The Soccer Journal Podcast

In a special edition of The Soccer Journal Podcast, Brooklyn FC midfielder Taimu Okiyoshi joins Andrew Leigh for a wide-ranging conversation about Taimu's remarkable path to being a professional soccer player with New York's newest expansion team.

From growing up in Japan to making the move to the United States on his own to play college soccer and chase his pro soccer dream, Taimu walks us through his unique route, beginning with a stint playing at a junior college in Utah, to then starring for Marshall University as The Thundering Herd made a run to the 2024 College Cup.

We discuss what he learned from his first professional season, which was split between Rhode Island FC and Westchester SC, and how that difficult year helped prepare him for the challenges and opportunities in front of him as he tries to establish himself with Brooklyn FC and in the USL Championship.

After living in Japan, Utah, West Virginia, Rhode Island, and now New York, Taimu has seen a lot, and he's candid, compelling, and honest when discussing topics like living in New York City, the state of American and college soccer, emulating the legendary Yasuhito Endō, and his long-term MLS ambitions.

He also sheds valuable light on playing under Brooklyn head coach Marlon LeBlanc and GM Brian McBride, what it means to have a coach who trusts him to play freely and without fear of mistakes, and what Brooklyn is collectively focused on as the club tries to turn their form around following a slow start to life in the USL Championship.

Listen to the full conversation, then be sure to find more of our coverage at nysoccerjournal.com, or on Twitter @nysoccerjournal and @NYSJPodcast, on Bluesky @nysoccerjournal.com, and on Instagram @newyorksoccerjournal

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Two away matches and four points collected for New York City FC, so this episode starts with our assessment of the performances in the win over Charlotte FC and the draw with the Red Bulls. There's talk of defensive improvement, an eye-catching substitute appearance from Malachi Jones in the Hudson River Derby, and some missed opportunities to take all three points home from Harrison, New Jersey.

There is also some major Maxi Moralez injury news to discuss, as his serious knee injury suffered against the Red Bulls hangs a cloud over all things. There's talk of what the injury could mean for NYCFC's season, and the difficult question of how the club replaces its irreplaceable No 10 is once again raised.

The episode closes with a preview of the US Open Cup quarterfinal in Columbus, where a new Crew coach awaits. Columbus is struggling down in 13th place in the Eastern Conference and NYCFC beat them convincingly only 10 days ago, but the trip to Ohio to face a squad playing their first match post-coach firing could be trickier than it seems.

We then cover NYCFC's final MLS match prior to the World Cup break, the daunting road trip to face Nashville SC, the current leaders in the race for the Supporters' Shield. Sam Surridge isn't available, but Hany Mukhtar is, and coming off the hugely important Open Cup quarterfinal, your hosts are not expecting much in the final MLS match played before late-July.

Listen to the full episode, then find more of our coverage at nysoccerjournal.com, or on Twitter @nysoccerjournal and @NYSJPodcast, on Bluesky @nysoccerjournal.com, and on Instagram @newyorksoccerjournal

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What will it take to make the MLS All-Star Game more interesting? The annual midseason showcase of the league's top players has changed a lot since MLS was born, but it remains a very American sports-coded concept applied awkwardly to the world's game.

On this latest episode of The Blueprint, your hosts John Baney and Trey Fillmore go through the long and winding history of the MLS All-Star Game, from its early days as an all-MLS affair, to the foreign super-club era of the MLS All-Stars playing the likes of Bayern Munich or Arsenal, through to the current version pitting MLS against a collection of top players from Mexico's Liga MX.

Having the MLS All-Stars play some Liga MX All-Stars hasn't been enough to move the needle and make this annual exhibition more relevant or enticing, so John and Trey also discuss possible ways to overhaul the format of the MLS All-Star experience. They draw some inspiration from other major American sports' versions, and propose creative fixes, like small-sided matches or gamified brackets, with the aim of giving the exhibition some much-needed juice.

Then it's time to get into who deserves an All-Star vote based on their work in MLS this season. John and Trey walk through each position of the mandated 4-3-3 All-Star voting formation and make the case for who belongs in the MLS All-Star XI. Trey gets a media vote for this year's All-Star squad, so unlike the All-Star Game itself, this conversation actually means something.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The streak has ended, so the vibe around New York City FC is much improved on this episode of The Soccer Journal Podcast. After seven Major League Soccer matches without a win, New York City FC got one and in emphatic fashion, winning 3-0 on Mother's Day in the Bronx.

We break down the hot-and-cold Hannes Wolf's emphatic return to the scoresheet with his first-career hat trick, stress the importance of keeping a second clean sheet of the season, and have some praise for the quietly impressive play of left-back Nico Cavallo. Given that New York City will face Columbus again in just a matter of days, we assess how this win might carry momentum into that upcoming US Open Cup quarterfinal against this same Crew.

Next, a slightly unusual MLS Next Pro transfer to discuss, as the young Brazilian center-back João Loiola of Fluminense was finally confirmed as a new NYCFC II signing following a protracted transfer saga. He's officially joined up on a loan to NYCFC II through the end of the 2026 season, but with the MLS squad retaining an option to buy him at the conclusion of the loan, should we expect to see Loiola get his feet wet at the MLS level before the season ends?

We also touch on the appearances made by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and USWNT coach Emma Hayes at Gotham FC's recent match against Boston Legacy FC at Sports Illustrated Stadium, a game boosted by a $5 ticket promotion championed by both Mayor Mamdani and Gotham itself.

Then it's on to our two previews of the road matches this week, midweek at Charlotte FC, then again on Saturday night at Red Bull New York. It's part of the compressed nature of the schedule as NYCFC navigates a five-games-in-twelve-days sprint before the World Cup break, and your hosts and producer are all over the place in terms of how they expect those back-to-back tests to play out.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of The Blueprint, hosts John Baney and Trey Fillmore examine why Major League Soccer is shifting away from its traditional spring-to-fall league calendar.

To make sense of the league's switch over to a fall-to-spring schedule, it helps to go back to the origins of the current MLS calendar setup, specifically how much influence things like the North American Soccer League (NASL), the weather, TV networks, and the NFL had on the approach MLS chose to take.

What worked then doesn't work as well now, though, and John and Trey discuss how the existing schedule creates costly misalignments between MLS and leagues in Europe on things like transfer windows and FIFA's international breaks. Then there's the impact the decision to move MLS match broadcasts to Apple TV has had, freeing MLS from its dependence on traditional broadcasters, one of the original reasons for the summer-centric schedule.

What will MLS look like in this new post-calendar-flip era? There are pros and cons to be weighed, like the new timing of the MLS Cup Playoffs (pro), or the fact that there needs to be a "sprint season" early in 2027 (con) rather than implementing the new calendar right after this summer's FIFA World Cup.

The change of schedule will have far-reaching effects on the league, so listen to the full episode to get the full picture of why this is happening and what it might mean for MLS.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Another eventful week around New York City FC means it's another eventful episode of The Soccer Journal Podcast.

Hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh (who has a new soccer trivia book out now, which you can check out here) begin by looking back fondly on NYCFC's 3-1 US Open Cup Round of 16 win over their Red Bull rivals. We rate it as a big win, but not just because it knocked the Red Bulls out of a cup competition, something NYCFC had never done before.

The road ahead on the path to potential US Open Cup glory now looks downright enticing for New York City, given they travel to Columbus to face the Crew in the quarterfinals but would then, if they advance, get to host a potential semifinal and US Open Cup final, based on the results of the Open Cup draw held after the completion of the Round of 16.

The other names left in contention for the trophy aren't necessarily the cream of the MLS crop, either, so are we delusional for thinking NYCFC might be favorites to claim the oldest high-level soccer trophy in America?

It might be a bit delusional because, after our Open Cup high, we are reminded of the subsequent low point reached when DC United came to Citi Field and dropped a 2-0 on New York City FC, making it seven MLS matches without a win for NYCFC, and five straight home games without a win, to boot. The level of concern has risen among your podcast hosts, and a lot of the concerns stem from NYCFC's inability to break down teams that stay compact and don't get drawn out defensively, resulting in frustrating, fruitless attacking showings like the one against DC.

After we're done dissecting the DC defeat, we run through some quick news items of note, like ex-NYCFC and current Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Ronny Deila being in hot water in Israel for drunkenly sexual harassing a female taxi driver, MLS teaming up with a private-equity company to relocate and rebrand a bunch of MLS Next Pro teams, and Fluminense defender and rumored NYCFC target João Loiola attending NYCFC-DC United at Citi Field and posting about it on his Instagram.

Then it's another MLS match preview as NYCFC searches for a rare and elusive victory, so we get you ready for the team's eventual Open Cup quarterfinal opponents, Columbus Crew, as they visit Yankee Stadium for a 4:30 pm ET kickoff on this coming Mother's Day Sunday.

It's a jumbo-sized episode with lots of ground covered, so listen to the full thing, then find more of our coverage at nysoccerjournal.com, or on Twitter @nysoccerjournal and @NYSJPodcast, on Bluesky @nysoccerjournal.com, and on Instagram @newyorksoccerjournal.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Introducing a new podcast offering from the New York Soccer Journal: The Blueprint, with hosts John Baney, who you know from The Soccer Journal Podcast, and Trey Fillmore, who you know from the Blue Balls NYCFC podcast.

Each episode of The Blueprint tackles a single topic and dives deep on that topic. These topics might relate to New York City FC, or they might be storylines of note from elsewhere in Major League Soccer or from across the wider soccer landscape.

In this inaugural episode, John and Trey tackle the question: How do you define Pascal Jansen Ball? They go over the philosophies and tactical principles that guide the New York City FC coach as he sets up his team, from his pressing system to his preferences for patient build-up play and wide overloads.

Talk of Jansen's style and approach leads into a discussion of how to explain New York City FC's poor early-season league form in 2026, which has been plagued by late-game collapses and costly concentration lapses.

In the end, you get a comprehensive review of Pascal Jansen the coach, tracing his path and progression from the PSV Eindhoven youth system and his tenure with AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, to his stint with Ferencváros in Hungary, and then to this present moment here with NYCFC in MLS.

Listen to the full episode above or on Apple, Spotify, or Bleav, and be sure you're subscribed to The Soccer Journal Podcast on your preferred podcast feed of choice as we begin to roll out more episodes of The Blueprint in the weeks to come.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

First, in podcast housekeeping news: We are officially now The Soccer Journal Podcast! We thank you the listeners for riding through our transition period post-Hudson River Blue, but we're now all settled into our new permanent name and identity.

That sorted, we're back to talking about New York City FC and the doubly disappointing week that included a bonkers, deflating 4-4 draw with FC Cincinnati at Yankee Stadium, then a limp, forgettable performance in a 1-0 loss away to CF Montréal.

It's a lot of dissection of how New York City let a two-goal lead slip in the final minutes against Cincinnati, then how flat they looked in Montréal while getting shut out for a fourth straight time when facing the artists formerly known as the Impact. The recurring themes of our discussion: New York City's persistent struggles at the back this season, and their desperate need for more attacking help for Nico Fernández Mercau and Maxi Moralez.

On that attacking note, we spend some time wondering aloud about Pascal Jansen's decision to start Arnau Farnós in Montréal instead of one of his three Designated Players, Talles Magno, and what that says for Talles's place in the squad and the current state of NYCFC's depth chart.

Then it's on to a future topics, and first up, this summer's FIFA World Cup. We cover the news that New York City will now have five entirely free World Cup fan zones, one in each borough, after soccer-loving Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul teamed up to reverse course on the earlier plan, which only called for two New York City-based fan zones and required paid admission for the one in Queens. At least one facet of the most expensive World Cup ever gets slightly less expensive.

Then to close out this episode, we've got a big preview block looking ahead to both the first Hudson River Derby of 2026, in the Round of 16 of the US Open Cup no less, and the next chance for NYCFC to end their MLS winless streak when they host DC United on Matchday 11 in Queens. How optimistic are we feeling about the two matches to come this week? More optimistic than you might expect for a podcast about a team that's winless in six league games!

Listen to the full episode, then find more of our coverage at nysoccerjournal.com, or on Twitter @nysoccerjournal and @NYSJPodcast, on Bluesky @nysoccerjournal.com, and on Instagram @newyorksoccerjournal.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Another busy three-game week for New York City FC, but before hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh dive into match recapping and previewing, there's important housekeeping to attend to: The launch of the New York Soccer Journal, the new home of this very podcast.

After chatting about the big "personal news" of the new outlet's debut, it's on to an unfortunate revisiting of New York City's 2-1 loss to Charlotte FC at Citi Field. Possession was controlled, chances were created, yet no points were earned by NYCFC, a fourth straight MLS match without a win, and a third straight home game without a win. There's talk of the biggest causes for concern during this winless rut, as well as some eyes turned toward the summer transfer window and what NYCFC might need to add to avoid down spells like this from recurring.

The show then switches into preview mode, with two more NYCFC matches to come this week in what is a jam-packed portion of the pre-FIFA World Cup schedule. Optimism levels vary among our hosts regarding the midweek match against FC Cincinnati in the Bronx and the weekend trip up to Canada to face CF Montréal, but it wouldn't be an episode of the show if it didn't end up with official on-the-record prognostications of how this latest three-match week will play out.

After you listen to this episode, read up on all the latest news over at nysoccerjournal.com, and be sure to follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, Twitter/X, and Threads.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

New York City FC picked up a big 5-2 win over Westchester SC in the Round of 32 of the US Open Cup, and this episode kicks off with an instant reaction to that lopsided win over a local lower-league rival.

Talles Magno scored a hat trick of goals, and Agustín Ojeda had three goal contributions: Is this simply high-priced talent doing what it should against a USL League One club, or can we read more into the big performances from Talles and Ojeda?

The attack clicked in the Open Cup, but no attacking player in New York City colors had a performance to remember in the 2-0 road loss to Vancouver Whitecaps FC that preceded the midweek cup contest. Hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh lament the costly absence of New York City center-back Thiago Martins, marvel at Matt Freese and his eight saves, and wonder where this loss, coupled with the recent loss to reigning MLS Cup champions Inter Miami CF, leaves New York City FC in relation to the elite teams in Major League Soccer.

The New York City squad is getting stronger as players return from injury, and that now includes winger Malachi Jones, who completed an inspiring comeback from the severe broken leg he suffered in June 2024. Jones is getting back up to speed, as is midfielder Andrés Perea, who officially is back in full training after the broken leg he suffered last November. We highlight how each player's return to health can help Pascal Jansen put his squad together.

Then it's time to preview Charlotte FC coming to visit New York City FC at Citi Field in Queens. Danger man Pep Biel is back healthy and available for Charlotte after missing last year's MLS Cup Playoffs series with NYCFC. Biel, Idan Toklomati, and Wilfried Zaha make for a threatening front line, and we get into what New York City will need to do against them to snap their mini three-match MLS winless streak.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.