3rd Degree the Podcast #376

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Third Degree the Third Degree Ned Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast Livery Read. [00:00:26] Speaker B: The podcast is brought to you by Patreons like you. If you've enjoyed this podcast, enjoyed our coverage of SC Dallas Athletico, Dallas North Texas, SC Dallas Trinity. Why not join us with a little support on the Patreon? Come in at any level you like. If you could even jump up to the discord level and get in on the great conversation that happens there every day. Thanks again for your support. [00:00:49] Speaker A: Well, hello there, DFW soccer Curious. Welcome to another episode of Third Degree, the podcast. Yet in another hat. He has the biggest collection of hats I think of anybody I know. It is Dennis. Howdy, Dennis. [00:01:05] Speaker C: Hats off to you, sir. [00:01:06] Speaker A: By the way, Dennis, in our video chat that we do this in. In the background on your wall, you have a painting of Tony Soprano and the ducks in his pool. I know what that's a reference to, but who is the artist? [00:01:21] Speaker C: Honestly, it was one of those commercial websites that did these in like mass production. I just thought it was really cool. It's like an oil based painting version of Technicolor. Yeah. Centerpiece for the office. Big Sopranos fan. [00:01:36] Speaker A: Clearly assume that was your uncle. Don't screw with Dennis, Buzz. Don't make Dennis mad. He knows people and you heard his voice. He is editor, founder of thirddegree.net and all that implies it is Buzz Carrick. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:53] Speaker B: Yeah, Peter. I realized Dennis was from New York and he was in the trash business. I thought maybe I would not antagonize him. [00:01:59] Speaker C: Towing, not trash. [00:02:00] Speaker A: You mean New Jersey towing. [00:02:01] Speaker B: Oh, I blew it. Towing business. Yeah. [00:02:04] Speaker A: New Jersey. [00:02:04] Speaker B: Yeah, New York, New Jersey, whatever. Metro stars fan from way back. [00:02:09] Speaker A: And by the way, by the way, Buzz from Dennis and I fuck you in your hoodie right now. [00:02:14] Speaker B: Okay, See, I told everybody you were gonna bring that up again. I switched to a hoodie just so you wouldn't call talking about my sweater [00:02:20] Speaker C: I hate from the two of us and the entire listening audience for you. [00:02:23] Speaker A: That's right. [00:02:24] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it was like 45 this morning when I got up. [00:02:27] Speaker A: Oh, man. [00:02:27] Speaker C: Jesus Christ. [00:02:28] Speaker B: It's up to 66 right now. Yeah. [00:02:33] Speaker A: Sorry, boys. Do we. Is this a victory pod? Officially all around victory podcast. [00:02:41] Speaker C: Just. Just for the boys. [00:02:42] Speaker B: No, no, no, it's not just. [00:02:43] Speaker A: Oh, no, that's right. Oh, that's just the burn. It's kind of a victory pod. But we're now it's not. It's not you know, burn curious pod. This is a DFW soccer curious. So we've got to be inclusive and bring everybody in so when one team loses, we all lose. [00:03:02] Speaker B: That's probably true. [00:03:03] Speaker A: But you know who didn't lose? It was football club Dallas who got in a. In the game of attrition, two teams having to play against each other without a whole bunch of their players who were out doing international stuff. Dallas bested LAFC1 donut and ended up in second place in the West. Believable stuff. Buzzard. [00:03:30] Speaker B: It's ridiculous. Yeah. I mean, to be fair, LAFC was hit with worse than Estee Dallas was. I mean, patter Moose is a huge loss, but the other losses were all just dudes. LAFC got hammered and particularly their midfield was so bad that they ended up with two center backs in the midfield. Which is crazy. But yeah, it's, it's, it's amazing to watch Quill run a team that to me is, plays a terrible style that I can't stand to watch, except that he keeps winning games. Uh, and he excels at the core of what soccer actually is, which is scoring more goals than you allow. And that's what they do. And they, you can't really argue with, I don't think with any of the selections, any of the choices he's making because he just keeps winning. I mean, the month of September was four wins and a tie, I think. I mean, that's incredible, you know, came off that incredible road trip so, you know, enjoy this crazy ride. I don't think, I think of our preseason predictions, I was the most optimistic at saying like third to six like that they would, they would take a step into the middle to top group of the, the West. Man, they're starting to push into the real top group of the west, which is mind boggling considering what I find to be deficiencies in the roster. [00:04:44] Speaker A: Still, is it. Am I wrong in thinking that Eric Quill somehow has managed to wedge himself into the manager of the year conversation? [00:04:54] Speaker B: I think that probably at the end of the day what's happening in Nashville is even more, more impressive. But it's actually just because they were not very good last year in my remembrance. And they're really, really good. They have a massive imbalance of goals and for it versus against them piling up, they have a chance to break the league's all time record for points. Nashville does. [00:05:16] Speaker C: They've got an insane goal differential too. And they're just running away with the shield right now, it seems. [00:05:21] Speaker B: And I think there's actually better teams in the east than there are in the west overall. So like he's doing it against that. That imbalance as well. So that's. I think that's probably your leader and there's a couple other guys that are doing some really impressive things. But this actually and the note in the format I put at the bottom the thing that jokes about a buzz talk which is like a TED talk but buzzier and, and how Sedal has a new se. Dallas has a new problem to worry about. Well you just brought up what that new problem is. Eric Quill has this team in second place with what we and everybody else clearly thinks is a deficient roster. Eric will probably had a two or three year deal when he started this gig. With what he's doing, people are going to come calling people that have more money, not more money, I'm sorry spend more money than the Hunts do on FC Dallas. People that might want to pay him millions of dollars instead of a hundred thousands of dollars. You know and maybe people out even outside this league because he is coaching this team way above his sounds level. So Dallas has a new problem they have to worry about and that's keeping Eric Quill. [00:06:26] Speaker C: Are we ready to call it Quill Magic? [00:06:29] Speaker A: Wait, who. Who's looking for a manager next season? [00:06:32] Speaker C: La? [00:06:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't see. [00:06:35] Speaker A: I think LA is going to require higher profile, higher profile person than Quill. [00:06:40] Speaker B: Well that's the thing is like if you're. If you're winning at a rate like this, you become high profile very quickly. Now we. There's a reasons why which we'll get to later. Dallas is not talked about in a lot circles but people will notice. People that have money to hire coaches will notice and the Hunts are going to have to do something with Quill at at minimum Quill has passed the halfway of his deal and maybe he's approaching the end of his deal where he just has like an option where the team could pick up an option but you know, coaches can just quit and go sign somewhere else. You know, look at how when Oscar came here from Colorado, FC Dallas had to pay Colorado a little bit of money. But you know, they were able to get him know because it takes people to be happy where they are. Right. You don't have necessarily have a lockout on a coach unless you've put that into the contract somehow. I just think it's entirely possible that people are going to notice what Quill's doing and that they're going to come calling for him. I don't know who it's going to be. It might not even be somebody in mls. It could be somebody. You know, he wouldn't go to a USL championship again, but he might go to something he considers to be a step up possibly. You know, the dude is just doing remarkable work with little, not little assets, with some big asset issues in his squad which we've talked about to death over the last three or four years. So, you know, huge kudos to him and something that we'll have to keep an eye on. And I would imagine that FC Dallas better already be talking to him about or his agent about a new deal. [00:08:03] Speaker C: Interesting list of. Of interim coaches currently in the league. You've got Austin that you just mentioned as you go down Columbus. [00:08:11] Speaker A: Didn't Curtain go into Austin? [00:08:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Going off the table. [00:08:14] Speaker C: Yeah, true. Yep. Um, you've got. Columbus has got Courtois in as an interim right now. They'll probably end up hiring him on depending, but they've been on a skid too, so that's. That's potentially an opening there and a cool connection. [00:08:26] Speaker B: Columbus, he coached there. Yep. [00:08:29] Speaker C: Montreal has an interim. I. If I were Quill, I wouldn't want to go to Montreal. That's a complete disaster of a club. Orlando sitting. They got Perlman as a. As an interim currently. And then I think the most interesting one, considering, you know, how they build their academy and pull players up out of. Out of their academy and out of their. Their two club and their system, is the Philadelphia Union. [00:08:51] Speaker A: Man, I feel like we're messing with the hoodoo to even talk about this. [00:08:55] Speaker B: Well, this is a problem of their own creation. When you do well, people notice. People come for your players, people come for your coaches when you're doing really well. [00:09:03] Speaker A: Yeah. But I think it also says something, at least to me personally, that I'm now concerned that they may hire away our manager because I was never a big Quill fan to begin with when they hired him in the first place. Oh, man. I just. I just thought it just didn't have a ton of ambition behind it just simply because you're hiring another guy with a lack of MLS experience in terms of that particular role. Nothing against Eric personally. It's just, you know, when we were talking about, oh, no, who's going to replace whoever the was, who was the last guy? [00:09:33] Speaker B: Nico. [00:09:34] Speaker A: Oh, Nico. Yeah. And Nico. Who's that going to be? And I'm like, eric, okay, I get it. But couldn't we get somebody that actually has some skins on the wall? So the fact that here we are this later. And now I'm like, wait, no, don't take my. Eric, my big headed manager, Peter, we're [00:09:52] Speaker B: past 30 years now with FC Dallas. You should be well aware that no, they're not getting a big name with skins on the wall. It's just. [00:09:58] Speaker C: Here's the thing though. Eric Quill is the type of guy that will at least give the Hunts, I think an opportunity to counter and give him a reason to stay here. I think Will has that kind of loyalty built in, in him now. It's not to say if Philadelphia comes and throws a bag at him then he's not going to run away, but I think he's going to give them an opportunity to go back and say, hey look, this is what I want, to stay here. [00:10:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm sure he will and certainly it's probably a good situation for him and it would be good for the club too just simply because of the consistency factor if he, if he in fact has got something really mowing here. [00:10:30] Speaker B: Look, I'm just saying that Quill is getting attention and Dax McCarty on the broadcast even talks about him being in that conversation for coach of the year. And the Hunts are not known for overspending. Like there are other people around this league who have teams that are willing to spend quite a bit more than S.E. dallas does. I'm just saying it's. I'm not saying it's a high emergency. I think you can easily start talking to him already about an extension, but just something that the club's going to all of a sudden have to be aware of. And it's because of showings like this where they just. What somebody said to me, it was. They called him a, a bunch of overachieving dudes or something. It's like, you know, they're just out hustling and out working everybody and winning games and that's, you know, for a coach that can, can make a, you know, 10, 15 point difference in the standing which is effectively what he's done each season. You know, that's impressive, man. [00:11:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it's calls along with all the other intangibles of the self inflicted stuff with the stadium and the schedule and half, you know this, all of that stuff is whether you like it or not, all of that stuff is a burden to whatever team would be that be placed under that and they've clearly handled it pretty well and hopefully they [00:11:38] Speaker B: will continue that road schedule that it created. That was impossible and he got them through that and now they're rolling in the in the part of the season where Dallas traditionally creators August to September, the heat, end of the season blues or whatever, now they're not. I mean, it's just, it goes to show you what a crazy job he's doing. Crazy good job he's doing with what still appears to be like a pretty overrated roster in a lot of ways. And, and I think this game actually is a really good example. You know, we, we've, we've said before and so have other people that Quill doesn't necessarily want to play this way. And I think you saw in the first half when they had a couple center backs in midfield, you saw the team play like I think Quill would want to play 56% possession. They're working it around and up and down the wings. They're kind of going through the middle a little bit. You know, it's like that looks more like. I think Quill would want to play that first half performance, minus of course not being able to put the ball in the net. But because you're missing Musa, you know, second half, it flips a little bit because LA is, you know, trying to come back. They put in another extra midfielder or two, so they start to get more of the possession back. But this is a great indicator, I think that to just show you that Quill is even going against his instincts and picking a formation and picking tactics that aren't what he wants to do because the best serves what he has. And that's a remarkable, impressive achievement to me because that's not easy to do. We see coaches die on the vine of like, no, I play this way and this is the way I'm playing. It's the best way to play and they get themselves in trouble and like, look at Lucibal where he just couldn't get out of playing the way they played and it got in his own way, you know, and he. [00:13:07] Speaker A: A lot of managers. [00:13:08] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And the Quill's not that way. So that's an impressive quality. I think like it separates him sometimes from other guys in that sense. [00:13:17] Speaker A: Especially when you're a club like this and you are clearly not going to have the top tier roster and you've got to be a team more about the collect the sum of all the parts together as a team, which are one of my favorite kind of soccer teams to watch, you know, teams that don't have, I mean, look, this team clearly is way better when Petter Moose is out there. But when they all play and work for each other and try to cover for each other and do all that stuff that also makes something you really enjoy rooting for. And it's. It's taken them a long way so far this season. I don't know where this is going to go long term, but it's been good. [00:13:54] Speaker B: It reminds me, Dennis, of the Oscar Pereja era, when he occasionally would be undermanned and yet he would get everybody together on the same page and play in the way that they needed to play to get things done. And he would get more results than he maybe had the roster for. Don't you think? [00:14:06] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think that's what you saw a lot of this weekend too, right? [00:14:08] Speaker A: That. [00:14:08] Speaker C: That's just guys playing up to the level that they've been coached up to. You know, if you get two depleted teams that came in and they. They were. They had more grit and more heart down the bench than LA did. [00:14:19] Speaker A: Yeah. We also got to see the debut of the player that I've. I don't remember this team getting all hyped up about as much as they have with Mr. Dan Job. He got on, got on the field for the last few minutes. Dan Dennis, you were in the stadium. Is he, like, super lightning fast? [00:14:39] Speaker C: He looked really quick. He had some incredible quickness. He had a great touch on the ball, too. There's a video floating around there towards the end, his first touch into the box where he kind of did a little left, right and then nutmegged the defender. And his passing game looks really good. I think he's going to be. Going to be somebody here. You know, time will tell. It's only short minutes, but he's definitely had an impact coming in late and really just picked up the pace there. [00:15:02] Speaker A: Buzzer, you like me. And relieved he didn't hit a banger on his debut because we know what that means. Yeah, it's the curse. [00:15:11] Speaker B: You know, people were immediately throwing out, like, oh, he reminds me of Castillo. And I jokingly said Oberon. And then somebody else was like Michael Barros. The reality for me is who he reminds me of is Eric Quill. [00:15:24] Speaker A: Really? [00:15:24] Speaker B: Yeah. For those of you that aren't old enough to remember Eric Will playing, Eric Quill was ridiculously fast, but also very skilled. You remember when he was a teenager, Ajax wanted him. That dude could ball, he could pass. Played on the wing, usually more often on the left than the right. He would get down to the end, he would cut inside, he could dribble, he could pass. I'm telling you, like Eric Will's career was cut short by injuries. But that dude played with Valderrama in Tampa. It's really talented player. You know people, most people aren't old enough to remember the guy, but that's who he reminded me of in the 120 minute run out. Now mind you, was more of that than. Than even Castillo because Castillo was like bouncing off of walls and the balls kind of flying everywhere. Better than Obrion but still like a mess where Job looked to me like he had tighter ball control than that. And that was who I thought of was Quill himself. [00:16:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I did. You know, I. I don't want to take too much from just trying to watch it on video. That's why I was relying on people that actually saw him in the stadium. But when I hear comparisons to Obrion and Castillo, I cover my eyes and go for those exact reasons because those two guys were all about chaos and lack of control. So I'm glad to hear that both of you mentioned that he actually arrives with both a little bit of speed and some control and that would be promising for me. [00:16:37] Speaker C: He looks like Bernie Camungo with ball control and skills. [00:16:41] Speaker B: Maybe Barrios is a good. [00:16:43] Speaker A: It's not Bernie Kamungo. [00:16:46] Speaker C: He plays with the energy. [00:16:47] Speaker A: Not Bernie Camungo is what Dennis just tells us. Which, you know, your mileage may vary on how much you like that statement or not, but thank you, Dennis. I appreciate that description. Peter. Don't worry, he's not Bernie. [00:16:59] Speaker B: Yeah, the real question is like is this guy, is he just going to be another dude or does he have a little something extra? Like we've seen Valiente show that he has more than just a little extra dude. Kaik is definitely trending in that direction. Whereas speaking of U22 initiatives where you're like you're Delgado or you're Benjamin Means right now are just guys in the team they're not doing, you know, so that's. [00:17:19] Speaker A: I'm curious. I'm wondering if one. It's just so weird to see this club roll a brand new guy out immediately after he arrives. We remember harking back to the days where a new signing would show up and they would just kind of goof around at training for the next three months before insert manager name here decided they were good enough or ready to play. So seeing it. But I also wonder if that's a byproduct of the fact that they're devastated because they're missing so many guys due to X, Y and Z and it just happened to luck out that we got him on game one. [00:17:51] Speaker B: Yeah. If you wanted a sort of threat, you know, to be able to get forward and get verticality, as Oscar used to call it. You know, Anderson who just came off injury, so he wasn't really a viable selection. Bernie's gone. Sarver was already coming into the game. Musa was gone. So that meant Farrington couldn't come into the game, you know, so he didn't have a whole lot of options available to him. And probably that's why, you know, Dan Hunt was telling people that Quill asked for a winger like this again, that's a, that's. That request makes me feel like this isn't the way he wants to play again, reinforcing that. You don't sign a guy like this if you don't play a system without wings. But if you wanted that current vertical threat, there wasn't anybody else really available. Plus, Job's coming in fit. I mean, he's coming out of mid season form, right? So it's not like he's been laying around for two months doing nothing. So not a shock at the end of the day. And Quill, Quill, like if Quill asks for you to be here and likes you and wants you, he's going to use you. You know, this is not a coach that if he doesn't like you, you can go train with North Texas forever and never come back. But you know, we like you, we're going to play you. [00:18:48] Speaker C: He probably also picked up his first club fine this weekend as after the game, as he was walking off the pitch, he took off his shirt and tossed it into the stand. So that's probably going to cost him a couple bucks from the club. [00:18:59] Speaker A: Are they not allowed to do that? What is there? Does the club have a rule about that? [00:19:05] Speaker C: From what I've heard, you know, with all the auction sites that they've got all the auction deals with Dash and some of the other ones, the match worn shirt and stuff, they don't like to give those away anymore. [00:19:14] Speaker B: It used to be you got two a season for free that you could give to a kid or a charity or whatever of your own and then you had to pay for them out of your own pocket after that. But I don't, I don't. That was, you know, 15 years ago. That was the rule. I don't know what it is now. [00:19:25] Speaker A: So one of the byproducts of the, of the call up situation is that Quill had to make a decision on how to manage the back and cover for Kamu Moon Go. And we all kind of wondered how that was going to go. And the result, Buzz, I think, as you predicted, was with an Ibiaga Uruguide and Nolis in the back and Norris and. No, no less Norris in the back three and pushing Shaq out on the left. How did that go for you? [00:19:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I know Hansen came back in on the right with Benny Mingon. Really the entire back seven if you include captain Kaik. Statistically, you know, if you dig into the numbers, and I did that this morning, they all looked good. They all played solid, good defensive dames games in particular the back three or back five if depending how you want to call it. All of whom I think did a really nice job. All of them had above average games. All of them were good defensively. You know, again, LA wasn't. Was missing a lot of their prime attackers. They weren't a high threat team at this point. But to me that defense looks so good, like getting a shutout, getting a clean sheet. No Daniel, you got Sera back there, who's solid, but not as good as [00:20:29] Speaker C: Daniel had an excellent game though. [00:20:31] Speaker B: He did have an excellent game. But you know, that's the thing is the whole back group had an excellent game defensively and they still generated a pretty good amount of shots. Now Logan had a bad game and they didn't get enough good action in the box. Offensively they only had five shots from in the box and seven from outside the box. So that's not quite what you're looking for. But then again, you're missing better Musa. That's a big, big chunk of your offense that's missing. So like, for me, I thought Shaq Moore was just as good offensively as Bernie on the outside and is way better defender on the outside. He looks good on the left because he can switch foot and he comes crashing inside onto his shooting foot. Shack Moore does from that side. Johansson, Binyamin on the other side. Pick whichever one you like. But I think that's. I think there's an argument to be made that that group, because Nolan is getting advanced in his development. Ibiaga is actually right now outplaying Nolan. You can keep that back five with the. Maybe the swap of Benjamin if you like that better as a much more defensive grouping and yet still maintaining, relatively speaking, the same offense out of your wing backs. It might be a better way to go than Bernie if, If Quill can bench his own son. You know, nepotism's tough, but you know, it. It's. I think there's a legitimate case to be made that that's the way to go forward with that group, that five, you know, flip a coin on Herman and versus Benjamin. [00:21:57] Speaker C: Herman was a little tough to watch. I think though the numbers I think I'll came out in the wash. But there were moments he had where he was just, he had given up and especially in the second half where he just looked like he was wiped out again. His fitness just does not have him playing through this heat and playing through this. I don't know how he's going to sustain here. [00:22:13] Speaker B: I really worry about him long term with this being a terrible place for a big bodied, you know, Norseman of whatever exact persuasion you want to call it. He's still a Norseman effectively, you know, to deal with that kind of heat. I just don't know that it's the ideal spot for him long term to be fair. And that's not his fault other than like maybe this wasn't the best club for him to sign with. Since there is a point in the past where there was a study once that said that I can't ever find anymore that there was a statistical study of like the average game temperature around the world and FC Dallas was the hottest average game temperature on the planet of clubs and that includes like teams in the desert. So now it'll be, it'll be benefited a little bit by the flip of the schedule, but it's the humidity and the heat here just absolutely kill you. It's the training in the heat all the time for a guy like that I think is a tough combo. You know, for whatever reason, he just like we're late in the season and he looks like he's worth about 60 minutes and can't really just go 90, you know, perhaps possibly by a byproduct of having 18 billion subs now instead of just 3, but. [00:23:15] Speaker C: Old man yells at Cloud Yeah, related [00:23:19] Speaker A: to all of that, you know, missing Bernie and Moussa. Musa doesn't make the 18 for Croatia and then gets interviewed and talks about how much she loves Dallas. But the goal has always been to go back to Europe, which is maybe the, I think probably made everybody over here wince. Although he's not leaving. Look, look, we've made it past the summer window, kids. If he's leaving, it'll happen after the season. So wipe your brow, be comfortable. If we lose Peter Musa after this season, at least you didn't lose in mid season, right? [00:23:51] Speaker B: It's actually more likely you'd lose them after the mini season because that's the big window. The winter mid season window is Less likely. You know, it would be nice to [00:23:59] Speaker A: retain our best player for the one MLS cup we're going to win, which [00:24:04] Speaker B: is the mini season. The middle asterisk. [00:24:07] Speaker A: Yeah, it is. It's. It's like my new prophecy. [00:24:11] Speaker B: Yeah. You know that that's the, that's perfect fc, that if you've read the list, you know this club's history. [00:24:16] Speaker A: Right. [00:24:17] Speaker B: And winning it for the mini season would be the most FCD thing ever. Because then for the rest of time you'll be like, we got a cup. And then everyone will be like, no, doesn't count. It was a mini, you know. Right. It's garbage cup. [00:24:28] Speaker C: You know, you'll never hear this publicly, but, you know, I. I'm pretty sure that that is the stated goal internally. I think you'll hear that from folks around the country club that they, they expect that to be their season and then that that's what Quill has made this club for. [00:24:42] Speaker B: Given where they are in the standings, it's legitimate feeling to feel that it actually is your. [00:24:47] Speaker A: I could just see myself being like 97 years old and I remember when my team won. It's Joe. Yeah. Anyways, and then Bernie traveled all the way to Africa and he didn't make the 18 for Tanzania. [00:24:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:00] Speaker A: And I don't see him on the list for the game on Tuesday either, so. [00:25:04] Speaker B: Well, I mean, he definitely left and you know, made a thing about his call up, posted Instagrams himself leaving. So I mean, he's in there. He's. He was for sure on their preliminary roster for like the AFCON qualifying. So, like he's there. Presumably. Maybe he had such a far distance to go that they're not pushing his get in the gameness or whatever. But it would be a shame for Bernie to go that far and not play at all. That would be a bummer. Or. [00:25:28] Speaker A: I mean, I mean, not playing is one thing. Not making the game day roster. [00:25:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:34] Speaker A: Would really annoy me. But I don't know. [00:25:37] Speaker C: But they've got two left. They've got at. They're playing Madagascar tomorrow and then they've got another one on October 6th where [00:25:43] Speaker B: they play Ghana, especially because we're talking about Tanzania, who is not good. So it's like if he can't get into that team, let's. That's not a good sign for Bernie. That's. Yeah, yeah. That's rough. [00:25:53] Speaker A: All right. The other thing is. So we're happy. So you're happy with the lineup in the back. You think this. If Bernie comes back, do you stick with Shaq out there. Do you stay with that? [00:26:04] Speaker B: Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, I think that that defensively was so good. And remember like it was just a short time ago where Dallas was giving up 12 goals in four games. Remember that stretch? That was brutal. So like we all talk about all the time about Bernie's deficiencies defensively. Yeah, I don't think Shaq Moore was a letdown offensively. I think Shaq Moore gives you enough like we've talked about on the right where he's not quite what he used to be in his futures at center back, but when you put him on the left and he can trick people up by coming underneath, you know, and, and we have these wingers like a Moreno or if it's Delgado's up there for cakes like there. Those guys like to run outside. Das McCarty talks a lot on the broadcast how the wing backs were both doing this flip flopping with a 10. They end up with a high guy and then four underneath basically. And those guys are all. They're interchanging whether they're going in or out. And that's a very effective mix in terms of like variety of what's coming at you from a defensive perspective. So I don't think it hurts your offense to put more out there. Like based on what I saw, I would roll that again in two weeks. But we'll talk about it more next week because we have a week off before Dallas plays again. But I think it's a legit, especially because Bernie will be coming off of this road trip where he's going to fly back from presumably Africa and be just rip tired. Like it'll make a lot of sense, I think, to leave more out there for one game at least. [00:27:17] Speaker A: So Charlotte, a road trip to Charlotte on the 10th. So they do have some time. And then of course the scary part of that, or not scary anymore. I don't know if I want to talk about schedules being scary. I want to talk about them being interesting because every time I think this, the schedule gets scary. This team has proven itself to overcome it. That's happened multiple times this season. But they got the game against Charlotte, then they got a home game against Seattle, and then they have to go on the road to Houston. To Houston. So I mean, this will be a. I mean, not that Seattle's been any good lately, but it is their bogey team to some degree. It is an interesting run of three games in. In 10. [00:27:59] Speaker B: San Jose, who's pretty good. [00:28:01] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:28:02] Speaker B: At home. So. Yeah, it's, it's, it's not the schedule, it's not the rough schedule of the road trip. But you know, Dallas, if you're, if you are, you think you are though if you're a second place team in the west, like you look at all those games as winnable, you know, 100 thing. [00:28:16] Speaker A: Yeah, well, especially a sense coming back from the season all. You know, they have effectively gone undefeated in this homestand, which is exactly what we kept insisting they do to qualify for any chance to do something this season. And they've done it. So kudos to them. So what are you thinking about for the game over in Charlotte? [00:28:38] Speaker B: Let's talk about the next week. We got a whole nother. [00:28:40] Speaker A: Oh, you want to wait? Okay. [00:28:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:28:41] Speaker A: All right. [00:28:42] Speaker C: Couple bits. [00:28:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, go ahead. [00:28:44] Speaker B: Just. [00:28:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Just a quick note about this one before, before we leave this game. This was Valiente's 13th assist of the season, which puts him a share of the lead alongside Messi and like three other guys, he is quietly come in and really had himself a, a nice season so far. [00:28:59] Speaker B: Big news, big news. No secondary. Assists don't count. Big news. [00:29:03] Speaker C: Oh boy. No, I'm not having this conversation. I'm not doing this. We are not doing this here. [00:29:10] Speaker A: Dennis, be careful. He may fire you from the podcast if you really start pushing the second assist. [00:29:15] Speaker B: According to the league, yes, he has 13 assists. [00:29:18] Speaker A: Another funny ancillary side came out of this game was in the aftermath FC Dallas slash. The Dallas Burn chalked up another notch on their big championship belt of a new MLS stat category that I have invented. So back in the day, Buzz, you will remember and by back in the day I'm talking like early aughts. Yeah, we used to giggle all the time about how the Burn or maybe even FC Dallas. I don't remember how long ago the last time we giggled about this was lead MLS in being the team, the coach killer team. The last club an MLS team plays when they decide to fire their manager mid season or the manager resigns. And it was always kind of one of those things that we joked about and I hadn't thought about it in a really long time until I saw the Dos Santos got fired from LAFC the day after losing to Dallas1 nothing. And I thought man, is Dallas still the leading club? And I because I got nothing else to do and with I just started doing the research and I'll be darned. Buzz and Dennis, Dallas leads historically over 30, whatever years this league's been around leads the League in a new category, I call sack assist, which is 10 times in the history of this league has Dallas been the team that a team either loses or does not get a result against and fires or their manager resigns effectively thereafter? Pretty remarkable stuff. [00:30:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think you can take the 11th too, with the Carver thing after that was explained. I think I buy it. [00:31:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:02] Speaker C: So that a secondary psychicist? [00:31:04] Speaker A: No. So the, the, the. The. What Buzz is talking about is you could make a case that Dallas actually has 11 of these, because in. Was it 09 long ago? [00:31:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:31:19] Speaker A: In 09, John Carver was coaching Toronto. They lost to Dallas 3, 2. And from that game he either got suspended or for some reason in the next game he ended up off the sideline and in the press box. They beat Chivas, but then he resigned two days later after that. So the last game he managed on the field was the loss to Dallas. So does that account? And is Dallas now at 11? [00:31:46] Speaker B: Yeah. No, I think that counts. Yeah. [00:31:48] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we count. [00:31:48] Speaker B: They got him out. You know, it wasn't instantaneous, but they got him out. You know, he was no longer coaching after that game. [00:31:54] Speaker A: It is a remarkable list. The first time Dallas got somebody shit canned was the debut season in 1996. On July 31, Timo was fired from the Columbus Crew after losing to Dallas. They did it again in nine, and then in 99. Dallas not only managed to get one manager sacked, they got two managers sacked in the same season. Brian Quinn from the Clash and then the great Walter Zanga from the New England Revolution. And by the way, they did that in the course of less than 10 days. [00:32:33] Speaker C: That's incredible. [00:32:33] Speaker A: Or two weeks, something like that. In the span of two weeks, they got two managers shit canned in the 99 season. Kurt Onolfo got blown out from the Wizards after getting shelled by Dallas. Six, nothing. [00:32:47] Speaker B: And then. Oscar's the king of this. Go ahead. Yeah. The next rip. [00:32:53] Speaker A: And then, let's see. Odd, odd notes. Twice Dallas has gotten a manager sacked after drawing against Dallas. Mastriani and 17 with the rapids and Remy Garde with Montreal. Both of those games were not losses, they were draws against Dallas. Interesting. [00:33:14] Speaker B: Yeah. So. So Oscar got four guys fired. Adrian Heath in 16, Maestro in 17, Robinson and 18, and Garde and 19. And then there's a gap. Lucci and Nico are a gap. And now Quill's gotten two guys fired. That's right. Last year, Mark Desensitis this year. So, like. Yeah, it's. When Dallas is good, they get people fired. And this is the Dark side of this. It happened. I think it happened some because Dallas is not respected around the league. They're not respected by the league officer, not respected by media. So they're a team that more likely like how the hell did you lose to that crap FC Dallas side? That's what everyone thinks or owners think. Maybe don't pay attention to the nuances [00:33:49] Speaker A: even though when your team beat you and end up as second in the West. [00:33:52] Speaker B: Yeah, well look, look at Oscar getting guys fired when they went back to back 60 point seasons and were the first club in MLS to ever do that and won a shield and tied and didn't win it on tiebreaker for a show. I mean those were amazing teams and people were getting fired. [00:34:05] Speaker A: The 17 season was the, was the crap season. And Mastriani's firing came right at that death knell spiral they went into at the end of the 17 season. Remember that buzz when they bought all those guys to try to win the cup, the, the Champions cup or whatever. But it is remarkable they got somebody shit canned in four seasons straight. 16, 17, 18 and 19. [00:34:30] Speaker B: Well, you're right. 19 is Lucha Gonzalez. That's my bad. 19 is Lucy Gonzalez. [00:34:35] Speaker A: But yeah, it is a remarkable list. [00:34:39] Speaker C: Kansas City has the, the uncanny distinction of being on the list twice. [00:34:43] Speaker A: That's right. The other note is if we are counting the Carver deal, they've gotten managers fired twice in two seasons. 99 and 09. Because an Alpha and Carver would both be from 09. [00:34:58] Speaker B: Well then something went wrong in 19 and look out 20, 29, I guess every decade. [00:35:03] Speaker A: I'm really, I'm really proud of my, of my team. That's my team right there. The coach killers I love. Yeah, yeah, we may not win a lot of championships or whatever silverware, but we'll get your manager fired. [00:35:17] Speaker B: Yeah, that's better than you think, right? Remarkable. [00:35:22] Speaker A: Remarkable stat. And since we love a refereeing controversy, how much anger should LFA LAFC fans have over the disallowed goal? [00:35:36] Speaker B: Boy, a fair bit, honestly. I mean, I suppose that you could make a case that by some letter of the law that that's a foul, but man alive, I would not have called that a foul myself. And when I watched the replay of it, I thought, good Lord, they're going to be pissed. [00:35:52] Speaker A: Well, when I saw, I mean I never, I mean I didn't see too many replays of it, but when they showed the replay of it, I kept trying to figure out what they called and that was like, wait, they called him touching sir. Wa. [00:36:06] Speaker B: And yeah, I mean, he touches him. I don't know that he fouls him and Sir Wa falls over. I mean, those two things happen. He touches him and Sir Wah falls over. I mean, that's what happened. But I'm like, boy, I don't know that that's. I mean, that's. He didn't charge him with his shoulder or hit him or like, you know. [00:36:23] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll say. Inside the stadium, there was no clue as to what happened. There was no real explanation as to why that call back. So when I watched it on the replay, I kind of felt the same way you did, Buzz. It was just like a. What the hell happened there? [00:36:35] Speaker B: But I definitely had my eyebrows raised. [00:36:37] Speaker C: Like, really? [00:36:38] Speaker B: That's. That's what you're calling them? [00:36:39] Speaker A: Hey, man, this is a very good example of us trying to get everybody to calm down when a call went against Dallas earlier in the season. This stuff all balances out, kids. [00:36:48] Speaker B: It does. Yeah. This was definitely a makeup call for something earlier in the game. Yeah, yeah. That can't happen where the ref is pissed off he didn't get something else and all. He's bitching too much. He's like, you know what? You know, fine, here, I'll give you one, you know, right back. Feel free to take this goal off the table. I mean, all the Dallas guys are very convinced there was a foul, but, man, I just was like, oh, McMan, I don't know. That doesn't. Didn't seem like a Val to me. [00:37:11] Speaker A: All right, anything football club Dallas. You want to get into Buzz before we move on? [00:37:16] Speaker B: I don't think so. I think that there's. There's plenty to talk about next week when we start talking, get about getting ready for the Charlotte game. Sort of big picture stuff, but okay, I think. I think that sort of covers most of it. [00:37:26] Speaker A: On the kick around this past weekend, Matt and Sam from Atletico Dallas and Dallas Trinity were on the show. We had a really good conversation with them. They were kind of. They were. We talked about Trinity quite a bit, who unfortunately got their butts kicked the day before against Lexington Dennis and you know, how good is this team? I haven't put my finger on it just how good Dallas Trinity is or is not in this very unusual league they play in. [00:37:56] Speaker C: Well, first of all, if you haven't heard that interview. Absolutely. Go check it out. Worth a listen. I enjoyed listening to it. Catching up this morning on Spotify. So great shot there. But Trinity are exactly who I thought they were so far this season. They're sitting in Fourth place right now after this one. They lost to Lexington. Lexington is a very, very good club who haven't moved up the table yet because they have some games in hand behind quite a few of these clubs ahead of. But they came into this one and they. They. You know, they. They played up to their opponent throughout the first half. They came out pretty even. You know, we started Jamie shepherd again, which was a confusing bit considering her performance and how she's been over the past few weeks and. And realistically, months, right. She hasn't really improved, but she got the hook at halftime and things looked a little bit different after the half. Lexington came out and really attacked with the ball as soon as they got it, and they were able to get up pretty early. They. They nil lead up at, I think 55 was when they scored the first one. And Addie McCain and Cat Berry, who were two of the top goal scorers in the league historically across all seasons, have done. Came out and did what they did, right? They scored three, and they. They set back Trinity a little bit more than I think they expected coming into this one. [00:39:16] Speaker B: Yeah, this is not a good result. This is a. This win by Lexington is more comprehensive than I think even the score line indicates. I know that there's all this talk, Dennis, about these missed opportunities, but those opportunities weren't exactly pristine. There was only one that I would have called a real scoring chance, and that's the one where there's a slight touch of the front post that confuses Hamid. And I think she would have got. [00:39:45] Speaker A: If. [00:39:46] Speaker B: If that touch doesn't happen, I think she scored. [00:39:48] Speaker C: There was that one. There was a couple earlier than that, too. There was a shot that I think Camaro had. There was a shot Hamid had that were just like, right at the keeper, and they had a decent look, but just couldn't get a decent enough shot off to really be competitive. [00:39:59] Speaker B: I think there was a crossbar hit, too, but, you know, those were. Those other chances were more of a hopeful chance and not like a real. Like, that should have been a goal. The point is, is that, like, they gave up three goals on five shots on target. I think it was like this. This is a situation that continues to happen where, like, I don't think the keeping is good enough. And this win like this loss, excuse me, while I was watching, it did not feel like this game was close. This feels like even when they were getting these allegedly getting these champ chances, while they had more possession in the first half, they didn't have the more good moments and Like Cat Barry up top. They did not have an answer for her. They didn't have anyone that could handle that size and power. Braun had her arguably worst game of the year. Hamid had her. [00:40:48] Speaker C: Braun had something going on with her arm, too. She had her arm in like a cast or a glove or something, and that wasn't in training earlier in the week. So I don't know if she picked up a knock and travel or. Or practicing Friday or big cast. [00:40:59] Speaker B: Just this was this. Like, to me, this loss feels much worse than it appears on paper or even, you know, watching the game, I was. I was like, oh, my gosh, this is a throttling. Because. Because it didn't really, to me look like no lesson is defending champs, you know, they've had a little trouble scoring over the course of the season, I think is their problem. But they're still really, really good all over the field. Murray in midfield is terrific. You know, they. They have a pretty solid defense as we saw, you know, shutting out Dallas Trinity. [00:41:30] Speaker C: I think what you, I think what you saw here, though, is that Lexington came out and exposed Trinity's weaknesses. They came out and, you know, Trinity doesn't have a proven goal scorer. They've had goals coming from a few different places. Hamid has, you know, done a great job when she's been moved back to the wing, but she's not a striker. She's not a nine. There is no nine on this roster. There is no pure technical striker on this roster. And so I think that's one of the weaknesses that got exposed. You know, you mentioned Purcell at the back hasn't been the greatest. They. They took advantage of that. There was the second goal that, you know, Purcell came off her line again and she does that quite often and kind of looks a little foolish sometimes when she comes off her line and gets beaten to. And I think those are the deficiencies that Lexington just came in and just exploited and found the weakness. Impressed? [00:42:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I kind of feel like this is a game where maybe Lee, coach Lead Win was a little naive in the sense that his team was feeling really good about themselves and they probably felt like they could just come on the road and play their game and. And, you know, be fine. I'm just not sure that Trinity is good enough yet to be able to just sort of dictate on the road. Look, I talk a lot about when you're good, you play your game and make people adapt to you. Well, Trinity is a middle of the park standing sort of team, in my opinion, so they can't quite go on the road and just dictate the game, especially against the defending champions who were behind them in the standings. But this whole conference is pretty tight other than Brooklyn, who's terrible, you know, so I just don't think that necessarily was a good idea. I, I, I don't know that I have an answer per se. I do have a tactics question that I wonder if, given you have these deficiencies in the back and you have some decent enough center backs, if it might behoove them to go three at the back. Because Henson would be a great wing back and Boatman, with her energy and effectiveness all over the up and down the field, could be a great wing back on the other side. And then you could use Cheese and Brewer and Braun. And then if Lincoln Telly 2 is among a three center back kind of scenario, you tighten up the gaps in the back. The problem with that, of course, is that you have to take off one of your wings. Either Guerrero or Hamid has to come off. Well, you're not taking off Hamid. I don't think Gumero has been great until very recently. She had a good game, the last one. And again you have this nine problem. So probably would have to be like a three, four, three with Hamid and Lancaster sort of underneath seven, I suppose. But this just felt like a game to me where I think Lee is still trying to find his way as a coach and maybe he misstepped a little bit on this one by not trying to focus on what, what Lexington has, which is particularly Murray and, and Barry, who are both absolute handfuls to deal with. [00:44:07] Speaker C: And you know, Cheeseman wasn't in the starting lineup again. She started the last one, but he's been rotating her in and out. She played right back and did really well. You know, I think you can continue to your point. You know, the, the three back is, is kind of what they do when they get forward. Right. They're overload anyway. Right, right, right. So, so when you bring, if you bring in somebody like a Cheeseman move, move Beckman up to midfield and let Beckman do her thing in the midfield and, and just really be a, let her be the six and then you don't have to rely on somebody like shepherd to be, you know, I think, I think Shepard for Cheeseman is the, the swap where you move Beckman into the midfield and it looks a little bit different. [00:44:43] Speaker B: It does. To go three at the back and put back in midfield. I don't know who your right wing back is, but you know, there's just Some ideas there that might work a little. [00:44:52] Speaker C: Could be Cheeseman could be. You know, Cheeseman could get up into that role too when Flynn comes back. [00:44:56] Speaker B: She could. Yeah. That Flynn being Holly makes a very different equation, for sure. I, I just felt like this was a. A game where also Lexington very physical and, and Dallas is not really like a physical game. They couldn't handle a physical game. It kind of knocked them out of being creative. You know, Lancaster struggled with it, I think. I think Seven was struggling with that. Him, he probably got through it, but, you know, Shepard definitely was struggling with that. So, you know, just a game, a learning game, a game sort of that taught. Told you maybe you're not quite as good as your standings were, but shows you maybe some way forward perhaps for Trinity. [00:45:33] Speaker C: Like I said, though, you know, everybody in the top four right now is sitting on seven games played. Trinity is in fourth with 10 points. Lexington only has five games played and they've got nine points. So, you know, realistically, they are. They are probably a good contender for the top of the table again. They. They have an opportunity to go and win the, the first and ever only double. Double. Right. They won the double at the end of. Of last season. And you know, with the season ending also this calendar year, they are very, very good. They're also second and goal differential in the league right now, where Trinity sits at negative two and sits almost at the. At the bottom. You know, there's only two clubs worse than them in goal differential. [00:46:09] Speaker B: With the gameplay play, they're going to hurt. Trinity has also a week off and everybody else but one team plays. So they're going to come back having fun. [00:46:17] Speaker C: Yeah, they'll fall down a spot to fifth no matter what the results are. [00:46:21] Speaker A: As I mentioned, we had Sam and Matt on the show and we, to be fair, unfortunately, we didn't have enough time. We didn't really get into Trinity as much as I would have liked to, but we did talk to them quite a bit about obviously, the Atletico Dallas project and all of the questions that Andy and I have had for a while. And I'll let you go back and listen to that on the podcast, as you wish. But I did. There were a couple of notes out of it that I thought were very interesting. One is they actually gave us a date that they insist will be their first game of the season, and I think it was March 6th of 2027. They disagree on whether or not it'll be a home or away game, but they are convinced that that is actually their first game. Atletico Dallas in the USL Championship. They reiterated their interest or their intent of being one of the debut teams in the Premier Division when it launches assumedly in 28. They. They reiterated their commitment to joining whatever the USL Premier Division is whenever it starts. And it'll most likely be a collection of teams that. Not through merit, but they're like, these are the teams that are doing it, and we're going to. We're going to start them there or put them in there, whether they were first or last in. In the championship the year before, which was an interesting note. [00:47:46] Speaker B: If you're not first, you're last. [00:47:48] Speaker A: Yes. The other thing that they mentioned is I, you know, I was like, hey, guys, you got a. You got games coming up. You need to put a team together. You've named, you've signed Chicharito. You're gonna have to get on the ball here and start. And they're like, well, we've already signed five or six other players, and they're all international players. None of them are from Dallas. And I got the sense that they were all guys currently in USL under, you know, that were coming out of contract or in a contract. But they did say they were close to signing a player from the Dallas area. [00:48:27] Speaker C: And I looked at them on a name. [00:48:29] Speaker A: I said. I said, would that player be Paxton Palm a call. And they just kind of looked at me and went, no comment. I was like, oh, no. And I don't know how I feel about that, but it was a great conversation. Lots of interesting little tidbits about their plans. They discuss how they're going to set up the Cotton bowl and a little bit more degree. I learned a lot from that. And I look forward. I look forward to watching this whole thing happen. They even. They even kind of gave me a bit of a confirmation about the Fort Worth thing as well, too. On the air, you judge. [00:49:10] Speaker C: Don't give it all away, Peter. May people go listen to it. [00:49:12] Speaker B: That's true. [00:49:13] Speaker A: Thank you, Dennis. [00:49:15] Speaker B: Here's a. Here's the key question about Paxton, Peter. If he goes to Athletico and signs there, does he wear 19 or does he go back to his account? [00:49:22] Speaker A: What was his academy number? [00:49:24] Speaker B: I think it was 10. [00:49:26] Speaker A: Well, is that the number Chicharito wants to wear? [00:49:28] Speaker B: Chichario's 14. [00:49:29] Speaker A: Oh, 14, that's right. Yeah, Duh. Yeah. Maybe. I've heard nothing about Paxton playing anywhere, anything. And I was under the impression he very much was concerned that physically his career was over, but maybe enough money can be thrown at a guy and he's healed up enough, he thinks he can do it again. I don't know how I feel about that though. [00:49:49] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know. I don't think I feel about it either. [00:49:53] Speaker C: Feels gross is how it feels. I think that's how I. Yes, that's my first. [00:49:57] Speaker A: That's a good way to say it, Dennis. Yes, it would be gross, but I would. But at the same time, if that is Paxton's path and that gets him back to playing again, I would feel good for him and I would be glad that it's another Dallas team. But it would also feel weird and icky at the same time. [00:50:14] Speaker B: It's very strange. [00:50:16] Speaker A: All right. And then down over in Mansfield, the season is over and since we last talked ding dong Gaul is gone. [00:50:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a bit of a. I'm not going to say it's a surprise. I we talked about it before it happened that I was about 50. 50 that whether he would go or not, you know, between his own decisions to maybe pursue something else and the clubs, you know, I think probably the lack of development now the wording was mutually parted ways. We were pretty sure his contract was up. So they probably just told him, hey, we're not going to renew or not going to extend you or whatever. So he's like, okay, I'm gonna go and go, you know, that's fine. You do it early so you can go get your new coach in and he can go get another job. Perfectly reasonable. Obviously, like he'll. I'm sure he'll be paid by. Through the end of the year because it didn't say they fired him. You know, that's probably a semantic but not a surprise. You know, I think at the end of the day you had to. Yes, the Hunts went to win there, but I think there's been not enough players coming through, not enough development. And I'll probably write something about it eventually just to show what I'm talking about. But I think that's probably. Was writing was probably on the wall. Maybe we undersold it a little bit that it might be coming down the pipe. [00:51:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I remember we talked about it and then suddenly it seemed to happen way faster than I remember recalling from the conversation. [00:51:32] Speaker B: So it happened much faster than I was expecting. I usually that that stuff takes a couple of weeks but they must have already known it was happening and told them really quickly. And I did a thing with three handed. So if anyone was interested, you can go read that and get an idea for why. I think those three names are probably the top of the list for who it could be, it's Chewy Vera, Alex Aldez, and Zach Lloyd are the three people I have at the top of the list. [00:51:55] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, speaking of Zach, it was Dennis. You were at the game. Tell everybody about the hero night. FC Dallas, great night. [00:52:04] Speaker C: Yeah, they had a alumni night, as I think what they officially called it. Fun fact that was actually put together by Garrett Meltzer and Kenny Cooper. They were the ones that actually made that happen and make sure everybody got in and organized that. So, you know, big shout out to them and, you know, they came out and did the light the mat ceremony. You know, Dax did some podcast stuff with them earlier in the week. And Dax got to call the game, which is kind of cool, him being there while that's going on. And pregame, Kenny actually brought the guys over to the supporter section and did a little pregame festivities with them, waving the big Texas flag that Quill waves in victory. So he brought them over for that and got to, you know, celebrate them in front of the supporters as well, which is a really good shout. [00:52:47] Speaker B: I was. Mike Brooks sent me some pictures from the game, and there's a picture of the. Everybody with Dax sort of standing on the field. They're going to do the push the thing for the light, the sign thing. And, and, and I was looking down the list and going, yeah, okay, there's Ronnie. There's, you know, there's Cooper's there. And, and, and I got to the fourth player across and I thought, man, I have no idea who that is. And I stared at it and I stared at it and I stared at it and I had to go look up the list of players. It wasn't Fish. It was Fish. He looks completely different. Unrecognizable. Yeah, yeah, Ronnie. Ronnie doesn't look exactly the same, but I, I can still clearly tell it's Ronnie o'. Brien. [00:53:28] Speaker A: You may want to tell everybody people listening to this may not know him by his nickname, Carlos Ruiz. [00:53:34] Speaker B: I thought everybody knew who Fish was. Carlos Ruiz, El Pescadito. [00:53:38] Speaker C: Not everybody's as old as you two guys, okay? [00:53:40] Speaker B: I mean, come on, he was one of the best goal scorers in his league history. [00:53:44] Speaker A: There are people listening this podcast that were not born when, exactly when Fish was playing for Dallas. [00:53:50] Speaker B: All right, well, El Pescadito, car series, one of whose career ended early for off off field reasons. But he does not look anywhere remotely like the player that I remember in terms of, you know, just the aesthetic. I, I literally had to look it up. I was like I have no idea who that is. [00:54:06] Speaker A: And he does look different. [00:54:08] Speaker B: 100, didn't you reckon? [00:54:10] Speaker A: I wonder if they remembered to invite Brandon Pollard this time. [00:54:15] Speaker B: No, this. They did a bit where they specifically targeted a, like a. A set of years. And this was the red and white hoops era. So it was guys from like a certain sort of like. Which was probably like 2005 to like 2010 or ish. I don't remember what the exact years were, but that's why it was Dax and Ronnie and Fish and Cooper and who was the Zach Lloyd. All guys that were here in that particular bandwidth. You know, the last time around was kind of a burnish, right? It was. It was. Zarka was here and Christ and Dodd, and that's when they forgot to get Brandon Pollard, even though he's here in town, you know, and some of those other guys we pointed out at the time, like, here's guys that live in town that you could get easily. So probably the next growing will be maybe a different sort of group, like maybe a post 2010 kind of. [00:54:58] Speaker A: What would that group be? Who would you invite from a post 2010 group? [00:55:03] Speaker B: Well, David Farreya was in this particular group, so maybe it's even deeper than post 10. It might have to be more like a 2015 to like 2020 kind of window. Yeah. Ideas. Come on. [00:55:19] Speaker C: If you look at the Open cup winning roster. Right. Hedges for some of those names. [00:55:22] Speaker B: Yeah, Hedges. Ryan Hollingshead. Dario Salah, perhaps. [00:55:28] Speaker C: Well, Hollingshead was here this week. [00:55:30] Speaker B: He was here. [00:55:31] Speaker C: He was starting, but he was starting for LA next to. Next to Nakosi defari, by the way. [00:55:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Slightly different era, though, again, Holly said would be. Maybe they're waiting for him to retire. Like, you know, this. Yeah. [00:55:40] Speaker A: The. [00:55:40] Speaker B: The Walker Zimmerman. [00:55:43] Speaker A: No. [00:55:44] Speaker B: Could bring him and Oscar both back and make them stand on. They'll stand on the opposite ends of the row. Yeah. George John, maybe in that era, you know, could have done Drew Moore in the group that was out there now, but he works for Colorado Rapids, so he may not have been available. So. Yeah. [00:56:00] Speaker A: All right. Well, that's interesting stuff. I like the fact that they've got [00:56:04] Speaker B: Castillo is Juan Toha. Last I knew he was in Bulgaria, but that was a long time. He was playing back down in South America year last time I saw him. Interesting. [00:56:13] Speaker A: He's got to have retired by now though, right? [00:56:16] Speaker B: I mean. I mean, David Ferreira retired like last year and he's really like. Yeah, yeah, he was playing somewhere up until like a year ago. [00:56:24] Speaker A: Good lord. [00:56:25] Speaker B: Yeah. Like 40 something when he retired finally. [00:56:29] Speaker C: Yeah, maybe I let it go. Sign. [00:56:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:35] Speaker A: Atletico is going to announce they signed the majority of the 2016 FC Dallas team. [00:56:44] Speaker B: They might. I don't think so. No, probably not, no. [00:56:48] Speaker A: All right. Anything else we wanted? [00:56:50] Speaker C: Yeah, one last bit of Trinity news. The women's international window opens up next month, so there'll be some, some call ups coming up out of there. We've got a few names that we've heard, none that we can officially announce other than one. Mila Brewer, who is the newest signing for Dallas Trinity, who only arrived last month. She's got called up to the US U17 roster and will be representing the US at the U17 World cup in Morocco next month. So they'll be missing her for a good chunk of end October. [00:57:20] Speaker B: Earlier November affect that center back thing discussion we just had. Yeah. [00:57:24] Speaker C: And this is, this is her second U17 World cup because they do that annually now for. For some reason and it's in Morocco again this year. So she started I think all four of her games last year and will likely do that again this year. She is the only professional in the call up list as well. [00:57:42] Speaker B: I was just looking that up because I was pretty sure that was true. She's the only one. But there's another young player from Dallas in that group, Jordan Heathcock who plays for FC Dallas Youth 17s presumably. She actually was on my short list of players. I thought Trinity should seek to do their usual academy player or two. She's one of the ones I would, I thought would have been really outstanding choice if you could get her to come play with you. Certainly talented enough I think given that she's in that team with Brewer. [00:58:07] Speaker A: Also Julian Eyestone is undefeated in his three starts for Rotherham. [00:58:12] Speaker C: Hell yeah. [00:58:13] Speaker B: I have a tiny little Dallas till I die. Shout out. Kirill Figueroa is starting for Honduras's National League team Nations League team tonight. I think it's his third cap but like in a Nations League game is a big deal. He's 20 and he's starting from. [00:58:26] Speaker A: Good Lord, he's 20 now. [00:58:27] Speaker B: He's 20. He, he's actually, he's just now listed in the Liverpool not youth system like their first team. They've loaned him to Port Vale but like so he's now not a youth player for them, you know, not a reserve player. So he's 20 years old and you know he wasn't with SEOs but for a season but we're going to claim him all the way because his dad played pressing down hold on a second. [00:58:47] Speaker A: This may. Hold on. Oh my gosh. We could see a Julian Eyestone Figueroa face off in League two. [00:58:55] Speaker B: That'll be fun because Port Vale is [00:58:57] Speaker A: in League League 2. They are currently. They are currently in the relegation zone in 23rd place and Rotherham is in 13th. Let's see. Does they. Do they show him with any stats? Hold on, I need to see this. I don't. This makes for terrible podcasting, but I. [00:59:18] Speaker B: Yeah, he has him only playing one game for Portville so far, but he's with Honduras right now, so I mean that's like, you know. [00:59:24] Speaker A: Yeah, but I'm trying to see if he is on the. Oh, key roll. Figueroa. Yeah. [00:59:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:31] Speaker A: Okay. Yep. The one game. [00:59:34] Speaker B: Okay, that'd be. That'd be a fun player. Like if he doesn't become a Liverpool player, obviously like a real one, that'd be a fun player for Dallas to try and bring back. I would think like Kira will figure, you know, with Maynard having played here for a good chunk, not his longest stint, but you know, his kid having been here for five minutes before he went to Liverpool, it'd be cool. I mean, I've got to keep an eye on. Right. [00:59:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it absolutely would. And I'm just going to. We need to put this on our calendars, guys. Saturday, December 19th, Port Vale host Rotherham in League 2. We'll get an FC Dallas Academy battle striker. [01:00:08] Speaker B: And if I was still in Dallas, Peter, we could do a whole big old watch party at a bar or something. [01:00:13] Speaker A: Oh, that would be. [01:00:14] Speaker B: You could do that without me. Now that I say that, yeah, we can. [01:00:16] Speaker C: We can make that happen. Let Mike know. I'm sure. Let Mike Pedicolis know. [01:00:20] Speaker A: I'm sure. Yeah. Michael, open it up. We'll get. We'll get Julian's dad to come and enjoy. [01:00:27] Speaker B: Enjoy it as the kick around 3rd degree Christmas party slash Port Vale. Not right. Julian Eyestone, man of a keynote Figueroa derby. [01:00:39] Speaker A: Yeah, that would be. That would be fantastic. All right, very good. All right, I got nothing else. You got anything, Dennis? [01:00:46] Speaker C: Nope. Everybody is. North Texas is done and the boys and the girls are off this week. So go hug your families. [01:00:52] Speaker B: All right, I got a tiny thing because people have asked for this. I. The. The third degree Christmas sweaters are back in the shots because they take a while to get it. So those are a slow process because they have to make them. So like when. If you want one for this holiday, now is the time to go buy one because it'll take a couple months for it to show up. So they're back in the store if you want, if that's your jam. [01:01:16] Speaker C: And Buzz also has a burn available on his Patreon. Go subscribe to listen. [01:01:20] Speaker B: I do. I have sucked at that lately, and I finally. I did one today, so. [01:01:24] Speaker A: I mean, Buzz, people are paying for that. [01:01:27] Speaker B: I know, I know. I've slacked at that. Honestly, the way the team's going, there's not a lot to complain about. So it's like, how many times can you go, yeah, this team's pretty good before People are like, I've heard that. [01:01:37] Speaker A: Was that the. Was that the initial thought of the burn was just a bitch? [01:01:44] Speaker B: No, but it was some things that are on my mind that weren't quite big enough topics for the podcast. And, like, right now, there's not a lot of things that are really, like, bubbling on my brain. This one was like, why I'm not mad that Nolan Norris is starting. [01:01:57] Speaker A: We just want to reiterate. [01:01:59] Speaker C: Don't stop the two of you. Stop giving away. Make people go pay and listen. [01:02:03] Speaker B: Well, you got to listen to it. You got to. [01:02:04] Speaker A: Yeah. But I also want to say out loud because I think. Think over the years, we have given off the air of something different. The point to third degree is not just to complain about Dallas Burn/FC Dallas. [01:02:16] Speaker B: No. And the point of the Patreon is not to listen to my little things. It's to support us as a collective, all of us, you know, in the podcast and the website. The burns are a little bonus, by the way. That was the 694th burn, so it's not like there hasn't been a metric boatload of them over the years. [01:02:31] Speaker C: Best idea building up to 700. [01:02:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:02:35] Speaker A: All right, very good. Well, Buzz, thank you. I hope you stay nice and warm up there in the frigid north. I hope you don't freeze your ass off. [01:02:42] Speaker B: I literally had to turn the heater on last night. Literally. [01:02:46] Speaker A: Just suck it. All right, very good. Thank you, boys. Well, we will. We will do a podcast next week. [01:02:56] Speaker B: Yes. [01:02:57] Speaker A: Okay. Well, I don't know that everybody's off. [01:02:59] Speaker B: We got. [01:03:00] Speaker A: I mean, what are we going to talk about for an hour? [01:03:04] Speaker C: Preview. [01:03:04] Speaker B: Two games to preview. [01:03:05] Speaker A: Okay, very good. [01:03:07] Speaker B: Something we'll find something to talk about. [01:03:09] Speaker A: We can talk about all the kids balling out. [01:03:11] Speaker B: Every time you're like, there's nothing to talk about. An hour and a half later, we're like, yeah, wow. [01:03:15] Speaker A: Well, we didn't even talk about the U.S. men's National Team and all the kids and everything that, you know that actually, we should talk about that. The fact that we're, we're, we're in this weird cycle where Pochettino is playing all these kids, a lot of them from MLS academies and not a single one of them is from FC Dallas. And I do. And it's a weird low spot in the academy. We should talk about that next week. [01:03:35] Speaker B: It's, that's related to why I think John Gall's not here anymore. It's all North Texas in the pathway. It's not flowing. [01:03:43] Speaker A: So what I hear is Buzz saying it's John Gall's fault. [01:03:46] Speaker C: That's what I heard. I heard that, too. [01:03:48] Speaker B: Not completely, but that's part of it. [01:03:49] Speaker A: Okay, there's your tease for next week. [01:03:52] Speaker B: 30 Read the podcast is brought to you by Patreons. Like you. If you you've enjoyed this podcast, enjoyed our coverage of SC Dallas Athletico, Dallas North Texas, SC Dallas Trinity. Why not join us with a little support on the Patreon? Come in at any level you like. If you could even jump up to the discord level and get in on the great conversation that happens there every day. Thanks again for your support. [01:04:15] Speaker A: All right, thank you. DFW Soccer Curious. We will speak to you on that amazingly enticing episode of Third Degree, the [01:04:25] Speaker C: podcast Second Place in the West. [01:04:29] Speaker A: Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast Third Degree the Third Degree Now Podcast Third Degree the Third Degree N Podcast Third Degree the Third Degree N Podcast [01:04:48] Speaker B: Sam.