The long New York City FC road trip ended with a most dramatic win in Dallas, which means the team and this podcast head into the Leagues Cup tournament on high notes.

Episode 49 begins with a review of that wild 4-3 New York City FC win over FC Dallas, a match almost overflowing with notable storylines and developments. Hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh tackle a few of the biggest topics emerging from the win at Toyota Stadium, like Alonso Martínez's hat trick, the sparkling debut of new Designated Player Nico Fernández who assisted on the match-winning Martínez goal, and the shaky performance from the team's defensive back line in their first game without the injured Thiago Martins.

Once we'd sufficiently chatted about the win over Dallas that made it three straight road matches unbeaten for NYCFC, the focus fully shifted to Leagues Cup and the first two match-ups this week against Club Puebla and Club León.

The Puebla game arrives and, in the pod's collective opinion, this one feels the most like a must-win fixture, given how unforgiving the tournament's new format is meant to be. and knowing how much the Puebla attack has struggled in recent seasons.

We wrap things up by dabbling in a second Liga MX club preview ahead of the clash with James Rodríguez and his Club León teammates as part of a packed Friday night doubleheader. The lingering Leagues Cup questions continue to be, "How much will Pascal Jansen rotate?" – will we see regular starts take a back seat until they're needed in the later rounds? Or does Jansen just keep pushing through with exactly what's been working of late, who needs rest?!

Listen to the full episode and then find more of our coverage by following Hudson River Blue on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads, and by reading all our work at HudsonRiverBlue.com.