The Soccer Journal Podcast

01:09:26

Reactions to Bénie Traoré joining NYCFC, USMNT's...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/06/30

Time to interrupt the World Cup summer with a healthy dose of New York City FC discussion. That's what you get at the start of this episode of The Soccer Journal Podcast, with a lot of time dedicated to talking about new New York City FC Designated Player Bénie Traoré. Hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney plus producer Andrew Leigh discuss what they like about Traoré, how he'll fit alongside fellow DP Nico Fernández Mercau in attack, and why Traoré might be the one to play at center-forward until

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00:59:57

James Sands returns to NYCFC, USMNT tops its group

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/06/23

A second straight episode that starts off with a dissection of a World Cup win for the United States, though this time it's just host Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh on hand to break down USMNT 2-0 Australia. First up, how a Christian Pulisic-less US side still managed to break down Australia's five-player defensive block, with credit given to Mauricio Pochettino's formation tweak and willingness to play with two forwards in the face of Pulisic's absence and Australia's overly-defensive

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01:18:42

Dream World Cup start for USMNT, a Pulisic-to-NYCFC...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/06/16

The United States men's national team looked about as good as it has ever looked while opening their World Cup on home soil with a big win over Paraguay, so this episode of The Soccer Journal Podcast starts with a lengthy discussion of that 4-1 win in Los Angeles.Hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh discuss all the things that went right for the USMNT in the win, like Folarin Balogun showing off his quality with a first-half brace, Chris Richards getting healthy, starting,

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01:51:52

The Blueprint: Everything happening around this World...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/06/10

This episode of The Blueprint is all about the World Cup, but not the on-field side of it. Hosts John Baney and Trey Fillmore instead take stock of everything happening around this World Cup before the soccer starts and takes center stage.The hosts spend a significant portion of the episode unpacking FIFA's deeply problematic ticketing process, walking through the use of dynamic pricing, the opacity around what the different ticket categories actually get you, and issues around FIFA's ticket resale

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01:10:46

Matt Freese looking like a United States starter as...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/06/09

It's finally World Cup week and that means the podcast is in full-on World Cup mode. Hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh begin with the United States men's national team and their final pre-World Cup friendly, which revealed some noteworthy things about the USMNT heading into their World Cup opener against Paraguay.The main intrigue again lies at the goalkeeper position, where New York City FC's Matt Freese started and played all 90 minutes of the USMNT's 2-1 loss to Germany

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01:02:08

The Blueprint: Is NYCFC getting its loan strategy wrong?

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/06/05

In a very on-brand move for the topic of this episode of The Blueprint, host John Baney brought in a guest co-host on a short-term loan, as he’s joined by Andrew Leigh, usually of The Soccer Journal Podcast.John and Andrew tackle one of the more persistently confounding parts of New York City FC's approach to building a squad: Their loan strategy. With four first-team players currently out on loan and incoming first-team loanees not a thing since the 2023 season, John and Andrew dig into exactly

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01:08:03

NYCFC with a World Cup trio, plus lots of loan intrigue

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/06/02

As the World Cup fast approaches, hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh begin this episode focused on the United States men's national team and their next-to-last friendly before the real tournament action begins. The conversation starts with some highs and lows from the 3-2 USMNT win over Senegal, but the real heart of the conversation: What Mauricio Pochettino has planned for the USMNT at goalkeeper. Matt Freese of New York City FC made the final 26-man roster for the World

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01:07:42

Double NYCFC disappointment amid injury crisis, USMNT...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/05/26

New York City FC finally reached the two-month break in MLS action for the FIFA World Cup, but not before losing twice in one week while also losing more important players to injuries.First, hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh review the anticlimactic end to NYCFC's run in this year's US Open Cup, a 1-0 loss in Columbus that showed how hard it will be for Pascal Jansen's team to replace what they've lost in the injured Maxi Moralez. It's a loss that your hosts attribute to

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00:29:09

Brooklyn FC's Taimu Okiyoshi on his journey from...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/05/22

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

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01:15:00

Four-point week, serious Maxi Moralez injury, Open...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/05/19

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

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01:16:36

The Blueprint: What should the MLS All-Star Game be?

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/05/15

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

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01:04:49

NYCFC ends the drought, João Loiola arrives, two busy...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/05/12

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

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01:03:48

The Blueprint: Why is MLS flipping its calendar?

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/05/08

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

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01:11:36

Dreaming of Open Cup glory, living the nightmare of...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/05/05

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

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01:12:34

The Blueprint: What is PascalBall?

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/05/01

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

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01:07:44

NYCFC winless streak continues, Hudson River Derby...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/04/28

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

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01:09:21

What's kept NYCFC winless during their four-match MLS...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/04/22

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,

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01:01:31

Tough trip to Vancouver, Talles Magno goes off in the...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/04/15

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

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01:10:57

A disappointing draw before NYCFC face Whitecaps, US...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/04/08

New York City FC earned their first "draw that felt like a loss" of the 2026 season, and this episode starts with hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh trying to figure out how they didn't collect all three points from their meeting with St. Louis City SC at Citi Field.Our focus is on the missed or wasted New York City chances and the team's inability to get the extra goal needed to see out a win. We second-guess a few of the decisions Pascal Jansen made in the

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01:08:58

Matt Freese battles for World Cup spot, sketchy NYCFC...

The Soccer Journal Podcast ·

2026/04/01

The HRB Podcast powers on and it's an international break-heavy episode this week, with the conversation starting with the United States men's national team and their pair of friendlies against Belgium and Portugal. The ongoing battle at the goalkeeper position for the United States was of particular interest to our New York City FC-centric selves.Against Belgium, Matt Freese didn't start for the first time in 12 matches and the United States conceded five goals, though only one goal could be,

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