The Blazing Musket Podcast

We're joined once again by author, professor and former professional soccer player, Jules Boykoff. Jules is back to review everything that went down around the games of the World Cup. Could things have gone better, could they have gone worse? How much more greed and corruption can we take and what can we do about it? Jules is here to go over it all.If you're interested in Jules' work please consider picking up a copy of one of his upcoming books at the links below:Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed MachineKickingAlso consider adding your name to the Reboot FIFA campaign right here.You find all of Jules' work here and follow him on BlueSky.You can follow Thomas on BlueSky.Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com.

The World Cup final is upon us, the semi finals are over and North America's summer of soccer has reached it's peak. We've got Hayden Bird of the Boston Globe and Sam Lattof in to recap the semi finals and get ready for the final.You can follow Hayden on BlueSky and check out his soccer coverage on Boston.com.You can follow Thomas on BlueSky and Sam as well.Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!

The World Cup has completed two knockout rounds and the final stages are nearly here. The quarterfinals begin on Thursday in Foxboro and conclude on Saturday night. Hayden Bird from the Boston Globe and Boston.com is here to recap the round of 16 and get us all set for the quarterfinals.You can follow Hayden on BlueSky and check out his soccer coverage on Boston.com.You can follow Thomas on BlueSky.Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!

The roundtable has assembled for a World Cup special! We got together to chart the US's path to the quarterfinals, figure out who the real contenders are, who's in trouble and what individually have impressed the most so far.We’ve got the usual crew here to talk about all of it…Our guests join from:United in Green podcast covering the Vermont GreenThe Friggin Soccer Show podcast covering Portland Hearts of PineRaising Anchor a podcast covering Rhode Island FCThe Average Fan Podcast that covers Hartford AthleticYou can find all these podcasts on The Blazing Musket as part of our podcast network along with Revolution Recap and The Swan Dive.We hope you like this episode and be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review if you do wherever you get your podcasts from!

It's only been seven days of games for the 2026 World Cup but there's much to dive into already! Oliver Scholes and Sam Latoff from The Blazing Musket is in fresh off the conclusion of England's first game to discuss the USMNT flying start, slow going for Canada, a setback for Brazil and more!Get caught up on all things World Cup as the tournament moves into the second week of group stage action.You can check out Oliver's work covering Hartford Athletic on The Blazing Musket and The Average Fan Podcast.You can follow Thomas on BlueSky.Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!

The World Cup is here! We’re ready to dive into the local connections, teams to watch, players to watch and our best guesses as to how this whole thing shakes out.We're joined by none other than the leader of The Blazing Musket, Sam Lattof, and one of New England's best soccer journalists, Hayden Bird, from Boston.com, to get you ready for the biggest World Cup in the tournament's history.You can follow Hayden on BlueSky and check out his soccer coverage on Boston.com.You can follow Thomas on BlueSky and Sam as well.Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!

We’re just weeks away from the World Cup, in the midst of a women’s soccer revival in New England, while another USL team folds and MLS Next Pro embraces private equity investment to go to war with the USL.We’ve got the usual crew here to talk about all of it…Our guests join from:United in Green podcast covering the Vermont GreenThe Friggin Soccer Show podcast covering Portland Hearts of PineRaising Anchor a podcast covering Rhode Island FCThe Average Fan Podcast that covers Hartford AthleticYou can find all these podcasts on The Blazing Musket as part of our podcast network along with Revolution Recap and The Swan Dive.We hope you like this episode and be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review if you do wherever you get your podcasts from!

Jackie covers the Boston Legacy here at The Blazing Musket and has been keeping up with them during their five game unbeaten streak. We talked about their slow start, the recent run of results and what to expect headed into the summer.We also talked about the switch in their home venue as they will now transition from Gillette Stadium to Centreville Bank Stadium in Rhode Island.You can keep up with the Legacy here on The Blazing Musket and follow Jackie on BlueSky.You can follow Thomas on BlueSky.Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!

Wes Burdine is a co-founder of the community owned, Minnesota Aurora FC, a women's team competing in the USL W League in 2026. Wes joins us to talk about MLS Next Pro taking a big investment from private equity, namely KKR. We talked about what is MLS' overarching goal with this new partnership and is this really the direction we want to see soccer leagues going?We also talked about US Soccer changing a key standard of now only requiring a principal investor in a Club to own 15% of the team, instead of the previous 35%. What does this newer, lower threshold mean for future investment in US Soccer? Does this have any potential positives like unlocking more chances for fan owned teams?You can follow Wes on BlueSky right here and check out Minnesota Aurora FC in more detail here.You can follow Thomas on BlueSky.Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!