3rd Degree the Podcast #363

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Grass from Denver with pink lights would definitely put you in a mind state [00:00:03] Speaker B: of hell of an acid trip. [00:00:06] Speaker C: Yeah. Third degree. [00:00:16] Speaker B: The third degree. [00:00:16] Speaker A: Nep podcast. [00:00:19] Speaker C: Third degree. The third degree. [00:00:21] Speaker A: Net podcast. [00:00:23] Speaker C: Third degree. The third degree. Never gas. Third degree. Third degree. [00:00:29] Speaker A: Never care. [00:00:31] Speaker C: Well, hello there, DFW soccer Curious. Welcome to a big old fat episode of third degree, the podcast. He's back again. Dan Crook. He's my grass buddy, Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:00:46] Speaker B: Hey, we touched grass. It was fun. [00:00:48] Speaker C: We did touch grass. And your hero, my hero, everybody's hero. Editor, founder of thirddegree.net and the original soccer influencer himself, Buzz Carrick. Come and Buzz. [00:00:59] Speaker A: Peter, where's the hype? Triple win plus a lost podcast buddy. Right? [00:01:04] Speaker B: That was grass. Grass comes above winds. [00:01:06] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, sorry. [00:01:07] Speaker C: Yes. So much. Yes. Dan and I took a visit to go look at grass at the. At the. The World Cup. Grass. It's not just any grass. [00:01:15] Speaker A: Oh, I forgot to cut on the list. Yeah. [00:01:17] Speaker B: The finest grass from Denver. [00:01:19] Speaker C: Yes. Fine grass from Denver and the pinkest lights you could possibly imagine. I think I'm still half blinded from looking into those. [00:01:28] Speaker A: Grass from Denver with pink lights would definitely put you in a mindset. [00:01:32] Speaker B: I love an acid trip. [00:01:36] Speaker C: Did a little. Did a little mda, Emmett. Well, whatever, Never mind. We did not do drugs. [00:01:42] Speaker B: You did your mba. [00:01:43] Speaker C: We did not do drugs. That's. I'm just gonna say. I'm just gonna re backtrack and say Dan and I did not do drugs. [00:01:50] Speaker A: Yes. [00:01:51] Speaker C: Dallas Stadium. Very good. Yes. Buzz hinted at it. It is a big fat episode. Cause it's filled with wins, a ton of wins. And we'll start with football club Dallas, who in since we last Talked, have played two games in those two games, featured 10 goals and a goal differential of 00. Vancouver comes to town and wins 3 2. Dallas, of all things, goes to very hot. Jose says hello to Bruce arena and leaves with a crazy ass Monday night raw esque. Three, two. Win for themselves. Buzz, I don't know how you want to break all this down or what you want to focus on in particular. Do you want to just go by game by game or do you just want to kind of talk about the after effect of the two things together? [00:02:46] Speaker A: I think we should talk a little bit about each game for sure. But we should also start off with the 10,000 foot view, which is the reminder everybody that these are the top two teams in the west we're talking about. These are both really, really good teams. And so both of these performances are pretty strong performances. You know, both of them have flaws, of course, too, but they're both pretty strong performances. Even though one was a win, one was a loss. This is when you're measuring yourself against the best of the West. So they're important games to pay attention to. [00:03:11] Speaker C: Man, there are so many things to get into. [00:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:17] Speaker C: I think what we're going to do at some point, guys, is go back and look at the calendar. And you know, Buzz has said endlessly that tying yourself to death is a thing. And here you go, you've got two games. You lost one and you won one, and you got three points. If you had tied both of them, you would have gotten two points. So this works out better. But I do go back and think of that game against St. Louis that they drew. The other game earlier in the season at home that they drew against an easier team they should have beaten. I can't remember who it was. All of that stuff that happened is the. Is the kind of stuff that makes what happened this week really a problem for them. [00:03:56] Speaker A: Yeah. When you. When you. When we look back at that stretch right after the big DC win, there was three. Three or four in a row at home there that they were terrible, relatively speaking. And those are the ones that are going to cost them. And they're going to look back as they sit around for a month and a half or two months and look at the calendar, they're going to look back at that little stretch and think, dang it, that's where we really stumbled. You know, because there are so many home games here in this first half of the season, it really was important to come out in a really good shape. And granted they are fifth, but they could have been or should have been, perhaps. You know, if you're looking at the big picture, the season needed to be a little even higher than fifth because of the fact they're going to have this massive road load after the World Cup. Yeah. [00:04:32] Speaker C: Dan, any overriding theme or thought from these two games before we get into them individually? From you? [00:04:40] Speaker B: I haven't seen the Vancouver game, so I can't say, oh, no, you had tickets to Wicked. So I was watching Defy Gravity instead of defy the idea of winning. [00:04:52] Speaker C: Okay, I see how you cherry picked to view the game where they won. Fair. Fair play. [00:05:00] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I was at Dallas Trinity for that. So I only just got finished with the San Jose game about 20 minutes ago. [00:05:07] Speaker C: Very good. All right, let's get into. Because I think one of the interesting things about both of these games and side by side, Buzz is Some of the things that we learn about Eric Quill in terms of rotation, man management, what Some of the things that he's thinking about tactically and how to best use the parts that are at his disposal. [00:05:27] Speaker A: Yeah, well, through this rotation more that happened on the Vancouver game, then back into the San Jose road game, he stuck with this new four four two, which is fun. You know, for a long time he's felt like he needed that back five to hold the team together and have good defense and not allow goals. And granted, there were a few more goals this week, but again, remember, they're playing really good teams. So, like, you have to take things in the context of what they're coming. And, you know, I think overall, the problems they had, and I'm sure that I felt this way leaving the Vancouver game in terms of watching it, and Quill probably would feel the same way. The Vancouver game, they didn't lose that game because of some tactical issue or some failure on the ideas or the concepts. They lost it because of a sort of run in the. That one chunk of this in the first half where Vancouver got two goals in about 10 minutes and should have had a third that sort of wrapped itself around Collodes not doing so great in the moment. And so I. I felt like coming out of that game okay, he's probably gonna not think that was about the tactics and the formation. He's gonna stick with it. Sure enough, he did. So, you know, that kind of told us some things about where his mindset would be. Capus got a game in, but it was not in the middle. It was at one of the outside positions. Delgado in the second game got to start up front. That's an interesting question. So, like, one of the things that came out of these two games is that this idea that while he has not really increased greatly his pool of players he's using. We talked a lot, a few about a month ago about how short of a bench he was running. And I think really only Sarver is the one that really has upped his minute load and become a newer sort of contributor off the bench now in particular, you know, other than that, he's running the same sort of guys, but he's got these really difficult decisions where all across the midfield in the front line, he's got more players than he really needs that are playing well, well enough, you know, he still only has the one dominant Petousa player, but everybody else is. All the rest of the dudes in that group are playing pretty well. And so he has some Tough decisions from game to game. And so some of these rotations are not necessarily just like, I'm desperate to give a guy a game off sometimes. These, these, these, these rotations are starting to be tactical where, like, why would you play Patterson Delgado as a high striker when you have all these other guys that can do that? Well, there must have been a really good tactical reason. I think when we get to that game, I think I have an idea about it. But it's so. It's an interesting position that we haven't seen a lot of coaches around here in, where they actually have guys in the bench that they can pick for tactical nuance rather than just like, that guy doesn't stink today, you know. [00:08:11] Speaker C: So the Vancouver game is frustrating because I can't quite. I mean, I think Collode part of it is. I think Collode has a bad game, obviously. [00:08:22] Speaker A: Yes. [00:08:22] Speaker C: But some of it is, is that there was just a failure in the midfield to shut down some shots from distance because they finished two probably definitely should have had at least one more from distance. [00:08:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:08:33] Speaker C: If not two. And I don't my. In my head Buzz. I don't feel like that's been a thing. A problem for them this year. And I can't figure out why in the Vancouver game it suddenly was a thing. [00:08:46] Speaker A: Well, for one thing, Bear Halter is a very, very good player. And the other guy they have in there, Acuna. Was that his name, I apologize. Is also very good. And so all of a sudden, there are two guys that can score from zone 14 if you don't cover them up. And so all of a sudden, both Kaik and Ramiro have to do a lot of work in there. And the game before, we talked a bunch about how we thought Kaik did a really nice job picking up Diego Luna all across the board. And I think that's what basically happened is that they had to rely on Romero to be closing down those guys and playing really tight. And we know he doesn't do that. You know, he really accentuated that bad habit he has of being in the right place. And then as the ball goes deep, he doesn't stay there. He tracks down into the box and tries to help center backs or be there close to the center backs. And when the ball pops out from that position, I'm not saying that happened every time, but that did happen. For sure, though those midfielders will be find themselves in Zone 14 with Romero 10 yards away. And he can't close fast enough to get on those guys. And he didn't and this is a problem that happened a lot earlier in the year, but we hadn't seen it for a while and we particularly didn't see it at all against Real Salt Lake like just the week before. So that sort of reared its head. I talked a lot about how tired Ramiro looked at the end of that game. And I really thought, like, I think there's something to be said for the fact that he. It's difficult for him to play Saturday, Wednesday and play at a really high, effective, pressing sort of rate, I think. [00:10:13] Speaker C: So how about Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday? [00:10:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, he, he was better at it against San Jose, I think. But then San Jose doesn't have bear halter, you know what I mean? [00:10:23] Speaker C: And it was also 58 degrees or whatever it was. [00:10:26] Speaker A: Temps were better. You're out on the coast. It's like the game Wednesday I thought was ripe for Ramiro to get a rest, but that didn't happen because Cap is for, excuse me, Quill for some reason is so dependent on Kaik and Romero in that combination. It doesn't seem willing to bring cabbage back back in there as. And that's why I pointed out the cabbage started out on the right midfield where in the Valiente spot, in the flex spot. And he did the flex job, but he did it a little wider than. Than Valiente does it. But it's like, you know, I thought Cabis was ready to come back into a game. It wouldn't be in the middle. And for whatever reason it's not. So for some reason, Quill has a little lost faith, it seems, and Cap is in the middle. I don't know what that's about because he looks like he's back in form to me. When I watch him play, he closes down a lot better than Romero does. It may just be about leadership and communication for all I know. In terms of Ramiro sort of organizing all those guys in the middle, perhaps, that could certainly be it. So it's something we need to watch going forward. [00:11:25] Speaker C: Cap has hit the. Hit the crossbar once the post in the first minute of the game. [00:11:31] Speaker A: I mean, we were going to talk [00:11:32] Speaker C: about the early goal in the San Jose game, but Kappa's almost had an amazingly good run and finish. [00:11:38] Speaker A: He had a really nice game against Vancouver in that wide midfield spot that I think people probably because it was a loss. No one really looked at it, but if you go back and look at his numbers, he had a really nice rating for the footmob. He was really good about getting in the box. He didn't go in as tight in the middle as Valiante does. Right up the. Right up the center channel. He was more like a right channel sort of version of it. Like an angling into the box, almost like a real winger might, but. Except Cap is obviously not a winger, but he was sort of fulfilling that role and trying to get into the box as that extra guy on that side. So I thought she did a really nice job in that position. For something that's not really natural to him, I don't think, you know, just as good as Binyamin or Valiente had done, in my opinion, over the last couple of games. So I don't know why you wouldn't see that again other than just rotational positions, you know. [00:12:23] Speaker C: Guys, when did. I can't recall this now. When. When did the shift from the 3 to 4 in the back happen? [00:12:32] Speaker A: The. Yeah, the back for the switch from three to four was the New York game. That's the first game we saw Benjamin start. You know, on paper. They wrote the, the. The PR and socials wrote it out and sent his wing back. And then we watched it perform. We were all like, oh, no, that's not a wing back, that's a flat four. And Norris was at left back and Johansson was at right back and Benjamin was clearly at left mid. And we saw. That was the first time we saw Benjamin doing the flex. Johansson and him both actually were flexing. So it's. That was. So it's basically been four games now and it's been a pretty good four games. [00:13:02] Speaker C: Well, yeah, they've won three and lost one, and the one they lost was a super tight three two loss to the first best team in the division. Right. So. So what is it about that shift buzz that has so dramatically changed the team? [00:13:18] Speaker A: Well, part of it, I think, is the experiment. He's been trying to go solve the Bernie missing part. Like he tried some various wing backs replacing Bernie and Kamungo, and none of them really worked very well. And so after a certain amount of time, you keep trying things. Keep trying things. Then he came up with this idea of playing Benjamin over on that side, but more as a midfielder. And so it's been, you know, a solution in the back where you can fix the. Bernie not having. Bernie is a good one v one defending wing back. He's not a good team wing back, but he's one good one with one defending wing back. And it helped you make Benjamin a better player by dividing the field in half and making him a wide player where he could still be as he can play like a central mid without having to be in the central of the midfield. Right. And so whatever midfielders you have there on the outside who are all still central mids, even when they come inside, you can have people that know how to play in those positions and it allows them to keep two strikers up top, which is always the key. Whether it's Musa and Farrington or Musa and Marino or Musa and Delgado, we see the two striker systems continue to happen so. [00:14:22] Speaker C: Well, Dan, I think we need to credit the Giant Hat for this because in those four games since the change, they have scored 10 goals and only given up six. That's a very positive turn for the better since the switch. And as I said, Giant Hat deserves the credit. [00:14:39] Speaker B: I mean, they don't say or praise the hat, the Giant hat for no reason. We've talked for such a long time about Quill would love to get back to a back four and the way that he wants to play. It's just, you know, this is the way that works for the pieces he has right now. So it's, it's good to see that he's, you know, that work's paying off, that he is able to get back on track with the, the style, the system that, that Quill does want to play. [00:15:05] Speaker C: Yeah, it does seem to have helped anything. What else about the Vancouver game Buzz do you want to talk about before we move on to the. The win in San Jose? [00:15:15] Speaker A: Well, I think we should probably talk a little bit about Collodion more specifically, you know, in the trouble that he had in that game because. [00:15:23] Speaker C: Okay. [00:15:23] Speaker A: It resulted in him getting dropped. [00:15:25] Speaker C: Sorry, man. Paul Collodi. I tried. [00:15:27] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you gotta be real about these things. You know, he had some good saves in that game. But, you know, there's been some commentary coming out of the commentators for the last couple of weeks that they're obviously getting from the staff about Quill giving Collodi some notes about here's there's some things you've got to do better. You know, some of the numbers were off and so that obviously has been a narrative that's been floating around a while. And both of those goals he could have done better. He tried to catch both of them rather than punch both of them and they bent his hands over and got in. So like he was the two Burr Halter hits, the two Bear Halter hits. Yeah. So from deep and, and we talked, we've talked about how one of the things Dallas is important for them to do defensively is keep the shots from Range, keep them out high, right. Keep them far away. Well, you can't keep those shots out. That strategy is not going to work. So that cost of that game, really, those two saves being pretty soft, not being made. And it's not that Clodi isn't a pretty good goalkeeper. He's quite a good goalkeeper. But there are times when you need your goalkeeper to be more than that. You need them to make big, huge saves and keep you in a game or win you a game. And that's something that Paws would do from time to time, as he would have these great games and make these great saves and he would elevate and keep you in in a game or win a game. This is the game they needed Claudia to be big and he wasn't big. And I wouldn't harp on that, except that it got him dropped. We saw Jonathan Ciro for the first time ever and he came in and he made that big, huge PK save. Now, was he rusty? Yes. Was there some plays where he could have done better? Sure. But he made the big, huge PK save when they needed him to. So I think right now you have a wide open keeper discussion that'll probably be based every week, like on who looks good in training and how they're making that decision. So I think you can flip a coin going forward, like right this minute. I think we'll get to this. When the other team, when he gets a Colorado game, I think Sorrow deserves the game because he just did well. But I think it'll be an open competition all summer long to see which one of those guys will come out in the fall as the number one guy. [00:17:34] Speaker C: So Sarah comes in. So funny because it's in here and. And it just seems to come out of the blue. I'm curious when the last time he started an MLS game was. Obviously it's been a bit of time and. And had a fine game. Helped out a lot in that deal. So the fact that we are at a point, Buzz, where you feel like now you've got an open battle for the keeper position, [00:18:03] Speaker A: I. [00:18:04] Speaker C: Does that say more about Sua or. I keep thinking Soy because I know the Soy brothers. Is it. Is it say more about him or more about codes situation? [00:18:20] Speaker A: Well, I think because of the narrative that we've been hearing from broadcasters that it's more about Collodi. Like I wouldn't have. I would just based on performances, I wouldn't have said Cody. But since for the broadcasters to be talking about it, that means somebody at the club's Been talking about it, which means that it was a thing already, you know, and then Claudia has the one bad game, not the one bad game, has this particular bad game, and that's the one that finally got. The other guy saw a chance. So I think it was more about Cody opening the door than it was about. So I was storming through it or anything or kicking it open, you know, and. But he made the one key real save they really had to have. And so that was the thing that will keep him, I imagine, in the gig for at least this one more game. So. [00:19:02] Speaker C: All right, very good. So Vancouver come. By the way, those Vancouver dark blue [00:19:08] Speaker A: kits, those are so good. So good. [00:19:11] Speaker C: Yes. And they really make those away Dallas kits look even worse. So that was the final home game as you know it. So everybody got to say goodbye to the west side because according to the schedule, by the time they play a home game in mid September, the entire west structure will be adios. Did you shed a tear at all, Dan, about the press box going away? [00:19:45] Speaker B: I had to do that at the weekend before because I was at Fair park, unfortunately, on Wednesday. [00:19:51] Speaker C: Did you steal something to take home as a memento? [00:19:55] Speaker B: No, that. That would have. There's nothing good to steal there. [00:19:59] Speaker A: Jesus. [00:20:03] Speaker B: I mean, I'm too professional for that. [00:20:07] Speaker C: Yeah, you're right. I would have done it. All right, so let's move. [00:20:14] Speaker B: Taken out. [00:20:14] Speaker C: I was just trying to think of something funny to say. I'm sure there's a frame to something I would have taken. [00:20:20] Speaker B: There is. [00:20:22] Speaker A: There's a. I'm sure that stuff saved those posters and. [00:20:25] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, there's a. There's a couple of really nice frame jerseys. Line that hallway. [00:20:30] Speaker C: Yeah, there's a TedX. A frame TedX action photo. I would have liked to have had somewhere in that building. I remember. Well, anyway, let's move on to the good stuff. Dallas 3, San Jose 2. Bruce arena furious. Just furious at the end of the game that a foul was not called on the moment that begins the entire amazing thing that is stone cold Sam Sarver. We'll get to that here in a little bit. I think the interesting thing, obviously, is the goalkeeper change and some more starting 11 starter changes. Buzz. [00:21:10] Speaker A: Yeah, well, some rotations back in, interestingly enough. Santiago Moreno at left mid doing a fair bit of getting forward out of that position. More aggressive than Benjamin in that position. Valiante back in at the right mid doing his flex thing still, fascinatingly. Patricson Delgado at forward, which I thought was bizarre until I looked at the stats after the game. By the way, this is a great example of what frustrates me so much about Paxton Delgado because he has these immense moments where you thought what an absolute baller this guy could be, you know, and it scores within like a minute of the start of the game on a really bright, bright, really exciting, really aggressive move. Great pinch, great shot. He has these amazing moments where you're like, what an absolute player. And then he has the rest of the game where it's just like you barely even notice him. But I will say, in this particular game, he had a staggering 57 touches for a striker. For Desi Dallas, that's incredible because they don't play a high position game normally. For him to get that many touches is amazing and, but only got, you know, like one real chance created out of it, you know, and he had three shots and other than the goal, only had, didn't have any of them on target. So that's a little frustrating. But on the other hand, you know what Quill wants out of that position. And if you looked at, in that game in particular, if you looked at the, there's a, there's a guy on blue sky, I think it is, it does these, these images that show like where every shot starts and how it builds to get to the shot and all but one of Dallas's attacking plays that resulted in a shot came in start in the San Jose half. Only one of them started in the Dallas half. [00:22:53] Speaker C: They were turning them over deep a lot. [00:22:55] Speaker A: Right, right. And so that's where Delgado comes into the picture because he had for us forward, now he was playing forward. He had seven defensive contributions, plus four recoveries. And we're talking about four tackles. We're talking about clearances, we're talking about headers and talking about interceptions. So basically like, the point is, is that he's playing some really nice high defense. Basically. Now it's not a lot of high press, but Dallas played higher up the field and they, and they turned them over quite a bit. And he won like above 50% of his duels and he won three for three on his aerial duels. So Delgado did a really good job of making it difficult for San Jose to play, which is surprising because I wouldn't, I don't normally think of him as a hard working defender, but he did that in this game and so some credit to him for that. The part that makes me frustrated is because he has these offensive moments and then, then you don't even notice him offensively. Other than that, you know, it's, it's you know, I just feel like there's so much potential that he could be like this game destroying player if he could bring those moments more often than he does more often than once a performance. And that's why he's frustrated because there is a lot of talent in there. But the Bojangles is holding him back. You know, it's not, not getting it done sometimes. [00:24:10] Speaker C: Okay, hold on. I, I do want to talk about this because using, well, using the, the buzz meter, the buzz scale of this, he looks fat to me. [00:24:21] Speaker A: I would definitely put him in the fat end of players, but he has always looked like that. Just like Weston McKinney always looks like that. So I don't know enough about Delgado's personal habits to tell you whether that's a problem or not. I definitely put him in the end of what I consider to be a fat soccer player. You know, I, I, well, pimping for [00:24:41] Speaker C: Bojangles isn't helping that perception. [00:24:43] Speaker A: Not doing Bojangles commercials would be a good start. I don't blame him for trying to make some money. But Dan, I know you watched this game. Did you, what did you think of this one? [00:24:52] Speaker B: The funny thing is he, he played the total opposite of a guy that you'd be like, oh, he's, I know, right? I thought on the ball, terrible. You know, his, his goal was a massive deflection. You know, it was getting saved. He had the chance in the second half that realistically was a bit of a setter and he just smashed it low at, at the defender or at the keeper, I can't remember which. Off the ball, phenomenal. His run to actually, you know, intercept that loose ball for the goal. Brilliant. He had a couple of really nice forward runs. He was playing, he was playing a really nice wide game, supporting Moreno on the left, getting them into some really nice wide spaces early on and dragging defenders out wide. If he can do that, great. I'd take a guy who's got off the ball hustle over a guy who's got a really nice touch and a great final ball because ultimately that's going to bring the team into the game more. Which it did [00:25:52] Speaker C: if it wants, if we want, if we want to try to make Delgado feel better. Well, no. Dominic Sobuslay at Liverpool got into hot water this week for having a picture taken of him eating McDonald's. So, you know, it happens. It happens even to the guys in the big leagues. [00:26:13] Speaker B: Patrickson, you know, at least he didn't chug a thing of sauce. [00:26:22] Speaker A: All right, this, this the One thing I want to say about this San Jose game, I thought this was a good, really, really nice collective performance. This wasn't a game where one guy was like, oh, he had a hat trick. No, no. This was like. I actually really struggled for a while to come up with the man of the match because everybody was pretty good. And I'll show you how this will result in, at a macro level, what I'm talking about, like, what do we always talk about? What do I always talk about with FC Dallas? [00:26:46] Speaker B: Right? [00:26:47] Speaker A: Shots. The shots on target. So like against. Against San Jose, where they won, right. They had 16 shots and nine of them were on target. So that's well above 50%. That's really good. And 14, I think of 15. I think it was 15. Sorry. 15 of 16 shots came inside the box. Those are the two things we harp on all the time. And then if you look back at the. The game against Vancouver, for example, they had eight total shots, which was not very good at all. Only three of them are on target. Very, very low number. And when you're talking about shots in the box, only four of them. So 50%, which is. We want to see it, like, almost all of them come from inside the box. Right. Remember, it's quality chances and getting them on target. So, like, yes, the Vancouver was a pretty good performance against a really, really good team, and maybe they would have won. That game of quality comes up big. But the San Jose game, they controlled that game in the way that they play, which is turn you over in your half, get on goal, get in the box, get good opportunities. So it's just a great collective. This is how Quill plays performance. It was really good. [00:27:50] Speaker C: That's what I want to. That's the thing that has been kind of coming together with this team in the last month or so that I have. I have appreciated is that they are becoming that team. That is the sum of their parts versus individual moments of brilliance, which is the thing they're going to have to be. When you are in this league and you don't have an owner that wants to go out and spend like Miami or LA or something like that, you got to find a manager and a group of guys that are just wanting to be a really, really solid team. Now, it helps that you've got Musa, who is scoring at a blinding rate. And by the way, congratulations to Petter, who was announced today that he will be joining the Croatian national team in the World Cup. That's a huge deal. And again, the prediction of him hitting a banger against England in Dallas on in June, right there in front of the Hunts. And everybody is one step closer to happening guys. [00:28:50] Speaker A: Yep. [00:28:51] Speaker C: Except Dan doesn't want to hear that. Sorry, Dan. [00:28:53] Speaker B: I'll accept it. I mean, I'd accept it more if I was actually there to watch it. [00:28:59] Speaker C: Is that the one goal in the World cup against your England that you would be okay with? [00:29:04] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Same as when. When Cobra scored in that qualifier at Wembley. I was like, yep, caught up. England still won the game. Didn't matter. [00:29:14] Speaker A: You're not down for a deon banger against 80 in the semi final. [00:29:19] Speaker B: Yeah. That might give him some value and they can sell him. [00:29:21] Speaker C: When was the last time Deetson played [00:29:26] Speaker A: it? Probably when he played wing back. [00:29:28] Speaker C: Probably like, like subbed in late. [00:29:31] Speaker A: It's been a while. [00:29:31] Speaker C: Didn't he sub in late in one of these last three or four games? [00:29:35] Speaker A: No. Sarver's ahead of him on that. [00:29:37] Speaker C: Yeah. Is it wild that they're promoting a guy is on is going to the World cup and yet he's played like 25 minutes for you and. [00:29:47] Speaker A: Well, they wanted to hype up the idea that they have second straight World cup with an active player and they didn't have Musa locked in at that point. They didn't know, so they went with what they had. [00:29:56] Speaker B: So. So he hasn't been in the squad at all for the last four games. He played 45 minutes against Seattle. But no, it's totally. I mean, you've got a guy going to the World Cup. You. You absolutely promote the. Out of that. Haiti in general is a very compelling story. There has been a lot of media interest outside of the US for him specifically. [00:30:17] Speaker C: Oh, really? Okay. [00:30:18] Speaker B: And FC Dallas has embraced that. Right. They're definitely pushing a lot of Croatian stuff right now. Obviously we saw the Indonesian effect with Martin Pars. It just make. You know, soccer's a global game. If you can make yourself a global brand in any way, even if the brand itself isn't, do it. [00:30:38] Speaker C: Yeah, it's just wild that you got a guy going to the World cup and he's not playing for you because he's not. [00:30:42] Speaker B: Because he's. [00:30:43] Speaker C: Because he's not good enough, right? Yeah, I guess he's good enough for Haiti, which I probably. [00:30:47] Speaker A: Yeah, well, expanded field. You know, there are countries in there that don't usually get in there. [00:30:50] Speaker B: You know, you've also got remembered. Carl Sante is also in that team. And, you know, obviously he had a couple of games at Dallas flipping between the midfield and defense. Went back out on loan. You know, it's. [00:31:05] Speaker C: Where is he? Who's he playing for now? [00:31:08] Speaker B: It was Phoenix, I think it's Phoenix [00:31:10] Speaker A: Rising still, I think. [00:31:10] Speaker C: Okay. [00:31:11] Speaker B: All right. [00:31:12] Speaker C: Well, anyway, so what else about the, I mean, we'll get to the server thing here at the, at the end. So let's save that for the end. [00:31:20] Speaker B: El Paso. [00:31:22] Speaker A: He's a locomotive. Oh, I didn't realize that. [00:31:24] Speaker C: He's gonna, he's gonna play with Danny [00:31:26] Speaker A: Rojas, who by the way, as I predicted. Yes. Yeah, yeah, by the way. Rebounded. I thought in this game, thought they looked back to being better, as you say, not so hot. I guess something to watch. [00:31:41] Speaker B: I, I thought actually defensively, the way they were set up, supporting the wing backs was phenomenal, that that made such a difference. San Jose would kill in FC Dallas off crosses. So just having Kaik pushing out to the right, Ramirez out to the left, you know, on the other side of the ball really bailed them out. [00:32:02] Speaker A: The other fascinating thing about that game was the halftime flip flop of Shaq Moore going out to play left back and Morris sliding in to play left center back, which is fascinating. And I, I sent in a question to get an answer from Quill about what the trigger was on that and you know, and hopefully I'll get more. [00:32:18] Speaker C: It was Buddha, right? He just needed somebody with a little bit more experience and pace to. Yeah, because no one was really struggling with that dude. [00:32:24] Speaker A: I mean, I think that's why. But I still want to hear from the coach that that's what it was and, and who made that call because remember Quill sitting up in the box, so was an assistant. So we want to give credit to whoever did that call because that was a good adjustment that worked. [00:32:37] Speaker C: So what happened at the half? Because the game really became one sided when the second half started and Dallas just kind of held on for their lives and as San Jose just kept kind of pounding at the goal and, and they were really struggling to get the ball past half field for a long stretch of the. Especially in the early part of the second half, if I remember correctly. [00:33:00] Speaker A: I don't remember anything specific other than. I'm sure San Jose just came out of the locker room, you know, wanting to take control of the game at home. You know, it's not, it's not like they were, they probably felt like they were flat and not doing anything in the first half and so. Okay, we're going to come out. You know, it ended up being a tie game at halftime. It was 1:1. But they probably. Santa's day, I'm assuming probably felt like they were not getting what they deserved. And remember that Musa scores like four minutes into the second half. So like some of your memories about like the Musa goals in the 49th minute with the assist from Johansson. So probably some of your memories were, oh, Dallas just took a lead, so we're going to sit a little bit and be conservative for a minute. And San Jose is like redoubling their push. So that's probably what you're remembering in that time of. [00:33:44] Speaker B: They also had, you know, just missed. Well, had the penalty saved like three minutes before the half, so. [00:33:52] Speaker C: Oh, right. Yeah, that's right. That would have been two, one and a half. Yeah, it was. [00:33:57] Speaker A: That's why that save so big. [00:33:59] Speaker C: Oh, the save is huge. And it was really well, I mean, it was not a well taken penalty, which is crazy because his finish earlier in the game was amazing. [00:34:09] Speaker B: I mean, silhouetted. So I mean, when they did the, the replay from behind you, you could see how far over silhouette was that the ball was in his waist. Like he, he really did have his hand in the corner of the goal if, if that was a well taken penalty. [00:34:24] Speaker C: So here we are at this point of the season. How are you on balance with the new Swede, Johansson? [00:34:32] Speaker A: I'm fine. Yeah, he's good, you know, Are you, are you okay? [00:34:36] Speaker C: That's all very, that's a, that's overall a complimentary, positive thing. But do you feel like that's a signing that you wish you were more excited about? No. Or is this one of these things? He's kind of coming along at the pace you expected him to. [00:34:51] Speaker A: He's about what I expected. You know, I have, I have some concerns in terms of being 90 minutes fit, you know, as it gets hotter, that kind of thing. Workload management with him. He has a big body that can be a more of a problem in heat, you know, just his overall size. I think there are moments where he can get exposed by a straight line runner coming at him. But, you know, as long as he gets a little help and that when that kind of situation arises, that's fine. Like no one's going to be, you know, flawless. I don't. And in terms of, particularly in terms of the relative amount of money that he's getting paid, you know, with off the top of my head, his money is about in the same neighborhood as most other. Pretty good. [00:35:34] Speaker C: Yeah, we gotta talk about that. The, the salaries came out since we last did an episode. [00:35:39] Speaker A: Right. So, you know, you look at his base number and he's on 600k which is right around where Irigita is. But it's also cheaper than Ibiaga and it's a little bit more expensive than a Uber car. So like it's not like he's a million five player and you have this expectation he's a dp, you know, it's, he's not, he's. He's right at the TAM threshold. There's probably some costs there that are kicking him up over that threshold that cause him to be a TAM player. He's just a solid for me, normal MLS starter. My complaints are like at right back shouldn't need to spend money at right back. But they did. And so for me I think he's a pretty solid guy. I like when he gets. [00:36:20] Speaker C: They didn't sign him to be a right back, did they? [00:36:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:36:24] Speaker C: Oh, you think they did? Yeah, I thought they signed him to be like more of a wing player or a right sided wing. Not a fullback, Not a. Did you think he, you think they signed him specifically to be a fullback? [00:36:38] Speaker A: Yes, because I know or I, I'm pretty positive that Quill has always wanted to be a back four and wing back fullback. That's close enough to have the patient. And we know he can play wing I a right midfield as well. I never would have looked at him and thought, oh yeah, there's another winger. [00:36:54] Speaker C: I thought, no, I'm sorry, like a right sided midfielder. Not specifically a more defensive, you know, position. [00:37:00] Speaker A: I definitely thought of him as a defender first. A fullback. Attacking wing back. Attacking fullback. You know, I, I like when he gets forwarded. He's a pretty good crosser. He's really good about getting the ball into the box in dangerous positions. You can see that in his play now. Is he elite? Is he an all star? No, but that's okay. He's not getting paid a million five. He's getting paid the same kind of number as Ibiaga and Abubakar, give or take are and Iraqi is. We already know what a steal that guy is. So I think he's a perfectly reasonable signing. [00:37:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm sure here in the next week or so we'll have this conversation or we can, I don't know, we'll figure out a time to do it. It's just at some point I would like to have a discussion about the signings. The Benyamins, the Valiente, the Johansen. Moreno doesn't count as much because obviously he came in much later in the season. But just kind of addressing how we feel about all those guys and how they've progressed and if they're, you know, a net positive or negative. [00:37:55] Speaker A: Okay, you want to do that? Let's not do that today. We got lots of stuff. [00:37:58] Speaker C: No, we got too much, but. Okay. Well, then. Anything else before we get to Sarver? Stone Cold Sammy. Anything else? All right. [00:38:07] Speaker B: Yeah. She. Quick question. That late VAR review, anyone have any feeling that that was anything other than a yellow card? [00:38:17] Speaker C: Which one are you referring to? The dog. [00:38:20] Speaker B: So, yeah, the ran. Benjin runs, runs clear of Kikanovich. He gives him a shove in the back. It looked like there were two defenders covering. I. I couldn't really see anything. That made me think, oh, yeah, you obviously have to send them to the monitor there. It just seemed like a pretty. [00:38:38] Speaker C: It was Kevin Stock, you know, he's kind of a nerd, I'm sure. I thought it. I thought the reason why it wasn't. Was that he was too far away from goal where the foul occurred, and [00:38:53] Speaker B: it was coming from a wide angle, too. You know, there was definitely one defender potentially to cover, and I. Yeah, I just couldn't wrap my head around why you'd even waste the time to send the. [00:39:02] Speaker C: Well, I wondered if maybe Penso said something to Stott that led Stott to believe that maybe Penso didn't see it the way that it played out, and he wanted to give him an opportunity to review it and see it in full before he made it. [00:39:15] Speaker B: Since there was a review, we'll see it on Inside Video Review on Friday. [00:39:19] Speaker C: Yay. Vars having such a magical week. So we just need more VAR Country. No, I thought. I thought they made the right decision on that. So the other thing that have come out of this week is Petter Musa has scored more goals, and so has. And Beaver scored also. So congratulations to Beaver. But so is Mr. Sam Sarver. This is his third straight game in a row, and, man, I'll say this again. That kid's got star power in a way that I don't think I'm wrong about this, Buzz. Tell me if. Check my. Check my math. I think he's got more star power than anybody this club has ever had before. [00:40:05] Speaker A: Anybody? [00:40:05] Speaker C: Yes. Tell me. Tell me who else has played for this club in 30 years who is as instantly lovable and magnetic a personality? Oh, lovable. [00:40:18] Speaker A: I was gonna say Hugo Sanchez, but he's not. [00:40:20] Speaker C: Well, yeah, just like such a magnetic personality that gets the crowd hyped up and going the way that Sam Sarver does. [00:40:29] Speaker A: Juan Toja. That's a. [00:40:32] Speaker C: That's a pretty close one. Yeah. Yeah. [00:40:34] Speaker A: That's a good night out of that guy, right? [00:40:37] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:40:37] Speaker B: Cobra. [00:40:39] Speaker A: Cobra. [00:40:40] Speaker C: But Cobra was just so bad for so long. [00:40:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:44] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I mean, you're just saying who gets the crowd going, not who was a good player. [00:40:48] Speaker A: Yeah, you'd have to go back to, you know, in early, early days, Ugo and Leonel at the Cotton bowl with that heavy Hispanic walk up crowd. I mean, there was a lot of juice and appeal for those guys at the time. [00:40:59] Speaker C: Yeah. But they were all scary short. [00:41:01] Speaker A: Yeah, it was less. Less. I mean, there was some beer drinking going on. Certainly true. You know, and definitely not, not culturally like something that I understood as much as the Hispanic audience did, for sure. But that was probably the only guys I can think of other. Until that's all I really got in terms of like being that charismatic. I think so. [00:41:22] Speaker C: Three goals in four games. He is absolutely nails and the fans love him. And the goal celebrations continue to be just the best. [00:41:32] Speaker A: I mean, every, every one of them we got. First one was Burn the Boats. Right. The second one was Put it to Bed. And now this one with the scuba thing turning into a beer chug. It's just amazing. [00:41:44] Speaker C: Yeah, and he did the, he did the, the scuba and the beer chug in front of their fans who were like 10ft away. Maybe [00:41:54] Speaker B: that one fella was really trying to hit him with the, with the flag. [00:41:57] Speaker A: My favorite part of the whole thing was him the next day. This is how savvy the kid is. He goes to the liquor store and buys three, six packs of Modelo, posts a picture of himself on social media so that people. I mean, how awesome is that? [00:42:11] Speaker B: You're gonna have players sponsored by Bojangles and Modelo soon. [00:42:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:14] Speaker B: How good this. [00:42:15] Speaker C: He, he was on Channel 8's new afternoon sports sports show today. They. They had him on, so good for them. I'm trying to get them the have him on the radio show, but they tend to play a lot on Saturday, so maybe he'll come in on the show while they're on World cup break. That would be great. I'd love to have Sam on the air, but. [00:42:34] Speaker A: Oh, his, his celebration got dissected on the Pat McAfee show today. Yeah, that's not my jam, but that's a humongous audience, so that's cool. [00:42:45] Speaker C: I just. It's crazy to me, that kid just gets it on every level. It's like he so clearly grew up watching Raw and he's finishing these breakaway opportunities with some blood blistering Speed and how many times have we seen guys in those one on one situations just hit it straight at a keeper and he's, I don't, when was the last time he missed one of those, man, I don't remember. [00:43:09] Speaker A: But you know, there's some credit here to the fact that he's a four year college player and just scores boatloads of goals in college, you know, and like, like Farrington also, you know, has a level of experience and, and, and ability to play in big moments because he played at a huge program and played, you know, big college games, scored big goals. So there is something to be said for that value that still does exist. [00:43:30] Speaker C: Yeah, it was great stuff. That's a great moment. I love it so very much. [00:43:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I think we should probably discuss the idea that some people are going to start pushing this is why isn't he starting. And it's, it's pretty straightforward in the sense that like he's getting these goals with one very specific skill which is that he's really quick and really fast and he's playing his entire players when he's doing it. And there's something to be said for being a game closer type situation. Yeah, you know, you have a bunch of great forwards on this team, particularly Moose Farrington and then now Jaime Moreno, sorry, old school brain, Santiago Marino. So like it's going to be very difficult for server to crack that now if he keeps doing this, eventually you'll have to give him a run. But as he said in that interview, and he probably is being smart about it, but at the same time it's really true. It's like I'm doing really well with what I'm doing. You know, I'm making a name for myself and you can think of it, if you will, as like a pitcher, like a closer that's going to come in late in games. There's a massive role there. In this world where we have five subs now, this is a real thing. This, this kind of late game closer like this to come in and get you a goal, put the game away. So phenomenal value. And I don't think you should be in any rush to try and force him into the lineup because it may not work when he has to play a whole complicated team concept and play against fresh players and not be like pouncing on these loose balls late in games when he's fresh and blasted by people. Two very different things. [00:44:51] Speaker C: I think that's, it's, it's funny because I love the kid to death. He's my favorite. You know, I just, I just think he's great for this club and exactly the kind of guy this team needs. But at the same time and this, I'm going to say this out loud and it's going to come off as a criticism. It's not. He's a one trick pony, right. And he knows it. It's speed and athleticism getting in behind. Right. Is that unfair, Dan? [00:45:18] Speaker B: No, he actually after the RSL game he basically said that himself. He, and this was, you know, in between kind of understanding his, his role and being very savvy, but went on the whole thing. Obviously there was, there was the God talk but you know, he, he made the point of like, hey look, I've got like my, you know, my one thing is pace and I can come into a game late on or credit to coach but you know, putting an attacking player in late in the game, you know, when you are chasing a result and you know, just, just make that happen. And then he kind of followed it up next question by saying, you know, someone was talking about superhero or something like that and he was like, you know, it's, it takes a whole village. It's not just me, it's everyone involved. You know, it's Musa, it's Ibiaga, it's Asazy, it's Deedson and it's the guys who play come off the bench who aren't even on the roster that are there. The first guy celebrating when we score. It's everyone. It's not just me. Yada, yada, yada. Builds momentum. I could list could go on and on. Shaq, Nolan, all these young guys, Collodi, you know, Jonathan, shout out to him. You know, he shows up every day. He's not the starting goalkeeper but he bust his balls every single day. And it's like, how do you not want to, you know, fight and play for a guy like that? Yada yada yada, like, you know. [00:46:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't think I've heard one incorrect or bad or cringy thing come out of the guy's mouth and everything he does just check so many boxes. But that said, he is a one trick pony and he's not starting because I have zero idea that he can play in as do you say in that system. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. [00:47:11] Speaker B: He also said after the RSL game he also said like he went to Quill in the off season and said, hey look, I want to learn, I want to learn to be a wing back I want to like, learn to fit in your system and to be that, that guy that you go to off the bench. So, yeah, I mean, perfect example, you know, he's saying the right things, he's doing the right things. And, and as a guy who, and we express a ton of players in the off season, who are we worried they're not going to fit the system that no longer plays Wings. He went out and made the effort to make himself part of that evolving system. [00:47:46] Speaker A: Yeah, you can use him, you know, late in games, you can use him as that right middle and let him, you know, overload and get forward or you can put him in as the lone high guy if you're really sitting back deep and try and break a team over the top. We've seen him. [00:48:00] Speaker B: But at the same time you don't want him to be a 90 minute defender. [00:48:03] Speaker A: No, exactly. No, you want him to have this ability to tear people apart, you know, and so it's like if you make him work 90 minutes, that's gonna, that, that there's something to be said for taking a guy's best skill and making that best thing even better. And so like, you don't want to take his best skill and wear it out. So then he doesn't have his best thing. So that's kind of where we're at with him. [00:48:20] Speaker C: I don't know if the kid can connect two passes together. I don't know if he's, you know, super dribbler over any kind of distance. I just don't know. And frankly, I don't care because you know, what, what is the, one of the most exciting moments in soccer? It is the breakaway. One on one goal. He's done it multiple times now. He, you know, knock on wood, finishes it more times than not. And then he follows that up with just absolutely hilarious and lovable celebrations. I, I don't, I don't care if he never starts. Just. And I don't think he, honestly, I think he's so appreciative of the fact that he's even here and he genuinely realizes his situation that I don't know how it gets any better than this, frankly. [00:49:04] Speaker A: It's quite remarkable. If you have a guy scoring a goal, a game that's a world class rate, well, don't do anything to screw that up. If it takes, if it puts putting them in for 10 minutes is what it takes to have it happen, then just keep doing that. Don't mess with that. [00:49:18] Speaker C: Right. How many guys would be in that situation score three or Four goals off the bench and then start pouting because they weren't starting. [00:49:24] Speaker A: Dude, there have been people that have scored one game and then when they didn't get to start the next game, they threw a fit and pouted and went. Rolled around on the dirt and kicked their heels and cried. And at this club, I'm specifically talking about people that after one week. [00:49:39] Speaker C: Would you like to name names? [00:49:40] Speaker A: Buzz Carrick. No, I'm not going to name. I'm not going to. But it has happened before. I scored last week. Why am I not starting? Because you're 12. I don't know. Whatever the reason is. [00:49:50] Speaker C: Right. [00:49:51] Speaker A: You know. [00:49:51] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it was great. It was a great win and I don't know how I feel about losing at home as much. You're dropping points left and right at home versus how well they've played on the road of late. You know, take. Take Seattle out of the mix, but. [00:50:08] Speaker A: Well, if the Vancouver game would have been a trashing, you might feel bad about that. It. But it's like when you're talking about one of the best teams in the league that was. They were in that game and it's just a break or two and that's a good performance. [00:50:19] Speaker C: Yeah, really, really fun and good stuff. And there is definitely a feel that they've got something going on there. And, and, and whether or not it all works when we get back from the World cup and they have to play umpteen road games in a row is very much tbd. But. [00:50:35] Speaker A: But they're good on the road. [00:50:37] Speaker C: Yeah, they. So far they've been perfectly good on the road. Before we finish up on FC Dallas, the MLS salary list came out last week. Buzz, any big surprises in terms of the Hunt's spending? [00:50:52] Speaker A: Nothing really all that crazy jumps up out of me. We talked about Patrick Johansson being quite affordable. You know, Santiago Marino is less expensive than I was expecting to be on in terms of his salary. As Dan pointed out between takes, he's still on the loan portion of his deal. You know what that number would jump to when you actually have to buy them and how all that capital work is to be determined, but based only on the salary alone. That's a quite affordable player and a pretty good value at a base of 800,000 relative to Musa's, for example, 2.4. So. Or Paxton's 1.4 or whatever he was right before the end. So good value there in terms of that contract. And. And we'll have to see over the back end of the season whether Moreno rates the Full buy or not. I believe we've seen it reported that he would basically be the same cost as what they were going to get for Lucho Casa. So effectively it's like it'll be just end up being a player trade almost for. In most ways that really matter. But so something sort of watch nothing really shocking in any of the money that's in here on this list, to be honest. Other than Giovanni Jeu is still on this list for 400,000 when he hasn't. We're now approaching three years he hasn't since he's played. [00:52:05] Speaker C: Wow. All right. Just curious what our reaction, our collective reaction is to the fact that Dallas hits 26th in spend out of 30, which is there at $13.8 million, the lowest. [00:52:24] Speaker A: Wow. [00:52:24] Speaker C: Philadelphia. How is Philly getting away with spending less than $8 million in salary? [00:52:30] Speaker A: Heavy academy drive. That's their method. [00:52:34] Speaker C: Yeah. That's crazy. Again, I. I mean with the prod, the stadium project and everything, nobody's surprised they're this low. [00:52:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I was gonna say I'm quote a wise man. I know who two years ago said that. I wonder if their budget will go down when they're getting the stadium. [00:52:50] Speaker C: Such a wise man that person was [00:52:52] Speaker A: that said that Peter. [00:52:53] Speaker C: They should loved him. They should deserve quote that guy credit. [00:52:56] Speaker A: And yeah. Giving you all the others should eat crowd about that. [00:53:01] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it was. It wasn't. It wasn't a hard prediction, Buzz. It was pretty much we, we know the guys, we know how they operate. [00:53:09] Speaker A: That was going to be the case, but you're the one that said it first, so we'll give you credit for that. [00:53:13] Speaker C: Okay. Very good, Messi. Making $28 million is high larious. [00:53:19] Speaker B: If you want something hilarious. Just a base salary. Sporting Kansas city only spends 5.9 million. [00:53:29] Speaker C: Yeah, it's. It is. Yeah. Man, I. I said this earlier. I don't know what has happened to that organization. I don't know the background of it or. Or what has exploded or blown a hole in the side of that thing, but man, that is unbelievably bad over up there. [00:53:44] Speaker A: Well, you can see this continued gap, this continued massive money clubs versus no money clubs is starting to widen and widen here in this league. [00:53:53] Speaker C: Oh yeah, it's gonna. [00:53:54] Speaker A: It's gonna be a lot like all the other clues around the world. And you can. And people wonder why when. When there's all this clamoring of well to let teams spend. Let teams spend their owners, the ones making the decision. And there's a collective group of owners who don't want to spend $22 million on Messi. So like you're. It's gonna take something extraordinary to get those guys to loosen the reins like that across the board. They have the mechanic in there for somebody to be able to do that for one or two guys if they want. And so that's. You're going to get your Miami's, you know. But there are other teams like Dallas and Sporting can see they're not going to do that. [00:54:26] Speaker C: But Buzz, Lionel Messi is making FC Dallas entire roster. Roster salary times two. [00:54:34] Speaker A: Right. [00:54:34] Speaker C: I mean it's not even like you're not even being ambitious. You're so far off the page. You're in a different league. You're in a completely different league altogether. [00:54:42] Speaker A: You don't think if you looked at the highest paid team in the Premier League and the lowest paid team in the Premier League that it wouldn't be a similar gap? [00:54:48] Speaker C: Oh, I'm sure. But that's kind of the whole point to how MLS is set up in the first place. Right? [00:54:52] Speaker A: Right. That's why I'm saying that like you already have the capability to spend bonkers money if you want. They're not going to open it up any more than they already are. I think they'll simplify some of the rules at some point because it is overly complicated. But I don't think they're going to let the reins off because it'll kill the league. You'll end up with a couple of dudes that'll want Cosmos too, and that's going to not work as we've talked about a million times. [00:55:12] Speaker C: Well, I think one of the interesting conversations I've seen banning around on your discord is the one of Ken Dallas keep Musa by just paying him equal to what other strikers who are not performing anywhere near as close as he are is in the league because he's on such a small number compared to some guys that he's outplaying in the league. Will Dallas give him $6 million a year to keep him? Right. [00:55:38] Speaker A: Because the, the, the. From all of their behavior, the Hunts believe in running a balanced ship. You have to be able to have the revenue and they don't have the revenue for to pay a guy $6 million. They would prefer to sell that player and then take that money and reinvest it back on the team like they did with Pepe. That's what they'll do. [00:55:58] Speaker C: All right. Byrne Jr. Not playing a lot these days. I don't quite know what the deal is with this, with the schedule in that league. Buzz, I don't know if you can explain it, but they did play again. [00:56:12] Speaker A: Yeah, they played again. Like. And some of the weird things that are happening is like they. They won't travel to play a team, but yet, yeah, they'll. They'll play that team like a week or two later, like to match up with what FC House is doing. But for whatever reason, they were at home this week and they ended up beating Sporty Kansas City 5 to 2. Sorry, 5 to 1. The weird thing is this is the third time they've played Sporting Kansas City in the last 42 days. So the league is trying to put teams together that are closer together, trying to be. Yeah, safe travel, money. That's the level. [00:56:44] Speaker C: This is like the most unbalanced schedule in soccer history. [00:56:47] Speaker A: Yeah, it's crazy unbalanced because. Partly because support against these terrible. But they got a couple of guys playing really well. And this is my favorite stat from this game. Natty James, who's a TNT international, scored a hat trick against Sporting Kansas City. He's now got seven goals which is tied for third in the league. He's having a pretty good season. All seven of his goals have come against Sporting Kansas City too. So Sporting Kansas City is not doing a good job adjusting to that happened to that club. He has seven goals against one team and one team only. That's just bunker. He has two hat trick and two braces. Crazy. So on the other hand, a dude. Nice niece. Gosh dang it. He's nice. I keep you in the wrong a do niece. Sorry, kid. He also has seven goals which is tied for second in the league. Is same with Natty James. And he has five assists which is tied for third in the league. So he's having a really nice season. Really good nose for gold. Difference maker comes up big. He's having the kind of season that gets you chances with the first team. So to me right now it clearly looks like he is better than this league. He's a guy who has a potential to be good at a higher level of play. The only way to know if that level of play is MLS or whether that level is going to be USL championship is to sort of see him get tested at a higher level. The problem is is that he's the kid that's from Belgium and Natty James, who we just talked about, is from from Trinidad. So both of those guys are internationals, which means it's very difficult for them to break into mls, particularly during the season. Because of the number of internationals they already have. So their chances are going to be limited. They have to do good enough that they get a camp invite and then win a spot. Difficult from North Texas as an international. Right. Because of the way this club buys it sells players. So do nice. I do Niece should be hopefully get a chance at a higher level because he's too good for this level. And if Natty James can figure out how to score against anybody else but supporting Kansas City, the same may also be true for him. So but anyway, in the meantime like because. Because they had Simmons and they had Ricky Lewis back down there. There. It's a really dangerous team, really good attacking team and they're playing, you know, they. That team can be so hot or cold depending on who is down there. Slade Stars must have gotten hurt because he didn't start in this game. The other interesting thing from this game is a kid that's been on my watch list for a long time. Liam Brostek started his first game at left back. He's about 6:1 or 2. Really a nice player. Really going to be a good pro I think so. He's 16 years old. He started at left back. We haven't seen that since. Jogo was the last time we saw like a 16 year old sort of left back. There's been other guys like Turkata was 18, not 16. That's the difference. So exciting player to watch for the future. [00:59:36] Speaker C: So everybody should remember There is no FC Dallas July 4 game for the first time in forever this year because of the stadium and obviously the World Cup. But North Texas will be playing on July 4, opening and debuting their brand new stadium in Mansfield, which looks so cool in some of the photos I've seen. Tickets are on sale now, so I'm [00:59:59] Speaker A: pretty hyped about that team because they're having an open house and they sold out their open house event. [01:00:03] Speaker C: Oh, that's great. [01:00:04] Speaker A: People are pretty hyped about it. [01:00:05] Speaker C: That is really exciting to hear. I know there's World cup and everything going on on that day, but you know, support local soccer. That would be a great thing to go do. Dan, you actually were in attendance at El Cotton bowl as Pegasus had a game so good they qualified again for the playoffs. [01:00:24] Speaker B: They did indeed. Yeah, a little bit of a funny day with that schedule. You know, the Spokane game finished before they even started. So the team had effectively two lineups planned. One if they qualified, one if the. One if they needed to win to qualify. But yeah, really good performance from them. Got the job done. When they needed to. They've gone. Was it now, was that six goals after over the last two games now? [01:00:57] Speaker A: Yep. [01:00:59] Speaker B: Really complete performances. Looking really aggressive. They were very, very wasteful for, for quite a while going up front and just everything was. They were making everything work. Great moment for Celie Strawn singing the national anthem and then bagging a Bryce. [01:01:17] Speaker C: Okay, I was going to ask this question. Is that the first time that's ever happened in professional soccer history? [01:01:23] Speaker A: It has to be, right? [01:01:26] Speaker B: That's very specific. [01:01:27] Speaker A: You know, shout out by the way to Dennis McGowan who was covers Trinity for us. He predicted that in the discord. He predicted what he said this strong would have a. Sing the anthem and score a brace. Yeah, he's a prophet. [01:01:40] Speaker C: How do you even predict that? [01:01:42] Speaker A: I don't know. [01:01:42] Speaker B: No, he, he turned to me in the press box and said it and then obviously. [01:01:47] Speaker C: Did he know in advance that she was singing the anthem? [01:01:50] Speaker A: Yeah, they announced it. Yeah. Yeah. [01:01:51] Speaker C: Oh, okay. [01:01:52] Speaker A: It was after it was announced she was singing. He said, you watch, she's gonna be the first player to sing the Adam and square brace. And she. [01:01:57] Speaker C: That's a fascinating prediction. Congratulations, Dennis. You need to, I don't know, collect your winnings or something. That's remarkable. Literally is never. I'm a sport that's 100 plus years [01:02:09] Speaker A: old and this is the first time [01:02:11] Speaker C: that's ever happened at the professional. I mean, has it even happened at an amateur level? Because you don't really sing an anthem at the amateur level, so probably no. [01:02:20] Speaker B: I mean it's also a very American thing. So. Yeah, you know, that's awesome. [01:02:25] Speaker C: I dig it. Was she any good at singing by the way? I didn't, I haven't heard it. [01:02:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I heard, I heard her do the, the sound check before and yeah, solid. [01:02:34] Speaker A: Not floss, but for an 18 year old amateur teenager, she did fine. Yeah, it's good. [01:02:40] Speaker B: The, the soundcheck one without like the noise and the fireworks and everything was, was, was. [01:02:46] Speaker C: Yeah. All right. Yeah. [01:02:48] Speaker A: Good for her. [01:02:49] Speaker C: All right. Very good. Well, congratulations to Trinity for qualifying for the playoffs. Do we know. Let's see. Does. Oh yeah. Semi final at Lexington. [01:02:58] Speaker B: Yeah. So Lexington were leading the league for. Sorry, Lexington was second. They, they, they, they took the lead in the league on the, on the final day on a. [01:03:14] Speaker A: Was it a controversial. [01:03:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it was very iffy. But you know, Lexington is the team that Dallas has beaten before, so that is probably better for them than, than Jacksonville. [01:03:28] Speaker A: I have a HSO I want to throw down at this point. I want to say that. [01:03:32] Speaker C: Hold on. Everybody clear the room. But Buzz has stepped up to the podium. Everybody, please be quiet. Buzz is now going to address the curious. [01:03:42] Speaker A: At this point right now, Celia Strawn is Trinity's best player. She's 18 year old. [01:03:46] Speaker B: That's not a hot sports opinion. Very obvious opinion. [01:03:49] Speaker A: Okay, well, I'm explaining why then. That's. I think that's the case. It's been three games since they benched Misimo and started starting Sealy strong. The first game they played her as a nine and they tied the game. And then the last two, they put Ally Thornton back in the game as a nine with Celie Sean underneath her as an actual playmaking ten. And they've won those two games six to zero by combined score. And Amber Wisners moved back into midfield, which is of course a huge part of shutting everybody out. And Cheeseman, your girl, Cheeseman, Peter has been playing really well as a. As the double pivot with Amber. But cel Strawn, at 18 playing for free, is their best player. So the HSO part is that they need to do whatever they need to do to get out of Mismo's deal and give Mismo's money to Cely Strawn and don't let her go to Carolina and keep her here as their playmaker and their best player. That's. [01:04:40] Speaker C: When you say go to Carolina. You talking about the NWSL Carolina or the college? [01:04:45] Speaker A: Oh, no, she's going to UNC this fall. [01:04:46] Speaker C: That's what I thought. [01:04:47] Speaker A: To play cause ball. And she even talked about it after this game because Wisner's retirement ceremony. Wisner played at Carolina and they talked about how Celia's going to go in her footsteps and all that stuff. So. [01:04:57] Speaker C: All right, so I'm going to throw this out. If you're Sealy Strawn, are you more attracted to staying and making a few bucks playing for Trinity or going and playing at the legendary NCAA program that is in North Carolina? [01:05:11] Speaker A: Well, we're starting to get into this territory where women's players, particularly really, really good ones, are starting to sign right out of high school. They're skipping college completely. You're seeing your, your, these young women, not college, is losing its shine for the women, just as it does for the men. So, like, yes, Carolina is a great program and I totally get the appeal of going to college. I'm not speaking for CD Strong. I have no idea. I'm just saying purely in a football sense. Remember too, that like the college game is under discussion for changing to go year round. Currently and even if that's going to be true, it is not yet. So in terms of player development, college as it is right now is not as good for your professional development as it is to be playing professionally already. It's not like we're talking about a player who is going to be sitting on the bench or being on the North Texas SC version of Trinity. We're talking about Trinity's best player. She's, she's the pater Musa of their team. So like. Well, it's a different position but yeah, [01:06:11] Speaker C: I guess I know, I get it. I but one and again I'm going to expose my ignorance on this topic but could she not make as much money nil money playing for University of North Carolina? [01:06:25] Speaker A: I have, I have no idea. I don't know how their money else money stacks up. I would imagine that NWSL teams, I'm [01:06:32] Speaker C: sure Texas Tech would love to just hand her a check for blank check if she'd like to go play at Tech. [01:06:37] Speaker A: Well, I imagine Carolina can hold up their end of an nil deal relative to Texas Tech. I'm just, I'm just saying that like I would assume that NWSL and or foreign clubs are going to be standing there holding a check as well based on how good this young lady is. Yeah, that's soccer. So like if she's your local, she's already playing for your team and try and get her, try and sign her up, try and get her signed up, you know, whatever it's going to take. Maybe it's, maybe it's go play in the fall and get her in the winter. I don't know. I'm just saying that like she's already your best player and she's an 18 year old playing on a free contract. If you're trying, you're serious about trying to build a winner, you need to keep this player and not let her go to the nwsl, not let her go to college. [01:07:13] Speaker B: In some ways the, the, the best selling point is to say hey you know this is the University of North Carolina. It is, it is not. Noted third degree.net reader Anson Durance's university of North Carolina. You know they had a pretty disappointing season going out in the third round of the NCAA tournament. Couldn't follow up the, the win. They, they've lost a lot of players. [01:07:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm sure she would walk in and start team would be built around her. But you know, and it's easy for me to offer up what somebody else is doing in their career. She can do what she Wants. I'm just saying from Dallas training perspective, they should be trying all they can do to keep her around. [01:07:59] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I feel like in some ways that's like your best selling point is, hey, look, you know, the, the UNC that kind of pushed Sam Mazer is and that pushed Amber Wisner previously and everyone in between that dead transitioning a little bit from that to something different. [01:08:22] Speaker A: Or maybe we're getting ahead of it when they have a playoff game. But there's about half of Trinity's roster that's of the age to retire. Whether they're going to want to have their own choice or whether it's going to be just because their contracts are up and they're in their 30s. Like this is going to be a turnover in this team. So it's quite easy to go, you're our best player. We're going to build around you. You're the centerpiece of this team. You know what I mean? It's like you're going to be the focus of this team, you're going to be the player of this team or we're going to get pieces that going to make you look good, you know. So I think that there's a selling point there that you could get done. You know, it's not like some of the other high school players they've had that are quite good. You know, Carolyn Swan is a good example of that. Caroline Swan is not the best player in the team. She's a good player. You know, if she wanted to be a pro, I'd take her right now too. She's starting for them on and off at 16. Strawn is 18, but still a player that already is your best player. You need to capitalize on that and keep her. That's what I think. You know, I'm just talking about the building of a team and who you're who identifying what your best way forward is. And that's the best way forward. [01:09:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:09:26] Speaker C: It's interesting to see how all this plays out. The mismo thing fascinates me. [01:09:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:09:32] Speaker C: All right, well, wish everybody good luck this weekend in the playoffs. [01:09:37] Speaker B: Mentioned a couple of players at retirement age and there is obviously one very notable one there. [01:09:42] Speaker A: Amber. [01:09:42] Speaker B: Amber wasn't a player in a last home game. [01:09:44] Speaker A: Yeah. 300 professional game, 5, 000 minutes in the Super League. Back to back seasons of playing every single minute. Just a phenomenal, huge player. They had some really great stuff on the broadcast with, you know, her players, her teammates talking about her. Just a Phenomenal player. I understand that she was. She wants to be a front office type, like a GM type person. So she's been working with Petrocelli. The club, I'm told, has been trying to figure out how to keep her around. So we'll see whether they can manage to do that. But the postgame retirement ceremony was pretty awesome, I thought. [01:10:16] Speaker B: Yeah, it was. Yeah. It was a bit of a dodgy looking painting presented to her. Then they, the team had printed up a jersey with 300 appearances. Whole team had signed it and then they got a. A cutting of a jersey with every crest that she wore. So her US national team, it was like the centenary jersey at the time. Like every NWSL team, Bayern Munich, everything. It was, it was really cool. She did say after the game that the referee even gave her a red card. She was very excited about that. [01:10:49] Speaker A: Yeah. His red card from his pocket or her. I don't remember what's. [01:10:53] Speaker B: No, no, yeah, sorry. It was his. I. Yeah, yeah. No, wait. No, I don't remember. I don't remember. Yeah. And then one unfortunate thing come out of the game was Chioma Obagu. Towards the end of the game, she'd subbed in, went down with a non contact injury and left the stadium on crutches, which could be her last moments in a Dallas Trinity jersey. [01:11:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I believe she's 34. That's getting up. If you have a pretty severe injury at that age, it's going to be really tough to get back from that. [01:11:28] Speaker B: Like they, they didn't even, you know, normally when a player's down on non contact injury and you see them give the little shake trying to, you know, check for an acl, mcl, lcl, any anything. They didn't even do that. They just kind of got her off the field and. Yeah, and up the tunnel on a. On a little fire department wagon. So she was not in a good way. [01:11:55] Speaker A: And one final thing, please, nobody try and retire Amber Wisner's number. Don't try that. Just stop. We don't retire numbers in soccer. This is dumb. Just get out of here. [01:12:08] Speaker C: Well, you don't retire numbers after two seasons in any. [01:12:12] Speaker A: Certainly after two seasons. [01:12:16] Speaker C: All right, good luck to Trinity. This weekend in the playoffs, we move on to two other teams that have done nothing but have interesting talking points. First, the breaking news that Rodeo has announced that they are not launching here in the next season, but are taking another full year off. Buzz. [01:12:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I actually think this is a really smart decision because they're talking a bunch about like Community involvement and brand building and all that. But they're also talking about getting their offices and a practice facility, like an indoor facility straightened out and getting a lot of these. A lot of these foundational substance things put together for their club because Texoma launched too fast and too quick. We've watched Athletico Dallas stumble around a little bit trying to get all their feet under with him because they launched without having a stadium situation lined up and training situation lined up. So full shout out to Rodeo SC for recognizing they were trying to go too fast and taking a step back and solidifying their situation, part of which is a where we're going to play sort of thing and get that ironed out. So. Because without that, that right now they're. They're looking at like six months, seven months from being able to have to try and put a team on the field at some unknown location with nothing in place. So I actually think this is really smart on their part to put off it because now they have a year and a half to get all their ducks in a row and get everything going, you know, because they were still running Texoma and they've been trying to get that going back up for their USL2 season and stuff. So they're just stretched too thin. The organization was stretched too thin. They did not have enough pieces in place. So credit to them, I think, for stepping back and. And being smart about it. So I actually applaud this decision, even though it seems like on paper it might be annoying to people. But I approve, for what it's worth. [01:14:08] Speaker C: Soccer. Pro soccer is hard, kids. That's the lesson. [01:14:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:14:12] Speaker A: Yep. [01:14:13] Speaker C: Atletico Dallas first off. Buzz, you have Atletico Dallas 2. Update. First. What's that? [01:14:23] Speaker A: Well, this week the club posted some pictures of Peter Lucine Luan. Gosh dang it. They call this kid Lucine all day today on the North Texas broadcast. So I got it back up my head. Luxon was running a training session the other day with all these other players. Well, it was a bunch. About half of them were guys I recognized from various teams, like 4o&FC Dallas Academy and all this kind of stuff. Well, what it turns out that is, is that you may not remember this. Athletico Dallas has a usl. Sorry, A UPSL team. It's their Athletical Dallas too. It's their reserve team. They're going to play in upsl. Like their first games, like in a week or something. [01:14:57] Speaker C: Oh, okay. [01:14:58] Speaker A: Like, I think it's next week. So a version of us of Athletico Dallas, presumably being coached by Peter Luxon is going to be taking the field and if you were to go take that in, you would see guys that you might know from some of these other players. [01:15:12] Speaker C: Where are they going to play those games? [01:15:14] Speaker A: I don't, I didn't look where their field is, so that's my bad. But I, I don't think I have the schedule open anymore. Let's see if I do. Oh yeah, I do. It's right in front of me. [01:15:23] Speaker B: So so far they've been playing at Capell Middle School. [01:15:27] Speaker A: Yep, Coppell Middle School. So you know, like if you're into Atletico Dallas, here's a chance to see some guys that could make their team. Like I think I saw Brian Padilla in the pictures. He's a fouro guy. I saw Emanuel Amware is a former North Texas player and played for Columbus Crew 2 a little bit and I think he was in down Orlando recently playing for Poppy, you know, like so there's some guys out of this training that are some former FC Dallas, some four guys, guys around town that like potentially could get into the first USL championship version of Atletical Dallas. So if you're an athletic fan, here's your chance to see maybe your coach in action and some guys in action you might know for the UPSL game. The first game was on the 23rd at this says 5pm Pacific. That'd be 7 Central. [01:16:13] Speaker B: But from their first four games they've had a few guys that they're pretty recognizable from four hours runs. Kyle Bennett, Rio Ramirez. I'm trying to think there was another guy that I just saw that I can't remember his name now. Ah crap. But yeah, they've definitely. [01:16:31] Speaker A: Oh, I miss something down there. They've been playing already. I thought this was their first game. [01:16:34] Speaker B: Oh, Nate Kapeski. That was it. One thing. Yeah, actually someone I play pickup with went out and watched them a few weeks ago and said like the, the early games were they're winning, they've. We've won all four games so far to neck and neck with four. But the quality wasn't there yet. But you've got to think, you know, getting time with Luke San and getting more of the coaching appointments that Atletico are putting through that, you know, they can do nothing but improve at this point. [01:17:06] Speaker C: Are they wearing the, the, the commemorative kits that they put out last year? The black and the powder blue, the topaz. [01:17:13] Speaker A: I don't know. I only saw a training picture. [01:17:15] Speaker C: Be curious to know and if they are, I'd love to know what color the shorts and socks Are. [01:17:21] Speaker B: I mean, they might just be ordering more of the. The academy kits. [01:17:25] Speaker C: Yeah, they may. That's a good point. All right, so the other thing about Atletico Dallas was on their socials today, they kind of caught everybody, at least caught me off guard by posting an image, kind of a flyer that it kind of out lays out their plan of how they're going to manage seating at the Cotton Boll. Now, kids, the Cotton bowl is a facility that holds 92,500 people and that is significantly larger than back in the day when we used to sit on hot July days for the Burn, when it held 75,000 people. Well, Atletico Dallas appears to have made the decision that they will limit fans to the lower bowl. And I'm going to call it the south side. It's the kind of the southwest facing the. The side whose backs are facing to the southwest coming off the midway. And they have. They will put up what appears to be some sort of temporary bleachering directly behind what they are calling the north goal, [01:18:32] Speaker A: The. [01:18:33] Speaker C: The goal opposite the tunnel for those who have been in the Cotton bowl before. And they will limit all of that to 17,000 people. Thoughts and reactions. [01:18:42] Speaker A: Yeah, just for discussion, comparisons. Trinity's the all that I could find lists theirs as limited to 20,000 people, but they're not coming anywhere close to that, of course, but they are in the top three in the league in terms of attendance. I think this is basically what the plan always was going to have to be, wasn't it? Like, you pick the side where you're going to have everybody on one side, then you'll probably, I would hope, choose to put the cameras opposite that. You can have a supporter section behind the stands to give that supporters vibe, which is a big part of what they're doing, you know, give it the limitations of what the Cotton bowl is. I think this is about as reasonable a plan as you could expect. You know, I don't. I don't know what else you could expect them to do. Obviously, the cavernous of that stadium and the big emptiness of that stadium is going to be a factor, especially in terms of atmosphere. But, you know, it seems as reasonable an idea as any. [01:19:33] Speaker B: And the setup is really what Dallas Trinity does. They're. They're having the fans on the same side, the bench side, the side that's got the sweets in the press box. So the only difference is really going to be those two temporary stands behind the. The end opposite the tunnel. [01:19:49] Speaker A: And you know, Peter, the biggest difference from the Burn days is the Burn Sat on both sides there was always. You remember, they even. They ran through different pricing models of making because at that time the cameras were on the side where most of the fans were sitting because there was more shade over there on that southwest side. And then so more they tried making the seats on the other side cheaper so people would go sit over there. You remember those battles? I don't remember that at all. [01:20:12] Speaker C: Oh yeah. [01:20:12] Speaker A: Sit over there where the cameras would see them. [01:20:15] Speaker C: Well, that's where they stuck. The Inferno was back in that north. In that. Well, I guess that would be a southeast corner technically the way the stadium sits. But it was to the left of the tunnel is that section right there that the. Those of us in the Inferno used to sweat our balls off to. [01:20:30] Speaker A: Because of the way Trinity's been working things, they have the cameras most of the time now set up on the opposite side and all the fans are on the side of the press boxes, which I believe is what this is going to be for athletic Dallas as well, you know, which makes the stands look nice and full of people or as full as you can get, you know, in a big, huge empty stadium. So it's cool to see these renderings with the athletic God signs on the, on the sideline and up on the above, the supporters and things like that. And that's all pretty cool. So, you know, I think it looks pretty good. I mean, I don't think anyone from their org would tell you that like this is the forever answer. [01:21:07] Speaker C: Oh yeah, for now. Yeah. [01:21:08] Speaker A: You know, and I think if you can get over 10,000 there consistently, I think you'll be doing pretty good. Look, if you can manage that, you know, there was a couple of seasons where FC Dallas down there when they were the burn did like 13, 15, 17 even, I think one season. So those are some glory days back there when it was pretty packed out. So we'll see how they do. [01:21:30] Speaker C: Yeah, interesting stuff. I was, I'm curious as to why they announced it now. [01:21:36] Speaker A: Well, it looks like they're having a select A seed event on July 25th. So they're probably getting out ahead of to promote it that you can come, you know, and since that's what, two months out, so trying to build some hype and get some ticket deposits up for that. [01:21:51] Speaker B: So also, I mean, obviously they, they announced very early just the team in. In general. So it's. You have to, you have to feed those little nuggets just to kind of keep the name about. So they're doing well with kind of what little. They've got to work with. [01:22:07] Speaker C: Yeah, I think I see them continuously posting that they have sold out 80% of their original founders ticket subscription 1841. So that if you do the math, that's 1400 season ticket sales so far at least for that definition or you know, category. [01:22:30] Speaker A: Yep. So I imagine they have some different categories for that, but yeah. [01:22:34] Speaker C: Okay, well we'll keep an eye on that as well. What else? Buzzard? [01:22:41] Speaker A: I found out that the FC Dallas U23 is indeed coming back. They're starting training in like a week or two. So I'm supposed to get a roster for. [01:22:48] Speaker C: Will they be in that same league? [01:22:50] Speaker A: Yep, yep. [01:22:51] Speaker B: You. [01:22:52] Speaker C: You upsl. [01:22:52] Speaker B: Are they just going in the full league? [01:22:54] Speaker A: No, no, they're in the league for clubs. [01:22:56] Speaker C: Oh, that's right. [01:22:57] Speaker A: Yeah. They went to the championship last year and they, they the timing of the league. Dallas was cruising through the whole thing and then the semifinal was played and then like within days after the semifinal they all had to go report back to their college programs and the final happened a week later. And so everybody was like the two teams that were left lost a bunch of their guys and the, the team they played had more dudes left than lost like their six or seven players. [01:23:26] Speaker C: That is the most Sunday beer league final story. It happens all the time. [01:23:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean including Daniel Hernandez of course who's like, you know, was a Herman Troy finalist and player of the year and all that stuff for Furman, you know, and, and Slade Sarn had who's now plays for North Texas and FC Dallas had to go back to SMU and like they just lost. They lost a bunch of people. This shame after they were cruising through [01:23:49] Speaker C: that league but very funny. [01:23:51] Speaker A: But you know, several guys that were in that team have ended up, you know, signing with that city officer, being drafted. Like Espina was signed by North Texas out of college. Remember he was the guy that was at Carnot word. And then UMKC played really well for U20FC. I was 23 last year, you know, so it's part of their program now that it's sort of a pathway for the college kids to come back and play for this team. So it'll be great to see that roster and see who all is on it. They even had some kids that weren't FCD House kids. Like they really nice player out of SMU name I can't remember is a really good player, played did really great things. They also lost him for the final. He was a school goal scorer, not an FC House kid, but an SMU kid. And so it just didn't go well in terms of the championship of that tournament. But solid team. They're worth watching. So Zach Lloyd coaches that team, by the way. [01:24:40] Speaker C: Okay, before we go, just real quick, let me pimp a couple of things for myself. Kick Around a World Cup Kick around starts on June 10th on the ticket will be on the show Andy, Lars and myself every night pretty much through the entirety of the of of the tournament. There's about 46 hours of programming, 33 shows. We'll be on at 7pm right after the hardline, Monday through Friday, Saturdays at 2 and many of the Sundays. And we are slated to do the show twice on the road on two of the three US Group games. And we'll have all those details in terms of the appearance out soon. You can find out all the information over on our website, thekickaround.com we have the full calendar up there and along with the super nerdy group and team memorization tool that I built is on there. It's the stupid, most nerdiest thing I've ever built. Even more so than the thing that I put out officially today, which is the 2026 World cup kit Cup. All of the shirts, which one do you think is the best shirt that in the 2026 World Cup? They're grouped just as they are in the World cup this year. You get to pick which shirt will represent each country out of the two or three options that each country has. And then you get to go round robin within the group. The top two from each group advance and the best three also advance into the round of 32 and the knockout goes from there. And you will eventually get winner and it'll work right there in your browser. It's 100% free. There are no ads, there's no tracking and there's no subscription. There's no signup. There's none of that. It's all fun for you, the curious. So please go check that out. [01:26:30] Speaker A: Who won your bracket? [01:26:32] Speaker C: Dude, Buzz, I have played that thing so many times, pretty much every shirt in the competition and I've been wanting to kind of hold off because There are still 11 shirts yet to be officially announced. Both Iran, well, Iran has a home shirt that's out, but their away shirt isn't out. Iraq, Tunisia, Jordan, Dr. Congo and Uzbekistan all have not announced either their shirts officially yet. So I have placeholders in place in the in the game for those. So but you can find that right there@the kickaround.com so please go do that. Dan, have you been assigned to your new fat man team yet? [01:27:16] Speaker B: Yes, FC Bayern Munchen. [01:27:20] Speaker C: Munchin, are you wearing those shirts? [01:27:25] Speaker B: Actually, it's something that will look closer to an Ajax shirt. We just ordered those the other day. [01:27:30] Speaker C: Just super confusing. [01:27:33] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah. I mean, that's just what was available. [01:27:36] Speaker C: Were you the number one draft pick? Were you the one one the draft was interested? [01:27:42] Speaker B: They prioritize goalkeepers because for six teams, there's only like four goalkeepers in the league. [01:27:48] Speaker C: Beer league goalkeepers are rare. Rare things. [01:27:52] Speaker B: Yeah. It was interesting. My team looks like the stacked team for the league, so that's good because my last team, we finished runner up all three seasons. [01:28:04] Speaker C: We need Dan to win a run. By the way, did you guys see Crossbar, the indoor place in Richardson, their Monday night open league last week? I think it was last week. They. You know, typically in those kind of leagues, everybody gets a T shirt or a koozie or free beer. Crossbar gave everybody in the league a giant gold championship ring. It is so, so cool. And those every. I mean, nobody's ever excited about winning a T shirt. Another T shirt in beer league, but those kids and those guys in all the pictures are so excited about winning those giant effing rings. It's hilarious. It's such a great bit. I love it. [01:28:53] Speaker A: That is awesome. [01:28:53] Speaker C: It is a very, very good bit. [01:28:56] Speaker B: What are their league fees like now with those? [01:29:01] Speaker C: They can't be. I mean, look, they're not obviously real gold, but they are heavy and they're metal and they have the crossbar logo on the head of them. They look like giant super bowl rings. It's a really funny bit. I don't know if they'll keep doing it all the time, but, like the. [01:29:14] Speaker A: I'll spake you a Super cup ring. [01:29:16] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. I got one of those. I forgot about that. [01:29:19] Speaker A: Yeah, that's cool. I got one. [01:29:23] Speaker C: Good stuff. All right, Dan. Thank you, man. It was so good to see you. Oh, that's right. We didn't even talk about this yet. So Dan and I got to go to the Death Star and check out the Field Cup. The Field Cup. The World cup field as the. They officially revealed it in the most ridiculously tried to control us manner they possibly could. [01:29:43] Speaker B: Yeah. With. With a bunch of people that probably. You're just like, why are we here? [01:29:51] Speaker C: There was a bunch of media there that just really probably were there enough annoyingly, and we're assigned to go and just really didn't care. And when we were in one of the scrums, I asked the Guy to try to explain all the numbers around the dirt they had brought into the building to construct the subsurface. And I just looked around and I saw these other reporters that just did not want to be there roll their eyes like, why are you asking such a stupid, nerdy question? It's like, because it's a question that people need to know. [01:30:21] Speaker A: Well, they can all take a hike. Because the world's game, it is. [01:30:25] Speaker C: It's a putting green, right, Dan? [01:30:27] Speaker B: Oh, yes. I mean, as soon as they, as soon as they do that seam work, it looks like it. It should be really nice. It seemed to be taken. Well, there were some obvious seams in it, but they're going to stitch those together or they should have stitched those together over the weekend. And it's kind of cool seeing those ceiling hung lights that are on 12 hours. [01:30:49] Speaker C: Those pink UV lights are cool. I tried to explain this on the radio show on Saturday and I think, Dan, I don't know if you had the same observation, but walking into the stadium and looking at the field from like the top of the 200 level, the removal of the ground suites or covering up of the ground suites and raising the surface up two feet and just filling it with green grass completely changes how the inside of Jerry World feels. It's weird. What a weird effect it has. Everything feels closer to the seats. [01:31:23] Speaker B: Yeah. 100. It'll be interesting to see what it looks like with the. The field marked in the perimeter because obviously we were walking on the turf part of it and there was, you know, a good 10ft back to the walls. But yeah, I think it will. Should be, should be fun to see games played on a surface that it doesn't play like crap. [01:31:46] Speaker C: Well, it didn't play crap like crap in the Copa and it was a similar deal in the Copa. Not, not all the dirt and everything, but the grass and the technology. [01:31:55] Speaker B: It was funny with with Copa because I went back and looked at that right in the bit for the blog and what there were two games, two days apart. And the first game there were complaints about the quality of the field, but then by the time the US played Western, McKinney was just like, hey, look, we've. We've played on this before and it's been garbage. This is worlds apart. So whether that was just, you know, they needed that little bit of extra time to do the work and, you know, that was with what, one month prep. And this time they're getting three months from start to finish. So definitely a lot more there not having what It's. It was what, 9 inches of dirt before, and now it's like 2ft. [01:32:37] Speaker C: So 2ft of dirt, 10 inches of sand, 2 inches of sod. Yeah. It's remarkable. [01:32:43] Speaker B: I mean, it should route correctly that, you know, and it seems like the, the care in between games is gonna be really good. You mentioned the lights will get raised up to the ceiling. They'll get dropped back between games. It will, you know, it will. It'll be true after care and buzz. [01:33:00] Speaker C: You've been inside that stadium many times. It was not the lovely 7 72. It was a very, very muggy 85 or something in there because trying to keep it like a greenhouse to let the grass grow. [01:33:12] Speaker A: It was brutal. Sounds awful. [01:33:13] Speaker C: Yeah, it was pretty bad. But they said the games will. The air conditioners will be on. It'll be 72, 70 to 72 on game day in there and very much looking forward to it. [01:33:23] Speaker A: It's gonna be 68 on my sofa [01:33:27] Speaker C: and it won't cost you a kabillion dollars to be there. [01:33:30] Speaker A: The chips and salsa will be great. [01:33:34] Speaker B: It was pretty cool where we got to walk out through by, you know, when you come out through that, that end tunnel and, and they had all the, the gear for the ventilation system for the field and everything too. [01:33:45] Speaker C: Yeah, the, the. We got to talk to. And this. I didn't even think about this until I was driving home. We got to talk to the guy from FIFA who is responsible for all 16 pitches. That's his job. And I'm sure the ones that are indoors are the one that has his finger tightened the most. But can you imagine that being your job, responsible for World cup fields? [01:34:13] Speaker B: He was actually. So I, I went in and I was double checking his job title, so I looked on LinkedIn because, you know, where else would you to like, look. And he works for the Qatari FA for the 2022 edition and basically did like their side of it. So he's worked on, you know, all World cup fields for the last two World Cups. Effectively. [01:34:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:34:35] Speaker C: Is he Australian or New Zealand? [01:34:38] Speaker B: New Zealander. [01:34:38] Speaker C: Yeah, New Zealander. All right, very good. All right. Wow. This was a really long episode and it's probably my fault. Sorry, guys. [01:34:45] Speaker A: Yeah, it's about an hour 45, five right now. [01:34:48] Speaker C: Okay. [01:34:49] Speaker B: Jesus. In that case, 30 seconds. Just to say that SMU was approved as a training venue, a match stage venue specific training site for the World Cup. There'll be a bunch more. They just haven't been announced yet. [01:35:01] Speaker C: Okay, very good, Dan. It was great hanging out with you the other day. Good to see you, my friend. [01:35:06] Speaker B: Likewise. We had a lot of fun. [01:35:07] Speaker C: Yeah, good times and buzz. Always good to have a good long soccer chat with you. [01:35:12] Speaker A: Woke up to around is the best kick around. [01:35:14] Speaker C: All right, go. Go do the World cup kit cup bracket and let me know what your winner is. Okay. [01:35:19] Speaker A: Oh, it was Germany white. I already did it. [01:35:21] Speaker C: Oh, you are? Yeah. Okay. What was yours, Dan? [01:35:23] Speaker B: Saudi Arabia home shirt. The green with the purple. [01:35:26] Speaker C: That is a nice shirt. [01:35:27] Speaker B: It's beautiful. [01:35:27] Speaker C: It is beautiful. [01:35:28] Speaker B: I had my. My quarter final was that versus the Japan off white shirt and I. I had an actual crisis trying to pick between them. [01:35:36] Speaker C: Yeah, the Sweden away is a nice one too, by the way. Way kids don't sleep on that one. All right, thank you, DFW soccer. Curious for putting up with us for almost two hours. We will talk to you again next week on another episode of Third Degree, [01:35:49] Speaker B: the podcast Go and touch grass. [01:35:52] Speaker A: Preferably World cup grass. [01:35:54] Speaker C: 3rd degree the 3rd degree n podcast 3rd degree the 3rd degree. N podcast 3rd degree the 3rd Degree [01:36:05] Speaker A: never get 3rd degree the 3rd degree. Never care. [01:36:30] Speaker C: Sam.