The Soccer Media Podcast with John Shrader

MAX BRETOS is a veteran American soccer announcer. He is one of the voices of Major League Soccer’s Apple TV broadcasts. He is working with Sirius XM FC during the FIFA World Cup . Max is still attached to LAFC and is a former ESPN broadcaster. In this conversation it’s all about the World Cup, including USA prepping for Belgium without Folarin Balogun, the big stars who have shown up, and finding...

ALAN ROTHENBERG was asked to be a part of the team that put together the 1984 Olympics and that led to his role as president of U.S. Soccer, which put together the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., and created Major League Soccer as well. As a young lawyer in Los Angeles, he went to work for the mercurial sports owner Jack Kent Cooke. Rothenberg jokes he was a sports lawyer before they were called sport...

KOREY DONAHOO co-founded the American Outlaws , the leading supporter’s group for the United States men’s and women’s national soccer teams.  They founded the group in Lincoln, Nebraska in 2007, then quickly developed it into an organization. They now have 24,000 members from more than 200 chapters around the world.  Donahoo says they have been a bit frustrated by the ticketing for the World Cup,...

Glenn Crooks is a former college soccer coach (14 years as the head coach of the Rutgers’ women’s program) and broadcaster, and now an author. His second “Put it on Frame” book is now out. It’s the second in a series of three that, according to the book cover, “shares some of his most interesting and illuminating conversations with soccer’s most important voices.” Glenn is the voice of the NYC Foo...

Sammy Sadovnik has been a talk show host and play-by-play announcer at Fútbol de Primera (FDP) for more than 25 years. During the 2026 FIFA World Cup he will be the lead announcer for FDP i its seventh consecutive tournament as the Spanish-language presenter in the United States. Sadovnik will be among a crew of more than 30 people, including play-by-play announcers, color commentators, studio ana...

CLYDE BEST left his home in Bermuda in 1968, at age 17, to pursue his dream of playing professional football in England. He joined the club West Ham in London where he played for seven plus seasons. Then, it was off to the US to play in theNorth American Soccer League, first with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and then the Portland Timbers. Along this journey he became very good friends with Clive Charles...

JOSH LILL and PHILIP GALATI are young soccer announcers plying their trade at VISTA Worldlink in Florida, where they call scores of soccer matches, including USL, MLS Next and in other arenas.  Josh is a graduate of the University of Nebraska Sports Media and Broadcasting program and Philip is a graduate of the broadcasting program at Syracuse. They’ both in their third year of calling games, hopi...

CLEMENTE LISI has updated his 2022 book The World Cup:A history of the planet’s biggest sporting event with a 2026 edition that includes a look at the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. In this conversation we talk about the history of the event, including the 1994 tournament in the United States. Clemente has a comprehensive look at the World Cup, from its origins in Uruguay in 1...

TYLER TERENS is making his World Cup announcing debut for Fox Sports in 2026. He’s been assigned to work with former U.S. National team player Maurice Edu, starting with a game between Sweden and Tunisia June 14 in Monterey, Mexico. Terens started his career working lower level games at Vista World in Florida, calling games on a monitor. He then did Chicago Fire games for three years before doing...

STEVEN GOFF spent nearly forty years with the Washington Post , for the last three decades he covered most of the biggest games in American soccer, including MLS titles, World Cups, Open Cups and much more.  He now reports on soccer for Yahoo Sports , mostly covering the U.S. men’s team and the World Cup. He chats here about the U.S. men’s roster decisions as well as what would make this tournamen...

KEVIN EGAN has been host of studio presentations on AppleTV’s Major League Soccer coverage since 2023. He does the Countdown show before the games, MLS 360 during the broadcasts, and ends it all with MLS Wrap-Up. He talks about the league’s impact on world soccer; the growing number of superstars coming to the league; the World Cup and what he will be doing during the games; and he has a new Irish...

MIKE WOITALLA is the Executive Editor of Soccer America . Here he chats with John about the US men’s soccer team in the weeks leading up to the World Cup and just days after the Americans lost back-to-back games in Atlanta, first to Belgium 5-2 and then to Portugal 2-0. The names Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie are uttered, and Mike talks about what would be a good result for the US in the W...

ALEX SILVERMAN covers soccer and hockey for Sports Business Journal . We talk here quite a bit about the World Cup to be held this summer in the United States, Canada andMexico, from the impact of the war in Iran to the politics of Trump and Infantino. Also, in the conversation: MLS and the Messi Effect, the league's TV deal with Apple TV. Alex also talks about the bounce from the Olympic hock...

MICHAEL LEWIS publishes soccer news at FrontRowSoccer .com and on his Substack, Viewfrom the Front Row , and at Forbes .com. He’s looking forward t covering his ninth Men’s World Cup. In this conversation we talk about preparations for the World Cup, including games being played in Atlanta against Belgium and Portugal, where a number of players have an opportunity to showcasetheir talents less tha...

FRANCISCO X. RIVERA is a bilingual sports announcer who has done all five major league sports in the last year. He is one of the voices, in Spanish and in English, for Major League Soccer’s Apple TV productions. He is one of the Spanish language voices of the Atlanta Braves since 2025, and the LA Kings for the last eight years. He also does free-lance work for the NFL and NBA. Rivera is a native o...

Dan Egan is the Executive Producer of the new film Transforming the Beautiful Game: The ClydeBest Story . Egan’s film takes an inside look at Best, who became a teenage star in the late 1960s at West Ham United in England, straight off the island of Bermuda. Best then would be one of the early stars of the North American Soccer League in the mid-1970s. This film looks closely at Best and also race...

JILL LOYDEN is a former professional goalkeeper and national team player who now broadcasts games for the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), mostly on ION but occasionally on the other outlets. In this conversation we talk about her career, broadcasting with people like J.P. Dellacamera, the quality of women’s soccer in this country and the world, and much more.   She is a goalkeeper coach and...

STEVE CANGIALOSI begins his fourth year in the Apple TV booth for Major League Soccer. He has been doing MLS games since 2002, when he stepped in to do host and back-up play-by-play duties. He became the full-time announcer for the New York / New Jersey Metrostars and later Red Bull New York. He worked for more than a decade as the television voice of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. Steve talks about...

MIKE WOITALLA is the Executive Editor of Soccer America. He covered the annual general meeting of the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) in Atlanta, at which the group reelectedCindy Parlow Cone as its president. He reports that it was a ‘feel-good’ event, which included decision on grassroots events. Certainly, they looked ahead to the World Cup. He had a conversation with USSF CEO JT Batson, which he...

DAVE BRETT WASSER has hundreds of videos of soccer matches played over the last five decades or so. He gets calls occasionally for videos he has but mostly gives away the rights to use them.  He looks at the soccer business as a fan and an archivist of video and a historian of the American game. He’s an animal rights activist and runs a nonprofit called Cruelty Free Investing. He kind of wandered...

Though still quite young Chris Wittyngham is a veteran television soccer announcer. He’s a regular on the Serie A broadcasts on CBS/Paramount and hosts and does analysis for Golazo Network . He can be seen and heard on UEFAChampions League matches for both the men and the women; and, will work again this year with Lori Lindsey on the Apple TV broadcasts for Major League Soccer. He occasionally doe...

MARK DONALDSON has been calling soccer matches on ESPN and the Disney family of networks since 2010. He can be heard on La Liga games and other leagues in Europe; also does NWSL games. And, throw in some golf and tennis and more. The Edinburgh, Scotland native is the author of four books. In this conversation we talk about, among other things, his start in the U.S. (thank Derek Rae); the World Cup...

THIS EPISODE: Colorado native Jordan Angeli made her way to Santa Clara University to play soccer, and managed to get the professional ranks. After suffering a third torn ACL, all on the same knee, Jordan talked her way into the broadcasting business. Now, Jordan is one of the leading announcers on NWSL games. She will work ESPN games with Jacqui Oatley this year and do other games as well. Angeli...

SAMMY SADOVNIK is a veteran soccer announcer who first came to the U.S. in 2000. The native of Peru has been with Futbol de Primera (FDP) since then, announcing games and he hosts a nightly show heard around the country and the hemisphere. He has been the lead Spanish-language voice for Apple TV’s presentation of Major League Soccer since 2023. He will once again be heard on FDP’s presentation of...

JEFF CARLISLE covers soccer for ESPN. His primary focuses are the US Men’s National Team and Major League Soccer.  He and the rest of the soccer reporting and editing team are getting ready to cover the World Cup in the U.S., Canada andMexico. Carlisle has seen the media business change and the soccer coverage change considerably in his more than 20 years of covering soccer for ESPN. Recorded Janu...