The Soccer Journal Podcast

Nothing but positive vibes after New York City FC won a do-or-die Game 3 on the road in Charlotte.

This episode starts with a complete unpacking of the away win over Charlotte FC that got New York City through Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs and set a date with Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. That unpacking includes marveling at the pair of goals scored by Nico Fernández Mercau, praising the consistent greatness of the New York City defense over the course of the three-game series, and making picks for our New York City FC MVPs from the three matches against Charlotte.

There's also some less positive fallout from the Charlotte triumph, specifically the awful fractured leg injury suffered by Andrés Perea. We lament the loss of one of the team's most important midfielders, a loss made more tough to take since it's compounded by another NYCFC midfielder, Aiden O'Neill, being suspended for the next playoff match in Philadelphia due to yellow card accumulation. How will Pascal Jansen compensate without Perea and O'Neill?

Maybe it's lucky for the New York City coach that he's got two weeks to figure out his midfield before his next game, because we're also in the thick of another international break right now. This one comes with a few twists, like Kevin O'Toole getting called up by Ireland for the first time right as they play crucial World Cup qualifiers.

We run you through all the national-team action planned for NYCFC players this November, but we also collectively wonder why players from NYCFC or any still-alive MLS playoff team are traveling to play World Cup qualifiers right in the middle of their playoff runs. No episode could be complete without some time spent wondering aloud about the logic of the MLS playoff schedule, especially as we wait over two weeks for the international games to end so the playoffs can resume.

Get your MLS playoff fix in podcast form while the games pause for a few weeks by listening to Episode 64, then find more of our coverage at HudsonRiverBlue.com or on social media via Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads.

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It all comes down to one game for New York City FC, and we're officially sweating the upcoming win-or-go-home Game 3 against Charlotte FC to decide who advances in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Before grappling fully with the stress of Game 3, hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh review Game 2 at Yankee Stadium. The scoreless draw that became a loss on penalty kicks offered multiple points of frustration from the NYCFC perspective, and we cover many of them, including the conservative nature of Pascal Jansen's lineup and substitutions, and the team's inability to capitalize on the few good scoring opportunities presented before things went to penalties.

With Game 2 covered it's time to fully stare down the do-or-die series decider at Bank of America Stadium. In previewing the biggest game of NYCFC's season, we weigh possible lineup changes to be made or not made by Pascal Jansen, and we try to find some ways to get Alonso Martínez better shots than what was available to him during a quiet and ineffective Game 2.

The New York City FC season could march on or it could end abruptly, and this episode will get you as ready as you can be to go through the ups and downs of must-win playoff soccer.

Listen to Episode 63 and then find more of our coverage at HudsonRiverBlue.com or on social media via Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads.

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Bask in the afterglow of a New York City FC playoff win with us, as Episode 62 of The Hudson River Blue Podcast comes to you after Alonso Martínez scored an early "goal of the playoffs" contender to help NYCFC beat Charlotte FC on the road in Game 1 of their best-of-three series.

We start the episode by giving you our immediate reactions to the win and by singing the praises of Martínez some more, given the quality of his winning goal, and also given how he's come to be Charlotte's primary tormentor.

It wasn't all down to Martínez that NYCFC won in Charlotte, though, as we spend a fair amount of time talking about the lineup and tactical decisions made by Pascal Jansen for Game 1 in North Carolina.

That means we get into the decision by Jansen to not start Hannes Wolf, the player with the second-most goal contributions on the team this season. We also discuss the fluid, unpredictable formation deployed by Jansen in Charlotte, which at times featured defender Kevin O'Toole operating as an out-and-out winger. Jansen's tactical decisions worked wonders in Charlotte, so the Head Coach comes in for some post-win praise to go with all the nice things we had to say about some of his New York City FC players.

With Game 1 broken down to the best of our abilities, we shift focus to the weekend's Game 2 back in New York City at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Charlotte will have Wilfried Zaha back from his suspension, but New York City now has all the confidence in the world after winning on the road, plus the advantage of now playing at their home field.

How different will Game 2 look, given Charlotte now enters must-win mode and given that the series moves to Yankee Stadium? We preview all the possibilities and wrap the episode up by making some (confident) predictions about the next game in this series.

Check out the episode, then find more of our coverage at HudsonRiverBlue.com or on social media via Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads.

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The MLS regular season is over, and the MLS Cup Playoffs are next, so this episode is spent mostly getting ready for the start of New York City FC's best-of-three series against Charlotte FC.

We can't jump right into our Charlotte preview, though, because there's Decision Day and one final regular-season game to revisit. Hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh discuss the disappointments and concerns coming out of the loss to Seattle Sounders FC, flagging some points of worry that emerged for NYCFC over the final few games of their MLS season.

With the dust from Decision Day settled, we also survey the full MLS playoff picture across the Eastern and Western Conferences and call out some of our most-anticipated match-ups set to take place during Round One of the postseason.

Our main focus in these MLS Cup Playoffs, though, is the series between Charlotte and New York City FC. New York City has never won in four all-time trips to Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina, though a few factors – Pep Biel's injury and Wilfried Zaha's Game One suspension – are leaning in NYCFC's favor as Game One approaches.

How confident are we feeling about this first New York City away day of the MLS postseason, and how do we feel about Pascal Jansen's team, given we now have a full season's worth of evidence on their strengths and weaknesses?

Get playoff-ready by listening to the full episode, then find more of our coverage at HudsonRiverBlue.com or on social media via Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads.

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We're pumped for MLS Decision Day in this episode because we're more than ready to know where New York City FC will finish in the Eastern Conference and who they'll face in the rapidly-approaching MLS Cup Playoffs.

Our Decision Day-centric episode begins with hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh talking through all the possibilities in front of NYCFC, as they have a chance to earn home-field advantage at the start of the playoffs by finishing as high as fourth in the East.

To do that, they'd need a positive result in their own season finale, plus a little help elsewhere in the conference from a team with nothing to play for, and we've got mixed feelings on whether or not New York City gets its necessary combination of results to clinch a Top 4 finish.

We still don't know where they'll finish, but we now know where NYCFC will play at least one MLS Cup Playoff match, and that's Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. How big will it be to return to the Boogie Down for playoff soccer for the first time since that magical 2021 run? It could be huge, and it also might well be the last time we see NYCFC playing their postseason games in the Bronx, given Etihad Park's looming arrival in 2027.

Before we dive into our full-on preview of Seattle Sounders FC and New York City's final regular-season match, we review how some of NYCFC's most notable international call-ups fared during the October window of national team games. That means we spend some time talking United States men's national team and Matt Freese, but also, and maybe more importantly, Costa Rica and Alonso Martínez.

After a break, we wrap up Episode 60 by getting you ready for Seattle's first trip East to face New York City since 2022 and their first-ever trip to Citi Field in Queens. The Sounders have absolutely nothing to play for, clinched for the postseason and locked into 5th Place in the Western Conference, but they've also got one of the more dangerous attacks in MLS. We wonder what Pascal Jansen will consider his ideal Starting XI for handling Seattle's various threats, then weigh in with our predicted results for the Sounders match as well as where we think NYCFC ends up in the final Eastern Conference table.

After you listen, find more of our coverage at HudsonRiverBlue.com or on social media via Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads.

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Episode 59 drops in the middle of an international break for New York City FC, but topics of discussion remain plentiful for the pod.

Hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh kick things off with a review of the 1-0 road loss to the Philadelphia Union, a win that saw Philly clinch the Supporters' Shield and saw the New York City FC attack silenced while the team lost ground in the race for home-field advantage in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Our conversation about the Union game includes discussion of the game's one and only goal, Pascal Jansen's lineup choices, and an off night in front of goal for players like Alonso Martínez and Hannes Wolf.

Alonso Martínez is top of mind again as we discuss the most significant NYCFC international call-ups of the October window. The consensus is hoping that Martínez, freshly recovered from a leg injury that limited his availability for NYCFC, gets through Costa Rica's two World Cup qualifiers unscathed. We also celebrate James Sands and Matt Freese holding a New York City FC reunion in USMNT camp, and 17-year-old striker Seymour Reid receiving his first call-up to the senior Jamaica national team.

Once we're finished analyzing all the internationals, we turn attention to New York City FC's now-former Sporting Director, David Lee. To coincide with Hudson River Blue's poll asking readers to single out Lee's best and worst moves as Sporting Director, we each make the case for one hit signing and one flop signing made by Lee since taking control of NYCFC's soccer operation in late 2019.

Even without a new NYCFC match to preview, we had plenty to say, and after you listen to all we had to say, find more of our coverage at HudsonRiverBlue.com or on social media via Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads.

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There's so much going on in the world of New York City FC right now and Episode 58 of this podcast does its best to keep up with all the spinning plates.

First order of business: Those two most recent NYCFC matches, first the heavy loss at Citi Field to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF, then the Hudson River Derby triumph over the Red Bulls on the road in Harrison, New Jersey.

Hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh discuss what went so wrong against Miami, namely that New York City missed injured striker Alonso Martínez, and that Pascal Jansen's roll of the dice to remove Thiago Martins and try Aiden O'Neill at center-back failed spectacularly in the second half.

We spend less time on that bad Miami loss and more time discussing the dramatic win in the Hudson River Derby, with New York City all but eliminating their hated rivals from playoff contention on their home field. There's heavy praise for Nico Fernández Mercau's work filling in for Alonso Martínez at striker, and for the work of a resilient NYCFC defense to see out a close win despite losing star goalkeeper Matt Freese to injury in the second half.

Match discussion done, we turn our attention in the second half of the episode to the shock departure of New York City FC Sporting Director David Lee. What will it mean for NYCFC to see Lee switch MLS sides and take over Sporting Kansas City, and what might his departure do to the club's general approach to building a competitive squad?

We also make first attempts at summing up Lee's legacy with New York City, touching on some of the big successes he enjoyed while criticizing his handling of some of the talent that passed through NYCFC's halls but didn't yield anything in the way of transfer profits.

Finally things wrap up this week with a preview of New York City's trip south on I-95 to play Philadelphia Union in the regular season's penultimate game. Can a possibly injury-depleted New York City squad play spoilers and keep the Union from possibly clinching or all-but-clinching the Supporters' Shield?

Listen to our jam-packed hour of powerful takes, then find more of our coverage at HudsonRiverBlue.com or on social media via Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads.

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It's one podcast episode, but it's about four different New York City FC matches.

That's the name of the game at this busiest of busy part of the MLS season, though the fixture congestion isn't doing anything to slow down a scorching-hot NYCFC team that's now won three straight matches and climbed way up to 4th Place in the Eastern Conference.

This episode kicks off with hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh reviewing the club's two most recent wins, both at Yankee Stadium and both over Eastern Conference playoff rivals, Columbus Crew and Charlotte FC.

We talk about Hannes Wolf's best season ever continuing in the form of another brace, the Columbus win representing his fourth two-goal game of 2025. The at-the-death winner from Julián Fernández and the pair of assists from Agustín Ojeda against the Crew also has us marveling at how much deeper the roster feels now compared to the start of the season.

The good run would continue a few days later when NYCFC beat Charlotte FC 2-0 on Kids' Day in the Bronx, a game partially won by the goalkeeper with a new long-term contract extension, Matt Freese. Our Charlotte review includes talk of Freese's penalty-kick heroics against Wilfried Zaha, the defensive domination of a potent Charlotte attack, and what the win does for New York City FC's chances of finishing even higher up the Eastern Conference and Supporters' Shield tables.

After diving deep on those wins, we shift into preview mode and try to figure out what we'll see across the two matches the team will play this Wednesday and Saturday night. How will the one visit to New York City by Inter Miami this season, for a Wednesday night game in NYCFC's second-choice home venue, compare to the hugely-attended spectacle that occurred at Yankee Stadium late last season when Messi first landed in New York City?

The sheer volume and frequency of matches has us wondering when the lineup rotation from Pascal Jansen will arrive – though at least one of us, Andrew, is adamant that rotation shouldn't be happening during the second and final Hudson River Derby of the regular season. The derby might just be one match, but it also could be the result that pushes the Red Bulls right to the very brink of playoff elimination, a result that might be as close as NYCFC can get to exacting real revenge for the loss to the Red Bulls in the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.

There's so much ground covered in this episode, which you can listen to in full here, then find more coverage on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads, and by visiting HudsonRiverBlue.com.

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Spirits are high and confidence is high on the pod this week on the heels of New York City FC's dramatic 3-1 win on the road over the Chicago Fire.

Any pessimism that lingered from the disappointing loss to DC United before the international break got washed away by those three New York City goals scored on the shores of Lake Michigan, and your hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney plus producer Andrew Leigh kick off Episode 56 by diving into the team's big win over the Fire.

That includes discussing the potential for Nico Fernández Mercau and the NYCFC attack to reach new heights now that the team's new Designated Player finally bagged his first goal, scoring the equalizer at Soldier Field. It also includes analyzing the debut of new defender Raul Gustavo, and wondering how the pieces will now fit together for Pascal Jansen, given he might have some tough lineup decisions to make with the Brazilian center-back's arrival and integration.

The Chicago win gave us plenty to cover, but it also leads into two more NYCFC matches set to be played this week in quick succession at Yankee Stadium. The second half of this episode is a preview of both the Columbus Crew and Charlotte FC games, with all three of the gang surprisingly optimistic about New York City's chances against the Crew at midweek – maybe in part due to the key absences of players like Diego Rossi and Sean Zawadzki, and due to the Crew's poor recent form in MLS play.

We're collectively less optimistic about Charlotte FC coming to town this weekend, given they're entering on a nine-match winning streak, and given that they're something of a bogey team for NYCFC, who own an unsightly 1W-1D-5L record in head-to-head meetings with the team from North Carolina since they joined the league.

Will our optimism for Columbus and pessimism for Charlotte prove accurate or misguided? Listen to the full episode for each of our predictions for this two-match week, then find more of our coverage on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads, and by visiting HudsonRiverBlue.com.

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The biggest game of the season – so far – approaches for New York City FC on the other side of the international break. That international break meant there's no NYCFC match for us to recap, but the important games just keep coming from now through the end of the season, beginning with the weekend trip to the Windy City.

Matchday 28 will see NYCFC travel to face the team one spot and two points below them in the MLS Eastern Conference standings, Chicago Fire FC, in what's not hyperbolic to call a playoff-like match-up.

Host John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh begin Episode 55 by breaking down all the qualities of Gregg Berhalter's Fire team and how red-hot they've been over their last seven matches, pulling themselves up above the playoff line and onto the heels of NYCFC in 8th Place.

New York City FC heads to Soldier Field looking to wash away the disappointment of the home loss to DC United that preceded this international break, and they're now into the final stretch of seven games that all really do have a playoff feel about them, given that six of the seven teams NYCFC has left to face this season currently sit in the Eastern Conference playoff field, if the MLS Cup Playoffs began today (sorry, 10th Place Red Bulls, not sorry).

Taking another step closer to the playoffs for New York City FC will mean stopping the likes of Fire attackers Philip Zinckernagel, Jonathan Bamba, and Hugo Cuypers, meaning New York City will hope Matt Freese returns feeling healthy and ready to step back into the MLS grind this weekend now that he's wrapped up his responsibilities with the United States men's national team while on international duty.

Speaking of the USMNT, the second half of our episode is all about the Stars and Stripes, with Andrew recapping his trip to Sports Illustrated Stadium to cover the big friendly between the USMNT and South Korea. That was yet another loss for the United States while playing in Harrison, NJ, and yet another troubling performance during the somewhat rocky tenure of Mauricio Pochettino, USMNT Head Coach.

Our USMNT conversation ranges from questioning Pochettino's approach to the South Korea game and the limited windows of games he and the team have left before the World Cup, to wondering what his performances this September will do for Matt Freese's standing on the goalkeeper depth chart.

Listen to our full split NYCFC/USMNT episode below, then find more of our NYCFC/USMNT coverage on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads, and by visiting HudsonRiverBlue.com. 

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