New York City FC can't break the habit of losing to the lesser teams of Major League Soccer.

The pattern held true when the Eastern Conference's last-place team, DC United, came into Yankee Stadium and won, and it's a pattern that has us starting Episode 54 once again wondering how to make sense of this team that can beat some of the top teams in MLS, but one that struggles against the league's strugglers, DC United included.

We get into what went so wrong for New York City in the dispiriting DC defeat, and provide some context for what the loss means for the ongoing race for a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

The MLS playoff race is temporarily on hold, though, as it's another international break. The crew runs through the details for all nine New York City FC players called up by their national teams, then zooms in on a pair of the team's high-profile call-ups, Matt Freese and Alonso Martínez.

Freese is back with the United States men's national team after his big Concacaf Gold Cup breakout, and we discuss what we're expecting to see from the NYCFC goalkeeper and the USMNT when they face Son Heung-min and his South Korea teammates locally at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, then travel to play Japan out at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio.

Martínez, meanwhile, leads Costa Rica into a pair of crucial World Cup qualifiers, and right when his name is popping up in the European transfer rumor mill. While discussing Martínez's international and club success, we wonder: Will New York City lose Alonso to a lucrative transfer back to a team in Europe, or will the Costa Rican striker stick around even if he continues to score lots of goals for NYCFC and gets Costa Rica to the World Cup?

Not content to end this episode speculating over an outgoing Alonso Martínez transfer, we also discuss the thrilling and surprisingly violent conclusion to the 2025 Leagues Cup tournament. Seattle Sounders FC picked up the only trophy they were missing from their cabinet, while Inter Miami CF veterans Luis Suárez and Sergio Busquets melted down after suffering a 3-0 loss in the final: Only prestigious tournaments like Leagues Cup give us this kind of drama.

We covered a potpourri of topics on this special international break episode, which you can hear in its entirety here, and when finished, find more of our coverage on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads, and by visiting HudsonRiverBlue.com.

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