3rd Degree the Podcast #372

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:00:09] Speaker B: Third Degree, the Third Degree Ned Podcast. [00:00:14] Speaker A: Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast. [00:00:22] Speaker B: Third Degree, the Third Degree Nap Podcast. [00:00:26] Speaker A: Well, hello there, DFW soccer. Curious. Welcome back to another episode of Third Degree the podcast. There are thrice of us once again. Myself, Dennis. Howdy, Dennis. [00:00:38] Speaker C: Howdy, Howdy. [00:00:39] Speaker A: And the good old Buzz. Howdy, Buzz. [00:00:42] Speaker B: Just want to point out that there's like four days with a high of 60 this week where I am. That's pretty cool. [00:00:47] Speaker C: All right, cut him off. [00:00:51] Speaker B: Sorry. [00:00:53] Speaker C: We've had a. We've had a cold front here. It's been 95 today. Yeah. [00:00:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And this El Nino is going to make it warm and dry this winter, so I'm not even going to have to put up with the Snow in the 30 below this time. So. Not that it ever is really 30 below here. Doesn't get cold. [00:01:09] Speaker C: You'll get that one storm that snows you in for a week, though. [00:01:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true. [00:01:14] Speaker A: Braggart. [00:01:14] Speaker B: Yep. [00:01:16] Speaker A: Well, boys, we've got a little Dallas Trinity, a little North Texas and a whole bunch of football club Dallas to discuss as we had a game. They were the Sunday night Special. Taylor Twman on the call. Boy, listening to Taylor just swoon over Peter Musa. [00:01:34] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. [00:01:35] Speaker A: All in all, you know, repeatedly was kind of fun. [00:01:39] Speaker B: Well, the, the. The things he was saying about him were true, so I'm not going to complain that much. [00:01:43] Speaker A: Taylor. Taylor got it right there. As Dallas goes to St. Louis, falls behind and St. Louis learns the lesson that three to one at home is the most dangerous lead in Soc. As Dallas gets the very, very, very late goal to tie it 3. 3. And come home at the end of all of this, Buzz with a positive road record. And I think I can officially confirm. Buzz, did you know that FC Dallas is a. Is on the precipice of setting a mls first of what if. If this whole. If a form holds true to form. If. Wait, if. If this holds true to form, what's happening now? FC Dallas will become, if my research tells me correctly, the first club in MLS history to go back to back seasons collecting more points on the road than at home. Thank you. Stadium project. [00:02:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, do. Do we want to talk about how great it is that they came through the stretch unscathed? [00:02:49] Speaker A: I think it. Look, I think. How many times did we sit on here back before the World Cup? Oh, I am not looking forward to these 12 games. This is going to be brutal. [00:03:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:01] Speaker A: Self inflicted or otherwise. This was going to be tough. And here they are, this. What was it, four wins, three ties, two losses. Is that what it was? [00:03:09] Speaker B: Yeah. And we talked about before the thing even started, we said if they come through this thing, you know, near 500, they'll put themselves in a great space to one hopes, take advantage of the home load of games at the end of the season. Now, of course their home record doesn't make mean that that's going to automatically happen, but they did the hard part. The hard part was to come through the road. 500 and they did that. They were better than that. 4, 2 and 3 is above 500. And if you include League's cup, it's still above 500. [00:03:37] Speaker A: No, we don't. [00:03:39] Speaker B: I'm just saying that like, it was all on the road too. So, like, I know no one cares about the tournament that they made up. So I'm just saying that like, even with that thrown into the middle, which could have been a wrench, particularly because they got smoked bad in the Toluca game, they could have easily come out of that game and been like, well, we actually suck. And they didn't. They. They rallied and kept going and they kept their mentality. And towards the end, clearly they're tired, but clearly we also seen that like when they can dig deep and find the. The fight and the physicality and then not back down or not be. Not, not. I'm not going to say negative, but even if they're just like sort of passive, they can't be passive and play well. They have to be as. As Quill's favorite new phrase is, on the front foot and aggressive. And that happened in the last game, only in the last 20 minutes. Didn't happen much at all in Vancouver. So, you know, it. It's. It's not great, but it's, It's. It's exactly where we thought they were going to be. They put themselves in the right place coming out of this stretch to give themselves a chance to do something decent this season. [00:04:35] Speaker C: Would you call that a dog mentality? [00:04:38] Speaker B: Yeah, Warrior, whatever. Something. This never quit, you know, like you can. [00:04:43] Speaker C: Goonies never say die. [00:04:44] Speaker B: You could see the game change when they brought in the subs, which is not to say the people that started were poor, but like your servers, your Farringtons, your Ben Yamin brought an energy that lifted everybody up and they did that. The physical banging and the combativeness that gets them results, creates chaos and gets them goals. So, yeah, they knew who they are and we know who they are, and they proved that they're exactly who we thought they were. So it could be a fun back into the season, maybe. [00:05:12] Speaker A: I mean, St. Louis, just for the record, was on. Is continuing on a. A rather incredible undefeated streak. Yeah, 12 games. And of those 12, this is only the fourth game that they have not won out of the 13. So it. It, you know, to get that point there and to watch that game swing as it did, because St. Louis just completely blew it. You just, you don't go up 3:1 at home and blow it in the last, whatever, 20 minutes or whatever, 15 minutes of the game. [00:05:46] Speaker B: Yeah, it probably took a little help. It took them relaxing a little bit up 3:1. It took them making a few subs. [00:05:52] Speaker A: It took a couple of a Jair Marufo special and a local assistant referee [00:05:58] Speaker B: oversight, a couple of nudges maybe to get back in the game. You know, predictive betting and all that stuff. No, I'm not. Don't say that. But, you know, whatever the catalyst was, they found it and it worked. So, like, you know, sometimes it takes a little help to get going, sometimes it takes a couple of subs to get going. And, you know, you. You want to perhaps ask questions about the starters and. Or whatever, because it. They rotated from Vancouver, so that's why we thought it was bad. Well, no, that wasn't it, because they started this game bad, too. So it's something about their mental state as they're starting the last couple games, which is worrying. But, you know, fingers crossed, like everybody's doing, maybe coming home and being on your own sofa in the evening and get a little mental refresh, you know, whatever. Maybe that'll kind of lift them and refresh them a little bit, and we'll see them get that beginning of the game sort of start. Because this team stat when they get scored on first is horrific. They have no wins. It's, oh, five and two now, I think it is when they don't score first. So, like, you can't come out of the gate poorly these 12 remaining games and be. And not go backwards in the sandings. You need to fix that, whatever that is. And hopefully the home cooking will contribute [00:07:09] Speaker A: to the thing that I was thinking about, because in all honesty, I had. I was watching the game last night and then it was time for dinner, so I walked away from the game and it was 3:1 at that point. And I thought, all right, game over. Well, whatever. I mean, it's been a long, long road, Tug. This is not to be unexpected, to lose a game at St. Louis. And then after the game, I happened to look at my phone and saw that ended three. Three. And I was like, holy cow, I got to go back and finish this. So I went back and watched it and here's the, here's the thing that I want to get into because we have spent a better, a large percentage of the time on this podcast talking about this just being a roster of dudes. And you know, I made the joke last night about how this team is like Schrodinger's cat. It's they've got six or seven center midfielders while at the same time having absolutely no center midfielders. And I don't understand it. And we kind of go back and forth about how this is kind of a two person team between Uruguay Day and Musa and they don't have a lot of supporting players around it. And yet here we are, Buzz. We just got to be fair and honest. They're sitting. What are they now? They're fifth in the West. They're just below the Mendoza line of qualifying in a nicer position. And now they've got this really as you say point out they've got this tasty little home run in front of them that they could really do something. So I guess my point in all this is are we wrong about how good or bad this team is or is this a reflection of the league itself or what is this? [00:08:45] Speaker B: Well, the almost everybody in MLS is made up of 80% dudes. They everyone's got three DPS or two if you prefer and a couple of U22s or a couple of TAM players, whatever they are at the top. And it is possible to elevate the quality of your dudes of your. Of the bulk of your roster. Like LAFC for example. The, the bulk of their roster, the non special DP players are better than most people. Like we talk about that when they play FC Dallas. It's like how many players from FC Dallas would start for name whatever super team you want to pick from the league. Right? But that doesn't mean that they're they're not 2 2. It doesn't mean that their, their guys, their dudes are not way better than Sporting Kansas City's dudes for just to pick an example right at the minute. So you know, Quill also has coached this team up a bit. We've talked about that. There's a value to a good coach. He's made them better. Demmitt with St. Louis, perfect example of a coach that's made them better. He's figured out how to get the pieces because remember, he doesn't have a roster built with a copies of plan. He just has a pile of players and he's manipulated the system a couple of different times to figure out ways to get that pile of players playing pretty well. So that's why this team is where they are at fifth. And if they actually had like a full blown roster of really terrific, amazing players, they'd be in the conversation first and second. But they're not. They're also not 12th. They're not the worst team in the west. They've got a solid core. They still need some improvements in three or four spots if they really want to try and challenge for the top of the roster. And in particular, I think right now there's a glaring weakness and depth in the back that's probably going to cause them trouble down the stretch if it continues the way it is. So we'll see. [00:10:27] Speaker A: What's your opinion about how they've pulled this off, Dennis? Are they better than Buzz and I give him credit for. [00:10:34] Speaker C: I don't know about better than you give them credit for, but I think they have put themselves in an incredible position to, to make a leap here. I think fif better than I think anybody expected coming out of this stretch. Like you said, 500 is, is pretty acceptable coming out of this long road stretch. And you know, there's something to be said about home cooking too, right? There's something to be said about, you know, the difference between home games and road games and advantage and all that, but having to get up and go to work and super commute to work day in and day out, week after week definitely is taxing on the body. And so just, you know, really nice to see what happens when they get home and see if they can maintain some of this form at home and really catapult it to the next level. But Buzz is absolutely right. There are some missing pieces here and if we don't fill some of those holes, we're all going to be very disappointed. Watching this. [00:11:26] Speaker A: I think the thing last night and you discussed this a lot in your discourse, your discord today, Buzz is just the problem in the middle of the field. Kaik and Romero in particular. And Capus comes on and he's okay, but not, you know, he's clearly not starting, so he's a bench player and then whatever, you know, pick your choice of other people that in theory could play that position but never seem to get the chance to do it. You know, it's. It's a weird situation and I can't Quite square how they've gotten themselves here. [00:12:02] Speaker B: Well, Quill's coaching around it. That's how they're doing it. You know, you have Irgide in the back who's fantastic. You have Moore who's doing a really nice job. [00:12:12] Speaker A: Moore was unbelievable yesterday. [00:12:13] Speaker B: Great game by Shackmore. Great season by Shackmore. He's playing above probably what our expectation was for most of the season. Up front, better. Musa, great season. Joaquin Valiente is turning into a really terrific playmaker up front. Some games, Santa Moreno good. Some games not so good. You know, Logan Feringston started the season good. Lately, not so good. So like you have things happening at the front and the back in the middle, a humongous gap. Neither wing back is doing very well at all and there's no backups in those two positions. And then you look at your collection of midfielders. Ramiro Kaik, Capis Delgado, Ran Binyamin who has a lot of energy but still has loose ball touches bouncing around. Like none of those guys are being special or being difference maker. None of those guys that are, they're all dudes, none of them are elevating. So Quill's coaching around his lack of a midfield and this is the hole that keeps them from being a legitimate contender. They have good pieces up front, they have some pretty good pieces in back, they lack depth in the back and they have nothing special in the middle. And so that's the thing that holds them from being a legit contender to, to and but yet they have an explosiveness up top and if the back stays tight they can be good in defense and those two things because remember, all that matters at the end of the day is scoring goals. As long as you can do those things, you have a chance to beat somebody on a given day. So they probably like their chances to maybe upset somebody here and there. Really hard to turn that into a real cup contender though if you can't play in all phases of the game. And that's, that's the problem. That's where the deficiency is, is in the central of the park and there's just, it's either really young kids, Benjamin who's 22, Kaika's 20, or it's 32 year old Romero who can't really move and Capus who had some really bright games earlier in the year, but since he's not getting in, I don't know whether he's becoming discouraged or what because he came in and he had some really poor passes. That's his hallmark really was those long Passes he was making really well. Beginning of the year he's. That's fallen off and so you know, there's not a lot of play happen in midfield and that's. That's the thing holding this back team back from being better than it could. It is now and it'll probably be [00:14:16] Speaker A: the thing that ends up catching up to them if they qualify. Assuming they qualify for the playoffs. [00:14:21] Speaker B: Yeah, assuming. You know, the reason they wouldn't qualify for the playoffs is that if the defense collapses because of there's not enough depth back there to get them through that. But now that they've missed, now they're through the bulk of these Wednesday games and now it's every weekend. They'll be a lot better able to get through just every weekend. Kind of scheduled that they've done the tough part so hopefully that'll. It'll actually hold up. So it'll be the midfield. Sorry, it'll be the defense. That'll mean they're. They're in or out. I don't see that collapsing completely. I think they'll be fine in the long run, but they're not going to challenge above much where they are now. [00:14:51] Speaker A: And what's really maddening about all of it and again, maybe I'm out of touch because I haven't looked or caught up or checked since I saw you guys discussing it in your discord this morning is the fact that the transfer windows is about to close and we weren't really hearing anything that Dallas was about to sign a big name six or help, you know, any of the needed position the couple of positions that we really want them to. Only if Reed or somebody found it and posted it in your discord that they're gonna sign a speedy winger from a second the. The Norwegian second tier. [00:15:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Daniel Job is. [00:15:29] Speaker C: Job. [00:15:30] Speaker B: I was calling him Job. It's funnier. [00:15:33] Speaker A: That's what I'll call him. Job. [00:15:34] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, at the end of the day, you know, you look at the little YouTube clips and it looks kind of fun and then you realize that it's the second division in Norway. This is the typical kind of FC Dallas looking for a player on the, on the outer fringes of the game. Obviously as a U20 as being 21 years old, he's going to be a U22 initiat. Not super excited about that because that limits you to no DP in this window. Although the window's got three days left, so they probably weren't getting a DP anyway. Yeah. So this, you know, this looks like it's going to be it. This is a, this is a, this is a Deetson replacement is what it is. You know, they vacated Dietzen and they got a guy that plays the same sort of game. [00:16:18] Speaker A: You know, maybe what is, what is the hang up? Why are they trying to buy a player in a position they don't need? [00:16:25] Speaker C: I don't know what they've been doing all season. I don't. It doesn't make sense. [00:16:28] Speaker A: Well, does this generally give support to the argument that, that the business of buying and selling as players, as investments and not to improve the product on the field is the actual business model? [00:16:41] Speaker B: Yeah, because this is a guy you're getting from sort of the fringes of the game who's young, that you think you're going to move on in a couple of years, you know, and for. In whatever plan they're using, I don't think there is one. They, on paper they saw that they moved out of wing, an international wing, so got to bring back in an international wing they like. Remember, they talk a lot about this balance and this versatility and like having all these different flavors, none of which of or only half of which are the kind of flavor that the coach actually wants for the way he's playing. Now. I admit that if you're thinking about this player for more than just the next six, six months, Quill does like to play systems that have wings. So, like, it could be useful eventually. And I think there's also a Delgado factor here because it doesn't look like they're gonna be able to sell Del in time, if they actually even are trying to sell him. It may just be that he's so far in the doghouse that he's losing out on the ATM and roster to people like Josh Torcato. So you could also probably include this guy in the discussion maybe of Delgado's not cutting it. Maybe I can use him in that sort of internal Moreno style threat. Perhaps if you want to look at the way Quill plays, you know, because they've been using Santa Marino or Logan Farrington, that's really it. Because Sara comes off the bench, he doesn't really work as a starter. So maybe there's some thinking like that. But I don't, I don't see this player as being one that's really going to help them take any steps forward this year. This is an investment for the future, as you say, Peter, this is one of these bets these Kaik, like pay a couple million dollars and hopefully in a couple years, you can sell them for $20 million or whatever. [00:18:07] Speaker A: Well, that was the other surprise to the report was that the transfer fee was like 3 million bucks for a guy playing second tier Norwegian division. So here's what I do. What does a guy like me do? I immediately get on the WhatsApp and I check Lars and I say, hey Lars, do you know this guy or do you know anybody that would be able to scout him? And Lars's reply was, I don't even know if I know anybody that actually watches the second tier in Norway. So. And I'm going to argue, I bet the second tier in Norway is not even as good as USL championship. [00:18:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I would bet not either because I don't think the first division of Norway is as good as them 3 million bucks. [00:18:44] Speaker A: This guy must be like a true up and comer or something. [00:18:48] Speaker B: There's some other clubs chasing him. So, you know, this is the kind of thing that happens with SC Dallas is like if I, if I take a player in a vacuum and I look at his, what they show me like in terms of the stats of the tape, I think you know, okay, that's, that's okay. Like when they signed to your G day, okay, that looks cool like, but I don't know enough about that league to tell you if it's going to be good. And then half the time the context that really throws me is how FC Dallas uses him and looks at him. Your guinea turned out to be the guy I'll go back to Iaga exactly is my famous case of this is that I like Iaga as an individual player in terms of the way he takes care of himself, his leadership, his locker room presence. The only thing I don't like is that FC Dallas saw a journeyman backup USL championship player and decided that should be your frontline starter. That's not IB's fault. So the same thing could be true of this guy. Like I could like this guy on paper and think at 21 that's an interesting wing prospect. That's kind of something that might attack my attention a little bit. But if you think he's the savior, he's going to come in. So it's going to depend on what FC Dallas thinks he is when they bring him in here, what they try and make out of him. Like, I didn't think Kaik was going to walk in, be able be a lock everyday starter. I thought that guy was going to have to develop a little bit. I didn't think Romero was going to walk in, be a lock everyday Starter. I thought Guy was a backup to fill lots of different roles, like a utility player. Nope. He's a dead solid lock every single time. Starter at 6, even though he's never been a 6 in his life. So sometimes it's the usability that bothers me more than it is the player themselves. [00:20:14] Speaker A: Did they make any money on Deetson [00:20:17] Speaker B: or do we got their money back? Like, I've only seen one report, and the report, I think, was 1.5 million, and it wasn't from somebody that was like. Makes me really think that's a dead solid lock. You can count on that number being right. [00:20:29] Speaker A: So they get their money back on Solly and Asali? [00:20:33] Speaker B: No. No one made it. [00:20:35] Speaker A: They lost money on Pennis, Solly. [00:20:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:38] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness. [00:20:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:20:40] Speaker A: And then what about. [00:20:41] Speaker B: That's a misfire of scouting. That's. You missed that on the scout. On in a Sally. He was like. He barely was good enough for North Texas. [00:20:46] Speaker A: What did they pay for Delgado? [00:20:48] Speaker B: Not too bad. It was enough that he's a U22. Like, he wasn't on the cheap, you know, it was. I want to say you asked me for memory also. Let me see if I have it on my roster. Dance. I want to say maybe it was like 800,000. I'd have to look. [00:21:02] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm just trying to math out if whether or not this whole business model that Zenata has him in is actually working because they keep taking these weird shots and these guys from. I mean, Benjamin and Valiente are another two in there, you know, Capus is another one. [00:21:21] Speaker C: Halstead. [00:21:22] Speaker B: No, Campus is not a shot. Campus is a guy that Quill's known for a million years. That's a. That's a my dude. [00:21:27] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, fair enough. [00:21:28] Speaker B: Fair enough. Yeah, that's. That's 100. [00:21:30] Speaker A: Johansson is another one. [00:21:32] Speaker B: Halston's a cool guy, too. Johansson's a flyer. [00:21:35] Speaker A: Yeah. How is Halstead a Quill guy? [00:21:38] Speaker B: He played for Quill at Texans. Oh, for a year. [00:21:42] Speaker A: That's right. [00:21:42] Speaker B: I think I was right about Delgado. He's 850,000 by. [00:21:46] Speaker A: Yeah. So will they sell Delgado El Delgado for. [00:21:50] Speaker B: I hope so. The vibe is either he's so buried in the doghouse, you know, that he's just not going to play much from here. Well, at that point, he's like, that's getting into decent territory. So, like, why wouldn't you be trying to sell them? Other than the fact the club bought him as a U22 so that they could sell him for a lot of money? So they may not be. They may want to see if you can rebuild himself. Solly was 1.3, Giovanna Jesus 1.5, Irigida 2.5 mil. Yeah, yeah. [00:22:16] Speaker A: Well, it's frustrating because, you know, they're, they'll sign Moussa to a big appropriate new contract and pay him whatever, you know, millions and millions of dollars the dude deserves to get. And you know, everything else they fill in around him are going to be guys from the Israeli first Division, Norwegian second division, USL Championship. And, and I think that part is the most curious to me. Like why spend all that money on Musa and have a league leading goal scorer and not invest in trying to put your team in a, in a position to do something really good by going out and spending a little bit more money on other guys? [00:22:57] Speaker C: It's the old Bugatti in the trailer park. [00:23:01] Speaker B: Well, I bet Dennis can predict what Peter's going to say the reason is. And I already know what the reason is, it's the lack of revenue from the stadium. [00:23:08] Speaker A: Well, yeah, I mean, yes, it 100% is the lack, but the question is, when we get to 2028 at the launch of the new calendar and the stadium in theory is completed and all of this is shiny and refurbished, not new, refurbished or rebuilt, whatever you want to say. [00:23:26] Speaker C: Certified pre owned. [00:23:28] Speaker A: Yes. [00:23:32] Speaker B: Frame off restoration. They tore the whole thing down. [00:23:34] Speaker A: Do they run this, do they run the new stadium through the Toyota certified refurbished program? [00:23:39] Speaker C: Comes with a warranty. [00:23:40] Speaker A: It comes with a warranty. My question is, will they then go, okay, now let's do it? [00:23:47] Speaker B: Well, I will give them all the credit in the world with the post Pepe increase in spending. They started spending more after Pepe. Now the rev, as you rightly pointed out when the whole stadium thing happened, is there going to be a clinching of the purses and. Well, yep, they've not said that, but we can clearly demonstrate by looking at it that there is. They've shifted to the 2DP model, for example, during this period of time. So I have, I'm not going to say faith, I have faith belief that when the stadium opens back up and they get back to selling out or close to selling out and the revenue jumps back up, that they will go back to that way. I think they will because they learned that they can sell that place out if they're willing to spend a little bit of money. But, you know, so once the revenue comes back, I think they will. [00:24:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And I mean while I find the whole stadium project wildly curious and, and interesting because Nobody's ever done what they've done before. I also completely understand it because you, you. It's happening at this weird time where there are is essentially two Major League Soccer seasons that are fractured. You know, interest is going to be kind of goofy because the World cup happens in the middle of one season, then you got another season that's only like many long. And so really what you're really shooting for is fall of 2028. If you're, if you're just thinking of this purely as a business thing that makes sense. [00:25:10] Speaker B: And they'll have to spend like if they go with the if you build it they will come mentality that they had when they first built that place up in 2000. [00:25:18] Speaker A: That's what I'm worried about. [00:25:19] Speaker B: It won't work. They have to have learned their lesson post Pepe when they hired a VP of marketing and they actually spent and he went from zero sellouts to complete season sellouts in his four years or five years that he was a year. If they remember that lesson and they do that again because they'll have to invest to follow up on the new stadium because the size is the same but you've been limited capacity. So to get back to 22,000 seat sellouts at a higher ticket price, which might even be double the ticket price of what it was beforehand, is going to take some work. It won't happen automatically. So like if they can make it work, they'll increase their revenue by a large margin, I think. [00:25:58] Speaker C: Well, if you just look at what they've built in the club and what that looks like and just the aesthetic of it. Clearly they're targeting a different demographic than they were previously. Clearly they're. They're moving way up market y. They're looking for those Frisco and McKin families to come out and spend buku amounts of money. [00:26:15] Speaker B: That's what will drive the revenue up. If you can get the people to come out and fill 20,000 seats. But you can't do that. It won't happen automatically. You have to spend some marketing money to get it back for sure. [00:26:25] Speaker A: Yeah, it'll be fun. Yeah, 100% and we'll see what happens over the course of the next year or. Yeah, yeah, year and no, two years. We're at 2026. We got two years before we really see this. [00:26:39] Speaker B: Yeah, it's all of next year that the stadium will still be reduced capacity. It's like now that they're flipping the calendar, maybe you get it back for the start of 2028. The mid season of that 27, 28 season. Maybe if it's all on time. Probably not on time because there was a delay at the beginning. [00:26:55] Speaker C: Remember, the west side should be done, but the north, you know, there's still the whole North End project. That is, is. Is what it is right now. [00:27:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Maybe west side. The west side's the whole media, big, huge, tall, press, boxy thing. That's not. That's a lot slower than the east side. The east side's a bar and a roof. You know, the west side is that whole structure and the bigger roof, who needs press? And the big, huge wraparound television screens. That's. That's way longer in my mind than the way east side was. Probably twice as long. [00:27:23] Speaker A: It was funny because today the Premier League game was Arsenal at Aston Villa. And on tv, people saw for the first time the giant North End project that the stadium is undergoing. They've essentially, you know, completely gutted the entire North End. And they've reduced capacity by just a little less than 25% for the entirety of this particular season. And somebody was like, oh, my God, that's really. That's unbelievable. Why would you do that to yourself? And that's like a tremendous amount of revenue. And I just said, yeah. The Hunt said, hold my beer. [00:27:58] Speaker B: We're gonna. [00:27:58] Speaker A: We're gonna go, we're gonna see your 25%, we're gonna double it, and we're gonna do it for three entire seasons. [00:28:06] Speaker C: Hold my officially sponsored partner beer. [00:28:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And then the comment was, well, that's a. I mean, it's the Premier League, though. And I said, I promise you, relative to the club, the amount of money the Hunts are losing in these three seasons far exceeds again, relative to the club and league than what Villa will lose this year in their project. [00:28:27] Speaker B: Two, that a greater percentage of Villa's money is going to come from tv. [00:28:30] Speaker A: Oh, sure. [00:28:31] Speaker B: Less. Yeah. Less percentage of their overall revenue is going to be butts and seats. So it's even more impactful for the hunts, where in MLS, 90% of your revenue. 95% revenue. [00:28:41] Speaker A: Yeah. But with all the new spending rules in England, game day revenue is a huge player on how they can spend money. And probably. And you know, now that I think about it, I didn't even think about it till now. This may be a big factor in why they're having to sell so many off, sell off so many of their players is because they've lost all this revenue due to the project. [00:28:59] Speaker B: Well, and consider too, that even when the stadium is finished Remember that this, this 180 million initially announced project is actually just phase one. [00:29:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:07] Speaker B: Of a $2 billion project around the stadium that's going to hamper. [00:29:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:13] Speaker B: Parking lots, access and roads. What's going to happen for business? [00:29:18] Speaker A: I want to have the game experience back and I want to. I know, I see this giant video board. [00:29:23] Speaker B: It'll hamper people getting in and out of there, you know, might make it harder to sell all those tickets. [00:29:28] Speaker A: We'll just use the helipad. Aren't they. I'm assuming there's going to be at least one helipad that will get jet in, Right? [00:29:33] Speaker B: Come in. Yep. [00:29:34] Speaker C: Well, the idea is that there's going to be hotels and, you know, we work type sites so you can just spend the whole day in. In fabulous downtown Frisco and walk over the stadium. [00:29:44] Speaker A: I mean, look, if it turns out that way, that'll be awesome. Yeah, that'll be great. [00:29:47] Speaker B: If it actually all happens, it'll be great. [00:29:49] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:29:49] Speaker B: It's gonna take 10 years. Yeah. [00:29:51] Speaker A: Well, getting back to the game, I, you know, at the end of the day, getting through this entire road trip and coming out with the record that they got and getting the victories and the ties and the draws are all really, really important because again, there was a big. We were all very worried at one point that this thing was really going to start getting bleak and the. The. The end of season home stand wasn't going to feel like much. But now there's something for everybody to get excited about in terms of coming home and playing these games and actually trying to put something solid together. Because I do wonder. I do have this question, Buzz, and again, I think it's a bit watered down by the lack of anybody that we really like in midfield. Could Dallas in theory end up being that damn team that just nobody wants to play in the playoffs? Or is Dallas the team everybody wants to play in the playoffs? [00:30:42] Speaker B: Well, they're not a team. You want to play the team that. Just barely. Well, that, that drops like the team it's dropping from fifth to eighth at the end of the season. That's what you want to get right now. That's not FC Dallas. And right now FC Dallas is a team when challenged particularly physically or mentally, can respond and they can beat anybody on a given day. It will make them, if they can maintain that, it will make them a dangerous opponent in the playoffs. The worry is that they're going to be the team that collapses because this season they have three wins at home and six wins on the road. Their home schedule is atrocious. Three, two and four is their home record. Four ties, three wins and two losses. That's, that's not good. So that, that kind, if you took that kind of play and played that way on the road, you'd be down there with Kansas City talking about wooden spoon territory. So they've got to get that sorted or they're going to be looking at a collapse. Now you would think when you have a team that's combative that you'd be able to overcome that and be able to put up some good results. When you have four of your last 12 on the road, eight games at home out of 12, you should feel great and you should be able to do really good things. But man, the first half of the season that wasn't the case. Remember we were talking about it. Remember there's a drop win. That's a drop win. That's a drop win. Right? Four ties, two losses at home. I mean, that was a bit of [00:32:00] Speaker C: a carryover from last season too. [00:32:02] Speaker B: Yeah, it's the dropped wins that are the worry. It's. They didn't. They're not losing six or seven games at home. They're still getting ties, but you got to get wins. Remember, you can tie yourself right out of the playoffs. We've talked about that many times before. Tie yourself out of a job. Nico Estevez did, right? You got to win. You got to win some games. So we'll have to keep. They have to write the home form or they are not going. They're going to collapse towards the bottom of the playoffs and then they would be the team that everyone would want to get. [00:32:31] Speaker A: I do want to just highlight because we asked the question last week, what's up with the beef? That the final goal was about one of the nicest thing we've seen out of this team this season. That was just a very nice, well worked sequence of passing and a really, really good finish for Farrington who really, really needed that. [00:32:53] Speaker B: And I'll even throw in the one turn and fire he had where Berkey got it, but was screaming at his team for giving Logan the chance to turn and get that shot off. Yeah, that was a rip of a shot too. I mean, let's just, let's just encapsulate the whole thing and saying that was the sharp Logan that we've been talking about from the beginning of the year. That's been missing for about like a month and a half since the World cup ended, that, that hasn't been there. So whatever it was this week that sort of woke him up. They got him back in his mojo. Hopefully he can carry that forward because that, that 20 minutes, whatever it was, 30 minutes, whatever it was, of Logan. I'll take every game. I mean that kind of play will get you back in the lineup over Moreno who has now stunk it up for like three games in a row. [00:33:33] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a, that's something we should discuss real quick. Where are you on them signing Moreno for next season? Because I, to me, I don't think he's been DP worthy or even anything close to DP worthy as a player. [00:33:48] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I, I would have said I was 100% out on them signing him going forward because of the way he's been playing. And then we heard that he basically has this for whatever it is, sports, hernia, something, whatever that needs surgery. So then I thought, well okay, I'll sort of give him a caveat about his play because of the fact that he's playing hurt, but he's not alone. So you're talking about buying a guy that A hasn't produced like you want, but maybe it's the injury. Well, that issue requires surgery. So are you going to buy a guy that requires surgery for a five million dollar price? Is FC Dallas going to do that? I mean that's neighborhood of a record buy depending on where it falls on either side of Lucha Costa for a guy that needs surgery. [00:34:33] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:34:33] Speaker A: You don't have any idea what he's going to come back from surgery like, [00:34:36] Speaker B: yeah, this is a team that let Johnny Nelson go. Didn't he pick up his option which was probably like 70k because he needed back surgery. Now back surgery is more dangerous than hernia surgery. But surgery, surgery, Right. And we haven't seen a necessarily great track record with surgeries around here. J, V Zeus, I don't know. [00:34:55] Speaker A: Hernia surgery is near the wiener. You don't want to mess with that. [00:34:58] Speaker B: I'm just saying like, like if that needing a surgery has a risk value to a buy that like to me it makes no business sense and this is a business first club. It makes no business sense to buy this guy form combined with necessary surgery. [00:35:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I genuinely like Moreno. I like his style of play. I don't think we've seen the best of him. Obviously I think that's related to the injury. But yeah, I think it's entirely too much of a risk to take that on without renegotiating that down severely. [00:35:29] Speaker B: I mean he had that good game against. Was it, was it Austin, he had a pretty good game. [00:35:33] Speaker C: Whatever. [00:35:34] Speaker B: The game, four games back. [00:35:36] Speaker A: What was the game before? Vancouver? [00:35:38] Speaker B: Austin Real. Salt Lake. [00:35:40] Speaker C: Right. Salt Lake in between. [00:35:41] Speaker A: He played really well in Salt Lake, didn't he? [00:35:43] Speaker B: No, I think he got listed at halftime at Salt Lake. What? [00:35:45] Speaker A: Oh, maybe it was the Austin game. Yeah, there was a game. There has been, oh, one game that we can all agree on. I don't remember which one it was, but it was a single game. We're like, oh, there he is. [00:35:56] Speaker C: It's been a busy month. They're all starting to blend together. [00:35:58] Speaker A: They are starting to blend together. [00:35:59] Speaker B: Caratero maybe was also a good game. I'm just saying that, like, it's not every game. It's like one every four or five games, which, you know, again, needs a surgery. I totally understand that, but that just makes it all a very risk, heavy deal. And this is not a risk taking, buying club. Not. Not for what will be close to your record buy. If it's not your record buy, it'll be close. 5 million, right? That's what the reported price is. [00:36:22] Speaker A: All right, well, the next game is back in the good old nurturing bosom of Toyota Stadium against Sporting Kansas City. By the way, I had to remind somebody the other day that Kansas City is the original FC Dallas nemesis Pudgy Rondaman. That's right. [00:36:40] Speaker C: I was gonna. I was gonna mention that I was surprised that nobody really knew that. [00:36:45] Speaker A: Man. Back in the day, our hate for Kansas City and Ron Newman and his shitty son, assistant coach. Oh, God, I hated those guys. They were the worst. [00:36:56] Speaker C: Yeah, it was decades before I got out here, but, you know, even I know that's. That's the OG. That's. That's where the hate. [00:37:03] Speaker B: Matt McEwen Digital Takawar Doing the crawl thing on the side. Oh, my God. [00:37:09] Speaker A: Prey in that effing left foot. [00:37:11] Speaker B: Scoring from midfield. [00:37:12] Speaker A: Always the left foot. Yeah. Hey, guys, he's got to hit it with his left. He's going. [00:37:20] Speaker B: I. I had the same level of frustration when I watched somebody pass to Ramiro. The ball was two feet to his right. I was like, dude, you got to pass it right. You cannot pass it. [00:37:28] Speaker A: You got a starting 11 for the Wiz. [00:37:31] Speaker B: Well, Quill at this point is pretty locked in. There's only a couple of things that are up for consideration. The Santi Marino did nothing. You know, at some point, he has tried other things. And if Logan is going to do what he did, I think you have to consider maybe that Logan, depending on what happens in training this week, which none of us are going to see. You know, maybe there's a chance Logan's in for Santi Marino. That might be it though, because I don't think. I don't think Ben Yamin has done enough. He doesn't even play that high spot, really. Delgado is clearly way in the doghouse. If he's not sold within the next two days, the new guy won't be ready by this weekend because he'll need a transfer pass and then he'll need a visa, which will take a couple of weeks. So, like it'll be a month where that dude's ready to play if that deal even actually gets completed. So I think there's a discussion about Moreno and Logan Farrington. Otherwise it's obvious that it's going to be Valiante and Moose up top. The midfield's a lock with Camungo Ramiro. It shouldn't be, but it is Kaik and Johansson. The only way around that is, is you can. You can have the discussion about Nolan. Nolan clearly got benched, but then they clearly look like crap anyway. So I don't think it was Nolan and I think Nolan came in, looked pretty good. So, like it's Nolan back in, which lets you put leave Ibia again, unless you put Shock Moore at wing back if you want. But I think Shock Moore is their second best center back clearly. I think he's doing a really good job there. So I think it should be, you know, Nolan, Oz and more and then leave Johansson out there. I don't know that there's somebody to replace Johansson. I keep wanting them to try Binyamin out there, but I think because he gives the ball away, they won't. I wouldn't hate seeing Nolan back in the middle. I thought that game worked really well when Nolan was in the middle and Oz was on one side and Moore was on the other. And it kind of let you bracket Nolan, who's a good game reader and good passer, let you bracket him on both sides with pace and a defensive mentality. Like as when Nolan's on the left, Kamungo has pace, but he doesn't have a defensive mentality. So when you put him in the middle, I kind of like that they did it for one game and I liked that. But I don't know if Quill liked it or not. [00:39:29] Speaker A: I want to go back to you suggesting Farrington getting the start over Moreno because that tactically changes the team because those two guys are very different players. [00:39:40] Speaker B: It does, it does. But Logan likes to play off the Shoulder of Musa. He doesn't want to play uber high, like back to goal. When he's in there with Musa, he plays down a little bit. So it does mean he's more of a double striker with a 10, but, you know, Moreno is not really a 10, really either. He's more of a winger, really, sort of being stuck in there. So I think it changes it a little bit, but I don't think it changes it dramatically. It's not. It's not like you're sticking, you know, somebody who can't pass in there. Logan can actually pass and get assists. You know what I mean? [00:40:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:14] Speaker B: It would be more of a change. It's not more of a change if you tried Binyamin there, but it's about the same as if you put Delgado in there. You know, that's not really more tennis. So I'm willing to. You know, they're. They're great. At the beginning of the year, Moose and Feringer were great together. They talked about how much they love playing together, how they fed off each other. And then Logan had like a bad month and a half, but, you know, I would need to see training. But if you give Logan for that 30 minutes in the last game, if he brings that as a starter, then I'm Logan all the way. You know, I remember I thought he was going to have a 10, 10, 10, 10 season, you know, so I'm on board. As long as he's got his mind right. That's what I think it is. I don't really know for sure. [00:40:56] Speaker A: Do you guys realize if things go right, because LAFC is on the road at Salt Lake and. Hold on, I'm getting there. San Jose. Who does San Jose have? San Jose is at Austin. Do you realize if Dallas was to win this game and other things go right, they would be third in the West. [00:41:23] Speaker C: Kind of crazy to think about. [00:41:25] Speaker B: I mean, the next four games are definitely winnable. Kansas City at home. Minnesota road is the toughest one, but they're only 500. I mean, they're. They only have two home wins as well. They're 2, 3 and 6 at home. So they're beatable at home or tieable at home. Portland is 11th in the standings. They're much better than Minnesota at home, but they're on the road. They're not so great. They're. They're 27 and 2 on the road. So coming down to Dallas Austin. Coming into Dallas, they're also down in the bottom half of the table. So, like, the next four are Definitely winnable. [00:41:54] Speaker A: Yeah. So LA FC have four of their next five games are on the road at Salt Lake, home against Red Bull, at Kansas City, at San Jose and then here and San Jose are at Austin, at San Diego and then they've got Houston at home, LAFC at home, Portland at home. So look, things could change pretty dramatically with those teams above them. [00:42:24] Speaker B: They can. I think there are four teams that are in a different class than Dallas, maybe five. And that's Nashville who might set a record for points in a season. Right. And that's a plus 30 goal differential. Miami plus 15 gold inferential right there behind them. Chicago's the team that's maybe moving into that bracket at plus 11 and 37 points in the, in the Eastern Conference. In the West, Vancouver is super balanced. Plus 30 goal differential. You know, Houston at their plus four. I think that's an outlier. I don't think they're as good as their record. And then LAFC has got a 4 plus 14 goal, different differential. So even though some of those teams are within reach points wise, I don't think, I don't think those, I think those are teams that are separated at the top when you look at pure goals and assists. So goals and four goals a lot. Excuse me. You know, that shows that they're on balance, better. Much a different caliber of team than Dallas is. You know, Dallas is in the class of Houston, New England, Charlotte, San Jose, St. Louis. That's the ballpark that Dallas is in. [00:43:23] Speaker A: I'm very confused, conflicted, because I look at this team and I go, they're just not very good and they're definitely not a contender. And yet I have this weird tinge of optimism running through my Bernie veins. [00:43:38] Speaker C: They keep finding ways, yeah, they find [00:43:41] Speaker B: ways to get results on the road in particular. And they have all these home games left. It's just like, it's just that looming home form from the start of the year that was not great. Like if you can, if Col can coach that up, can coach that out of them, then they got a chance to be not contenders but like dangerous. They're dangerous, that's for sure. [00:44:02] Speaker A: All right, that game is Saturday. Back at the homestead at 7:30. Dennis, we turn to you as Trinity lost again this time out in Jacksonville to nothing. [00:44:14] Speaker C: Do I have to My goodness. [00:44:17] Speaker B: Credit to Madden and Sam for both picking 20 score line. [00:44:22] Speaker C: Yep, just got it the wrong way. [00:44:24] Speaker B: If you missed bonus podcast, Dennis did. [00:44:26] Speaker C: If you missed that, go check that out. The bonus podcast. [00:44:28] Speaker A: Yeah. By the way, Dennis, you really, if You. Nobody's listened to it. If you have not listened to it yet, go check out Dennis's interview with Matt and Sam from Atletico Dallas. You did a really, really good job. You got those guys to open up and be very honest and transparent. I came away with that with a lot of questions and I was really proud of you. So congratulations on. On that. [00:44:50] Speaker C: Thank you very much. I appreciate that. But, yeah, Golden Girls go on the road, Head down to Jacksonville and get blank two zero. They controlled possession. Stop me if you've heard this before. They controlled possession, had over. Completed over 600 passes and finished with zero shots on goal. [00:45:08] Speaker B: Oh, do you remember? We've talked about a lot, Dennis. Do you remember how he said that FC Dallas is not very good at soccer? What they're good at is scoring goals and not allowing goals. Yeah, Trinity is the opposite. [00:45:19] Speaker C: They're very good at soccer. [00:45:21] Speaker B: You all over the field, but, man, they cannot score and they cannot keep it out. [00:45:26] Speaker C: They have once again led the statistical board in every stat but the one that matters, and that is the final score. They got punished by Bailey De Smitt at the end of the first half as it was coming to a close there. And there's a reason she's the golden bootleader, right? She's. She's an incredible goal scorer, but that was, that was a awful restart. Again, these trends are just continuing, right? If we go back for the last couple of games, you're seeing the same thing. This was Jamie Shepard that lost her duel there and got turned around a little bit. And Smith absolutely capitalized on it. She played a little 1, 2 with Puerto. They. Not to take anything away from this Jacksonville club, they're at the top of the table for a reason. They're undefeated. They're. They've won every one of their first three matches so far. And that's, you know, they are led by the defending coach of the year. They have the reigning young player of the year. They've got all sorts of superlatives up and down this roster and they've only improved this year. And they, they went out and they did their business. And a lot of passing around the back by wins club here. A lot of fun. Fun fact here from USL tactics. There's been six individual games in the entire history of the USL Super League where a club has played 600 passes or more. Two of them were Dallas Trinity this season. [00:46:43] Speaker B: Wow. Jeez. [00:46:44] Speaker C: So the passing is working well. They're just not getting the ball into the box and where it needs to be. And you know, I Think part of that is the fact of the roster construction here. There's a little bit of a lack of a nine. Shocking, right? Shocking. [00:47:00] Speaker B: At least this time we know that halfway through the construction, they changed directions and change tactics and change leadership. So at least there's a reason for it this time. [00:47:09] Speaker C: Roster construction and issue in Dallas football. Shocking. [00:47:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:47:13] Speaker A: It's unfortunate the season has started the way it has, but it also probably is a bit reflective, to your point, Buzz and Dennis, of the changes and trying to pivot so late before the start of the season. I. I was a bit surprised and definitely pleased when I happened to open my YouTube feed the other day. And right at the top, at the front was a Dallas Trinity promo, which was really nice. Clearly the Atletico Dallas people who were so good at all that video content, have now been assigned to go create stuff for Trinity. And it was really, really good. The only thing that really caught me off guard and kind of surprised me was that it was very, you know, woman power, like action shots of the women doing different things. And it ended with one of those overly dramatic, I'm super serious and I'm not here to f around headshots video shots of Mr. Wynn. And I just thought that's a weird way to end something that was so very female focused to throw him on at the very, very last. To make that the last thing in the image. [00:48:14] Speaker B: That's where. [00:48:15] Speaker A: But I love the fact that they're paying the money for it to show up and Obviously Soccer Boys YouTube feed. So I dig it. [00:48:21] Speaker B: Yeah, that's fair. Dennis, I'm kid. I have a concern that I would like to hear what you think about this. You know, this team plays Luchi Ball ball. Unquestionably. It's. It's basically Lucy Ball. [00:48:31] Speaker C: As an Apple fan. We call it Allegri Ball now is what we're calling it. [00:48:34] Speaker B: Yeah, it's Lucy Ball. For the people that are tuning in from the SCL's audience, including the false nine and everything. Now, I. I like Hamid as a player. I like what she's doing tactically as a false nine. However, goal scorer she is not. And goal scoring is a problem. They do have a 9 that was a Chris Petrocelli type 9, which is a post up. And this is. This is again, this is part of the roster problem. When you change directions midway through the build, you have a big body for a woman. Post up, back to goal, back you down. Nine plays stylistically, vaguely in the Pedder Musa neck of the woods. And yet they're Playing this shape because. Especially because she's hurt. But even before she was hurt, they're playing with this movement based false9 who isn't a goal score. She's really converted winger. So bit of a disconnect there, I think. Dennis, would you agree with that? [00:49:23] Speaker C: Definitely a disconnect. I will offer up that Hamid was a goal scorer when she was down at Fort Lauderdale. She led the club down there. I think she still actually holds the club record for goals scored at Fort Lauderdale. But all of those goals came off the wing and that came off the left wing, which is also another gap in this roster right now. So they brought, they brought in Onyeka Gamero, they brought her in from. I think she's on loan from Bay FC and she's filling in the left wing spot. You've got Jasmine. Hamid has moved over into the center forward spot where Ali Cook should be. But she's hurt and even before she got hurt, she wasn't really playing up there in the preseason at all. So that that injury came as the season. I think after week one she got hurt. But there's just a complete mismatch of profiles and what the roles are. I think up front especially, but all around this too. I mean you could say the same thing about the back line. We could say the same thing about. There's, there's a. There are essentially two midfielders playing center back right now. So she's been played center back in college, but when she showed up here halfway through last season, she played alongside Amber Wisner in, in the midfield. Right. So she played all. [00:50:28] Speaker B: Yeah, even in College. Her. The LSU's big breakthrough came when they put her out at right back and let her be a flying forward player, not a center back. [00:50:35] Speaker C: Right. You've got Sophia Braun, who is the Argentine national six. Essentially she plays a defensive midfield and she's playing at center back. Lauren Flynn is probably the only true center back on this roster currently. And she's injured. She's been injured since a couple weeks before the end of last season and she's a player who had before earlier in her career she had the same surgery Velasco had. She had that compartment surgery and she's battling back from whatever lower leg injury she's been dealing with. And, and don't get me wrong, the kid's been working her ass off. I've seen her in practice, I've seen her even. She was out before the last home game about an hour before warm up. She was out there working by herself with coaches. She is busting her butt to get back to form. But these things take time with injuries like that. And there's just. There is no true center back. There is no true striker. This, this, you know, this roster is just constructed rather poorly given how it was slapped together with, with what feels like spare parts at this point. And that's not to take away from anybody that's out there. These are all talented players. They just, they don't fit this roster the way it's built today. And what Lee Win wants to do with them right now. [00:51:39] Speaker B: Yeah, and we saw a whole bunch of announcements of player science within the last two weeks prior to the season. They obviously were still trying to bring together anything they could, you know, to make it work. They're using a central mid at right back. You know, at some point I might like to see them try things something like maybe a, maybe a cast 7 castan or an Eichenberger at 9, just to try and put Hamid on the left and try and balance that out with either Lancaster or, or the other seven. If you go with Eichenberg or something, try and get more of a traditional, you know, person in the box that could knock some of these balls in with all this possession they're having, because they're not getting touches in the box at the end of the day. And I think that's what's really hurting them the most is they're not finding anybody in good scoring positions. [00:52:20] Speaker C: Yeah, and I think they're just, they're just not fast enough for the game they want to play. If they, if they're going to play this game. Mr. Round the back, you know, whatever you want to call it, ticky tack a game, they've got to speed up the pace and get the ball into the box quicker. If you look at where they're positioned, everybody up front is just sort of standing around the box as the ball comes up the front there. And, and Lee, when preached this in practice last week, the word you heard him yell over and over again was patience. And I think they were a little too patient going into this one. [00:52:49] Speaker A: Well, they have Brooklyn on Saturday. [00:52:52] Speaker C: The bottom of the barrel. Brooklyn is, is zero points from three games so far. So somebody has to come out of this improved 7:30. [00:53:04] Speaker A: Dennis, you got any thoughts on the lineup for that one? [00:53:07] Speaker C: I think it largely depends upon what fitness looks like, but I think it's definitely time for a change. I would like to see, and this depends upon health, but I would like to see Flynn get back in the lineup and get, get into center back and Maybe move Cheeseman or Braun up to the midfield. I think, I think Shepard needs to come off though. Whether that's Felicia Knox coming in for her or are in a guy or having one of these center backs or one of these, these kids playing center back moving up into the midfield, I think that that change absolutely needs to happen. And I would put, if it were me, I would put Hamid back on the left wing and, and see if we can find somebody else to fit that nine slot if Ali Cook's not healthy. [00:53:43] Speaker B: My biggest concern at this point, actually, Dennis, is the attendance around the league. Because that Jacksonville stand, if there were 300 people there, I'd be impressed. They surprised. They have an average of 800 for them. Trinity's average of 1700 is third in the league. You know, so like while we were like, oh, that's kind of low for Trinity, well, it's actually high for this league. And it makes me wonder about the health of this whole thing. I don't think anybody really is doing what they need to be doing business wise in this league. And it's makes me nervous. You know, they, they already lost one team and by all accounts there were a couple other teams that were close. I mean, obviously we know Trinity was close, although we believe that the league was going to run the team if they had to. But you know, I, there were stories that Brooklyn was close to floating. I don't know what's going on, but it's, it's not looking pretty good right at this minute. The commissioner just left. Yeah. [00:54:32] Speaker C: Brooklyn's reported attendance for their one home match was 6 60. [00:54:37] Speaker A: Yeah. I was surprised to see that the attendance in Jacksonville has not been good. I lived in Jacksonville for three, almost four years back in the early aughts. And I was shocked when I moved there to find out that soccer in that community is huge. In fact, it's probably second to football and specifically women's soccer. Very, very supportive on both sides of it. And they've got a very diverse community of people that live in Jacksonville. But girls soccer is huge there. And I was convinced that that was a fantastic place for a women's team. And to find out that they're only getting about a thousand people on average, or maybe a little bit more than that on average for a game is really shocking to me because of the location of the stadium is very central. Jacksonville is a, by the way, is a, is the physically the largest land city in the United States. It's a huge, huge place. But the university that they play at is right Kind of in the middle of it, so it's not hard to get to. It's. It's a decent place to play. I just. I completely blows me away that they haven't been able to pull more people [00:55:47] Speaker B: and they have a men's team, Peter, who's only averaging 1800 and back heel, which tracks USL attendance. They show that Sporting Jacks last year averaged 7, 500. So clearly something has gone sideways in Jacksonville in terms of, like their draw and their attendance on the women's side. Yeah, because that's. That's a good team too. Like, I don't. I don't understand what has happened there or makes a mystery to me. Trinity is down 43 from last year, so, you know, there's hopes that Trinity can rebound. We do see the teams that are good. Carolina and Lexington are both up 75, 80%. [00:56:20] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:56:20] Speaker B: So, like, there are some positive signs, but then there are teams that are just not looking good at all. [00:56:24] Speaker A: Well, and that's what I. From Dennis's interview. That's the thing that really got my ears perked up was two parts. One was their revelation that the previous ownership had been passing out so many free tickets that. That had overly inflated attendance. And so now they were selling more tickets than the prior system was selling, but they're having lower attendance because now they're really focusing on it. The problem is, at the end of the day, you still have sponsors, and people in the stadium also come with their own revenue, whether they're on giveaways or not, because they spend money in concessions, they pay for parking. So there is revenue that comes from those people. And then the other thing that they said, oh, yeah, was the goal 7,000? I was like, whoa, dude, you guys are ambitious. [00:57:13] Speaker B: That's where the model works. Is that 7,000? I was like, whoa, yeah, that's. Yeah, that's. That's double last year's average, basically, I think. [00:57:23] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, 100. Yeah. [00:57:25] Speaker B: Yeah. More than double last year's average for 3,000. Excuse me. So more than double last year's average. [00:57:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:30] Speaker B: So, hey, you know what? The Trinity guys, AD guys are pretty good at the marketing. Let's see if they can pull it off. [00:57:35] Speaker C: When I. When I look at attendance around this league, though, I. I start to wonder if this is just sort of a. The sprint season is just sort of a throwaway for everybody that the league just knows, hey, we've got to get on the calendar with nwsl. We've got to get matched up with loan calendars and all that other stuff. And we'll just, we'll just bite the bullet here, so to speak and take one on the chin as much as we have to for this half a season and just settle in for next season. [00:57:56] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe everyone's marketing budgets aren't in place. Advertising budgets aren't in place. They're all shifting focus to the next season. I can totally buy that. The drop off in Jacksonville is, is an astronomical. Hard to fathom. That's just that. But you know, maybe, maybe that no one knows it's happening. [00:58:12] Speaker C: I mean it's the same 14 games that were scheduled to be part of the new season. Right. This is the same 14 game schedule that was supposed to be, this was supposed to be the front half of next season or however you want to break it down. But they just essentially broke the calendar in here. I just, it just feels like especially you know, looking at Trinity and you know what we've discussed about this not being a high pressure situation for Lee Wynn and looking around the league and just seeing how these clubs are being marketed, it just feels like the league has just decided to throw in the towel and say hey we'll, we'll pop up in, in February, March, whatever it is and get going again there when we've got a full season to play. [00:58:47] Speaker A: Well, everybody go support the team. I love the branding so much. Very good. Brooklyn Saturday at 7:30. Last but not least, North Texas doing it old school style. Buzz Shootout wins galore. [00:59:02] Speaker B: Galore. Well, you know, as we talked last time as a byproduct of playing even less kids and playing more of FC Dallas actual rostered players, your Lewis's, although he had to set a game out. But your, your Simmons, your Caleb Swans back down there again. They've, they've tied a bunch of games. It does go to show you that homer away. They're still not really good. They, but they're scrappy just like the first team is and they have gotten these ties and, and then gotten an extra point by winning a shootout. John Gall Coach got his 73rd game coached for the North Texas SC. That breaks Eric Quill's record for most games coached. Whether that's good or not. Your mileage may very, you know, they, they have a chance to make the playoffs if they keep inching forward like this. I don't know that it's going to do anything good other than just get minutes for these FC Dallas guys, which is fine. I would, I would rather see more kids playing even if it costs you the playoffs because there's some guys that are playing that I still think have no chance in hell of ever making domestic soccer. And I'd rather play a 16 and 17 year old like Benji Flowers, you know, or. Or Liam Rostek, you know, Zach Malmo, you know some of these guys. Wigant. Alex Story. [01:00:20] Speaker A: Bobby Wigant plays for North Texas. [01:00:23] Speaker B: No, Christian Wigan. [01:00:25] Speaker A: Oh, you assume is that Bobby Wigant's great grandson? [01:00:30] Speaker B: I have no idea. [01:00:30] Speaker A: Do you know who Bobby Wigan is? [01:00:32] Speaker B: I do, but I have no idea if that's true. [01:00:34] Speaker A: So many people looking at their podcast player going what in the world is he talking about? [01:00:38] Speaker B: By the way? Speaking. [01:00:39] Speaker C: What is this old man ranting about? [01:00:41] Speaker B: Speaking of Bobby, this weekend's game is the anniversary of Bobby wins. Passing everybody poor one out. How many years? I do not have that part written down but it's been a bit. [01:00:54] Speaker A: It has been a bit. [01:00:55] Speaker B: It, you know, go by and pour some out at the Bobby Ryan mural at the stadium when you're there this weekend. Contribute to Bobby Ryan. [01:01:02] Speaker C: 19th minute. [01:01:03] Speaker B: Anyway, North. North Texas SC is. They have RSL on Friday. Good job. Not the same day as FC Dallas. That's good. You can actually use a guy and move him across or whatever. Not competing with your first team. So well done playing on Friday, you know. Love it. That's good. So that's the state of North Texas sc. Nobody there right now can help this team. Everyone that's looking at a new niece is like bring that guy up and take Deetson spot. Nope, he is not going to help you. You might as well just play Swan, you know by Binyamin Good stuff. Yeah. All right. [01:01:40] Speaker A: Very good. Anything else we would like to discuss before we Vamos. [01:01:46] Speaker B: Three academy players took call ups from Mexico this week. Mexico Youth International team. Benji Flowers Traders, Davin Kimbrough and Christian Gu is the next one. Oh, and a keeper. David Jaime is a U15 keeper also. So they make that four. I forgot about Kimbrough actually. Although he's hurt but he still got the call up. So four guys with Mexican Youth International calls shout out those guys. [01:02:17] Speaker A: Very good, Dennis. You got anything else, sir? [01:02:20] Speaker C: I've got nothing but go join Buzz's Patreon because he does a job of promoting that himself. So go join Buzz. Buzz's Patreon get in the discord if you're enjoying this. Go spend some money. Go buy a T shirt. [01:02:31] Speaker B: I was doing a job's pretty par for the course though. [01:02:33] Speaker C: That's fine, that's fine. We'll back you up here a little bit. [01:02:38] Speaker A: All right, thanks, Dennis. Buzz. Thank you, sir. [01:02:40] Speaker B: Oh, you're welcome, man. Thanks for being here. Walking wounded. [01:02:43] Speaker A: Yeah, of course. And thank you to the DFW soccer curious. We'll speak to you next week on another episode of Third Degree, the podcast Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. [01:02:54] Speaker C: The Third Degree. [01:02:58] Speaker B: The Third Degree. [01:03:03] Speaker A: The Third Degree. [01:03:07] Speaker B: The Third Degree Nail Podcast. Sam.