Where were you the day a 700-pound, five-story-tall inflatable New York City FC-branded pigeon floated all around New York City?

The club's floating pigeon publicity stunt got even some of the most soccer-disinterested people in New York City's attention, so we had to open the latest Hudson River Blue Podcast by weighing in on the latest Big Bird in the land of NYCFC.

The big old pigeon was exciting, but it definitely wasn't the biggest news discussed on Episode 46. That distinction goes to recent reports that NYCFC will sign Nicolás "Nico" Fernández as their next Designated Player, with the team poised to pay a sizable transfer fee to acquire the 25-year-old Argentine currently of Elche CF, a Spanish club freshly promoted back to the top-flight LaLiga.

Is Nico the answer, or is Sporting Director David Lee about to repeat his recent history by paying a big transfer fee for another less-than-stellar player who fails to live up to the expectations that accompany his signing? Hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan, plus producer Andrew Leigh share interesting perspectives and background on NYCFC's new Designated Player and the possible like-for-like replacement for departed Santíago Rodríguez. Before we wrap up all our Transfer Talk, we also discuss a recent rumor linking one of Pascal Jansen's former Ferencváros players, left-footed center-back Raul Gustavo, with a move to join his old coach at NYCFC.

Transfer talk sorted, we then spend some time reviewing the comfortable 3-1 win New York City FC earned over Toronto FC on a pre-4th of July match at Yankee Stadium before taking a break and returning to do our version of a postmortem on the United States men's national team and their run to the Concacaf Gold Cup final, and a 2-1 loss in that final to hated rivals Mexico.

There are attempts to take a big-picture view of the entire summer of USMNT training camp, friendlies, and a runner-up finish at the Gold Cup, while we also single out some American players who helped their cases and will hope to now stick in bigger roles and in Mauricio Pochettino's future plans, such as those for the 2026 World Cup – it's a list that includes NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese right at the top after his breakout showing this month.

Speaking of Matt Freese, with the Gold Cup over, he'll likely rejoin his NYCFC teammates for their trip to face Charlotte FC on the road. Episode 46 wraps up with a closer look at what to expect from a Charlotte team that's underwhelmed ahead of the first 2025 meeting between these teams.

Dean Smith's team is led by reigning Goalkeeper of the Year Kristijan Kahlina, and they've got a coveted (by PSV Eindhoven, reportedly) young center-back in Adilson Malanda, but the club has been leaking in goals throughout the first rounds of MLS action. Will the tide finally start to turn for New York City in its four straight road matches, or will the club's bad head-to-head history against the team from Charlotte, North Carolina, feature one more loss added to the ledger?

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

Matt Freese had his breakout moment with the United States men's national team so we had to start Episode 45 of the Hudson River Blue Podcast by reflecting on his incredible performance in the USMNT's penalty shootout win to advance past Costa Rica and into the Semifinals of the Concacaf Gold Cup.

The New York City FC narratives were multiple in that USMNT-Costa Rica match, since Alonso Martínez was the biggest Costa Rican thorn in Freese's side. Freese's rise with the USMNT also has us asking the important questions, namely: Is The Iceman going to the World Cup in 2026? Might he even be the USMNT's starter at the tournament?

Once the Freese and Gold Cup talk wraps, we switch gears and review New York City's second 1-0 loss to CF Montréal of the season. That means discussing Pascal Jansen's absence, the team's awful first half, and what this game means for filling in backups like Mounsef Bakrar and goalkeeper Tomás Romero.

After the break, Michael Battista stops by to discuss his bombshell Hudson River Blue story about the potential return of the New York Cosmos in USL League One, with the new Cosmos set to play home matches at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey. Michael walks through the key things to know about Cosmos 3.0 and what their arrival will mean for the Tri-State soccer scene.

We wrap this episode up by previewing New York City FC's one and only home MLS match in the month of July, when Toronto FC comes to visit for another random installment of Thursday Night Soccer. Toronto just dumped their two expensive and disappointing Italian Designated Players, so does this TFC match become an absolute must-win for an NYCFC team that's looking at four straight games on the road before the Leagues Cup games begin in late July?

Time spent without New York City FC matches means the focus of the latest Hudson River Blue Podcast wanders to some other competitions, namely the Concacaf Gold Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

Episode 44 starts with talk of the Gold Cup and the United States men's national team, specifically the USMNT's starting goalkeeper Matt Freese. Freese made his first big mistake since becoming the Gold Cup starter in goal for Mauricio Pochettino, handing Haiti a goal in what was still a 2-1 USMNT victory. What will the gaffe do for Freese's place in the Starting XI, and how warranted is some of the criticism being thrown the way of the NYCFC goalkeeper?

Hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh have a lot to say about Freese's USMNT status, as well as the divided opinions among USMNT fans about striker (and college buddy of our own Mark Radigan) Patrick Agyemang of Charlotte FC.

Our Gold Cup talk also includes some previewing of the big quarterfinal match that's next up for the United States, a New York City FC Derby of sorts pitting Freese's USMNT against Alonso Martínez and Costa Rica. NYCFC will get one of its two MVPs back after that quarterfinal, but we spend some time wondering who needs a good performance for their national team the most between Freese and Alonso.

The other big non-MLS focus in this episode is the Club World Cup, which is just getting to its knockout rounds but is proving more captivating than we first anticipated. Is this tournament better than we thought, and able to overcome the off-field baggage that's hounded it before and during the matches?

Club World Cup proved pretty difficult to navigate for the three MLS teams who qualified, with Inter Miami CF and their trio of superstar ex-Barcelona players the only MLS squad to escape the group stage. Miami advanced to the knockouts and became the first Concacaf team to ever beat a team from UEFA to get there – and earned some $21.5 million in prize money in the process.

We discuss what Miami's success says on behalf of MLS on the global stage and get into a wider discussion of some of the off-field pros and cons of the Club World Cup – from DAZN to the underdog teams to Saudi Arabia's involvement and beyond.

Finally, after a big stretch without one, there's another New York City FC match to preview. We get you all caught up on what's going on with CF Montréal as New York City prepares to head north of the Canadian border to try to earn a second road win this season. We wonder about Pascal Jansen's personnel and lineup choices for the trip to Montréal, but also all sound bullish on NYCFC's chances in this last MLS match in June.

Listen to our full Cup-centric 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.

Things look to be trending in the right direction for New York City FC after that emphatic 4-0 win over Atlanta United, a result Pascal Jansen's team earned with four regular members of the Starting XI still missing due to ongoing national team duty.

Episode 43 begins with a breakdown of that dominant display by NYCFC in the Ronny Deila Derby, one made more impressive due to it occurring without leading goalscorer Alonso Martínez at striker, nor with the always reliable Matt Freese in goal.

Hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh have wondered all season where the non-Martínez goals would come from, and the win over Atlanta added to a growing body of evidence that the team's next best option in attack might be Hannes Wolf, who now leads the team in goal contributions and who could be rounding into the best form of his MLS career to date.

Our Atlanta win wrap-up also includes some more talk about Pascal Jansen's tactical creativity and flexibility, given his defensive line against Atlanta included four players you'd consider center-backs, and given that, on top of the international absentees, Jansen was also missing injured midfielder Keaton Parks.

The New York City coach has been pushing all the right buttons, and he might need to keep doing it, because following a break, we run through updates on how NYCFC's remaining international call-ups are faring, namely the two Gold Cup participants, Martínez with Costa Rica and Freese with the United States, plus Mitja Ilenič at the UEFA U21 Euros with Slovenia's U21s.

Finally, we wrap up this episode by discussing the new soccer circus that came to town in recent days: The FIFA Club World Cup. Do your hosts have growing cases of Club World Cup Fever, or is this whole thing one big mess that we'd rather not get involved with?

Listen as we dive into some of the many interesting, sometimes perplexing, sometimes infuriating angles of the Club World Cup, especially as it pertains to the three participating MLS teams and the matches taking place in our backyard at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Check out this latest 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.

A very special guest on the show this week: Atlanta United FC's head coach Ronny Deila. The man who guided New York City FC to its first MLS Cup in 2021 joined us before making his first trip back to Yankee Stadium as an opponent.

We covered a lot of ground, like how Ronny feels about coming back to face NYCFC for the first time since leaving the club in 2022, what went into his departure from New York City back in 2022, and what happy memories stick out the most from his time with NYCFC, including and in addition to the biggest one, when his team won that 2021 championship.

After our conversation with Ronny wraps up, hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh shift things in the direction of previewing the game Deila's team will play against Pascal Jansen's NYCFC.

Both managers will have to make tough lineup choices given the game falls right during a busy period of international games, with many Atlanta and New York City players called up and active with their national teams and likely unavailable for the rare Thursday night game. We run through all the key absentees and possible absentees on both sides of the game and attempt to guess how New York City might line up while missing key starters like Matt Freese and Alonso Martínez, to name just two.

Speaking of Matt Freese, we wrap up this episode by discussing Freese's debut with the United States men's national team in the friendly against Türkiye, and wonder if he'll see more time during the Gold Cup, especially given how bad the USMNT looked with Matt Turner in goal in the heavy loss to Switzerland.

Listen to our full Ronny Deila 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.

New York City FC hit the exact halfway point of their 2025 Major League Soccer season when they came back from down by two goals to earn a 2-2 draw with Nashville SC at GEODIS Park on Matchday 17.

Episode 41 starts with a review of the big moments from that exciting draw in Tennessee, as well as a look back at the miserable midweek home loss to Houston Dynamo FC that preceded the Nashville game.

Reflecting on the two most recent games, hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh have a lot to say about the importance of Keaton Parks, Hannes Wolf's climbing goals total, and what makes the group optimistic heading into the second half of the MLS schedule despite an up-and-down opening 17 league matches.

After the break, we zoom out and take a bigger-picture look at the first half of this season for New York City FC. Andrew runs through a bunch of notable stats to emerge from the first 17 games of the MLS season, and then everyone names their first-half MVPs and discusses players they think have room for improvement in their game during the second half of the season.

Is it crazy to want to see more from Alonso Martínez, the team's leading scorer? Has Matt Freese been NYCFC's best player? We have thoughts on these exact topics, so 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.

The eight-match month of May is coming to an end and New York City FC has a chance to close out their springtime run through the gauntlet on a high note.

Chicago Fire FC proved no match for New York City on Matchday 15 at Yankee Stadium, and there's now one home and one road match left, against Houston Dynamo FC and at Nashville SC, before a much-deserved break in MLS action.

We begin Episode 40 by revisiting New York City's 3-1 win over Chicago, a topsy-turvy one that saw the Fire take an early lead but then throw the game away thanks to a Brian Gutiérrez elbow to Aiden O'Neill's face and an ensuing red card.

New York City had a man advantage most of this match but still got three different goal scorers and dominated Chicago, so hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh have lots of positive thoughts on what the result said about non-Alonso Martínez attackers like Hannes Wolf, Mounsef Bakrar, Julián Fernández, and even substitute Agustín Ojeda.

Speaking of substitutes, New York City will soon need to rely on a few more of them thanks to the looming Concacaf Gold Cup, and the call-ups coming for Matt Freese from the USMNT and Alonso Martínez from Costa Rica. We go through the United States roster situation Freese faces as he joins their June training camp, and also discuss the signing of 17-year-old striker Seymour Reid to a Homegrown contract with the New York City First Team as a likely hedge against Martínez absences while with Costa Rica.

Our final segment in this episode is a double-preview of sorts, looking ahead to the midweek meeting with Houston followed by the quick turnaround on Saturday afternoon in Nashville. How will New York City handle two very different opponents, and will they end their busy May on the highest possible note?

Listen to Episode 40 to find out how we think it will go, and then find all of our coverage by following Hudson River Blue on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads, and by reading all our work at HudsonRiverBlue.com.

The first Hudson River Derby of 2025 belonged to New York City FC. Their big 2-0 rivalry win over the Red Bulls provided plenty of narratives for our latest episode, which includes plenty of talk about the rivalry game at Citi Field in front of a lively crowd of 30,804 fans.

First, your hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan, plus their producer Andrew Leigh, discuss the importance of the Hudson River Derby win given the context of New York City FC's recent struggles without any goals scored in hundreds of minutes played, and given the fact that the Red Bulls knocked New York City out of the playoffs at this same stadium some months ago.

Then we're into analyzing the nuts and bolts of what was NYCFC's best performance of the season, the first game they've won all season by more than one goal, and the first time they've managed to score more than one goal since way back on March 29, a streak of eight matches. We spend time talking about that incredible early Alonso Martínez goal, strong recent play from New York City's defensive backline while anchored by Thiago Martins and Justin Haak, and what this overall showing in the highest-pressure game of the season to date tells us about the 2025 edition of New York City FC.

The Hudson River Derby sufficiently covered, we briefly discuss the news that James Sands is staying with FC St. Pauli in Germany's Bundesliga through the end of their upcoming 2025-2026 season. Among us, there's a unanimous approval for his continued stay in Germany, mixed with some concern about the severity of the ankle and leg injury that's sidelined Sands since February.

Then our attentions turn to the next NYCFC opponent, Chicago Fire FC, who enter Sunday's afternoon matinee at Yankee Soccer Stadium riding a streak of four consecutive wins across all competitions. Our preview of the Fire game also leads us into a discussion about new New York City signing Aiden O'Neill, with John particularly impressed by what the Australian midfielder has shown in his early games in MLS.

It's a loaded episode. Listen to the full show 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.