3rd Degree the Podcast #381

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Dennis, you promised us a book report today. [00:00:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Woo. Third Degree. The Third degree. Net Podcast. Third degree. The Third degree. N Podcast. Third degree. The Third degree. N Podcast. Third degree. [00:00:28] Speaker A: Well, hello there, DFW soccer. Curious. Welcome to another episode of Third Degree, the podcast. There he is. Dennis, how are you? Hello, Petar. I'm good, thank you very much. And live from the Pacific Northwest in a long sleeve, warm looking, sweaterish kind of thing. A Henley waffle. Yeah, the Henley would call that. [00:00:55] Speaker C: Yeah. Peter, I know you said. You said you're good, but you don't sound good. [00:00:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm not feeling great playing her. I'm playing her today, but I will. We had to cancel Saturday's kick around because of it, but here I am doing Third degree the podcast and set the [00:01:12] Speaker D: one that matters. We get [00:01:13] Speaker C: it. Yep. Yep. [00:01:15] Speaker A: Well, it's the one I can do from home easily. How about [00:01:20] Speaker D: they haven't built you a home studio for the kick around yet? [00:01:23] Speaker A: No, no, they have not done that. All right, well, guys, today on the docket, we have two games, one point. Does Eric Quill have a Musa problem? And Pegasus gets a delightfully big win. And we'll get into all of those topics over the course the next however many minutes this takes. We will start with the fact that Dallas, the FC version, had two games since we last spoke. They played a midweek game against the Crew at home, and then they went on the road to the worst team in the league and had a game up in Kansas City. Man, I got to talk about the scenes in Kansas City these days. They just make me nuts and concern me about a whole different wide spectrum of topics. But. And so two games, just one point, boys. And that's not exactly where we were hoping this team would be, considering where they were last time we did an episode of 3 TDP. [00:02:25] Speaker C: Yeah, the. The. This was definitely a stumble. To be fair, a lot of people with the west are stumbling, but this is definitely a stumble. You know, there's various reasons for it which we'll get into, but not the way you want to head into the playoffs, obviously. Thankfully, there's a week left for them to sort of write the ship a little bit. But, you know, some of the stumbles are of their own making and some of them are just other people are desperate to get into the playoffs. So it definitely is not a good moment this particular week. [00:02:55] Speaker A: We'll get into the games individually, but, Dennis, are you in track with me that the team just seems to have reverted back to some sort of weird, like, just at Least in the course of these two games, there's just some sort of revision back into this version of a team that we weren't really enjoying very much earlier in the season. [00:03:18] Speaker D: Yeah, this definitely feels like it was a sort of pre World cup break. FC Dallas. I think some of it may have to do with a little bit of what I'd consider over rotation, but I think, you know, we'll dive into each game individually. But I think when we look at the chemistry between the guys that are actually playing and actually out there on the field, I think it's not what we've seen that's come together over the past, you know, two, three months since the World cup break and since we've been back, this group has really come pretty far. But yeah, for the past week, this is not what we've seen the rest of the season. [00:03:55] Speaker A: Yeah, it is interesting that we're. This is all probably going to sound a bit downerish considering the fact that the team is in second place. And depending on how their game ends up against Colorado, this team has a really, really, really. I mean, the team is essentially locked top four, which is an improbable situation based on not only what we would have thought at the beginning of the season, but even what we were thinking about the status of this team. I don't know, six weeks ago, eight weeks ago. I don't, it didn't feel like that long ago. We were like, is this team going to make the playoffs? And so I, you know, I don't want everybody to listen to this and think, oh, here they are just being Debbie Downers. I think some of it, Buzz, is you, Dennis. You know, I don't even know your whole history behind being a fan of the team, so forgive me if I exclude you from this part of the conversation, but some of this is 32 years of we know how this ends. [00:04:51] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:04:52] Speaker A: And, and probably making some sort of self protective assumptions about how this is going over the course, but let's set that aside for a second and, and do admire the fact that FC Dallas very well may end up being second in the west by the time we do an episode next week. [00:05:13] Speaker C: Yeah, it's getting a little bit ahead of the format, but they can't finish worse than third. I don't think with only one game left, they, they could finish second or third and even to finish third takes a little magic. They would have to lose and San Jose would have to win plus salvage their goal differential because they're a game behind. So like they need. They're behind on goals four. So they have to win the goal differential because even if San Jose wins, they'll just be tied with Dallas. So they need the goal differential to come up a couple of points and get ahead of Dallas because if they tie on goal differential, then Dallas would win goals four. So it's a deep, complicated scenario, but it is possible if Dallas loses that they could finish third. But either way, the biggest difference there is in the second round. Either way, you're going to have home field in the first round and you're going to have. If you finish second instead of third, which is the most likely scenario, you're going to have home field advantage for that second game. Second round as well, which is not a round, it's only a single game, but it's called the second round. And that's an exciting place to be. Like, you know, I think going into the season and even through most of the season, I was pretty confident that playoffs were a certainty. I was expecting not to be fighting to get in. I was expecting to be well in and be looking at like that. I think I actually said fourth to sixth. So like thinking like, maybe they can get a first round game. That was my goal coming in. Okay, first round home field advantages is appropriate discussion point. And they're exactly where. Not only are they exactly where I thought they would be, they're actually ahead of where I thought they'd be. That's really exciting for the future. So you can enjoy the moment and just don't get carried away. Don't go in expecting this MLS challenger level of play. They're not quite there yet. And Peter, you brought it up. The history of this team collapsing in the playoffs, particularly in the history of having to go to the Pacific Northwest, a lot of the time that's less likely now, which is a nice thing. Their history against Colorado in the playoffs, you know, it's just we've been stung many, many times. Somebody in the Discord joked about, [00:07:16] Speaker A: no, no, buzz, buzz. It's not many, it's every time. [00:07:19] Speaker C: Every time. Yeah, [00:07:19] Speaker A: yeah. [00:07:20] Speaker C: Somebody in the Discord joked that, you know, they. Every season they predicted that Dallas was gonna win MLS cup and eventually, like a broken watch, they would be correct. I was like, dude, it hasn't been correct for 30 years. So don't. It's like some of us are a bit jaded and bitten by this idea that they. Even when you thought 2010, when it looked like it was going to be the year, it wasn't the year when Colorado again, bogey team in the playoffs. Colorado went the Eastern Conference route as the fifth place team in the west got to the final and one be Dallas. [00:07:49] Speaker D: Listen, as a fan of long, as a member of long suffering fan bases, as you can tell by the logo on the side of my hat here, you know, never say never. Right? It's a [00:08:01] Speaker A: next hat by the way, for people who can't see through the audio. [00:08:04] Speaker D: I, you know, I had to wear a separate. I had to wear a different hat for you, Peter. I had to make sure we had something. [00:08:10] Speaker A: You've got quite a collection. [00:08:13] Speaker D: But you know, like I said, as a fan of a, Of a long standing fan base that, you know, suffered in silence for many, many years, you know, 50 plus for the Knicks, it's. It's never say never. Right. The possibility is there, weird things happen, incredible runs happen and, and sometimes the power of friendship is all it takes. [00:08:31] Speaker C: Yeah. At least you're not a Metro Stars fan who. That's a program who arguably has been better than FC Dallas all, all the time and has not won it. And they keep losing it. And the play, it's got to be worse for them. At least. At least FC Dallas is mostly positively mediocre. Ish. To. To slightly good. Not like winning the use west, all east all the time. [00:08:50] Speaker A: Mediocre. [00:08:51] Speaker C: Yeah. Better. Slightly better than mediocre. Ish. We used to say FCL's better than you think all the time. But then the last 10 years since what I. You can only classify as the Zenoda era, it has not been as good as it was in the Clavijo and Ligon era. So. But right this season though, this season looks great. I mean you gotta admire what Quill's doing. At some point I'll. I'll be sure and tell everybody I told you so about hiring Quill as a coach. So I think it's been fantastic and he's doing a great job. And, and there's. There's a little more synergy now between the front office and the coach, which I like. It's not perfect, but it's better than it was under Nico Sevres or Lucha Gonzalez. So that's an improvement. You know, I like, I. Last week I got a lot. We have a lot of credit to Sander or in Delhi. I think he deserves it. So, you know, I'm pretty positive about where the team is in the progression. Remember, it's all about the cycle. This is only year two, so this is a good place. Good place to be. Even if we did see them stumble this week they're in a good place. It [00:09:49] Speaker A: just dawned on me when we talk about cycles and especially because Dallas has recently been through multiple three year coaching cycles, how are we going to, how will we define Quill's third season? Because of the mini season next year? [00:10:07] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:10:07] Speaker A: Will it be like kind of like a third and a half? [00:10:11] Speaker C: No. Season three is the mini season. Yeah. [00:10:14] Speaker A: Really? [00:10:15] Speaker C: Yeah. Because of you. I think you have to look at what matters in the end of the day is playing for championships, playing for titles in this league. [00:10:27] Speaker A: See, [00:10:28] Speaker C: that's what matters most. So that's me. But. No, [00:10:30] Speaker A: no, but what I'm saying is, is that if at the end of the mini season Quill hasn't done something of note, either not make the playoffs or make the playoffs and get bounced out quickly, do you think his job is in danger at the end of the mini season? [00:10:44] Speaker C: Well, I don't think that's going to happen, number one. But if it, if it were, I think he's probably earned a little bit of street cred because of how well this season has gone [00:10:53] Speaker A: and [00:10:53] Speaker C: the team's going up steps, you know, like I really don't think that's going to happen in the mini season, but I think you count that as a legit season. Three, because you're going to make a team, you're going to play and then you're going to have playoffs and then you're going to have another window of starting a new season. 4. I mean it's, it's a short season, but it's a season. Like we don't discount 2020 as a season just because it was the COVID season and only had 22 games or whatever it was. This one's going to be even shorter, but it counts as a season. [00:11:23] Speaker E: It's the tiny season. [00:11:24] Speaker C: Yeah, it's just a tiny season. And granted we. The most absolutely thing ever of course would be this would be the one you win. So there'll always be an asterisk. Dennis, [00:11:32] Speaker A: I [00:11:32] Speaker C: do, [00:11:33] Speaker A: I do appreciate fact that the people in the discord, in Buzz's discord have essentially just all accepted that if we, if Dallas ever wins MLS cup, it will be the sprint season and it'll always be known as the asterisk season and they seem completely fine with that and I, I appreciate [00:11:49] Speaker C: that. I don't think, you know, the asterisk will come from other fan bases. You know, it's like, I don't know, I think [00:11:55] Speaker A: we would, we may be willing to get pass it on there too. [00:11:58] Speaker C: I'll throw an asterisk on there. But a title's a title. Like if they win it in the sprint season, great. You won an MLS cup, man. That's all that matters. It's like it doesn't. The asterisk. Who cares? You know, [00:12:08] Speaker D: to tie it back to the. The NBA. You know, again, people, People count that. That Lakers bubble season, right. And everybody except Laker fans put an asterisk on it. But Laker fans are they. They counted among their rings. [00:12:23] Speaker C: Yeah. This isn't MLS is back. The little mini tournament thing that they say [00:12:27] Speaker D: MLS is back is back. [00:12:29] Speaker C: Yeah, well, no, that was a little, tiny little mini tournament. That was like a little cup. That wasn't a season. They really played a whole season after that. You know, remember Dallas got kicked out of that MLS back cup thing. They still played a whole season. This is the thing. [00:12:44] Speaker A: That's right. Because of the, because of the Cheez [00:12:46] Speaker C: it. Yeah, because of the cheese. This is just a weird season, but it's still a season. [00:12:50] Speaker A: Wait a second. Is Cheez its on the list? [00:12:53] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. [00:12:56] Speaker A: And then getting kicked out of the. Out [00:12:57] Speaker C: of [00:12:58] Speaker A: the back. Out of [00:12:58] Speaker C: the tournament over it. [00:13:00] Speaker A: God, man. I haven't read it in a while because I don't remember [00:13:02] Speaker C: it [00:13:02] Speaker A: being on there. I'll have to go back and look. Are you sure? [00:13:05] Speaker C: Well, I mean, if it's not. I'm gonna. You [00:13:08] Speaker A: keep talking. I'm looking [00:13:09] Speaker C: fired if that's not on there. [00:13:11] Speaker A: They have. Well, that's my. Yes, that would be me. So I'm probably getting ready to seal my own doom. What [00:13:16] Speaker C: year? [00:13:16] Speaker A: That would be 2020, right? All right, I'll look this up. [00:13:19] Speaker D: This master. Check it out. [00:13:21] Speaker A: Well, hold on. Yeah, I'm almost there. [00:13:23] Speaker D: Well, while you're looking that up, I, I can report back that I did read Sandro's book on my flight home this week. So give [00:13:29] Speaker C: us the book report. Yeah, [00:13:30] Speaker D: all 47 pay or whatever pages. It was honestly, I mean, when you read his theories and his thoughts about how, you know, this stuff works, it makes a lot of sense. The book itself was very short. I do like where his approach and where he's coming from, what he talks about. However, I would have liked to hear some more examples of how this actually worked. This was very, like, theoretical of, like, this is what I do and this is. This is how we operate. These are the things we look at and this is the data we use. But there wasn't any sort of examples of like, this is a success story. The only, the only Time a player was even mentioned, I think was when he claimed to be the one who discovered Kaka. So there's that. [00:14:11] Speaker C: I mean if he did, that's a hell of a [00:14:16] Speaker A: Congratulations you. I, I was successful including it on the 2020 list. The it is, it is posted as the club is the first of two teams sent home from the league's MLS's Back tournament in Orlando due to the spread of the COVID virus within the team. By our count, 10 players and two staffers in total tested positive in Orlando with three player cases from the month before in FR. But holy cow, in looking at this, what a year the season 2020 was. It's the Jesse Gonzalez season. It is the Reggie Cannon national anthem season. It is the Cobra and Dresnik going hey, I'm not coming back to from Europe season. Good lord, what a season of stuff for the list. There's a [00:15:03] Speaker C: lot of discussion at the time, remember with 12 and the cheeses on the plane and all that stuff. And I'm not going to say any names, but there was some, some of the young people were involved with a birthday party right before that. Right. Like within the days before that whole thing happened that were to my mind was probably the biggest instigator in the COVID spread at that point. [00:15:25] Speaker D: So where do Cheez its fit in here? Because I don't think I, I underst. I don't think I as a newer fan, I don't think I really got that reference. [00:15:32] Speaker A: There was a. What was. They [00:15:34] Speaker C: were on the plane. [00:15:35] Speaker A: It was a bag they were eating. They were on the plane all sharing bags of cheeses. Okay. Taylor Twelman went on national television because, you know, Taylor wanted to rant about how people were being Covid insensitive or something because, you know, he's a social justice warrior and he, he, I. It was the most ridiculous thing. It was like he was doing Scott Van Pelt show or ESPN FC or something and the camera was really close up on him and he was like eating Jesus like they were shooting heroin or you know, I don't know, Fentanyl laced vaping or something like that. And, and so I turned it into one of my famous, one of my finest memes of all time. [00:16:25] Speaker C: You [00:16:25] Speaker A: remember [00:16:25] Speaker C: that one of the, one of the big payoff hits from that was him doing like an MLS cup pregame stand up in front of a Cheez it sideboard. I don't know he did on purpose, but it was. [00:16:35] Speaker A: Oh, that's right, I remember that. Yes. [00:16:39] Speaker C: Anyway, that's [00:16:40] Speaker A: good Stuff. Sorry, I. That was my fault. I got us completely off course. Let's go back to last midweek as the Crew came to town and Dallas dropped an absolute turd, losing two to nothing to the Crew. [00:16:55] Speaker C: Dennis hinted at this. Quill overcooked it. You know, we talked about the rotation, we talked about going in that there'd be some light rotation. I thought, I was thinking a couple of players and he went like on a full half team rotation. He overdid it. You know, I get that it was the midweek game, but you know, he rotated out Kaik, which in particular meant Ramiro started three straight games in a week. And of all people that need to be rotated, it's Romero because of his age and his immobility like so to play him three straight starts this week is a really bad idea because he overcooked the crew rotation. It meant that he had to rotate back and so. And cost other issues against Kansas City, you know, I just. It was not. I think he overthought it and we have to remember that. I just said Cole's doing an amazing job. He is doing an amazing job, but he's still relatively young as a head coach. You know, he coached North Texas. That's not anywhere near the same. He coached one or two seasons in New Mexico. So he's got a little bit of a head coaching experience. But like this playoff crunch, you know, MLS level focus is just maybe a little stumble there. The bottom line is like the three get the three or four laws, I don't remember how many is exactly that I can think of off top of my head. It's when they've gotten cooked in the midfield, over, over dominated in the midfield. You go back to the Toluca game, you can look at that Vancouver loss. You can look at this Crew loss. Oh, it happened in Charlotte too. The Charlotte lost. The midfield gets dominated, you know, and when you don't have Kaikin there and he, he went with the Capis Romero in midweek against the Crew. I have been talking about the previous week or two before I thought Capus was outplaying Romero, but you can't really play without Kaik at this point. You can't. You don't because neither Capus nor Romero individually have a motor to make up for the other guy. Capis is more mobile than Romero is. But as long as you have Kaik in there, both of those guys are fine now because Kite doesn't speak any English at all. Ramiro Kaik works better than Kappas Kite, but they're both relatively functional working systems, Ramiro Capis is a bad idea. And that got overworked. And in particular these two games. Peter, you alluded this earlier too, was that we saw a little more of this defensive mindset because they heavily rotated. They sort of sat back and played this little defensive mid block that we had seen much earlier in the road games. It for sure happened in sports, sporting. They sat back even further and played even more defensively. Gave up some of the positivity. We've seen the wing back stop playing up at midfield. They were playing back further or to play defensive, you know, because Abubakar's in there. So like you're sitting guys deeper, you know, it's just. It didn't work. It wasn't good. And, and watching them make a change in philosophy, like these last two games has been bothersome in the sense of what had been working. So overall, just a moment of like, oh my, you know, like, thankfully, as I said, there's another weeks ago. So you can get right with yourself and you can just go, you know what? I got one game and it's the playoffs. I'm going full boat. No more of this rotation crap. You know, rotation is a tough, fragile business and when you overdo it, you can. The last time you overdid it was Vancouver, and that was a bad game too. [00:20:11] Speaker A: And I thought what was particularly concerning about this game was just how, I mean, not that Delgado's been great all season, but the whole entire right side of Delgado and Benyamin were awful. It was just. It was in. Which was weird. And I don't know if one affects the other. I don't know if Benyamin's game fell down because Delgado in front of him is playing so poorly or what, but. And then at some point, guys, we're going to have to have a conversation about Santi Moreno and his value to this team and what he actually brings and is he a DP worthy signing next season, etc. Etc. [00:20:49] Speaker C: Yeah, that. That the Moreno discussion can wait for the off season, but you're right that this, the two games this week, Benjamin did not set himself in glory. Johansson outplayed him in both games and I think that that dude is responding really well, perhaps because of the weather, but also just because of the challenge. Binyam, I mean, did present for a couple of weeks there where it looked like he'd actually won the job. But Johannes has gotten it back, played some of the best soccer of his Dallas career, and he even said that he's getting much more comfortable and that he was getting used to the United States and getting used to the new league and the team and the style and all that stuff. So he feels a lot better than he did, say three months ago, you know, so that's good to hear. That's a positive step on his part. But just in general, like the. One of the other problems from this particular game is, is that Norris played left center back. And I think Morris is a perfectly servable defender. But when you got Bernie over there, Bernie's not going to help you. And so really like one of the reasons why they've settled into this Ibiaga playing is because when Ibiaga plays, they can put Shaq Moore on the left shock Moore is capable of defending on his own without Bernie helping. Well, Nolan isn't quite there yet. No one's not shackmore yet. So Nolan is not really good by himself. He needs help. You know, he can't leave Bernie just wander around and lack the. The second goal the Crew scored, for example, Bernie was way out of position and Norris had to go way outside to cover. And that left only two center backs in the middle when they played that ball in. And Ben Yamim was. Didn't drag his guy early enough. So like the thing fell apart because Bernie was out of position. So, you know, that side is a problem unless Shaq Moore is over there. That's why we've talked about how really at this point, Ibiaga is going to be the way forward for the playoffs, even if Nolan is a guy you really like for the future. And this comes back to the idea of Bernie being a problem. He doesn't really have a player for that side, which is why he tried to use Benjamin over there in the next game to try and cover up that defensive. Of course Nolan was out, but if I was back in. And so you're trying to. And Abu Car was back in, so you're trying to again cover up with a defender like Benjamin on the outside. And again they sat too deep. So Quill's pitch preached a lot about mindset. I think the mindset in both these games was wrong because the tactics were wrong in both games. And Quill said he got the tactics right against Sporting. I don't think he did. I think he got the tactics wrong in that one as a result of it being wrong in the Crew game. [00:23:12] Speaker D: Peter, you mentioned Delgado and he was tough to watch in this one at home. There are quite a few plays that he just sort of gave up on and was just jogging down after and just a lot of missed opportunities for him to really just make an impact on the game and, you know, like I said, just seeing him jog off a play and walk off a play when he was a out of position to begin with and then, you know, watch the ball get turned over and he just sort of trails off a little bit as Columbus was going the other way. His positioning and his just, just body language and everything else was just really, really poor in this one. And frankly, I don't think he deserves to get back into this lineup anytime soon, considering how tight things are going to be. [00:23:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I completely agree with you. I guess the problem is both those guys were so bad they got pulled off at halftime and in their place, Daniel Jobe comes on and moves over to the left, Moreno moves over to the right, and then Johansson comes in where Benjamin was. And I'm not sure it dramatically changed the game much. I, I'm trying to remember because now it's been, you know, several days since the game happened. But was the, either one of you think the team suddenly started playing dramatically better with that change? It hasn't. [00:24:31] Speaker C: Didn't solve the midfield problem. You know, Rodriguez for the Crew was the player of the match day in the league and he had an amazing, amazing game and he's playing that. They play the same 3, 4, 3 with the two tight guys. So he's playing the same in the Dallas system. It's where Valiente plays that sort of right side, false wing, underneath, ten kind of bits. And he had a field day. And part of that's why Kamuga was kept over, tracking him up into the middle field and leaving Nolan exposed, who then would have to go out and try and cover Farsi by himself, which is not good. So, you know, it's that central part where you're missing Kaik. And so you had a combination of Ramiro Capus, Knowles, Comingo trying to handle that guy and they didn't handle him, he got, he cooked him. So like bringing Job in and putting him up at left wing, that didn't solve any of that. Had nothing to do with that. Johansson in for Ben Yamin helped improve that side. That didn't solve that left side either. So there really wasn't because you were, you didn't really have anybody on the bench other than. Well, now that I say that, you have both Abubakar and Ibiaga there. So like you could have done something in terms of trying to bring a defender to that side, but Quill didn't seem to think that was the issue, I guess, because he didn't do that. And maybe he was just hell bent on resting the defense because. Because we've talked about how overworked those guys are. You know, just at the end of the day, what ailed that game was because I think they, they over rotated and had too many pieces. The front end came apart, as you mentioned, with Delgado, Moreno. The back end came apart apart because of the. Bernie Camingo, Norris and I, I actually think Romero was more on that side in that game than Cavus, even though they don't list it the other way. But I'm not really sure. It doesn't matter. Neither one of them are capable of covering the right kind of ground. I really have helped in that situation. So it has to do with, you know, that general midfield area just dominating Dallas when they get into trouble. And bringing Job in doesn't fix that. [00:26:29] Speaker D: I think, you know, after they gave up that first goal, they just kind of looked dejected and just kind of gave up on it. I think they came out with a little bit more energy to start the second half. But then the fiasco happened with Shaq Moore's goal that was given and then taken away and then given and then taken away again and whatever that debacle came to be. But, but once that was off the board, I think the, the air just sort of came out of the building and came out of the guys and, and you know, they just, they. They were resigned to, to a loss there by then. [00:26:58] Speaker C: You know, what made me mad about that decision was not the decision itself, it's how long it took. [00:27:03] Speaker D: It was, it was, [00:27:04] Speaker C: they were. It [00:27:05] Speaker D: was a disaster in the stadium [00:27:06] Speaker C: about it for like two or three minutes and they get lined up to kick off again and then they stood there for another minute and a half. I was like, what is Bar doing? It's like, either let's go play. I was like, I don't even want to argue about whether it was offside or not. He was definitely in an offside position. All that mattered to me was like, is he in the play or not? But that's a whole different ball of wax. My problem was it was like five minutes before they kicked off. And that's [00:27:27] Speaker D: so confusing in the stadium too, because we had no idea what was going on all around the building. And so the goal, you know, it looked like a goal went in and then, you know, the smoke went up from the section and all that went on. And then the goal never went on the board. And then, you know, about two Minutes later they put the goal on the board and then just as they were about to line up, like you said, Buzz, then they went to var and walked over to the screen. [00:27:51] Speaker A: Has pro ref come out with any kind of explanation or did they do any kind of a post analysis of [00:27:57] Speaker C: it? I've seen in [00:27:57] Speaker A: the review stuff. I'm curious as to what triggered the whole back and forth of the confusion on it because I'm with you guys. I. It was by the letter of the law. He's offside and he's going for the ball and he plays the ball, blah, blah, blah. It should have been pretty cut and dry. So I'm curious as to where [00:28:15] Speaker C: the [00:28:15] Speaker A: confidence [00:28:16] Speaker C: kind of old school. Like for me, the Musa in that. Because Musa doesn't get involved with the play. Like he's just there. I'm like, for me that's not involved in the play, but I'm not down with like this new school stuff where like just by your presence you're involved. That's kind of how it goes now. So like he was clearly in an offset but position, but his whole arm was sticking past the guy. So based on the way they're currently calling it. So I don't have any real complaints about the call. I just have complaints about how long it took and that really. And then to get overturned. That took all the steam out of the building and out of the team. Like, we're waiting and we're waiting. We've scored. We're waiting and waiting. No, we haven't. Oh, you know, like that was to me a big problem in the moment. [00:28:54] Speaker A: Yeah. And. And, and not much later, Buzz's hero of the game scores and makes it two nothing and pretty much all she wrote on the evening. [00:29:04] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:29:05] Speaker A: So there you go. So the other big thing that comes out of this game, which really is a problem, which turned out to be a problem, is the fact that Shaq Moore and Nolan north both get yellow cards, which then sets up a suspension for both of them for the following game, which is the Kansas City game, which ended up not great, guys. I mean, this is a really disappointing result. I know it's on the road and I know winning on the road in MLS is hard, but Kansas City is a brutal, brutal team having another brutal, brutal, brutal season. There is literally so few people in the stadium in Kansas City. You can count them individually on tv. It is in I. Before we get into. I'm just. I find the whole story of sporting Kansas City and the downfall of that organization from where it was when it got bought and that stadium got built and everything was like that's how MLS needs to be done. To where it is right now is there's probably a master's thesis or a doctoral thesis that could be written about that. It is remarkable how [00:30:10] Speaker C: these eight years of poor performances have really hurt them. Admittedly they're in a tough spot because their academy is garbage. Like there's just no talent in their area at all. You cannot. So they basically can't count on academy production to get them homegrowns really. They have to rely on college picks and they have to rely on foreign signings. So when they get they got a little. They tried to go too long with the Venice here. They tried to carry those guys too deep into their careers because they were really, really good for a long run there. Espinosa and that group, you know, all those different guys that all played into their 30s and so then they had to do a full rebuild and rebuild misfired and then now they're sunk for three straight seasons because of that and but the, the team as it is now has like four of the fastest six players in mls. Play for Sporting Kansas City. They're quick, super quick. And because you're missing more is the one that's killed you. Norris would have been rotated down anyway, but missing Shag Moore, that means you can't. He's one of the few guys that can one on one defend in your team at pace. You know, maybe Oz can of course, but maybe I'll gets turned and he gets in trouble. So they got Abubakar in there, which is why I'm pretty sure they started Benjamin in the left to try and help him defensively. And then they have Ramiro start for a third straight game so he's tired and puts up one of his worst points performances of the year. And again they get cooked in midfield. Now you brought Job back and brought Valiante back, but because you wanted to rotate Musa, now you're starting Santi Moreno because Farrington's still hurt, I guess questionable at best, you know. So like again because you over rotated against the crew, now you has a consequence. You're missing two defenders and you're stuck rotating back but yet playing pieces you probably didn't want to play and it again goes south. And I'm concerned that Daniel got rotated. He must still be struggling with that leg or something because I don't know why that happened. That shouldn't have been a rotation unless he's really hurt and still had some sort of minor aggravation or something. So, you know, [00:32:02] Speaker A: I wanted to. Actually, I'm glad you brought up Daniel, because I was thinking about his performance that I've seen so far, and I was thinking a little bit about the Serat performance in against Kansas City. Are they one, half a dozen of the other to you in terms of who you want to start, or do you either one of you have a clear, this guy's better than the other? [00:32:23] Speaker C: For me, Daniel's clearly better when he's healthy, but with him not being healthy, Serwa might have to start being considered. Dennis, where are you on that? [00:32:31] Speaker D: I think Daniel is the better of the two keepers. I think he's got the little bit better of a distribution over the top. He's got a little bit better of a long ball, but sir was a little bit better when it comes to coming off his line and playing out of position and getting involved in the play. So I think there's. There's a. You know, they're different skill sets, but I think overall, Daniel is the guy you want, especially considering you went out and got, you know, spent the money or spent the game or whatever you want for him. I think he is the guy. And. And, you know, add to the fact that he's. He's Brazilian and speaks Portuguese and communicate with these guys in the midfield a little bit better, too. [00:33:04] Speaker C: One of the crazy things [00:33:05] Speaker A: I've heard [00:33:06] Speaker C: lately about Daniel is that he doesn't speak any English is what I hear. And he's been in the league for a while. So, like, in order to be in the States that long and not learn any English, you have to really try to not learn. [00:33:20] Speaker D: English is a hard language to learn. I [00:33:22] Speaker C: know it is, but he's been here for like, what, five years? I mean, that's a long time to be in the States and not learn any English at all. So, like, you have to really isolate yourself to have that happen. But so, like, there is a little bit of communication problem with Daniel to his back line when it's Ibiaga, Shackmore and Oz. You know, I don't. I don't know if Daniel speaks Spanish. He probably speaks Portuguese, and I don't know that any of those three guys speak Portuguese. So, you know, in terms of organization, that maybe is something to consider in terms of the playoffs. And when you have to play your very best defense, it might be that the defense works better with Serwa right now because of that language issue. [00:33:59] Speaker D: I mean, with how many Brazilians you've got, how many is a Brazilian with how many Brazilians you have on this squad, right? These defenders especially have got to found a way to communicate, whether that's hand signals or something else, Right. They. They have to have found a way to communicate amongst them here. But because, you know, it's not like Quill speaks Portuguese either here, [00:34:23] Speaker A: maybe they can invent a language. [00:34:25] Speaker D: There you go. [00:34:26] Speaker A: Like Bernese or something like that. And they can all, you know. Well, [00:34:30] Speaker C: Google says Daniel has been working on his English, but I've. I've heard that he. This is not a non thing. And I know like the talking to Ramiro is a thing, but that's way up the field. It's like you have three guys right in front of you. You know, I'm sure they've been working on it, but, you know, I guess it would be a question of like, how does. There have been people that have commented that the defense looks better with Swah as a group. I don't know if I buy that 100%, but it's a thing. [00:34:57] Speaker A: Well, the club made a really, really big deal out of the signing of Mr. Job, who got the start in this game. Man, I, we. I think we asked this question once before on this pod, maybe as recently as last week. Is he the fastest player in this club's history? I mean, the dude's pace is unbelievable. [00:35:17] Speaker C: I mean, we've had that conversation. He's definitely up there. I would have to see some sort of game metrics, but I'll tell you, like, that MLS has this metric where they track top speed in games, and Ibiaga has had the top speed this season, all season, and Job is not past him in that stat. [00:35:34] Speaker A: Have they done it since Jobe joined the team? [00:35:36] Speaker C: They do it every game. It's a, it's an inside the game metric for like what your top speed you reach is. And that's like when I said that four of the top six guys in the league play for Sporting Kansas City. That's what I was talking about. [00:35:47] Speaker D: We talk about how it's one of the oldest dudes on the field that has the top speed. [00:35:51] Speaker C: We've talked about this before. The Ibiaga is straight, is fast in a straight line. It's when he has to spin or turn that he has a problem because he's 39 years old or 52 years old or whatever it is. You know, not as old [00:36:02] Speaker D: as Romero. [00:36:02] Speaker C: The point is that, yeah, this is a pretty much. The point is, is that like Job, as quick as he is, has not taken that metric away from Bibiaga in terms of like what's in the game notes. I don't have access to that raw data myself, but so you know, it's While he's definitely fast, I don't know if he is on paper as fast as he is by the eye test. [00:36:23] Speaker A: I I realize he has just gotten here and he's had only a handful of games to show off his wares and it will take time for somebody to come from the second division of Norway to MLS and figure out the league. But his pace is good enough and he continues to put himself in situations where it appears to my untrained eye Buzz that all he has to do is continue to beat the guy that he's already beaten and he's got an opportunity to go at goal. Yet I and I don't know if this is something they are instructed to do because Bernie also does this way too much except he does it at that weird loping Bernie pace that he tends to do things at these days. Joe will go a thousand miles an hour. He will clearly have the edge over whoever is marking him towards goal and then he will just stop, cut the ball back, look up and square it in the midfield or he'll get all the way to the box and he'll play a blind squared ball to nobody in the box. And, and I, and I really do. I can't believe I'm saying this. I would really love to see this guy get a little bit of Castillo selfishness in him and try to see what he can do because he's so much faster than anybody. He continually, continuously gets matched [00:37:36] Speaker C: up. I have some guesses. One of them I think is, as you say, just getting used to the league, getting used to his team and his teammates. Probably trying to not be selfish. Probably trying to play for the team. I'm the new, I'm the and I appreciate it. I'll give you all that. The other thing I will point out is that he's right footed, he's playing on the left wing. So some of the blind crossing he's doing is because it's he that's not his dominant foot. If you think about when he's on a dead sprint and he's beating a guy in order to like turn and go by him on his opposite bad foot, he needs his left foot to be able to round a guy and that's not his good foot. So I think that's why he stops and comes back, is because then the ball's on his good foot. If he stops, it comes back. You see what I'm saying because like if you're shielding inside defender and you're trying to beat him and turn in towards the goal, that's your left foot, foot and it's not a very good left foot. So if he was on the right, for example, he would be able to go, his crosses would be better. They'd be with his eyes up and he would be able to turn and take a guy towards the goal. Now if he was on the right, he couldn't come in on his right foot because he'd be coming in on his left foot if he comes under inside. So that's why switch foot wings are a thing, right is you want to come in and shoot on your power foot, which is why he's on the left even though he's right footed. So it's a trade off and why he's doing that but he wants to play so wide, you know, I, I, I think it's, I think that kind of thing is something that'll come with time as he figures out how to use the, in this league what's going to work best for him and in this team what's going to work best with him. And I think the tactics are going to change next year so that position will change slightly how it's going to work. You know, it's just a work in progress. The thing is though, is that even given all that, he's still better than whatever option they have. Like he's the. Yeah, so. [00:39:24] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I think, I, I think for me, I'm, I'm, I'm, I don't know if the right word is disappointed or surprised or whatever that he is so one footed. I was hoping that for the amount of hype and money they spent on the guy to drag him out of a league, nobody watches, that he would have had some like a skill set to do this thing because he has this tremendous gift of speed. And I found it interesting that Kansas City, either A, because they're just tactically not very smart or B, they knew he was going to stop and cut back anyway. They weren't even trying to double him. [00:40:00] Speaker C: Yeah, you want to defend him by letting him have the end line because of that footedness. Right. You don't want to let him cut back into his right foot. You don't want to let him turn you, you know, you want to take him to the end line and which is why he's blind crossing, you know. But again, I, you know, that's, this is a minor nitpick for a guy who's clearly demonstrating that he makes the team better already doing what he's doing. You know, I think with, if he had, if Quill had him for like four more months longer than he did, and that's just a case of the window, it's not Quill's fault, he would be more integrated, more effective and better using him, you know, to, to be decisive in these games. So I, [00:40:35] Speaker A: yeah, [00:40:36] Speaker D: I think if you look back earlier in the season, this is what I think is it's a little bit more of a training and instruction thing that it is a, A, you know, a lack of, of, of aggression or anything like that. If you look way, way back early towards the beginning of the season, there were a lot of low driven balls that resulted in tap ins from both Musa and Logan. There was a lot of, you know, square balls being played into the middle, balls coming up out from behind the box, but they were just sort of low driven balls and they resulted in just a little quick foot tap in from, from both strikers. Right. And so I think that is what they are trying to replicate. I think that to a certain extent, I think, you know, and if, if anybody had been in the box on a couple of those, there might have been a couple of goals out of them. But unfortunately, as they were coming in those, those low square balls, there was just nobody there, there was nobody home, there was nobody to actually finish the play except for the one time when, you know, Valiente put it into the 37th row. [00:41:28] Speaker C: Yeah, the biggest issue here with Job is that he's supposed to be playing like Valiente and like Santa Marino does that underneath narrow 10 in this particular 3, 4, 3 formation. Job is not supposed to be the wide channel that's supposed to be communo. He's supposed to be inside and he's obviously not very comfortable inside. But that would change a lot of the dynamics about what foot he was on. I'm not sure that in that narrow position that his pace would be as effective because of this tactic, because of where he's playing, where Santa Marino dribbles through three or four guys. Valiante plays these passes, right? So like, I'm sure the idea is if he's going to be this wide winger instead that Kamungas was to come underneath. Maybe that's why Kamuka keeps getting caught inside all the time. So it's, it's, you know, again, this is one of the minor flaws we're talking about that keeps Dallas from at this point yet being a real contender is because of this disconnect. In the tactic with the profiles they have that don't quite match, you know, so there's a. There's a school of thought that actually in terms of winning, Santia Moreno might be a better choice in terms of playing with opposite Valiente in the start because of this fact. [00:42:33] Speaker A: Yeah, sorry. Yeah. At this point I'm not sure if Jobe is the starter because he doesn't appear yet to know how to play that more kind of attacking midfield role versus constantly trying to play as a winger because that's not what the system is. But going back to what I asked earlier, I just don't know if Moreno is it like he just. I. You can tell he's talented and you can tell there's something in there, but it just doesn't seem to have a lot of motivation. And he. He's. You know, we. We've talked about this many, many times over the years for players like that. You expect them to be the type of player that grabs a game by the throat and just dictates things. And he is yet to show that for Dallas, at least with any consistency. Which then takes us to the comment that Dennis was making about the square balls finding nobody in the box, which is also the thing where we out, you know, the. The big kind of overarching question, which is does Eric Quill have a pet or Musa problem? Because Musa is starting to exhibit some attributes and attitudes that I think some of us have. I think most of us have all picked up on and it started to wonder if something's going on there. Buzz. [00:43:53] Speaker C: Yeah, he's always been somewhat demonstrative and negative body language. He's admitted that. He just says it's just the way he is. And he does. He historically has responded quickly from when he's had those moments, but it's getting worse and it's now carrying over between play this negative sort of body language, this negative way he's carrying himself. And I think it's starting to impact the team. He's missed two of the last three PKs, although the one in this last game was just an amazing save by Cleveland. But nonetheless, you know, you. You want a guy of his caliber to convert PKs for sure. [00:44:22] Speaker A: He's also got a new thing where he's picked up Jesus Blas Perez. Itis coming back into the midfield [00:44:30] Speaker C: again. Those are games that the midfields are getting dominated. Right. This is what we're talking about, the midfield, the inability to progress to the midfield when the wing backs sit back. And that's happened now in A couple of games and he's not getting the ball. He's come back looking for the ball, which what you don't want, you want him up high. It's related to the idea of like again, Job is a bad fit for this particular tactic. He's not where you would need him to be to make this tactic excel. If he was underneath there, that play might come through the middle war and l might. Musa might not be coming back to fill that hole because Job's wide and Kuma is both wide. So Mo is coming back into that space. You don't want to see in that. It's why I actually think there's a non zero chance that Kaik as a 10 might come back for the playoffs. When you're playing really, really good teams, particularly ones that want to build out of the back, you bring Kaikin as that high pressing 10 that we've seen it a couple of times. Quill's got in his back pocket. He hadn't done it much because I think he doesn't want to show it off. But then you end up with a Romero campus double midfield, you know, And Dallas is at its best when they turn you over high. Right. So it's like I think that's a legit possibility that we might see a lot of that in the playoffs because of the fact that Joe doesn't fit this tactic, because of the fact Moose is out of source because he's not getting the ball into his feet, because of the fact he's coming back looking for it, occupying that same space. It's all connected. It's all, [00:45:43] Speaker A: yeah, [00:45:44] Speaker C: the hip bone. [00:45:45] Speaker A: I love that idea of Kaik as a high pressing 10. Except for the fact that he's just not a very good passer. [00:45:51] Speaker C: No, but when he forces those turnovers, they can pounce on it and score quick if other people are aware and ready when the ball comes loose. And Musa for example, is a guy that really is really good to take advantage of that normally speaking. And to be honest, Moose has been for me out of sorts since this most recent Nation League call up where he got played half a game and got yanked at halftime. Didn't play again since then. To me he's been out of sorts. So hopefully this next window is going to come in the middle of the playoffs. He'll go. He hasn't been. There's no not roster yet, but hopefully he'll go and have good things happen and he'll come back feeling good about himself, I hope because I'm afraid that's what it is. The [00:46:23] Speaker D: body language has just been all off. Even, even when, you know, they do score and he does get, you know, the goals he has scored. He just looks very, I don't want to say unhappy, but just disappointed and, and just, just not good enough. Right. He just looks like, like what is happening out there is not good enough for him, both his, his own performance and the teams. [00:46:43] Speaker A: So, Buzz, we talked about this. I feel like several weeks ago. What is the status of this new deal and is there anything to the idea that maybe this body language and performance issue is tied to some sort of lack of a contract? [00:46:58] Speaker C: It's possible. I know that there are discussions going on. I do not know how deep they've gotten and I'm very, very sure that they're not finalized yet or something is signed yet. The problem, of course, with negotiations is that a lot of times the people that are representing the front office are going to come into these meetings with all these negative things like, no, you don't deserve all that money because of xyz. That can really impact on a guy. You know, even like you're, you're, you're going on these transatlantic flights for these national team call ups. We can't afford to pay you when you're gonna be gone like that. You know, you are gone for the World cup, you know. So all those things could factor into negotiations. It depends on how much his agent is telling him about what the team is selling, saying. So theoretically that that's, that's possible. But you know, you're right, I don't like to put a ton of weight in one particular moment, but in the pictures I got from some of the recent games, like even walking around pre game, he just looks really pouty and down and like resigned to his fate in a way. And maybe we even like those comments that he had about how the goal is to get back to Europe. But it looks like that ain't happening and looks like he's going to be talking about renewing in Dallas. Maybe that's sort of got him down a little bit. You know, there's so much that goes into a player positivity and mentality and it's, it's. There's so many things that could be, but it definitely seems real to me. Whatever it is, [00:48:15] Speaker A: it does and it does make. You know, this is all speculation. I know nothing. Nobody has said anything to me. It just in my mind, what I can see is a scenario where Dallas has said, this is what we're willing to pay you A year. And it's not the number he was anticipating. [00:48:30] Speaker C: Yeah, that could easily be. [00:48:32] Speaker A: And he's bummed out about that. Like, wait a second, I'm on 22 goals and you don't want to even pay me as much as the guy that I'm six goals ahead of in the table or whatever the number is, or whatever his expectation is. It just makes, you know, it just all kind of adds up a little bit. You know, time will play this out, but I just. There's something going on with him that. And it just makes me curious if it is the contract. [00:48:57] Speaker D: He is a new homeowner now, too. You know, those, those just. That's a lot of. [00:48:59] Speaker A: A [00:49:00] Speaker D: lot of added stress. [00:49:01] Speaker A: I bought a. I bought a house. [00:49:04] Speaker C: And, and a lot of what we've talked about, the positivities and the success of this season. We've talked about how important it is for your best players, your difference makers to be difference makers. And the last couple of games, Moose has been out of sorts and he hasn't come through. And you get a loss and a tie against a loss against a pretty decent team, hot team, and it's high against a really, really bad team. And, and again. Right. It's about the important key massive players getting paid, all the money coming through for this team to be successful. This team is not good enough across the board to have success without as good players being good and he hadn't been. [00:49:40] Speaker A: I, I'm sure somebody in the office has done this and put it in the notes or some. I can do this if I wasn't lazy. What the team's record is when Moussa scores versus not scores. [00:49:52] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. I'm sure it's really good. I, I don't know, but I bet it's really good. Yeah. [00:50:00] Speaker A: Yeah, that would be an interesting one. Maybe we'll. [00:50:02] Speaker C: Homework assignment for next week. Dennis, as he's writing. [00:50:06] Speaker D: I'm jotting that down. Hang on, let me see. Let me see if we can. We can pull something here. Yeah, I [00:50:11] Speaker A: mean the, the, the. The penalty miss at the game. I, I agree with you, Buzz. That's more of a save than a miss. [00:50:18] Speaker C: In the context of. That's two out of three. He has not scored. Now. That's the only reason, like, otherwise I wouldn't care about. Yeah, it was an amazing. [00:50:25] Speaker A: Harry Kane missed a PK on the weekend, too, and he just won the. It's [00:50:29] Speaker D: the Sketchers [00:50:29] Speaker A: player of the year. So. [00:50:30] Speaker C: Yeah, [00:50:31] Speaker A: it's [00:50:31] Speaker C: only in the context of the funk that it. That I Even brought it would have brought it up at all. And the fact that he had, I mean he did scored a great one and then the ref called it back and then he missed the second one. So it's like it's not always like just as simple context matters. Right? It's not just as simple as he missed two or three other than the context of Ethan and Funk [00:50:47] Speaker A: 100. Okay, let's think about this now. There's one game left. Is Colorado at home next weekend decision day and all of that stuff? [00:50:58] Speaker C: Yeah, [00:50:59] Speaker A: it's Colorado is this team's bogey team. Colorado is also a team fighting for their lives to make the playoffs. [00:51:08] Speaker C: Well. [00:51:09] Speaker A: Or to stay in it. Where are they now? They're in. They're in ninth. They're tied. Yeah. They can advance. They can get out of the playing game with a win. They can also save their skin and stay in the playoffs with something because they've got. They're also tied on points with Seattle. Salt Lake can catch them. [00:51:28] Speaker C: Even [00:51:28] Speaker A: Minnesota [00:51:29] Speaker C: San Jose is playing. That Minnesota San Jose game looms big for Dallas's future. [00:51:34] Speaker D: I do have that. This data if you want to go over the moose [00:51:36] Speaker C: stuff real quick. [00:51:37] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [00:51:39] Speaker D: So really easy comparison too because it's so When Musa scores 15 games they are nine, four and two. [00:51:48] Speaker A: Is that win, loss, draw, [00:51:49] Speaker D: win, draw, win, draw, loss. [00:51:52] Speaker A: Okay, thank you. [00:51:53] Speaker D: So nine wins, four draws, two losses. When Moussa scores [00:51:56] Speaker C: huge, that's 800%. Yeah. [00:52:00] Speaker D: And they average two point, just over two points a game. When Musa plays but he doesn't score over 14 games, they've got three wins, six draws, five losses. [00:52:11] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:52:12] Speaker D: And interestingly enough in the four games Musa didn't play, it's three wins and one loss. [00:52:16] Speaker C: Yeah. So when your good player is good, you're good. I mean it's so simple. [00:52:23] Speaker A: When one plus one equals two [00:52:25] Speaker D: and in multi goal games when, when Musa scored multiple goals six times, they are unbeaten with four wins and two draws. [00:52:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean it's a simple game, man, [00:52:36] Speaker D: big man. Score goals, [00:52:37] Speaker A: quad [00:52:37] Speaker D: wins, wins. [00:52:38] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:52:39] Speaker A: Good work, Dennis. [00:52:40] Speaker C: So here's the thing about the Colorado is going to be coming to play. They need the win. Right. Sc Dallas wants to hold on a second. Now it's. The odds are not a longish that they would follow the third, but it is possible. You need to play and you need to get back in good form. You need to win this game. You're going to need to bring your A team. So I know Quill likes to say that he doesn't have a best 11. He clearly has the best 11. Musa obviously Valiante and Job obviously at this point any other choices are not that's your best player. Any other choices are a tactical, nuanced trick and maybe you need to do that as you run even in the playoffs. But if we're just talking about the last game against Colorado, you play Job and you go right. Romero Kaik is the best midfield combo. Even though I think Cabis outplays Romero Kaik is so much better with Ramiro and Ramiro's communication really, really matters. So that's the combo and then you know you're getting Bernie no matter what. There is no other left wing back really then it's going to be more on that side. Oz in the middle, Ibiaga on the right with Johansson, who's now to me quite clearly outplayed Benjamin last this week and won that job back. And then Daniel is the better guy in net if he's healthy. So it's a very clear starting 11 at this point, you know, only will health make a difference, make a change from here all through the playoffs or some specific tactical cookery when you finally running into teams that are like that team is clearly better than us. We have to do some cooking to some weird recipe in order to make it work because there'll be enough space between all the games that rotations now won't matter. It's only going to be about what's the best thing on the field and 90 of the time it'll be that 11. So that's what you'll get in Colorado. That's what you'll get every game in the playoffs. Minus the idea of Kaika I think is that high press trigger 10 in certain scenarios against certain teams. [00:54:39] Speaker A: It does. You know, the reality is I'm trying to figure out if this team actually in some way ending up second or third and is kind of a moot argument because they're going to end up playing either six play or. Yeah. The sixth place or seventh place team which currently are the two LA team teams. I guess in theory Portland could squeak up into one of those. Colorado could squeak up into one of those. I don't know. Either one of you have a hot sports opinion [00:55:10] Speaker C: about that. It's not about the matchup, it's about the being home field for that second round when it's only a single knockout [00:55:18] Speaker A: game. Yeah. [00:55:19] Speaker C: And you're gonna get if you're in second, you're gonna get the 36 at your place. If you're in third and you win, you then have to go to the second place team, unless of course, the seventh place team beats them, which is always possible. But that's what you're really playing for, is to get that second round home field advantage as it goes to the knockout. But at the end of the day for Dallas, what's more important is just getting back on form and winning. That's what's more important than is feeling good about yourself and feeling confident getting your mojo back, not less so that one. You know, Dallas is so good on the road. It's not going to kill you to have that game be a road game, that second round game. But you'd prefer to have it at home and really [00:55:57] Speaker D: knocking Colorado out of playoff contention would also. [00:56:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Knocking Colorado out. Who's. We always. We joked about that last time, Peter, about how much fun it would be to reverse bogey Colorado, who loves to knock Dallas out, you know. [00:56:09] Speaker A: Oh, 100%. Yeah. I mean, it is, it is. I mean, considering the conversations we had not long ago, it, it is a bit remarkable that Dallas's home record is actually now better than its away record. 8, 3 and 5. 75 and 5. And I, you know, I don't think we were anticipating that. At one point we were actually talking about Dallas was on pace to become the first team in mls, MLS history to be better on the road than at home two consecutive seasons. Was that the thing I dug up? [00:56:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, that was, that was a stat. [00:56:48] Speaker A: So they have officially eliminated that possibility. Even with a loss, they will still be better at home by just a mere point or two. [00:56:57] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:56:58] Speaker A: On which congratulations, [00:57:00] Speaker C: their home form is not incredible, the advantage, but because they're a really good road team and their home advantage is not as high as some other teams. So. So yes, you still want the home. [00:57:12] Speaker A: It's quite poor. It's. It's not good. Well, you [00:57:14] Speaker C: still want the home game. You know, you still, like, it's still better than being on the road, but far, far more important than that is just being feeling good about yourself and winning this last game and go, yeah, okay, it was just a stumble. It's not, it's not. We're not falling because like, if you lose this game, you're in a legit three game tailspin and now you're in trouble with your confidence, your mentality. If you win this game, you're like, okay, it was just an aberration. We're fine. We're now going to smoke people in the playoffs. It's a very huge Game in that matter, way more than that. Home field advantage is going to be. [00:57:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:45] Speaker C: Round two. [00:57:46] Speaker A: Okay. Anything about the Colorado game you want to get into? [00:57:49] Speaker C: I mean, just before we so relish knocking Colorado out. The problem would be that it would. It might get Seattle in, which you never want that to happen as they're getting better. [00:57:59] Speaker A: Seattle. [00:58:00] Speaker D: Is this, is this the round where we get to pick our opponents? [00:58:02] Speaker A: That's actually a very. A really funny question, Dennis. If. If we were doing the pick your opponent model, which MLX MLS next pro does what, who would Dallas want to pick? Just using the table, I guess you'd have to pick from. Yeah, I don't [00:58:20] Speaker D: think I want Galaxy in this scenario. [00:58:22] Speaker C: Yeah, the Galaxy's up there. I also think they've had pretty good results against Portland this year. Those two teams, I think would be who you'd pick. Whoever. If it's. If you beat Colorado and they fall out, whoever comes in, I think it'll probably be Seattle. They're pretty hot. They've gotten hot the last couple of games. Like it's not a long hot streak, but they're all of a sudden had a couple of decent games. I think I definitely. And plus, with your history with Seattle, you definitely don't want to be doing that, going up there to try and win a game too, of your first round. That's not that they would have them in the first round, but let's say you. If you were picking your scenario and you did have them in the first round, that's not who you would pick. You know, you would want to get them down here in round two with your home field advantage. You know, you would definitely go for LA or Portland, I think. [00:59:05] Speaker D: See, Salt Lake and Minnesota still have some outside shots here too, so. [00:59:09] Speaker C: They do. But Salt Lake has been a dumpster fire most of the year. Minnesota's fairly hot. That's what [00:59:14] Speaker D: I'd want. I want. Give me the dumpster fire. [00:59:16] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I know, but I don't think they're going to be a choice. I don't think they're going to get in. I think it's more likely be Minnesota or Seattle. But Minnesota play San Jose and San Jose one second. So San Jose is going to be playing really well. Pretty hard too. So Minnesota's got a tough slate, you know, but [00:59:30] Speaker D: it'll be a busy decision day. [00:59:32] Speaker C: I still think it's the Galaxy. They're. They have a minus six goal differential. Dallas has handled them pretty easily this year, I feel like without looking it up. [00:59:39] Speaker A: Well, while I. I Don't have high levels of confidence that Dallas is a team of quality enough to make it to MLS cup this particular season. I do feel like they are have proven this year that they are capable of upsetting the apple cart and getting themselves progressed out of the first round. Like I, I think at this point my level of. How would I measure the, the value of this season will come from how they perform in that first round and, and get into a second round. That to me would be a really good cherry on top for this season. [01:00:16] Speaker C: I think that the east is pretty good at the top. And you know, I, I think at this point if you, if you lost the first round series, I would be pretty disappointed. Like you're going in as a clear favorite against whoever you're going to face in that first round. After that, you know, depending on who you get, like, it wouldn't bother me if they fell out if they make any kind of run at all. It wouldn't even bother me if they got all the way to the final and loss. Because by the way, Nashville is one of the all time great MLS teams. [01:00:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:00:47] Speaker C: Inter Miami with. If it's them and it's messy, I mean, come on. You know, if New England got there and you're facing New England, that's a really good team too. I mean, I would short of some sort of five through seven upset of somebody coming out of the East, I would not consider anyone out of the West a favorite for that game. You know, it's just that being said, [01:01:09] Speaker D: the west is completely wide open and there's no reason this team can't fight their way to a, to a Western Conference final. [01:01:14] Speaker C: It is. Dennis. What we're saying is you wouldn't be upset, right? More than that first round loss. We would be annoyed and mad. Think it was a disappointment only because of where they are. You know, the season to me has been a success. Just because they finish in second. Third conversation. That's incredible. What a season. It's been awesome. [01:01:30] Speaker A: 100%. [01:01:31] Speaker C: Even with the shitty schedule that they did to themselves. It's incredible in that context. No fans at the games. [01:01:36] Speaker A: Before we, before we move on, let me, let me plant this troubling seed. Now, I don't think there's any chance of this happening because it would be a spectacular collision and confluence of oddities. But there is a scenario in which FC Dallas not only advances to MLS cup, but something utterly wacky happens in the east and Dallas ends up as the higher seed and is tabbed, quote unquote as the Home team. Now that means MLS cup in the most FC Dallas fashionable way as ever possibly imaginable would in theory be hosted at half demolished Toyota Stadium. I1 I don't think there's an alternative stadium in the area that they can play it at because the Cotton bowl is a non starter for a whole host of reasons that we can't get into because they're just too numerous to list at and t is a problem because they're hosting UIL high school football in that exact same window. I don't know where else they would play the game and but I, I would plant this seed that I believe that if this scenario was to happen, there is a. There is a possibility that I think MLS would re. Would move the game somewhere outside of Dallas's hands and move it to a. A neutral venue somewhere. [01:03:11] Speaker C: I think neutral venue is certainly more likely than just letting the team with less points host. I [01:03:16] Speaker A: Right. I don't think they would let. I don't think they'd let the lower seat hosted. I think they would move it to Austin or Kansas City or something like that. [01:03:24] Speaker C: Awesome scenario. Houston, more like Kansas City isn't what the stadiums are doing. Yeah. You know, there's a non zero chance. You just try and build a bunch of bleachers in on the stage and go with a. [01:03:35] Speaker A: I just see. I think the reality of that is. I think that's a problem. Buzz. That is a construction zone. There's all kinds of permitting and safety issues. The access to those areas is not set up for the public. I just, I, I think that's a. I don't want to get into it too much because I think it's a very unlikely scenario that would, you know, drive us all nutty to get into all the, the possibilities [01:03:58] Speaker C: scenario is the most likely of those. Ford's a non starter. [01:04:04] Speaker A: Yeah. The problem with Ford is that it is not currently set up for the correct field size. And it also is a mix of hybrid turf and then I believe it's hybrid turf on the playing surface and then it is 4G turf around the edges so it doesn't wear and tear. And so you, you would essentially be playing on the two different surfaces and I don't think it's set up to do that. [01:04:30] Speaker C: Also a parking and access issue around the stadium. There's also SMU not liking, you know, events that they don't control in their facility. There's a. There's obviously the alcohol and merch side of things. That's a problem. You know, it's a Complicated scenario. Why? Nothing ever happens at Ford Stadium. But that's mute stuff. [01:04:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I mean, I'm, I'm of the impression that the conversation has been had inside the organization. I don't think anything conclusive has been been made. But I, I does make you wonder if MLS would go, sorry, guys, you're just gonna have to play well before anybody says [01:05:07] Speaker C: Mansfield. That's actually smaller than half full Toyota. So that's not. That doesn't [01:05:11] Speaker A: help [01:05:11] Speaker C: you any. [01:05:12] Speaker D: 10,000. Right. [01:05:14] Speaker C: Again, it's a, it's an incredible long [01:05:16] Speaker A: 7, [01:05:16] Speaker C: 500. I think the Austin is the most viable thing. I think it's more viable than letting the lower team host, which would be worse. [01:05:24] Speaker A: FC Dallas playing its home status MLS cup game in [01:05:28] Speaker D: Austin of all places. [01:05:29] Speaker A: Rival stadium of all places would just be. That might be the greatest list item of all time. 100, number [01:05:36] Speaker D: one with a bullet. [01:05:37] Speaker C: Well, imagine like a crazy scenario where second half of the season, Hot Charlotte were to win out in the east, and then like if they did the reversal and you'd have to go play there and that stadium is huge and they open it up and now sudden you're playing on the road against 50,000 people or however big that is. It's a big stadium. [01:05:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it's the NFL stadium. Yeah. [01:05:55] Speaker C: Too [01:05:55] Speaker D: bad NYC was eliminated. We could have, we could have moved it to the, to one of their baseball stadiums. [01:06:01] Speaker A: All right, well, we will revisit the burn situation this time next week and we'll hope for the best, prepare for the worst. That's my mantra. Okay, let's move on to Dallas Trinity, which had a really, really nice win. Dennis, why don't you tell us all about it? [01:06:19] Speaker D: Yeah, they, much like actually Dallas were playing the worst team in the league, had a little bit better of an outcome here, given what happened. They came out and, you know, sort of did their thing. First half was very much more of the same. And Buzz, I know you had an opinion on it. We could talk about that in a second. But, you know, they came out first half and possessed the ball really well. I think they had 68% possession across the first half and they played their ticky tacky game around the back. Couldn't break through the block, couldn't really get any opportunities. When they got up and around the goal, they shot wide and high and, you know, got run over out there and just really couldn't do much with it. They made some changes at halftime, tactically made one change on the field, brought LJ Moron, moved her up to the nine and reshuffled the deck era a little bit and then which immediately had an effect. And a few minutes later Taylor Smith picked up her second yellow of the game and that completely turned it on its head. Dallas was able to score three debut goals for or first professional goals for LJ Moore, for Kia Eichenberger and then Kaya Brewer makes her professional debut as the youngest player ever for Dallas Trinity and picks up an assist while doing it. [01:07:35] Speaker C: Dennis, for me the. What went wrong in the first half? The the Trinity, unlike some other teams in the world, have trouble breaking down a low block. Trinity has trouble breaking down a mid block. So what teams do is they come in and they pack the midfield, they pack it across the thing. And because Dallas doesn't have a lot of pace over the top, they only have Hamid who's got pace over the top. So they man mark that Hamid and sort of take her pace out of the game a little bit. And then because Dallas has a lot of ticky tacky want to pass the ball around, they don't have people that can beat players on the dribble. So they, that's why they pack the field with the mid block and make it where it's impossible for Dallas to pass through there. So Dallas has this incredibly insane high possession and they can't pass through the midfield. This is particularly aggravated in this selection in terms of the lineup because to me Shepard and Knox are basically the same player. Neither one of them is a great progressor of the ball. Line breaker. Shepard is worse than Knox, Knox is a better player. But when you have this basically the same player there that can't progress the ball. And you have Boatman who can do a little bit of that out there at right back. And by the way, credit shout out to Sydney Cheeseman, Dennis's favorite player. Had a great game, great game out of her, out of the back. [01:08:43] Speaker D: Great game. Love that ball over the top. That was, [01:08:45] Speaker C: that [01:08:46] Speaker D: was what we saw out of her in college. [01:08:48] Speaker C: Yeah, phenomenal. And also start Cameron Lancaster and you win. Those two things go hand in hand. So that was good. But because you went with the double pivot of two sixes, you couldn't get through the midfield. So the change, Dennis, the tactic, dropping Sedano back and taking one of those players off and making Sedano play in a double pivot that really helped them sort of start to break through some of those lines and get some attacking play in the second half. So that was a good alteration. It was a bad starting 11 so that for me is the biggest problem. Is that too many players of the same caliber, same same style that don't have enough variety. In particular, that double pivot of the same kind of player in there versus having Sedano deeper and somebody else is that 10. The underneath striker, whether that be Moore or Lancaster or some of the other. In this [01:09:35] Speaker D: case, [01:09:35] Speaker C: it was [01:09:35] Speaker D: Castane. [01:09:36] Speaker C: It was Castane. And in the second half when they changed it up, that was really nice. And then I really enjoyed Eichenberger, as you mentioned, Dennis, as a 9. I think she's got a nice profile for there that was. And fun to see. [01:09:47] Speaker D: Yeah. So, you know, on. On the subject of the. The second half tactic, Lee win and. And Sophie Brown were deep, deep conversation coming off the field. So I asked Lee about it in post game and you know, he was very clear that he noticed that she was rotating a little too much and, and they were trying to work on that. You know, the way they were getting attacked up top and you know, when they, when they made the switch and brought more on the wings, did. Came in a little bit narrower and sort of narrow the field, which is interesting considering how long they've tried to play really wide on this cotton ball pitch. Right. They try and get out really wide and dump the ball in. But I think they realized pretty quickly that when you attack a little bit more narrow on this field, you can kind of level the odds a little bit and move the ball in a little bit. But yeah, Eichenberger had an incredible game coming in. She came on in the 65th minute, she scored a goal. She was involved in play after play after play. Now, obviously they were up a man, so you take. Take this with, you know, some grain of salt here, but I think she's earned a spot to come back next week and, and start in the lineup, especially up top at 9. She looks really good up top. She's really tall for a nine. But, you know, I, I think her skill level in and around the box is incredible. She really just likes to move with the ball and kind of deke out defenders and she's got a shot. [01:11:04] Speaker C: Yeah. As her confidence has grown this year, she's shown some ball skill, which is. I didn't know she had in her bag. It looks nice. I think she was mostly a winger at Washington, but the physical profile is for a high nine, as you say, Dennis, the size she can back players down and she can go by them, which is nice to see, even with. Goes by them with the ball at her feet, which, as I said, is a recent development in terms of what I'm seeing from her. And so I really like that. Then you run into thinking about what do you do with seven. Well, you just drop her back into the middle or you put. Put her on the right again and put Hamid on the left and bring Lancaster middle. There's some options. [01:11:35] Speaker D: I think Hamid needs to get back on. On her left. Her. Her right foot is not great. I think you put her back on the left and I think she might get back to scoring goals like she did in Fort Lauderdale. She hasn't really performed all that much. She scored. You know, she's got four goals here. It's not nothing. She leads. You know, she's got a share of the lead, but, you know, she scored a lot more when she played on the left before Laura last two. Two years ago. [01:11:57] Speaker C: And all of which would let you put Sedano back in the midfield and that would be better, like in the double pivot. Excuse me, not. You know. And that would help as [01:12:03] Speaker D: well. Or put. Yeah, put. Put Sedano back into the midfield and put Lancaster up at the 10. I think, like you said, cams on the field, she wins. And you know, her work rate was incredible this week. She actually was the one that picked up the foul that led to the first goal right outside the box because she was just working with the ball. She drew a couple of really nice fouls to slow play down a few times. And I think her abilities has really been undersold on this team so far this year. [01:12:26] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. [01:12:27] Speaker D: Kaya Brewer, 15. 15 years old. 330 days. Two days younger than Rhea Moore when she first started for the club back in September of 2025. So youngest player ever to appear for Dallas Trinity. [01:12:41] Speaker A: That's crazy. [01:12:42] Speaker D: Kids. [01:12:45] Speaker A: All right, so here they are. They're up to fifth. Some games left before the playoffs start, and some of those are teams already in the top four. Dennis, what do you. How are you feeling about playoff chances from here on out? [01:12:57] Speaker D: I mean, if they play like they did in the second half of this game, which is hard to tell, right? Red card changes the complete perspective of the game, changes the entire antithe. You know, it's the antithesis of going out there and playing well because you're. You're just bombing now, right? You're just bombing the ball at the goal and trying to score as much as you can. But if they play. If they play the way they did, going over the top, getting aggressive, I think they've got an opportunity here. The goal differential is a couple killer for them, though. They're tied With Lexington on points right now, they're only two points behind Sporting Jacks. But a goal differential of zero is really, is really hampering them right now. And everybody below them has a deep negative goal differential. Brooklyn with minus 8, Tampa with minus 5. Fort Lauderdale came out of this one minus 12 after this one. So which is the opposite of Carolina sits top of the table, plus 12. So they need to score goals and, and Lee win even said it in postgame, they need to score, they need to shut teams out and that's the only way they really get ahead here. [01:13:54] Speaker C: Yeah, with, with three of the four being in. In the playoffs above them, Dennis, it's basically just win your way in. It's in their hands and like the, the games that they'll need to win will solve that goal differential problem. You know, if you, if you beat some combination of Jacksonville, Lexington and Carolina scent who are all in front of you in the playoffs, [01:14:13] Speaker D: you're not beating Carolina. Carolina is just outstanding. But yeah, you've got to pick up points. Points. [01:14:18] Speaker C: Well, you definitely got to beat Tampa Bay sun in two weeks. But the idea is that like in a sense you control your own destiny. Like if you win enough of those games, you're going to be in. If you don't, you're not. It's pretty straightforward in a lot of ways. You know, being one position out of that with, with two teams in front of you, Jackson, Lexington, that are within. Within underneath three points, like one win separates them and second, you know. [01:14:41] Speaker D: Yeah. I mean Carolina's running away with the league with 26 points, but you know what, three points is the difference between second and fifth right now. So it's in a small league like this with a, with a short table and short season, every game matters and every goal matters. When it comes down to different [01:14:58] Speaker C: three points back to Brooklyn behind you. So keep that in mind too. That too. Right. [01:15:02] Speaker D: Like this. You know, you can fin. You can finish second or seventh depending upon how the next two or three games go. [01:15:08] Speaker C: I mean if you lose to Tampa and they win a game or two, like, you know. But yeah, that's what I mean about. It's such a short sample and it's. And who you're playing. Like you have firm control of that on your sense. Like it's up to you. Like no one's gonna. There's not enough other things happening. Somebody else is going to tumble. You're going to have to take care of business to get it done and get in there if you're going to get in There. [01:15:28] Speaker A: All right, well, good luck. They got Jacksonville next Sunday at 4 o'. Clock. We'll see how that goes. And that is a home game. [01:15:35] Speaker D: That is a home game. There are two home games left. [01:15:37] Speaker C: What's the 11 look like? Dennis, what do you think? [01:15:39] Speaker D: I think Eichenberger has to get the start. I think you put her up at 9. I think you've really got to take an opportunity here to capitalize on what she did earlier this week. I think the back four stays pretty much the same. I think we might see one of the Brewer sisters because Mila Brewer should be back as well. The U17s got eliminated from the World cup by North Korea this weekend, so Mila brewers should be back. I think you probably see one of the Brewer sisters off the bench, but I think you leave the back four unchanged. I think you could roll with Knox and Sedano in the midfield, put Cam up at the 10 and put Hamid back on the left and Castane on the right. And I think Eichenberger is. Earned herself a shot at the ninth spot. [01:16:17] Speaker C: If I was going to be completely ruthless. I think you have to consider bringing Brewer back in to start and putting Cheeseman right. [01:16:24] Speaker D: Which, Which Brewer? [01:16:25] Speaker C: The. The one that's the center back. [01:16:28] Speaker D: They're, they're, they're both defenders. [01:16:30] Speaker C: Oh, well, okay. The. The Kaya played [01:16:33] Speaker D: the [01:16:34] Speaker C: elder. [01:16:34] Speaker D: The elder. [01:16:35] Speaker C: Yeah, the elder Kaya played more wing in the Classico and this last game. But the center back is. I was gonna say Maya. I knew that wasn't right. Miller, Brewer, you have to consider putting her back at center back. Cheeseman at right back and then Beckman in the midfield, who's better than Knox. And dropping Knox Sedano back there in that double pivot, I think is the key. You have to have that. But. And I really like Felicia Knox. I think she's an excellent super league player. But Boatman has been a revelation and I think she's arguably your most important player. And I'll. Dennis, I'm with you. Leave the back four alone because you had a shutout. I like that thinking. But Lee Win also likes to think offensive and aggressive. And so there's a. There's a chance he might. And I know they like Mia Brewer, so that's his possibility. I just want to throw it out there. [01:17:24] Speaker D: And. Yeah, that's, that's absolutely a possibility too. I mean, for my money, too, I would love to see. Let's get Sid Cheeseman out on that right wing and let her try that drive forward [01:17:31] Speaker C: spot. Yeah. [01:17:32] Speaker D: Because her ability to go over the top from that right wing, especially with, with, you know, tall Eichenberger at 9. That might be really interesting to watch. [01:17:40] Speaker C: She's not as good as the overload as Beckman, but it is a thing. So anyway, just want to throw it out. [01:17:47] Speaker A: All right. Hope everybody gets to make it out there next Sunday at the Cotton Bowl. Before we go real quick, we did have Open cup qualification action here in the North Texas area. As you know, on Halloween, Foro and Denton Diablos faced off up in Denton. Foro ends up winning this game two 1. And the only thing Buzz I [01:18:06] Speaker C: saw about this [01:18:08] Speaker A: was posted from the infamous sad FCD fan who, who because he participated with another team in another earlier qualifying round, I think cares about this quite a bit. Reported. I guess he watched the game. Maybe he was there. Reported that both teams keepers were injured in the first 30 minutes of the game, had to be subbed out and neither team had a legitimate backup goalkeeper. [01:18:38] Speaker C: Yep. [01:18:39] Speaker A: So they were playing essentially, at least from the way he wrote it, they were playing field players, both teams as goalkeepers. And yet the game ended up only two one. And I don't know how that happens, but to his point, that does make it just the quintessential chef's kiss of a US Open cup, by [01:18:57] Speaker C: the way. Dallas connection, that starting keeper for Foro. None other than Carlos Aviles, former FC Dallas keeper who's been playing. Oh really? Why he's playing for four, I have no idea. They also of course have Brian Padilla, who's a former academy great, went to Maryland and hurt his knee like 18 million times. Would be a pro soccer player if he hadn't done that. But they advance in the fourth round. Probably the draw hasn't happened, probably because of the way they try to make it local. The closest team is out of Houston. Asc New Stars they're called and they're. They play in the Houston Football association, which is equivalent to ntpsa. It's. [01:19:34] Speaker A: Well actually now today that would be dsl, [01:19:36] Speaker C: whoever, whatever or Metroplex Soccer League, depending on how many, who you think is better. And both of those leagues had multiple teams in the Open cup. So I. I'm not the one to tell you which one's better. It doesn't matter. It's a top Premier League 100amateur, which is below theoretically 40 and Denton's level, but they've advanced around 4. That's probably who they'll play. [01:19:57] Speaker A: Interesting. [01:19:58] Speaker C: That game, by the way, will be November 21st or 22nd. Just putting it on the schedule. Schedule for everybody. [01:20:03] Speaker A: All right, very good. Okay, fellas, I don't know anything else we want to get to. Dennis, you got any little tidbits or notes or chunkets you'd like to throw out there? [01:20:13] Speaker D: Mansfield is going to be hosting at the end of the month the Conquer Calf W tournament, the champions World cup qualifiers there. So the preliminary rosters have come out if you're interested in what's going on in that side of the world. [01:20:28] Speaker A: Okay, [01:20:29] Speaker C: I will give a couple of shout outs in terms of a Dallas connection. Furman, who's got several FC Dallas players, including Luke Munson, who lost his leg unfortunately won their conference championship and he came out and celebrated lifting the trophy. All that stuff with his team, they all, you know, dedicated to him. All kind of stuff. That was a cool moment. Also, SMU again, Dallas connection won the ACC regular season. Not a lot of Dallas players, Dallas FC Dallas players in that team, but one or two Hickman, Landon Hickman, I think even may have even scored in that game. And then Tulsa also University of Tulsa won their division also with multiple former Dallas Academy players in that team. So lots of. [01:21:08] Speaker A: And SMU is the national. Is the number one ranked team in the nation. They [01:21:11] Speaker C: are. They have been for a bit. They won the ASC tournament, went last year, advanced pretty far, playoffs last year with Slade. Starlins was their captain all American. So I'm sure we'll be keeping an eye on all three of those teams in the tournaments and see how they do and see if they get in the playoffs and let you guys know if anything of note happens with those teams. But you know, several guys that we watched come through the academy ranks are leaders on those teams, so that's cool to watch. [01:21:34] Speaker A: All right, boys, well, we look forward to decision day in Major League Soccer and the in the playoff fate of our football club, Dallas. Dennis, thank you so very much as always. [01:21:46] Speaker D: Anytime. Happy to be here, [01:21:47] Speaker A: Buzzard. [01:21:48] Speaker C: Thanks man. Thanks for being here, fighting through your shenanigans in your head [01:21:52] Speaker E: there. [01:21:52] Speaker A: I'm going to hang up and go hawk up alum. [01:21:55] Speaker C: Nice [01:21:56] Speaker D: fun with that [01:21:57] Speaker A: or something that'll come out lung shaped. Maybe not my actual physical lung, but it'll be delightful fun. All right, thank you and thank you. You DFW soccer curious. We appreciate you tuning in and we will be back next week on another episode of 3rd Degree the podcast [01:22:13] Speaker B: 3rd Degree the 3rd Degree podcast 3rd Degree the 3rd degree 3rd Degree the 3rd Degree Sam. Ra.