The Soccer Journal Podcast

This week on The Blueprint, hosts John Baney and Trey Fillmore step away from the raw wound of the USMNT's Round of 16 loss to Belgium and dig into the story that overshadowed it: Folarin Balogun's red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the bizarre chain of events that saw his automatic suspension lifted just hours before kickoff against Belgium. John and Trey walk through Article 27 of FIFA'...

One of the toughest episodes of The Soccer Journal Podcast to record, with hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh still left reeling from the United States men's national team's 4-1 collapse against Belgium in Seattle in the World Cup's Round of 16, a result that ended what had otherwise been among the best World Cup performances in modern US men's history. We break down how a...

The FIFA World Cup  has seen many changes over its 23 editions, but in 2026, the most controversial new wrinkle is the mandatory three-minute hydration breaks implemented for all 104 matches, no matter if they're played inside an air-conditioned dome or out in 90-degree New Jersey swamp heat. This episode of The Blueprint looks closely at the pausa de hidratación, which hosts John Baney and Trey F...

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...

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 will...

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 Folar...

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 opac...

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, w...

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 loa...

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 f...

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 t...

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 throug...

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....

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,...

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 importa...

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), t...

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 knoc...

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 elsewhe...

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 Cincinn...

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 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 mor...

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 ex...

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...

We begin this episode by talking about the big recent news involving us: Hudson River Blue is shutting down . You get to hear it from us, and we do our best to update you on what’s coming next for our coverage. That coverage is uninterrupted, at least as far as this podcast is concerned. After the housekeeping, it’s on to a deep dive into the epic clash between New York City FC and Inter Miami CF...

New York City FC made it three straight wins by beating Colorado Rapids at Yankee Stadium, so that 3-1 victory and Nico Fernández Mercau's two goals in it are big topics to open this episode. Hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh review the standout performances against Colorado, like Nico continuing his early goal binge, Maxi Moralez picking up yet another assist, and Talles...