AN AMERICAN GAME
Some say that soccer is an American game. Okay, Tom McCabe and Kirk Rudell say that, and it might sound weird if you’re an American soccer fan, and you’ve spent your whole life defending your love for the game to people who say the US has no soccer history.
But: soccer was in New Jersey before it was in Brazil. The US had a pro league before Italy or Spain. We were the first country to register for the first World Cup. In this series, the former teammates tell stories from the 150 years of American soccer history that even die-hard fans may not know. Tom is one of the pre-eminent historians of American soccer, and Kirk is a veteran Hollywood screenwriter, so it’s real history that’s fun to listen to.
With a World Cup coming this year, we want to give American fans a reason to stand a little prouder, cheer a little louder, and celebrate the generations of immigrants who brought their dreams, and the game, with them. Because it’s our game, too.
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Episodes
29 episodes
Football in Fall River feat. Pitbull (actually Rory Bryce of The Football Heritage)
Tom and Kirk have their first guest! Or, depending on how you look at it, their guest has guests. We sat with Rory Bryce of The Football Heritage, an ambitious independent project based in Scotland which explores the roots, culture and h...
The Pochettino Problem
Honestly, Mauricio seems like a nice guy, and he's a very talented coach, but he has a lot of very confident opinions about what it takes to win for someone whose only won one thing in his career--a Coupe de France with a loaded PSG squad that ...
The USA in the EPL
The English Premier League season has kicked off and captured the attention of soccer fans all over the world--including millions in the United States. But don't judge the full-kit kids at the mall or the hipsters watching games in the b...
Crabgrass Empire: How US Youth Soccer Got This Way...and How to Fix It
Welcome to Season 3 of An American Game. While enjoying their brief hiatus, Tom and Kirk heard lots of post-World Cup debate about what's wrong with American youth soccer, and they decided to kick off the new season by ending the debate....
Added Time: World Cup Week 6, the Final Whistle
After six weeks of mostly good, some bad, and a little ugly, the World Cup ended. And so our Added Time series heads to the locker room, but not before we tie up a few narrative threads, anger a few more Argentinian fans, and weigh in on...
Added Time: World Cup Week 5
One step forward, one step back. That was the theme of the World Cup this week. As the tournament moved to its final rounds in the United States, it did what soccer does: reflect the larger American story.Tom and Kirk step into th...
Added Time: World Cup Week 4
Oof, this one stings. But every time Belgium closes a door, Tom and Kirk open a window. This week: we look at the 60-year history of US Soccer "shooting for the Moon" and put some respect on our soccernauts who may have fallen short, but...
Added Time: World Cup Week 3
As the United States continues to climb a World Cup mountain that was too steep for smaller soccer nations like Germany and the Netherlands, Tom and Kirk re-cap the Bosnia-Herzegovina win; tip our hats to the Iranian team; and, as we cel...
Added Time: World Cup Week 2
It's only the second week of the World Cup, but we already have plenty of narrative. Kirk and Tom chop up the power of soft power, sweet vindication for US fans, and why the Pochettino "I brought futbol to the American barbarians" mythol...
Added Time: World Cup Week 1
We warned you we'd be keeping it loose this month. Every week of the World Cup we’ll drop a short reaction episode; though, like added time, we’ll never be quite sure how long we’ll go.The Knicks triumph in the NBA Finals just a d...
American Ultras: A History of US National Team Fans
If the history of US soccer is longer than most people realize, so is the history of US soccer fandom. From factory workers cheering from the freezing sidelines on industrial lots in the late 1800s to families in air-conditioned domed st...
Seattle 2.0: We've Heard Great Things
In Season One, Seattle made our Starting XI of US Soccertowns (Portland, we've read your comments, and we are very sorry.)As the Emerald City prepares to host the 2026 World Cup, we're re-airing last fall’s segment on Seattle socc...
Jersey Odyssey: Our Visit to Soccertown, USA
From: Bank of AmericaTo: Tom and KirkSubject: Pre-World Cup screening of SOCCERTOWN, USAAnd so an adventure began: an invitation to meet up in New Jersey for a screening of our award-winning 2019 documentary, followed by...
Archie Stark and the Scotch Professors
Tartan Army, assemble!Grab your Walker's shortbread and Laphroaig and listen to a tale of your ancestors, who traveled over the ocean to the United States and Canada... as many of you will this summer for the World Cup (if world e...
Atlanta 2.0 -- Back to the Benz
Last fall, Atlanta was one of our Starting XI of US Soccertowns. As it prepares to host games in the World Cup, Tom and Kirk take a look at how preparations are going in the literal home of US Soccer.Then we re-broadcast the Atlan...
Our Family Versus Your Team: Inside the St. Benedict's Soccer Dynasty
Tucked in the middle of Newark, New Jersey is a small school called St. Benedict's Prep that has had a huge impact on high school soccer. For 40 years the Gray Bees have been the most dominant soccer program in the country...and one of t...
A Boycott Is a Flat Circle: the 1980 US Olympic Soccer Team
"History rhymes" is a thing we say a lot, paraphrasing Mark Twain who was also probably thinking about soccer. With the threat of a boycott hanging over this summer's World Cup, we go back 47 years to when the U.S. Men’s Soccer Team qual...
It's a Duck, It's a League, It's...USL
In 2028, when USL Premier launches, the United States will have a Division One pro soccer league at the top of a promotion-relegation pyramid. Sexy!But we're in 2026, when a potential players' strike threatens the entire USL seaso...
AITA? I'm Co-Hosting the World Cup with Mexico and Canada
In 2018, when the United States, Mexico, and Canada were selected to co-host this year’s World Cup, it sounded like fun: three friendly democracies throwing the world's biggest soccer party.LOL. LMAO, even. To kick off...
Generation VICTORY: A Tribute to the Greatest Holiday Soccer Film Ever Made
We’re back! Sort of. Season Two of AN AMERICAN GAME will be coming your way in February 2026, and we’ve got so many new stories to share about US soccer history that we’re burning one now. Hahaha that can’t possibly come back to bite us,...
Soccertowns: A Starting XI of US Soccer
If towns make a nation, we think our soccertowns make us a soccer nation. That’s kind of, like, our whole thing–it’s literally the name of the show. In our final episode of Season 1, we play a full 90 minutes (plus added time!) and dig i...
Water Break
Look, if it were up to Tom and Kirk they'd just play through but, you know, Wet-Bulb Temperature, FIFPRO Players' Union mandates, blah blah blah.So while the team guzzles [ENERGY DRINK SPONSOR TK], enjoy this mini-episode where th...
Little Earthquakes: The First Women’s National Team
The US victory in the 1999 Women’s World Cup has been called “a tsunami hitting the shore” for women’s soccer in the United States. But the seismic activity that started that wave goes way back to the 19th century. (Surprised? You must b...