Jungle's favorite player. [01:13:02] Speaker C: Second favorite. [01:13:03] Speaker A: Yeah, my bad. Second favorite player. You know. So Alvaro's gone. Apparently, based on our discord, Alvaro's gone down there and plays like crap, like he does for North Texas, even though he's great for FC Dallas. And then for me, C State's a bit of a weak spot, you know, so they're just. They're on the road against a better team, so it's not surprising it's not going well. I'm going to try and watch this game, you know, tonight or tomorrow and hopefully get read on some of this stuff. [01:13:26] Speaker C: But, you know, big thing to last year, obviously last year they were playing to win, not playing to develop, but out of the playoffs, they had every chance to. To give guys like Logan Farrington a run out in, you know, for North Texas sc. Here it's all hands on deck for FC Dallas. [01:13:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Because Dallas was out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:13:49] Speaker B: All right, moving on. Texoma lost to one Knoxville. [01:13:54] Speaker A: Yeah, they had a double red card in the 71st minute, one for each team. It must have been a fight. I didn't say specifically, but that can't have been good. They. They fell on the road at 1 Knoxville. They got one game left. They're in 12th place. They. They're at Tormenta. I, I will say that, like we. I talked about how tough it must be for them, whether you have one. You have to go two games on the road just to, like to. After you've just been completely eliminated and your season's basically over. They started the game, Texama did, with yellow card. Yellow card, Yellow card. Yellow card. Gold by the team, yellow card by Texoma. So like they. They had five yellow cards in a goal and one goal for the other team, like, to start the game. So they're fighting. They're just obviously not that. [01:14:37] Speaker B: Wait, how much time elapsed when all that stuff had taken place? [01:14:41] Speaker A: Well, that's. That's through like the 57th minute. So like that. That's a good stretch of thing. But it's like of all the activities in the game, there's two goals and then five yellow cards for Texoma. So they were clearly getting stuck in, as you would say, on the road, fighting and battling. At the end of the day, it didn't matter. They end up losing, but they're not. [01:14:59] Speaker B: Going to qualify for any sort of playoffs or anything. [01:15:01] Speaker A: No, they were already eliminated. They were in 12th and they were like they had when they had two games left. They had seven points out, so that was. It was over. [01:15:06] Speaker C: But second half, they got four yellow cards in five minutes. [01:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah, she was so like, it's just interesting because we talk and then the double red card. So we talked about like how hard it must be to go on the road when you've been eliminated. You got two games left. Well, they showed up in terms of like their mentality and their fight, so I'll give them a little credit for that. Even though, you know, it's not necessarily the result you would want. You know, to see a team fighting for a coach when they're already out of it is. [01:15:33] Speaker C: It's good. [01:15:33] Speaker A: That shows that they have a good locker room or ambiance or something going on up there, you know, when the team could be rolling over, getting blown out. [01:15:40] Speaker C: Right. [01:15:41] Speaker A: So I'll give them a little bit of love. [01:15:42] Speaker B: Well, very good. I thought this was a successful episode of 3D TP as Dallas wraps up and moves into MLS playoffs. [01:15:55] Speaker A: Well, can we talk about what happened Athletico Dallas this week in the city of Garland? Well, you remember that they lost out on that, that the training ground facility thing with the city of Garland. Did you see this week the city of Garland is, is moving forward with their new project and what it is for that? [01:16:10] Speaker B: Peppa Pig? [01:16:12] Speaker A: No, it's a youth soccer complex. [01:16:15] Speaker B: Oh, well, that makes sense. [01:16:18] Speaker A: With a, with a. [01:16:19] Speaker B: They already had the plans and everything designed. It probably was a pretty easy conversion. [01:16:24] Speaker A: Yeah. With a hotel or small convention center in the middle of it. Basically. They basically replaced the Athletico Dallas offices with a convention center. With a small convention center or a hotel or something. In the middle of space has been. [01:16:37] Speaker C: A stadium, an office, and now a convention center. [01:16:40] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's just really funny that they were like, this deal's not going to work. There's not enough roi. It's over. What are you going to do instead? Soccer complex. Yeah. Okay. That's what you were doing before. So maybe with a hotel the hang. [01:16:53] Speaker B: Up was the fact that they wouldn't let them build a 15,000 seat stadium. [01:16:58] Speaker A: That was the original version, not the second version that got approved. [01:17:02] Speaker B: No, the reason why the deal fell apart was because Atletico decided they needed a 15,000 seat stadium, not a 10,000 seat stadium. [01:17:09] Speaker C: Stadium. [01:17:09] Speaker A: That's not why the deal. [01:17:10] Speaker B: Oh, why did it fall apart? [01:17:12] Speaker A: The. The city council of Garland approved the complex with the 7,000 seat stadium. That got nixed. They had then approved the complex with athletical Dallas's offices and that little 3,000 seat stadium. [01:17:25] Speaker B: Right. [01:17:25] Speaker A: That got nixed none of that has to do with Athletico wanting a 50,000. That deal was approved and done as just a youth soccer training complex in their office offices. So what's gotten nixed is their office has been nixed for some kind of small hotel or convention center. [01:17:42] Speaker C: So I do remember watching the council meeting when they approved it, and there was definitely some pushback on community use and how much actually gets raised back off of those offices. And there was a whole thing of like, yeah, there'll be a way to use it, to let groups use it. So, yeah, having a convention center, a hotel, something like that, that is just constant stream of income. It does make sense for their original concerns. [01:18:11] Speaker A: It's just interesting that it's like, it's almost effectively in many ways the same sort of thing, but just tweaked for more help, more specific use for the Save Garland and without the people that. [01:18:21] Speaker C: Kind of burned them to get in bed with the city. [01:18:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a. It's a different. That's a different question. But it's just funny. They end up being the exact same thing. [01:18:29] Speaker B: I. I agree, but I certainly am of the opinion that the people that are running Atletico Dallas at this point could not give two shits about that just because they're so embedded with the city of Dallas and feel like they ended up winning on that deal. [01:18:41] Speaker A: Probably not, but I just thought it was funny that the. The whole thing of GONG is our new plan is youth complex. [01:18:47] Speaker C: Can't wait until FC Dallas gets the contract to run it. Do you want to swap facilities? [01:18:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm sure it will be fascinating. [01:18:57] Speaker B: Man, this is gonna be so much fun to watch all this transpire and happen over the course of the next. I'm assuming 18 months or 24 months or whatever it is at this point. [01:19:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And to follow up also on the Fort Worth thing, they are definitely going dark over there. [01:19:14] Speaker B: Is there a chance it's falling apart and it's not happening? [01:19:17] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a chance because people in the business have reached out to me and been like, hey, have you heard anything? Because they've gone dark to us as well. So, like, it's not just like us as media that are getting like a darkness and no response and no activity. It's like across the board. Like, we've said that we thought there was gonna be announcement by this certain date, and it didn't happen. And just this week, somebody that's. That's in the USL sphere was like, hey, what's going on over there? Those guys have Gone blackout. I was like, yeah, I mean, your guess is as good as my man. So either they just gone super secret top, close it all down, no one's gonna know nothing, or it could be in trouble. You know, the last thing we know is that video we found of the plans for the Farrington Field renovation with the architecture firm that's redoing that stadium. That's the last thing we found that we knew was. And that got. As soon as we found it, it got yanked and turned private. [01:20:07] Speaker B: Oh yeah, for sure. [01:20:08] Speaker A: So giving away that it was real, not that we didn't believe it was real before because it says buried in the field on the roof. But, you know, since then it's gone super dark out over there. We're not getting anything out of it. So either super top secret, it's going to be announced soon or super top secret, it's going away. So hopefully somebody somewhere will know eventually and tell us something. [01:20:28] Speaker B: Yeah, the whole thing about me betting being excited about USLC coming to town is the fact that there's this idea that Dallas is going to have a team and Fort Worth is going to have a team. [01:20:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And how it all will work with hypothetical USL Premier, all that stuff. [01:20:43] Speaker B: Absolutely. [01:20:44] Speaker A: And venues and, and, and, and the Fort Worth side apparently having a super league team to compete with Dallas Trinity as well. So like, you know the landscape it's going to be for us as observers and followers and reporters, it's going to be absolutely fantastic. We're going to have so much fun. But in the meantime, we're some, in some ways we're just as curious as everybody else about what's going on over there. [01:21:04] Speaker B: Outstanding stuff, fellas. Dan, thank you so much. Thank you. [01:21:08] Speaker C: Two things quickly. What the World cup draw. The watch party has been announced for Friday, December 5th at 11am at Billy Bob's. They're gonna do. They're calling it the World cup drawer experience. It's just a watch party, I guess. [01:21:26] Speaker A: Okay. [01:21:26] Speaker C: And there was kind of a cool, cool Discord moment or soccer moment in general. Jacob Jackson had his fantastic game off the bench, making the 11 or 12 saves or 15 or 99 depending on what stat provider you use. Tops had made some of the. The limited run of Tops now Cards. Small problem with that. Jacob did not have the chance to get some for his family. So specifically his. I think it was his mom and his grandpa. So Brandon Whelan off of. Off of our Discord managed to. To. To get some for, for Jacob met up with him. FC Dallas invited him down to practice in the week, took his kid who is named Jackson, and got to, you know, get. Get the. Get the. The full experience and some Jackson and Jackson photos and all that good stuff. So, yeah, nice feel. Good moment. [01:22:28] Speaker B: That's awesome. Good on Brandon Whelan of the Third Degree Discord. See all the good people that are in there. Yeah, just quality people all the way. [01:22:38] Speaker C: If you're not, you should too, for any insert number a month. [01:22:42] Speaker A: All right, Third 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 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. [01:23:04] Speaker B: Sorry I tried the dismount and I didn't ask you guys first if you had other things. So Dan did Buzz, you got anything else? [01:23:11] Speaker A: Well, we did it. It was the Athletico Dallas Fort Worth USL things and stuff. [01:23:16] Speaker B: Yep. Oh, okay. All right, Very good. I'll try once again to dismount. Here I go. Flip. Dan. Thank you so much. Good job. Excellent stuff. [01:23:28] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:23:28] Speaker B: Excellent reporting live from the Cotton Ball. Buzz, thank you so much. [01:23:32] Speaker A: Hey, thanks for being here on a weird Sunday night. [01:23:34] Speaker B: You're a season 30 man. We're in the playoffs, dude. [01:23:38] Speaker A: Well, 30 for them. 28. [01:23:40] Speaker B: Okay, you're nitpicking there. Just say 30. Just go with it. You follow the team for 30 years. [01:23:46] Speaker A: I worked on MLS in 96. [01:23:48] Speaker B: Sure. Absolutely. And thank you. DFW soccer. Curious you. We will be back next week. Playoffs, baby of third degree, the podcast extended season. [01:24:01] Speaker C: Third degree. The third degree podcast. [01:24:15] Speaker B: Third Degree Sam.