Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Third Degree, the Third Degree NEP Podcast.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast.
Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast.
Third Degree the Third Degree Third Degree.
[00:00:26] Speaker C: The podcast is brought to you by people just like you, the wonderful supporters and listeners of this podcast that support us on Patreon. Patreon.com thirddegree if you like what we do on the Internet, whether it be this podcast, whether it be our website covering professional soccer, nfc, Dallas, even our work on social media, why not come join us to come support us? 3rd degree.net is the website patreon.com thirddegree which is where you can support us. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the show.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Well, hello again.
Dallas, dfw, Fort Worth, Frisco, all the counties, whatever you want to call it. Soccer Curious person. You welcome to another episode of Third Degree, the podcast Smooth.
What is he wearing? What is that you've got? Oh, it's a US Men's National Team shirt.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Very good.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: It's Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: Hello. Yeah, I'm terrified of immigration raids, so I'm wearing US Men's National Team gear exclusively edit.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Are they tossing English people out of the country, too?
[00:01:26] Speaker B: I mean, they're probably. I don't know.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Yeah, probably. Yeah.
And then your hero, my hero, everybody's hero. Editor, Founder, third degree.net and the original soccer influencer himself, Buzz Carrick. Coming, Buzz.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Peter, speaking of England, I want some soccer stories, maybe even a Radiohead nugget. Football. Football stories. Yep. You know what I mean?
[00:01:47] Speaker A: You know, so, yeah, I was out of the country last week and I ended up going.
I told this to somebody that earlier today. They were like, how many games did you go to? And they. And I told them how many, which was one.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: And they all looked at me like I had a disease or something. Like, wait a second, you went all the way over there and you only went to one soccer game? Yeah, that's it. That's all I had time for. I had other things to do. And so I went to the Fulham Sunderland game and had a good time. And I got to sit in the new Riverside stand, which is really nice, by the way. Guys, there are a lot of things about that that I would love to see in the remodeling of Toyota Stadium, including the incredibly comfortable seats, although I don't think these. I don't know. Anyway, it was all very good. I had a great time. Walking to Craven Cottage is an experience anybody should have. If you like. If you like the game. Game, Dan, if you've. You've been there before, haven't you?
[00:02:48] Speaker B: I mean, I've been around that area. I've never actually been in Craven Cottage.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:02:54] Speaker C: Peter says you were in the vicinity of the Sunderland football team. Did you go to a doctor and get checked out afterwards, make sure you didn't pick up anything?
[00:03:00] Speaker A: No, I didn't. But man, they're actually a really, really surprisingly good team. I mean I was.
Fulham probably should have won that game by three goals, but Sunderland really surprised me how good they are. They're one of those sum of your parts kind of squads and yeah, quite impressive.
[00:03:16] Speaker C: It's pronounced dirty. Dirty.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: I know you're a Newcastle fan.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: The world hates something to be fair.
[00:03:22] Speaker C: Yeah, that's true.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: All right. Well. Yes, well, it's good to be back. I'm sorry. I heard Armin did his number nerd thing last week to very high, high level.
[00:03:35] Speaker C: I thought it was good. Did you guys give it a listen?
[00:03:38] Speaker B: No, I just got back into town. I haven't added from software.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: And, and frankly, Buzz, if you guys are going to do nothing but talk salary and TAM and gam and all that data stuff that gives this old man super big tired head. So I don't know if that's my. My content buzz.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: God, I could be taken many ways.
[00:04:02] Speaker C: Well, the headline with the day was that Armand says that they have about $5.5 million in cap room so they can make some moves.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Okay, so my question to you is, will they actually do it while they're under a budget restriction?
[00:04:15] Speaker C: Did not make any statements about that. I'm just saying that the room is there. You may draw your own conclusions about what they will or won't do.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: I gotta. All right, so here's the thing. I got an email from the team today announcing that there is a press conference on Wednesday. It's their end of the season press conference and Dan's going to be there and Will is going to be there and Zenata is going to be there and I thought, hmm, should I.
Should I ask to come to this event? Because I got some questions I'd love to ask. But I see, here's the thing. I'm convinced that if I do that that'll just piss everybody off.
[00:04:54] Speaker C: If you go or have you asked the questions.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: It's a new era. You can do it.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: If I ask the questions about budget and I just think there's some really clear and obvious questions to be asked about what the plans are moving forward because this season kind of revealed to us that everything we were worried about at the beginning of the season, in terms of spending turned out to be true.
[00:05:15] Speaker C: Well, Peter, I would say that if you don't ask those questions that I don't think anybody else will. So, you know, if.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: Why does it have to be me?
[00:05:23] Speaker C: Because you're the one that wants to know.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Here's the thing. It seems. It seems unfair for me not to go to press conferences on the regular until I got shitty questions to answer or to ask.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Do it.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: It's kind of your point, Dan. You're the one that's always there.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: I'm stuck at work, so I'll be on Zoom.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Buzz, you're the influencer. You do it.
[00:05:43] Speaker C: I have a family thing that I. In the way. It's not my fault they scheduled it in the middle of a family thing. I can't help you on a Wednesday. Well, it's not like it's a party. I have a commitment to my family that I have to do on Wednesday at that time that will prevent me from going.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Buzz is actually in the Mafia.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: No, he's got cement. Some cement shoes to form for somebody.
Well, maybe I'll sack up and I'll send in my request to attend said thing via Zoom and ask my questions. I don't. I don't think they're unfair questions, and I'm not intending them to be purposefully.
You know what I mean? Does that. Am I okay? I just think that they're fair questions to be asked.
[00:06:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't think they're unfair questions.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: I mean, when you tell me they got 5.5 million bucks in whatever AM.
I think the first question is, well, are you going to spend all 5.5 million of that? Is that the plan?
Is that a good question? Do you guys think that's a good question? I think that's a good question, yeah.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Because I think you can. If you go through, like, the MLS Players association numbers, you can kind of guesstimate that they ran about a million short this year.
So is that just rainy day or is that some. You know, are they actually planning to use that?
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Does it. How does it. How. How does that number work out minus or including or not including Lucho's number?
[00:07:17] Speaker C: Well, that's. That is the number minus. Lucio's number is a DP number. So his number is only 8006.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: 1.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: Oh, you're talking about just strictly to the cap.
[00:07:29] Speaker C: I'm talking about the cap. Yeah, the cap with the. I'm looking at Armand's sheet again. The cap with the funny money is like, if they go back to the 3 DP model it said he has 3.8 and if it's at the 2,4 model it's the 5.8. So it's a 2 million dollar swing there depending on the model. But basically like between all the Tamigam and the measure label cap room, they have roughly six million dollars they can, sorry, five and a half million dollars they could spend.
So you know, that's different of course, Peter, you know this than their actual like internal budget and their willingness to spend. You know, we, we don't expect your 50 million dollar Messi contract. It was, it was amazing that they did 4.5 million on Lucho, you know.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. Well, I mean I'm hopeful that they'll put together a competitive squad next season no matter what it costs. I mean Philly's been rolling out. I mean New York City is in, you know, almost got 10 less final on a pretty low salary back half of last season.
[00:08:25] Speaker C: Perhaps Dallas was competitive with that spending.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: Yeah. So maybe you don't have to blow out Miami money to be competitive. They can do it.
We'll see.
Now I'm not a big fan of learning. I mean here's the thing is it is the fact that they decided to hold on to Ibiaga.
Is that some sort of red flag or green flag?
[00:08:50] Speaker C: Well, as Armand pointed out, they have so much cap room that it doesn't matter because it's only one more year. And you know, lots of people other than Armand, but lots of other people thought that it was a good insurance policy that like yeah, yes, you're going after a starting grade center back but you know, there might be some call ups or guys hurt or whatever and that, you know, it's okay to overpay a little bit on Ibiaga because they have so much room that it's okay to overpay for one more year.
I'm not so sure. But I, I buy the insurance policy conversation when you know, real because it drops off really quick to Abubakar and to Alvaro so far, you know, in terms of center back play.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I just think that based on all the moves that were made so far, my biggest takeaway is I am concerned that they're starting three center. Their three available center backs are the same one they had this year and we had a lot and they had a lot of problems with that this year or Gide obviously was a huge successful signing for them but they got to get at least one more guy within 10% of him to really put something together and they probably need two, frankly. I mean, if you want to keep Ibiaga or ABUBAKAKAR as your fourth center back, I'm totally fine with that. But yeah, they need two more really quality center backs before I think this team can be seriously competitive.
[00:10:18] Speaker C: Well, they don't have the roster room, not capital room, roster room to add to. They have.
[00:10:22] Speaker A: They can cut one of those dudes.
[00:10:24] Speaker C: Well, they could, but they already picked up their contract so they would be eating. They'd have to use the buyout.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: And then I would tell you that that answers my question. Red flag.
[00:10:32] Speaker C: Yeah, well, that's the thing is if they don't add the starting center back, then they have to stay three at the back. Whether it's Iaga or Abubakar or Norris or. Or Shaq Moore, whatever. They would have to say three at the back. If they can't find that front line center back. Dan.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And they can obviously play around with the numbers further down the order.
North Texas loans, USL Championship loans. Whatever they need to do to, to clear some of the, the home grounds that aren't going to see game time for me. He's a good insurance policy.
You know, Ragido was what, fourth choice center back and they struggled to get him. It wasn't like an immediate, yeah, I'm coming.
So, you know, if they have a repeat and they don't get as successful, I would rather go in with.
Ibiaga is your second center back then Abubakar is the second center back or hoping that Nolan Norris can be full season potentially in a back four or you know, know that you're going into a. A five and you just kind of makeshift. And again for the, what, fourth year in a row after Junker and Farfan the other year.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: The other thing that caught my eye, did I read correctly that they didn't, they didn't cut or not resign Pedrinho? He chose not to come back?
[00:11:53] Speaker C: No, they declined his option and he chose not to enter the re entry draft. So basically he passed on somebody else picking him an mls.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:05] Speaker C: So basically he's saying, I don't want to stay in the United States.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: He's going to go make that an Asali money in Saudi.
[00:12:11] Speaker C: Something like that. Yeah.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: All right.
[00:12:13] Speaker C: Go back to Brazil. I don't know. Something.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: Good riddance.
Oh, what else? That was it. Out of the list.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: To be fair, he was one of the more successful North Texas foreign signings.
[00:12:27] Speaker C: Not saying much, but. Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: But it didn't translate to the senior team.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: Nah.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: You wanted to throw things at him when he played for the senior team.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Most of the time. There was the odd game, he'd come off the bench and actually look good.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: I think at the end of the day, him getting caught up in the Acosta rebellion didn't help him do him any favors.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: And the other one that I would comment on is the.
Is Anderson Julio being picked up? I'm a little bit surprised by that one.
I just didn't think he panned out this year and he pretty much lived up to my expectations in terms of being. You were some other team's backup guy and you probably should have been. If he wants to stay and be a backup guy and come in off the bench and be late. Game problem.
Causer, great. But he's not a starter and he's not an MLS starter in my opinion.
[00:13:19] Speaker C: Well, the first third of the season before he got hurt, we talked a lot about on here about he was their most impactful player. Granted this is when the team stunk.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: But you said that, not me.
[00:13:30] Speaker C: Well, you guys didn't disagree with me.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: I agree.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: He was, I, I disagreed. I thought he was part of the ball progression problem.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: But that was before Musa kind of turned it on as well.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: Or maybe I'm forgetting remembering like you.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Really had nothing going forward and it was really just him.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: Yeah, that was, he was basically the only one doing anything for the first part of the year.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Ultimately I just don't think he lived up and I was kind of surprised they picked up his deal.
[00:13:54] Speaker C: But yeah, yeah, I think a lot of people were. I, I was okay with it. You know, like if you're going back to hypothetically a system that has two wingers, you know, other than if you. Because otherwise, otherwise you just have Deon and Sarver and Bernie.
Right. If you're going to play a two winger system other than Anderson Julio.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:17] Speaker C: You know, I mean, I'm counting fair on Farrington being one of the wingers, you know, even though he's not really.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: And they're terrible at picking guys like this in this position specifically. So maybe they feel like that they've got something they could work with there.
But I, I mean this roster needs so much work.
[00:14:36] Speaker C: Yeah, it needs to, it needs direction. It's like, it's built just like with a bunch of weird. And we've talked about this for three or four years now. It's built with just a bunch of random pieces. Like there's no like discernible plan in my opinion about which way they're going to go. I feel like now getting Capis dialed into what Quill wants to do and in a hypothetical sense, getting a vertical fast winger like Deanson also played into what GO wants to do. But then we haven't seen decent play, you know, and so I think that's a big reason why they kept Harrison Julios, because you don't know what you have in Deetson. You don't know what you haven't started yet, really. Not in the terms of the first team.
You know, they got rid of all the guys that can fall swing like Pedrinho and Ramirez and you know, and your Pondecas and your Herbert Indoles and like all these reserve pieces that, you know, have been so like, you almost had to keep him. Honestly. Yeah.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: Okay.
Well, anyway, interesting stuff. I mean, probably nothing too surprising or shocking legit going. I'm not surprised by, I don't know where we, if you were to put a grade on Legette's time, did well, maybe this is maybe not. Let's not put a grade on it.
Did Sebastian legit live up to exceed or miss the mark in terms of our expectations when they signed him back in 22?
[00:15:59] Speaker C: Well, I think in terms of when he was healthy, and that's a big asterisk when he was healthy, that he did live up to what the expectation was, but it was too often when he wasn't. There are too many times where he would miss his chunks of the season.
So I think in the overall sense that meant no.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: But isn't the inability to stay healthy part of expectations?
[00:16:18] Speaker C: Yeah, that's why I just said an overall sense. No, because he didn't. He was missing too much of the time.
[00:16:25] Speaker B: Okay. Dan off the field, I mean, the Becky G stuff really paid dividends in, in digital marketing.
I mean he was when fit, solid, great locker room presence. Fit or not, I think that's, you know, if you're bringing an experienced guy in on. On high money, you want him to kind of have that effect and coach guys through as well as be effective on the field. So it was nice to, to see that part of it panned out. But yeah, that, that second year you really could have used.
You really could have used a fit, healthy, legit and, and really this year too. That last game he played was. Was fantastic that half. But yeah, if you had that off the bench a few more times, then they might have done a little better.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: All right, well, I hope things work out for him. I wonder if he'll pick up with another team or will he retire.
[00:17:28] Speaker C: I think he'll end up with A team out in California, you know, either both the Galaxy and San Jose could probably use a veteran off the bench, locker room guy. I would bet you, as they try and turn those teams back around.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: Oh, and him after the Galaxy game, like, he, he held court with everyone.
Just. Just stood in the hallway with a line of people greeting him from. From la.
[00:17:50] Speaker C: Yeah. And I imagine that was part of the conversations with Dallas was like, they probably said to him, hey, we'd love to bring you back on, like this smaller number. He probably went, well, for that number, I'm gonna go California.
I'm gonna go out there and get that money.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, I mean, well, when we did the.
When we did the keep or dump, I mean, that was like the comment I had in my notes is, you know, go get your money. And back in California, that was always on the cards for him.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: So Buzz wrote an article for third degree.net talking about Dallas's needs at different positions.
Buzz, I think you're spot on. I mean, I mean, this may be the most obvious thing you've written in a long time, but I think it's. I also. Let me just say this. I also feel like it's the exact same article you've written, like, the last three off seasons.
[00:18:37] Speaker C: Well, the center back part's been since retro Ziegler left, so, yeah, that part's been the same.
The other part changes.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Yeah, Ziegler was here during the pandemic.
[00:18:45] Speaker C: I know, I know he was.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: And that's how he left.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: I don't any. Is there any reason to discuss this any further?
[00:18:55] Speaker C: Well, my only question for you guys was like, did you have a different take than, you know, 4231? You know, the biggest, which is when I, I say, like, you know, go get a 10 perhaps and. And play that system that Quill seems to want to play more often than not. But he also. You could also consider playing a double pivot, you know. Well, sorry, that is the double pivot. You could also consider playing the single pivot and having like a Kaika or Amiro at a six and with a double eight with a packs and caps in front. And if you're going to do that, you know, it might behoove you to go get a 6 more than a 10 or something like that, because you don't need a stand in that system. So that was only the thing I was. I wanted to see if you guys had a different take on, like. No, I don't think they should play 4231. I think they should play this, and that means you should go get that guy and that kind of thing.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: It, it would all dictate if they can go out and get a six with the pedigree and experience and, you know, if you're thinking about a video game, the overall number worthy of playing that position that can cover the ground and do the work singularly versus needing somebody next to them, that to me, I mean, if they can go get a Carlos Grazo type. Yes, play with a play single pivot. But if they can't, then let's continue to see how Kai progresses with somebody that can help, you know, make get the best out of Kaik playing on the other side of him.
[00:20:16] Speaker C: You know, I my thing, I was like, it's pretty obvious that you go get a 10 and you put him underneath the hole and you try and play with, you know, Farrington and Musa or whatever, but it's not so easy to just go get a number 10. We saw what happened with Lucho. It doesn't always work work. And they're expensive, so it's like, I'm not well, I think that's the path forward. I'm not 100 convinced that it's gonna work automatically because the said 10 might not live up to the billing.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: You know, it's just such a 10 dominant league that, you know, veering away from that for too long. It's almost like you just, it's not, not bandaid, but, you know, you're just trying to make it work.
[00:20:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: I was watching the women play Ireland before the podcast. Is there any chance we get Lily Johannes on this team? Because, holy cow, she's the best player in the United States system, period. She is so good, and she's 18 years old. I.
[00:21:14] Speaker C: I, yeah, I mean, theoretically, I think there's no reason why technically in the rules, you can't, like, there's nothing that bars women from playing. It's just that, as we've talked about before, the gap is too big, so it's not really viable.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: But I don't know, she may be good enough in MLS that she actually could pull some things off without getting crushed or hurt by some angry man who's pissed off that she just back heel nutmegged him like she did tonight to the Italian defender. It was the silliest thing I've ever seen.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: All right.
[00:21:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I think Italy.
Italy. Did I say Ireland?
[00:21:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Yes. It was it. I was watching them play Italy for the second game. Yes. And they beat him to nothing. Anyway, center back I. Look, this starts and ends with them just figuring out their center back problems and resolving that. And I think it's a great mystery that they have been unable to, you know, the, the resigning of Ibiaga is. Now that you've explained it to me this way, Buzz, to me a red flag because I, you know, based on the history of how this thing has been operated over time, they really believe in those guys. They went out and got them, they brought them here. They haven't. They went out and got one more guy and they have supplemented it with the Croatian kid that used to be in the system that was here for a couple years as a super backup and. And Alvaro, the kid they. That they picked up from Portugal that played a little bit, not much.
And, and you know, I'm just. At this point, it would not surprise me at all if they go into the 26 season and those are your three center backs.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: You know, we hear from the people in the club that we talk to, you know, we've been hearing all year that they have spent the entire season scouting for a center back and looking for a center back. So, like, if they don't get one after looking for an entire year, I don't know what to do except throw my hands up and just be like. Because it really changes everything. Like, not. We've talked about this a little bit, I think, over the past couple weeks, but if you don't get that guy, that changes everything because I don't think you can go back to the back four without another center back. Because I agree that 55 goals against this year was, you know, one of the five worst of all time. And so was it the 56 last season at all time for this franchise? Excuse me, I should clarify that. So, like, you cannot bleed goals like that and expect to compete. So like you. There's no way, if you don't get a center back, you're playing forward, the back you're gonna have to stick with five. And so that fundamentally changes everything you're doing in terms of like, how you're gonna build, what kind of players you're gonna get and how you're gonna play. So it's like you have to have an answer to that question before you can do anything else this offseason.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I think.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: And they know what they've got. I mean, they know. I mean, we all kind of knew what a boubacar was when they got him.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: And it turned out to be accurate. And I. And now they've got multiple seasons of ibiaga to take measurement. And I think they very clearly know what they have in him. So if they don't go out, you know, this is the. This is the byproduct of the fact that we as media people or fans, the concept of going out and finding a center back feels very simple to those of us that play football manager or FIFA or whatever. Like, you just click onto the page and you find the one with the best numbers and fits your budget and you ask if they want to come play for you. I know in reality, in the real world, it isn't that simple, but it does seem weird that we are now into year four, year five of them trying to go out and get two quality center backs. And it took them the bulk of all of that just to find the one. Now they. The one they found kicks ass. And I think he's arguably one of the best center backs in the league, but he singularly can't make this work. They gotta go find somebody close to him to help.
[00:25:10] Speaker C: In particular, it's complicated because you prefer a lefty that makes it harder and you prefer somebody that could pass, which makes them more expensive. So those are some of the complications. And you're right. Like the, the reason we've been talking about this since Zeger left is Zeger left and we were like, okay, they need a center back. And they got Bresson and he wasn't quite up for it. And they got Martinez and he wasn't quite up for it. So every time we've been like, okay, they still need a center back. They still need a center back. About the time they got to Irigide, they actually needed two at that point and they got one and they still needed another one. And that's where we are now. They got one, but they need two and then the second one. So, like, because we determined that Abiaka wasn't good enough. So that's why, you know, it's. Yeah, you. You basically need Retro Ziegler again. You need him at 27, you know, which is expensive. I mean, that's a guy that was playing in the World Cup. So, you know, it's. That's hard.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: I think you can throw another wrinkle in there.
[00:26:02] Speaker C: Go ahead.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: You don't just need a lefty that can pass.
They don't have an abundance of international roster spots.
[00:26:08] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: So, you know, having two spent on two center backs would be a little bit difficult.
[00:26:15] Speaker C: Yeah. Effectively, like, if you're going to get an international center back and an international 10, you know, you don't have room for that, you have room for one and then you got to get rid of somebody. And again, you have to do some sort of loan or roster magic or buyout or whatever because right now they're sitting on nine and they have 10 spots and they need probably, you know, the common sense way is that they'll need two.
Obviously, if you can find a domestic center back or a domestic 10, that will go a long way to helping you. But those things are even more rare than they are in the international market.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: And I said right now, if you were going to gamble, would you go international center back, domestic 10 or domestic center back, international 10, domestic center back, international 10. Exactly.
[00:26:56] Speaker A: Buzz, what is, Is there any version of this that plays out that Nolan Norris is the answer?
[00:27:02] Speaker C: Yes, I think so. I think it, I think it probably has to be the 3 center back version though. I, I don't know that. Like you would want to throw Norris into the wolves of playing a two center back system for the first season. You're going to expect him to start.
That might be a lot. But whereas if you put him in, if you stick with the back three, like if you don't get a center back, which is the scenario which we would think they would start in the back three, you know, then Ibiaga perhaps is your right center back and Nolan can be your left center back. And that actually works because the tighter space between Irigide and presumably Bernie at left wing back, that smaller space would mollify a little bit. His slight weakness of being a split second slower than you might like, but he would really stand out because his passing is exceptional, his game ring isn't exceptional and his feet are really strong. All three things that would help them build and pass out of the back. He also could do that slide we talked about when they want to release Bernie, he can slide into a back four as the left back really easy and Bernie can release.
So he would really fit well into what they were doing at the end of last year. And we saw that in the playoff game when he subbed into the Shackle Moore spot basically at left center back. So yeah, totally viable. If that's your answer and that's the way you're choosing to go rather than going and getting a center back, then I think that actually can make a lot of sense. The problem would be that there's no real left center back backup at that point behind Norris. Torcato is not up for that. And so then you be if Norris got hurt or was called up or whatever, you'd be back to slotting shack more over there or something like that, you know, which is all perfectly reasonable because Norris should be able to play a lot of games, you would think, but yeah, totally viable. If, like if you're striking out in the international market, that's probably the answer is, you know, in the center back, Mark. Excuse me, that's probably your answer as no one's your left center back and. And Ibiaga's your right center back or shock Moore maybe and then put Newman or Giovanni, if you remember who either one of those players are at right wing back.
[00:29:02] Speaker B: That's. That's assuming Giovanni ever plays again.
[00:29:05] Speaker C: Yeah, well, he and Newman both are coming off of one Newman, a one year ACL and probably won't be ready in spring camp. And Giovanni is the two year acl. Well, one ACL won something else. I don't know whether it was a double setback or whether he did the ACL again, I'm not sure. But he missed two straight years so that's a lot to be risking. That's like a Paxton level risk.
[00:29:25] Speaker B: I was led to believe he did it again.
[00:29:27] Speaker C: It was the ASL again. Okay.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: That's what I was led to believe anyway.
[00:29:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: I think one thing with Nolan, if you were to go straight Ibiaga vs Nolan for a position in the squad Ibiaga is for.
All right, forget some, forget his weak points is the things that he does bring to the team.
He is first and foremost the guy that, that wins most aerials, that is under every clearance.
Nolan doesn't have the height and the jump for that.
He's also the organizer. He's the, you know, he's the, he's the talker in the back line.
Irigido is, is a little on the younger side for that. Nolan a little on the younger side for that. You've got.
Yeah, you've got. This is kind of the downside to having a younger team is you do need those older heads sprinkled about in there, even if they don't necessarily bring what you want. And that goes for Ramiro too.
[00:30:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
And that brings us back to the idea of if you really want to play as two center backs back four that you really need against somebody like you don't really have. If you want to expect to get better, it can't be irrigated. And Ibiaga as two center backs, it's just not gonna work.
You'll bleed 55 goals again, you'll suck.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: And there is another 30 minutes on can FC Dallas find a center back. Which now at this point means buzz. It could be its own podcast.
[00:30:57] Speaker C: Yeah. It was not 30 minutes, but we did a bunch of stuff first. But yeah, it. Well, it's been a problem for seven years, so, like, why would you not talk about it? You know, that's a long time to be wanting a center back.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: It is. All right, well, we haven't done this yet, so it's time to do all. Feels very obvious and. And probably not very. And very anti climactic. It would be passing out third degree awards for the year.
[00:31:25] Speaker C: Yeah, this one's pretty easy, I thought, but go ahead.
Well, it's not usually that easy.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: All right, who's.
How about this? I just say MVP and then we all at the same time say who our choice is, and we all sound like we're doing harmony. Right? Mvp. One, two, three.
[00:31:44] Speaker C: Musa. Yeah.
[00:31:45] Speaker B: The most valuable player.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: Here we go.
Defender of the year. One, two, three.
Damn. Yes.
And then last but not least, newcomer, slash rookie of the year.
[00:32:10] Speaker C: Yep.
Collode. Yeah.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it is Collodi, isn't it?
[00:32:14] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, you could go Asazi for newcomer. You could definitely go.
You could give the emotional vote for Sava as a rookie. But yeah, it's close.
[00:32:25] Speaker A: We're not gonna say Lucha Cyber Big.
[00:32:27] Speaker C: North Texas impact, but FC Dallas Impact was nothing.
[00:32:30] Speaker A: Oh, come on. My joke was really funny. Somebody picked that up and threw. It's got their lighter in the air.
[00:32:35] Speaker C: You can retell your joke if I stepped on it.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: Sorry.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: I said we're not going to put in a vote for Lucho for a newcomer of the year.
[00:32:43] Speaker C: I mean, you could if you want a new comment.
This doesn't qualify.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: It's not newcomer to mls, it's newcomer to. To the team, isn't it?
[00:32:51] Speaker B: Yeah, don't I.
[00:32:53] Speaker A: All right, very good. There are the. There's the most anticlimactic awarding easy one.
[00:32:59] Speaker C: This year in the podcast history.
[00:33:01] Speaker A: Yes. Well, there's no controversy whatever.
Okay. So the other conversation that keeps popping up in different places. I've seen this a lot in your discord buzz is the ongoing back and forth about what's. What to do at goalkeeper.
[00:33:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: With Martin Paz and Mr. Collodi.
[00:33:22] Speaker C: Well, I am 100 on team trade cell Martin Paws.
I think.
Yeah. I think Collode has earned the job.
You know, he. He has a lot of.
It was funny when I. We always talk about how good Clodi's feet are compared to pauses. And it was funny because I looked up his passing numbers and Martin Paz's Raw passing numbers are higher than Collodes. But the thing is, is that Martin Paz's passing is like he he does twice as many short little dink passes as Collodi and that's the difference. It's Collodi is attempting and competing at a really high rate. Long outlet passes and like his passes into the final third from a goalkeeper are like twice what pauses are really high. So the style wise is he plays like Quill wants to play. And you could just see the way the defenders are willing to work with Clodi with the ball at his feet and back, pass and build out. It just really is a nice advantage for the way Quill wants to play. And then shockingly, Cody has been better. Post shot XG 1.27 for code to 1.85. This is just this season now, mind you not. Career and save percentage 81% for code to 66 for PAW. So it's a pretty demonstrative, remarkable win by Codi. Well, at that point, this is the way it always is for me in MLS with you have a cap, you have a limited roster, you have limited international spots. Although not a problem in terms of pause obviously because he's a green card. But when you have a bigger asset that's lost as job to a younger up and coming player, you especially a domestic one, you especially a homegrown, you get rid of the other asset because you can bring things in for it. You can get something in the market and mls, there are lots of teams that could use a starting keeper. You can get something for them in terms of sale to a foreign country. So like there's no reason to keep a player around that has lost the job. Now I know you think like maybe have powered up, excited Martin Paz would challenge maybe that's kind of cool. But I think Collode is demonstrably shown that he fits the system that wants to play better and therefore you might as well move out Pause.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: My opinion, my, my read on this buzz is that if I thought this team was going to be competitive, I would keep him. Just so that you had the best opportunity for either one of those guys to help out this season. Because if one's hurt, the other one fills in and it's great. But because this team is so clearly in a rebuild, now that I think about it, if you can get something of substance for pause either in a sale internationally or trade internally, depending on what that is, you're probably on to something there.
My follow up question is if you get rid of Martin Paz, who is your backup goalkeeper this year.
[00:36:06] Speaker C: That's the thing, is there isn't one because you're not getting Jacob Jackson back.
You know, if you get, as you move out, collode, you'd be able to bid more for Jason Jacob Jackson than you can right now. But basically you'd be in the market for two keepers because you need a second and a third.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: Is there not somebody from the system coming up that's good enough as a backup?
[00:36:23] Speaker C: Oh, there are. There's three or four keepers that are all the way down to like U15. There are three or four excellent keepers on the way, but none of them are ready to be your second or third for mls. You know, like Nico Montoya is the best academy keeper. Sorry, the best oldest academy keeper. He was just at North Texas and started about a third of the games. You know, he should move up to where he starts all the games in North Texas next year. Right. That doesn't mean he's ready to be number three or number two on your first team and then behind him, like at U19. Not you. Excuse me, U17. U18. U17, U16. There's a great keeper on every one of those teams. So it's entirely possible that two or three of those guys are going to be in your first team within five years. But that's not now. You know, you would definitely need to go out and get, I think, two keepers. You could look into college, maybe there could be a homegrown keeper, maybe that could be in college or just draft one that's a senior coming out. You know, keepers mature late. You could go. That could be your third guy and you could go into the market and get, you know, some kind of journeyman or something like. Like. Like Jimmy, like they did with Jimmy like three years ago when they went and got a USL keeper that had been his whole career in USL and he was perfectly good as a second guy. You know, if Chloe's your man, there's lots of ways to fill up the other two spots.
Okay, Dan, are you team Cell pause or you?
[00:37:41] Speaker B: I'm team sit on the fence of a splinter up your ass. Honestly.
Yeah, it is difficult, you know. Was.
Is there the chance that Collodi's form was a flash in the pan of a team that was on the turnaround feasible.
We obviously saw a couple of goals scored last year that wouldn't have happened with Martin pass because of the types of pass you. You mentioned playing into the final third, getting it into midfield, crucially bypassing Ibiaga.
[00:38:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:38:16] Speaker B: We also Saw a couple of goals that Collodi conceded that Pars probably would have had the reach for with those couple extra inches.
[00:38:26] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: I think PAS has some value. Is obviously a, a national team player not going to the World cup unfortunately. But you know, you know, if you can kind of, if you can capitalize on, on the asset there. He is also relatively cheap in terms of salary. So you're not getting, you're not getting weighed down with him by any stretch of the imagination.
Yeah, I think it's almost like that season where it was Jesse Gonzalez, Chris Seitz and Dan Kennedy are just like, you have no idea what to do. Do you split time with him? Do you get rid of one? What? You know, do you just see who comes in for him?
[00:39:09] Speaker C: Yeah, totally fair.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: All right, well, what other FC Dallas Jim Jam would you like to get into the season?
[00:39:17] Speaker C: Armand predicted that a big offer would come in for Peter Musa after the World cup and that FCD Alice should think about this window with the idea that you probably can't keep Musa best mid season next year and for sure not past middle of 27 when the schedule flip happens. So like we had some discussion about how you should build with the idea that you're going to lose Peter Musa in the next two seasons. And I don't know, I thought maybe it would just be worth talking about from you guys because I said my piece on that last week. I just would be curious what you guys thought about the chance that Peter Moose is going to stick around here for a while or whether you think that it'll be too much of a market for him when come post World cup or post or you know, sort of that schedule flip in 27.
[00:40:03] Speaker A: Dan, I keep going first. You go first this time.
[00:40:06] Speaker B: How dare you.
It's hard.
If someone comes for, with 20 million, you take it.
It's just, you know, if, if Musa does make the World cup roster and Croatia has a habit of really well performing strikers at World Cups going back to Davos Suka in 98, you, you, you know, you, you take the money and you set the rebuild back a little bit or you gamble on Farrington, but yeah, you, you have to at least prepare for life post Musa because he's right now he's, he's too good for this level.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I've come to accept the fact that FC Dallas is a stepping stone club for players and players come here because they want to use it as an avenue to move to the next level and I assume that was part of the reason why Pater Musa chose to come here was because of this club's ability to help players achieve that in their career.
So yeah, I think Armin's onto something.
Would I love for them to keep him long term and make him an MLS great long term great? Sure. Of course. I think he's one of the, he's arguably the best pure striker this club has ever had, but I also don't, I'm also a realist and know that yeah, they probably going to sell him and if they get an offer for 20 million, is there any chance Clark Hunt says no, I think we want to keep him. When they got a 20 million, they got Pepe money waved in front of them.
[00:41:51] Speaker C: No, no way.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: Especially with the, the stadium situation going on.
[00:41:58] Speaker B: It's a point about Stefan sign clubs Benfica, also a, you know, renowned stepping stone club. So he kind of took that side step where it wasn't working out for him then. So yeah, you could totally see a scenario where it's. I'm, I'm making this move to, you know, take one step sideways or slightly back, however you want to phrase format and yeah, to, to take a giant leap forward.
[00:42:22] Speaker A: And I hope nobody takes my comment about being a stepping stone club as some sort of criticism. It's not, it's just the reality of the situation. It is what it is. There are tons of really wonderful clubs on this planet that are stepping stone clubs, you know, and Dallas could very much and easily be one of those. And we should all enjoy those players when they spend their time here at our club. But it's the Hunt's responsibility to replace a Peter Musa with either somebody or other players of really good, enjoyable, entertainment quality type MLS players.
[00:42:57] Speaker B: There's definitely a realization that people have to have in that sense. And MLS as a whole is a stepping stone league. That's part of its development.
Unless you're Real Madrid or Manchester City, you're. You're a stepping stone club now.
[00:43:11] Speaker A: So I, yeah, I think Ahmed's probably right.
I guess the question is, will that offer come in in this off, off season? I, I don't think.
I mean he had a really good, he had a really good season for Dallas on a team that was pretty mediocre overall and, and hit a lot of really good goals and, and displayed some real value. I, but I would be surprised if they got an offer this particular window that would blow your socks off.
They paid 10 for him.
[00:43:47] Speaker C: Yeah, I think the initial points were either 9 or 10 and it could go up to 13 with incentives. So who Knows really exactly what it ended up being. And. But I think you're right. It's more likely that you would see a big offer come in the summer when the teams have more money and when he may be coming out of a World cup, you know.
[00:44:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So Buzz, if. If in. If in the winter window, in this current window or the next window coming up in. In January, if somebody came to them and said, hey, we got $12 million for Petamousa, do you take it for 12?
[00:44:14] Speaker C: No.
[00:44:15] Speaker A: 15.
[00:44:17] Speaker C: Probably not.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: 18.
[00:44:20] Speaker C: When you get into the neighborhood of 20, 18 plus something maybe, you know, 18.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: You're barely breaking even after his salary.
Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: See, this is where I think this is an interesting conversation is because even at 20, I think Dan's onto something there, which is they've got a lot of money invested in this guy. They've got their, you know, 9 million bucks in transfer fee and now how much in salary over the course of the two seasons he's been with him another Four.
[00:44:46] Speaker C: Four.
I'd have to do that math, but yeah, around that probably.
[00:44:51] Speaker A: So they're on. Let's just round it up. They're on fit. They've got 15 million bucks invented in. Invested in this guy. So how much more than that do they need to get out of a deal to justify parting ways? Assuming Petter himself isn't pushing for this, like, that's also a big component of this is. Is. Is Petter happy staying in Frisco?
[00:45:10] Speaker C: Well, I would. My, My guess is that he would. Doesn't want to push for that now because you don't want to change teams four months before the World cup and have become like an ESAC where you don't score and don't play on a new team. Right. So you want to.
[00:45:24] Speaker B: With a new right now as well.
[00:45:26] Speaker C: Yeah, new baby, all that kind of stuff. He's feeling like in a groove. You know, you're going to score a bunch of goals for five months leading into the World cup here. So like I. He won't push now. I think he'll push. Has a good World cup. Then he would push or maybe push the next 20, 27 or mid 27. Like, you know, that's when he'll be looking to push.
[00:45:45] Speaker B: Does actually an opposite scenario if a great offer comes in and FC Dallas really wants to take it and Musa doesn't want to go anywhere and you get that kind of.
Was it Reggie that they tried to push out the door originally?
[00:46:00] Speaker C: I don't remember.
[00:46:01] Speaker A: Interesting. Yeah, I, I guess my question about the Croatian national team is my perception. And I don't know this is that while I know he got called up in the last window, it's not likely he's a leading. He's. He's not likely to start in the World cup for them.
[00:46:17] Speaker C: Start. No. But he could come off the bench in a couple games. Might get a game or two. You know, if they go deep, he might play a little bit, you know, we'll see. I mean, who. I don't know near enough about their team. Most people seem to think he's made the squad with his goal in the last game they had, you know, but for all that was gonna get picked.
[00:46:34] Speaker A: It would be great. I. I would be. That would be a real treat to see him playing for Croatia.
[00:46:40] Speaker C: I have a. I have a FCD AL related topic for you guys.
You guys want to get any last kicks in on Boa Vista as they get liquidated for never paying for Reggie?
[00:46:50] Speaker A: I. My only. My. My comment about that is I'm surprised it's taken this long.
[00:46:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: I mean, for all of the clear and obvious violations of international business and just pure ethics, it's shocking to me that this has taken this long for that to fall apart.
[00:47:12] Speaker C: I would imagine that FC Dallas is not ever getting their money at this point because I imagine they're way down the list of creditors that'll get paid back in the liquidation.
People that have invested money into the club, for example, would go first, I bet.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: I'm sure Reggie's never getting his money because they owe him. Don't they owe him a bunch of money from the.
[00:47:33] Speaker C: Assume they do, but I don't know for sure.
[00:47:36] Speaker B: I think he would actually be prioritized.
[00:47:39] Speaker A: He may be, but what? Like, don't they own Houston and another MLS team money?
[00:47:45] Speaker C: I. I don't know the details of those situations. I know they did. They bought the Honduran guy from Houston who I liked so much.
[00:47:54] Speaker B: His name is the Little Panther. Goal celebration.
[00:48:00] Speaker A: Yeah. So, yeah, good riddance to Boa Vista.
All right, that's enough FC Dallas talk.
[00:48:07] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:48:09] Speaker A: Is there anything else to talk about? Now that we've got all these teams? I feel like there's nothing to talk about any of them because it's this weird dead zone we're in the middle of.
[00:48:18] Speaker C: Well, there's a tiny bit of a bit on Atletico Dallas. They're having a street party block party event down at Echo Expo park in Dallas this weekend. On Saturday, they're going to announce their first of their street venues with street fc, which is Kyle Martino's company, they're gonna, that builds those little urban soccer fields. And Peter, I'm sure you know Patrice Evra, he's got some kind of company called Player that does, you know, scouting, kind of database pool identification things. I'm not 100 sure much about it. In my 10 seconds I looked it up. Apparently they, he's also getting involved with Athletico Dallas and we'll, it sounds like, be there with surprise guests. So just a little event for, for fans of that team. I'm told they're going to have some announcements about, you know, some corporate stuff maybe, maybe a bar related thing they're doing as they try and move forward towards building out. So anyway, if you're, if you're a fan of athletical Dallas, great chance this weekend I think I'm going to go down on Saturday maybe check it out, see what the scene's about. So that's on December 13th, I should be clear. And that's not this weekend, it's December 13th, but they announced it in the last two days so thought I'd throw that out there for you guys.
[00:49:31] Speaker A: I saw the, I think I'm saying this correctly, that they are either an investor in or part of.
I talked about this on the radio show on Saturday because that was the day that on Instagram I came across.
Are you guys aware of that there is a rooftop soccer pitch now on top of the Plaza the Americas in downtown Dallas.
[00:49:54] Speaker C: I saw that little video on that.
[00:49:56] Speaker B: Yeah, they've been advertising on Facebook a lot.
[00:50:01] Speaker A: Ah, okay. Well I don't do Facebook anymore, so I haven't seen it. But yeah, so on top of the Plaza the Americas, which is an old, you know, an old well known downtown Dallas building used to have an ice rink in the bottom of it and it was, you know, commercial retail space and now it's empty for the most part.
Somebody who I think also has something similar in Austin has put a black field, you know, 4th gen field inside a cage on top of the Plaza of the Americas. And somewhere in all of the social media stuff I saw Athletico Dallas was somehow involved with this. So I would check it out, but.
[00:50:40] Speaker C: I don't have no, any involvement with it. Maybe it's a Street FC project. Again, that's Martino's group. But you know, maybe it's just that because it's in near, near downtown Dallas, they put an ad up there or something. I bought an ad or something. I don't, I don't know.
[00:50:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I think the name of the company is called Vanta V A N.
[00:50:55] Speaker C: I'm not aware of that. So. Yeah, yeah. For all I know maybe they do have an environment. Maybe they did vomit or they made it sponsored. So anyway, that's cool.
Those, those, those urban soccer spaces are important, you know, it's not. It's a good part of development. Like here in Texas in particular, we're very developed in the suburban soccer market. We need to get more urban development. That's for sure. True.
[00:51:14] Speaker A: When I was in Paris last week. That sounds very haughty and I apologize for that but when I was in Paris last week walking around down underneath a bridge was this really kick ass small sided like 5 a side pitch inside a cage. And it looked like something from Mad Max Thunderdome.
I thought Dallas needs a series of those all over the place.
[00:51:37] Speaker C: That's what Street FC is and that's what Athletico is partnering with them to.
[00:51:40] Speaker A: Do is this was specifically the cage with like the. Not razor wire over the top, you know. But it was very cool.
They have a couple of themselves are essentially cages.
[00:51:51] Speaker B: Huh? They have a couple of those in Miami.
[00:51:54] Speaker A: Ah, okay. Yeah, it was, it was excellent.
What is up with Trinity? I haven't heard anything out of them in a while. Buzzard.
[00:52:02] Speaker C: Well, they, they had two weeks off oddly in the mid season just before they're going to have the winter break, which is a weird time to have two weeks off. But they got DC Power here this weekend on, on the 6th. It's the first of three straight home games.
So because they needed to make up some home games for all those away games they had to play when they, when the, the. The state fair was going on. So like they have a string of home games before the winter break and then they have string of home games after the winter rig. So now's your chance to get down there and see what's going on with Trinity.
At the last thing that they did, Mimo actually showed up in like training type gear. I haven't seen her kick a ball but hopefully we're getting back towards seeing her come back. That would be really nice. Yeah, she's. She's a really talented player.
[00:52:49] Speaker A: So did I see somewhere on the discord somebody was. It may have been you. Buzz was had pulled posted a graphic that I my perception was it came from Trinity kind of touting some of their successes in terms of attendance and also the fact that they lead the league in merchandise sales.
[00:53:10] Speaker C: Yeah, well it was from them and it was for their inaugural season. They were advertising their successes.
You know the Golden Boot winner having a the number two attendance in the league and number one in merch sales and number one in partner and number three in partnership sales. So yeah, like we've talked a little, I've been a tiny bit critical of their merch because a lot of it to me is very boutiquey. Like they don't have for me, like a lot of good sort of street wear. Not that I'm in the merch business, but like their stuff all feels like it belongs at the, at the mall in Highland park and rather than at the mall at, near the Cotton bowl, you know, so. But it's apparently working because they have, you know, number one merch sales in that league is impressive. You know, maybe that's a byproduct of being in one of the biggest cities in that league. That's entirely possible. They've had, but they've had really good relative to the context of their league. You know, we sometimes complain about the Antenna stop being what we hoped it would be, but they're doing better than most everybody else in that league is in terms of attendance and merchandise. So credit to them.
[00:54:10] Speaker B: That merch number, that merch stat baffled me. Whenever you go to their games, nobody's wearing their merchants. So who's buying it?
[00:54:21] Speaker C: I don't know. People are. You know, I, I, I know a fair number of people that are all in on that team and have a bunch of their merch. So maybe it's just a high number of like people are buying a lot for themselves that are in it, but maybe it's not a widespread kind of thing. They didn't talk about that and they just said they're number one. So.
[00:54:38] Speaker B: Yeah, because I mean, like, you know, when you're at the Cotton bowl, like the people in the, in the VIPN zone, which is family and friends all decked out in maroon, you know, they've got the, the $200 jackets and everything else on understands, not so much.
So.
[00:54:57] Speaker A: Any movement up north of here with the MLS next team?
I've had a few people ask me about this team called Rodeo and how goofy that is. And I point out to them, at least you know who that you've heard of them.
[00:55:11] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, credit to that. That is a thing. I mean, you know, the North Texas sc, a lot of their movement's going to be related to what FC Dallas is doing. You know, a circle down sort of effect.
So it's not really surprising we're not hearing much of that team. They haven't even announced roster moves and they Won't till sometime in December. Rodeo, they're basically just doing like, community introduction kind of stuff, like going to schools and going to fairs and being like, hey, here's a booth. Where Rodeo, they don't have a logo yet.
You know, they're not going to play for a year.
They're coming in the same time. Athletico and the Fort Worth team are coming in 2027, so different league, obviously, but that's their plan. They'll come back to USL 1. Come back. Sorry. Love that narrative, you know.
[00:55:54] Speaker B: So actually, Texoma advertising season ticket sales on. On 75 the other day.
[00:56:03] Speaker C: All right, well, I'm taking a live look at the Mansfield webcam of their stadium coming together for North Texas, and it's looking pretty well along.
[00:56:12] Speaker A: So, speaking of ready, Tarrant county, any movement on Fort Worth's USL team, boys or girls?
[00:56:22] Speaker C: They are playing it super close to the vest. They have not announced anything.
[00:56:26] Speaker A: Man, I'm going to feel like a big effing idiot if that thing never appears.
[00:56:31] Speaker C: Well, I suppose that if it never appears, that'll just because it all collapses. But, you know, we know who the owner is and we know the stadium they're working, working with. We know people that they've been talking to, you know, in and around other USL teams in the area. So we know it's real.
We just can't point to anything public that they're doing other than the stuff we've already pointed to that got taken off of YouTube.
But, you know, it's there. It's just they're taking the complete 100 opposite approach to Atletico Dallas. They're being very quiet and very hidden until they have everything ready to go, apparently. That's what we hear. We don't know for sure because we haven't talked to their owner, but we've talked to people to talk to him, so we kind of know what's happening.
[00:57:14] Speaker B: All right.
[00:57:15] Speaker C: You know, it's. I think that.
Well, I'm not gonna say that. I, I already. We're already past when we were expecting something to come out and it didn't. So at this point, the new time, we think something's coming out. I mean, whatever, just it's there, but nothing more to report on it.
[00:57:34] Speaker A: Before we go a little bit. Oh, you're Sar. Dan.
[00:57:38] Speaker B: Oh, I think actually you're gonna say the thing I was gonna say because you started to say Kit.
I did. Did you?
[00:57:47] Speaker A: I did. I was gonna. I was gonna. I was gonna end the podcast with some Kit talk. But if you've got Something you would.
[00:57:54] Speaker B: Like to say, please, is it resides in a certain city in Collin County.
[00:58:02] Speaker A: No, it does not have anything to do with that.
[00:58:05] Speaker B: Oh, well, McKinney Chipper covers a reveal in their New Jersey on Thursday at Tops.
[00:58:12] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
Good for them.
I was going to comment and ask you guys if you had seen the tweet that went out that kind of caught fire. Fire suggesting that they had found leaks of the US Kits for the World Cup.
[00:58:29] Speaker C: I did see that tweet.
[00:58:31] Speaker A: Now, the secondary, which is the dark kit, apparently everybody agrees is not. It is not a real thing. It's actually part of some sort of, you know, training or lifestyle line that Nike's putting out street wear kind of thing, which I'm thankful for because I didn't like the design of the look and I didn't like the color.
But I am worried. I am. Well, I think it was more like super navy blue, but.
[00:58:54] Speaker C: Oh, was it?
[00:58:56] Speaker A: But I am a little worried to find out that this white home kit or primary kit might be on the nose in terms of a couple of things. One, the centered logos, and two, that they're going with an off white, which is the trend that I used to love when it was singularly, pretty much used just by Roma. And now everybody has an. I mean, Nottingham Forest has an off white kit these days.
The idea that they would use that for the US For a World cup shirt is distressing to me.
[00:59:30] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I like center logos, but I'm probably the only one that does.
I'm with you on the off colored, like, off white kits. Just like, I was really mad that one World cup where they women had black and yellow kits.
It's like, you know, it's a national team. It's like just where your country's colors. I don't think it's that hard.
[00:59:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:59:51] Speaker C: And so, you know, to me, that's the off white is like that. It's like that's not the color of our flag and our logo and all that kind of stuff. So I'm with you. I don't like that.
[01:00:03] Speaker B: I would say the one that. That one with the color, the gray, dark one, that is 100% a lifestyle jersey. Every Nike team is getting pretty much the exact same thing with a subtle pattern on it.
The places I would expect to see that light jersey be if it was leaked as a real jersey, it ain't in those places.
[01:00:29] Speaker A: So it may not be real either.
[01:00:31] Speaker B: It probably is not real.
[01:00:34] Speaker A: Okay, well, that would please me because I don't like it. I mean, I don't hate it. I mean, they've obviously had worse primary kits than that, but it's definitely got.
[01:00:43] Speaker C: Some kind of sublimation happening that I don't like at all.
[01:00:46] Speaker A: Yeah, it's got. At least the design they put online, has a stars kind of, you know, shooting stars kind of thing going on in the background.
[01:00:53] Speaker B: You can't clearly see it used for another jersey. So I'm wondering.
I mean, we obviously did the April Fool's joke a few years ago where I took an Orlando city jersey, recolored it, and. And we kind of did the subtle powder blue thing, knowing that it was going to be powder blue, but still, it's easy to do.
[01:01:16] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Okay, well, I wondered what you guys thought. That's why I brought it up.
[01:01:22] Speaker C: Don't like.
[01:01:23] Speaker A: Yeah, Nobody like.
Very good. Okay. Anything else, kids? Look at us. We killed an hour with seriously nothing to talk about.
[01:01:33] Speaker B: About.
[01:01:33] Speaker A: That's how much I love talking soccer with you guys.
[01:01:37] Speaker C: Well, we have some things to talk about. We have nothing new to talk about. We said some old topics to be rehashed.
Yeah. But hopefully, maybe by next week, we'll have some actual news to talk about. That'd be fun.
[01:01:48] Speaker A: That would be fun. Actual news would be fun. I agree with you, Buzz.
[01:01:52] Speaker C: It would be.
[01:01:53] Speaker A: It would be fun for sure. Okay, well, maybe we'll get to talk about whatever the guys. Whatever they talk about in the press conference that none of us apparently are going to.
[01:02:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll absolutely be talking about that, because the last time they did one of those, it said some of the dumbest crap we've ever heard. So hopefully this one will be better.
[01:02:12] Speaker B: I mean, there's. There's been some great press conferences. Right from the saying process 14 times, I believe it was to. You know, I've watched Ronaldinho, I've watched Neymar.
[01:02:26] Speaker C: I'm Brazilian.
[01:02:28] Speaker B: I know how to handle these guys.
[01:02:31] Speaker C: Flexibility being important.
Well, you know, Quill's gonna be there, so hopefully people will actually ask Quill some questions, because Quill will actually say something, you know, so maybe we'll actually get some good stuff out of it.
[01:02:48] Speaker B: Maybe.
Maybe there will be a me filling the role of. Of Buzz being out of town, news dropping, because I will actually be in North Carolina that day.
[01:03:01] Speaker C: But you'll be on the Zoom.
[01:03:02] Speaker B: No, no. Well, I mean, when we record next.
[01:03:05] Speaker C: Oh, record next. Yeah. Yeah. Third degree. The podcast is brought to you by people just like you, the wonderful supporters and listeners of this podcast that support us on Patreon. Patreon.com thirddegree if you like what we do on the Internet, whether it be this podcast, whether it be our website covering professional soccer in FC Dallas. Even though I work work on social media, why not come join us to come support us. Thirdegree.net is the website patreon.com third degree which is where you can support us.
[01:03:31] Speaker A: All right, very good. Well boys, enjoy your week. We will speak to you. Dan thank you.
[01:03:39] Speaker B: Thank you.
[01:03:40] Speaker A: Dismount properly. Buzz thank you.
[01:03:43] Speaker C: Thank you sir. I'm glad you had a great vacation. I'm glad you guys are both back.
[01:03:47] Speaker A: Yeah, we're glad to be back too. It was fun. And thank you DFW soccer curious types like you. We appreciate you and we will speak to you next week on another episode of Third Degree, the podcast where we.
[01:04:00] Speaker B: Discuss center packs again.
[01:04:02] Speaker A: Third Degree the third Degree Third Degree the third Degree Net podcast Third Degree the third Degree.
[01:04:14] Speaker B: The third Degree the third Degree Never Careful, Sam.
