The Blazing Musket Podcast

It's hard to keep track of all the soccer tournaments, leagues and qualifiers going on this summer. In the midst of it all is CONCACAF's Gold Cup tournament featuring the top teams from North and Central America, the Caribbean and even a sportswashing entry from Asia! Jake Catanese is more prepared than anyone we know for this tournament and he's here to walk us through the groups, the key talking...

Ever since fascism first took power in Italy in the 1920s, soccer clubs, players and their supporters have found ways to resist against it. Chris Lee covers the whole history of that struggle in his book, The Defiant, and joined us to talk all about it. Chris has written two other books and maintains a site called Outside Write that as self-described, "avoids talking on-field matters, we’re about...

After a disappointing Nations League setback, that the saw the US men lose both the semi-final and third place game, the Gold Cup awaits. It's a last opportunity for competitive games for the US before the 2026 World Cup, which the US is already qualified for as hosts. There's plenty to talk about, be it team selection, who needs to perform this summer, is head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, fully co...

Valair Shabilla, from SixOneFive Soccer, joins us to talk about La Brigada De Oro's recent decision to stop attending Nashville SC home games. They have done so not as a protest but out of fear of being targeted by heavy handed ICE activity that has been prevalent in the Nashville area. Immigrants or people who simply look like immigrants have had places of gathering targeted by ICE operations whe...

The Blazing Musket Podcast's roundtable show is back for the month of May! Our crew of writers and podcasters got together to talk about how each of New England's pro teams and it's most beloved amateur team We discussed: How all the teams are doing so far this year What to look forward to from each team in the next month Promotion and relegation debate The stadiums for each team are all up and ru...

This past Sunday saw the Portland Hearts of Pine play their first game in their home stadium in Portland after three memorable nights up in Lewiston, Maine. Thomas is joined by Sam Minton to talk about the first night and Thomas had some insight of his own with his trip up to Fitzpatrick Stadium a few days before the opener. We also have an interview Portland's head coach, Bobby Murphy, who shared...

The NWSL is just getting started and at the same time the new USL Super League is coming to season's end and the playoffs. And beyond that, there's two more pro women's leagues starting in the US in 2026. All this while we await the arrival of Boston Legacy and the return of pro women's soccer to New England. Jessica Charman does play by play and commentary for NWSL, USL Super League and USL Champ...

The New England Revolution will enter the US Open Cup in the round of 32 on May. They will face Rhode Island FC, who beat Portland Hearts of Pine, who themselves beat Hartford Athletic already in this year's Cup. It's a great time then to have Michael from US Open Cup News join us! He knows it all when it comes to the Cup and he talked all about it's rich history, its comeback from Covid, previous...

Catalina Bush maintains an excellent set of BlueSky accounts that puts together a visual data package after every MLS, NWSL and USL game that gives you everything you need to dive deeper into the underlying performances of both teams. She also has season long and historical data on league and team goal creation, xG figures, shot charts and shot types. It's an impressive and useful array of data an...

The Blazing Musket Podcast's first roundtable show! Our crew of writers and podcasters got together to talk about how each of New England's pro teams and it's most beloved amateur team are doing so far this season. We discussed: The US Open Cup, Jägermeister Cup, Maple Cup How the teams are meeting or not meeting early season expectations What's to come this spring and summer Local enthusiasm, tic...

Sam Minton, fearless leader of The Blazing Musket is in this week to get you caught up with all soccer news in New England. We talked about Hartford and RIFC's early season struggles, the Revs first win, Portland Hearts of Pine early success, Open Cup predictions, Boston's NWSL team has a new name and a banner that popped up in Foxboro this past weekend. It's all New England, all soccer and all he...

It may only be five weeks into the 2025 MLS season but a lot has happened in the Eastern Conference already! We've had our first coach firing of the season, three teams still in search of their first win and several teams off to impressive starts. Matt joins us to break it all down and tell us what trends will continue and what might change in the weeks ahead. Matt also weighed in on what the USMN...

Sam Spencer joined the show to share the history of AFC Wimbledon, a supporter owned Club in London that rose up through the English football pyramid after a Club was taken from them and moved to a new town. Sam tells us the whole tale, the progress the Club has made and what it's like to be a part of the ownership group as a supporter. Sam also covers soccer all over the Charlotte, North Carolina...

We welcomed Neil deMause this week to get a better understanding of the economics behind state and local money funding sports stadiums operated by privately owned teams. It's a topic worth diving into as the White Stadium development continues to be a big story in Massachusetts. BOS Nation is set to move into White Stadium when they take the field in the NWSL in 2026 but not everyone is onboard wi...

This week's show welcomes John Morrissey from Backheeled.com, The USL Show and USL Tactics for a preview of the USL Championship and League One. We'll also take a close look at what to expect from Rhode Island FC, Hartford Athletic and the Portland Hearts of Pine in 2025. John also touched on how the USL Super League is doing, potential expansion across the USL's many leagues, division one sanctio...

Our second episode is all about the ever changing situation with White Stadium, a venue owned by the City of Boston that is facing public pushback, lawsuits and is becoming a wedge issue in the Boston Mayoral race as well. The issues all stem around the planned use of White Stadium by BOS Nation for its NWSL team which is set to have its first ever season in 2026. Jackie Contreras is with us to ge...

Jason Davis joined Thomas Pinzone to talk about all the latest developments in both MLS and USL as both leagues are approaching the kickoff of their 2025 seasons With USL proposing to go D1, MLS discovering cash, a revamped MLS Eastern Conference, Bruce’s revenge tour and USL’s continued growth, Jason and Thomas covered it all If you enjoyed listening to Jason, you can also find him on Morning Kic...