The Blazing Musket Podcast

Victor Matheson is the sports and gambling economics professor at The College of the Holy Cross and an avid soccer fan. He's also a soccer referee who's called games at the pro and international level. He brought his wealth of knowledge and passion on the shifting landscape of college sports, the effect of gambling in sports, what's it like reffing the beautiful game and more!It was an engaging conversation and the perfect guest to kick the show back into gear after our summer break!You can follow Victor on BlueSky and read more about him in this feature story from Holy Cross Magazine.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!To keep up with all the soccer in New England, head over to The Blazing Musket!

Our crew of writers and podcasters got together to talk about how New England soccer is doing as summer arrives.We focused this month on discussing the role of the teams, leagues, their sponsors and supporters groups in the current challenging situation in our country. Should teams and leagues do more to speak out against the actions of ICE? What enables the Vermont Green to openly support climate, social and immigrant justice while the New England Revolution do nothing more than tokenism?It was an engaging and important discussion about how what's happening outside the stadium sometimes comes inside the stadium.Our guests this month:Mike from United in Green a podcast covering the Vermont GreenShawn from The Blazing Musket and From the Forest to the Tide podcast covering Portland Hearts of PineMatt from Raising Anchor a podcast covering Rhode Island FCYou can find all these podcasts on The Blazing Musket as part of our podcast network along with Revolution RecapWe 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 hard to keep track of all the soccer tournaments, leagues and qualifiers going on this summer. In the midst of it all is CONCACAF's Gold Cup tournament featuring the top teams from North and Central America, the Caribbean and even a sportswashing entry from Asia!Jake Catanese is more prepared than anyone we know for this tournament and he's here to walk us through the groups, the key talking points and how he thinks it'll shake down over the next month as part of his excellent work for The Blazing Musket.You can follow Jake on X.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!To keep up with the Gold Cup and all the soccer in New England, head over to The Blazing Musket!

Ever since fascism first took power in Italy in the 1920s, soccer clubs, players and their supporters have found ways to resist against it. Chris Lee covers the whole history of that struggle in his book, The Defiant, and joined us to talk all about it.Chris has written two other books and maintains a site called Outside Write that as self-described, "avoids talking on-field matters, we’re about travelling the world, and learning new things from clubs and the people we meet on the way. We get under the skin of football culture and history.”.You can follow Chris and Outside Write on BlueSky or their site.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!To keep up with all the soccer in New England, head over to The Blazing Musket!

After a disappointing Nations League setback, that the saw the US men lose both the semi-final and third place game, the Gold Cup awaits. It's a last opportunity for competitive games for the US before the 2026 World Cup, which the US is already qualified for as hosts.There's plenty to talk about, be it team selection, who needs to perform this summer, is head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, fully committed, is he the right person to lead this team?Jonathan's got thoughts, opinions and insight on it all!You can follow Jonathan through the Gold Cup and World Cup on BlueSky.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!To keep up with all the soccer in New England, head over to The Blazing Musket!

Valair Shabilla, from SixOneFive Soccer, joins us to talk about La Brigada De Oro's recent decision to stop attending Nashville SC home games. They have done so not as a protest but out of fear of being targeted by heavy handed ICE activity that has been prevalent in the Nashville area. Immigrants or people who simply look like immigrants have had places of gathering targeted by ICE operations wherein due process and decency towards fellow humans has been put to the side.Valair tells us all about the current situation and also the history and significant role La Bragada plays at Nashville's home games. We both talk about how this situation and many others like it around the country have effected us and how almost all of us here in the US were immigrants at some point.As much as we might like to stick to soccer, this is a situation that can't be ignored.You can keep up with La Brigada and Nashville SC on SixOneFive Soccer and you can follow Valair on BlueSky as well.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!To keep up with all the soccer in New England, head over to The Blazing Musket!

The Blazing Musket Podcast's roundtable show is back for the month of May!Our crew of writers and podcasters got together to talk about how each of New England's pro teams and it's most beloved amateur teamWe discussed:How all the teams are doing so far this yearWhat to look forward to from each team in the next monthPromotion and relegation debateThe stadiums for each team are all up and running, who's delivers the best experience on game day?It was a great, humorous, wide ranging discussion of all that's going on with the Vermont Green, Portland Hearts of Pine, Rhode Island FC and Hartford AthleticOur guests this month:Mike from United in Green a podcast covering the Vermont GreenShawn from The Blazing Musket and From the Forest to the Tide podcast covering Portland Hearts of PineJason from Raising Anchor a podcast covering Rhode Island FCNathan from The Blazing Musket covering Hartford AthleticYou can find all these podcasts on The Blazing Musket as part of our podcast network along with Revolution RecapWe 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!

This past Sunday saw the Portland Hearts of Pine play their first game in their home stadium in Portland after three memorable nights up in Lewiston, Maine. Thomas is joined by Sam Minton to talk about the first night and Thomas had some insight of his own with his trip up to Fitzpatrick Stadium a few days before the opener. We also have an interview Portland's head coach, Bobby Murphy, who shared some insight into how he prepares for each game.If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!To keep up with all the soccer in New England, head over to The Blazing Musket!

The NWSL is just getting started and at the same time the new USL Super League is coming to season's end and the playoffs. And beyond that, there's two more pro women's leagues starting in the US in 2026. All this while we await the arrival of Boston Legacy and the return of pro women's soccer to New England.Jessica Charman does play by play and commentary for NWSL, USL Super League and USL Championship games and is also the host of Played In, a weekly show on SiriusXM FC. She joined us to share all the riveting story lines in both the Super League and the NWSL and shared her thoughts on the ever growing women's soccer landscape.You can follow Jessica on X and check out her show on SiriusXM FC right here!If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from!To keep up with all the soccer in New England, head over to The Blazing Musket!