What stood out during the NYCFC road gauntlet

The matches just keep coming for New York City FC and we've got a few from the past and a few from the future under discussion on this episode. The dramatic late win in Orlando and the slightly disappointing draw in Kansas City improved our outlooks on NYCFC and their ability to perform on the road. Hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh discuss what stood out most from those two away performances, which each had highs and lows for NYCFC. That included NYCFC II forward Sebastiano Musu and his energy and involvement when entering as a substitute against Sporting Kansas City, Alonso Martínez's down-then-up game in Orlando which featured a shocking open-goal miss followed not long after by a last-minute winner, and the inconsistency of New York City FC's performance in both these matches. Lots of transfer talk then follows our look back at the second and third of four straight NYCFC away games. Most focus is on the reported departure of Mounsef Bakrar back to Croatia with Dinamo Zagreb, and the uncertain status of Mitja Ilenič, who's also linked with a possible transfer out this summer. We also discuss a rumor from Israel linking Philadelphia Union striker Tai Baribo with a transfer to NYCFC to round out this episode's transfer rumor section. After the break, it's time to preview the final match of the road gauntlet thrown before Pascal Jansen and his team, at a limited capacity Toyota Stadium and against a down-in-the-standings FC Dallas. We wonder about Dallas's star No 10 Luciano Acosta's status for this game and set our expectations for the final leg of the long, hot July road trip. Before we wrap up the episode, we take an early look ahead to Leagues Cup, which kicks off five days after the Dallas match, at Sports Illustrated Stadium on July 29. Andrew gives a general overview of the modified format for this year's Leagues Cup, which will only have MLS teams playing Liga MX teams during Phase One of the competition – it's complicated, and we do our best to make North America's quirkiest new tournament make sense so you're not caught off guard when it's back next week. Listen to the full episode, then be sure to find more of our coverage by following Hudson River Blue on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads, and by reading all our work at HudsonRiverBlue.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.