The season is in sad shape for New York City FC after an unsurprising but still deflating 2-0 loss on the road against Inter Miami, followed shortly thereafter by a downright boring 1-1 draw with LAFC at Citi Field.
That the club's three-match week, which began with that brutal loss on the road while up a man against Chicago Fire FC, ends with just one point gained and a tumble down the Eastern Conference table to 12th place has ripped the optimism right out of hosts Mark Radigan and John Baney and producer Andrew Leigh.
They struggle to find much of anything positive to say about the performance in Miami, and lament how little NYCFC created in the 1-1 draw with LAFC. The non-Nico Fernández Mercau attacking players can't figure it out, and the preferred personnel in that attack, outside of Fernández Mercau and Agustín Ojeda, remains unsettled while only four matches remain in the season.
A late-season improvement might not be coming, but what is coming: Etihad Park, in July 2027, a fact reaffirmed by the tour of the stadium construction site our own John Baney took prior to the LAFC match. John shares more about his tour and the progress made on New York City FC's future home, a discussion which also leads into talk about New York City FC's owners and the hot water they're in over in the UK as it relates to Manchester City FC and the Premier League's case against them.
After the stadium and City Football Group talk, it's on to a preview of NYCFC's next match, the trip to face Orlando City SC and its new summer import, Antoine Griezmann. Orlando's turnaround after a slow start, and the different places these two teams now find themselves in since NYCFC earned a 5-0 win in their first meeting in March at Yankee Stadium, are discussed, with little expectation that a repeat of that comfortable win is on the cards for the struggling Pigeons.
Listen to the full episode either at the top of this post, or find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts.
