Podcast: Observations and thoughts from the New England club season

FC Stars players celebrate a goal during an ECNL game this season. (FC Stars)

On the latest episode of New England Soccer Journal’s “The Goal” podcasts, hosts Matt Langone and Matt Doherty discussed observations and thoughts from the 2024-25 New England club soccer season.

The national playoffs wrap up this month, on both the boys and girls side of the club world, which means the season will officially come to a close. The last several months have featured plenty of storylines and impressive performances from top talents across the region, in various high-level platforms.

Langone and Doherty recapped the campaign and what stood out most to them. 

Here are some highlights from our discussion:

On a lesson learned from ECNL Girls national showcase events:

Langone: “It reinforced some things that we already knew about New England soccer. It just kind of showed you the level that FC Stars is at in the girls club soccer world, with having the two teams — Blue and White — and being able to have two ECNL teams go to these showcases and compete at a high level.”

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On a general theme from the season:

Doherty: “It’s a competitive world, and I think that adds a layer of excitement for us to cover it, because these clubs do want to win. They obviously want to produce players and that’s their ultimate goal. But there also is that prestige of having that club and reaching that high mark of ‘okay, we’re the club to be in New England.'”

On what sticks out about covering MLS Next:

Doherty: “I think the player development — just that hands-on training that you get year-round. There’s nothing that offers that. Even ECNL Boys, which is a good league in itself, they kind of start after the high school season. Whereas with MLS Next, when you sign up for that you’re basically getting 10 months of training.”

On the future of ECNL Boys:

Langone: “I think the game within the game that we’ll be paying attention to over the next year, two years, three years is what ECNL does on the boys side to compete with this growing platform, this growing powerhouse that is MLS Next.”

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