Howler Radio

Grammy winners Ozomatli set out to collaborate on a song with LAFC’s 3252. The result: 5 songs—and a story. George Sanchez-Tello takes it from there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Ash, as Gary Gold, has a story to tell. It’s about an Englishman making LA his home and trying to make an MLS team—and a man chasing his dream. We’re pretty sure that’s what it’s about anyway. Greg joins Howler radio to talk it over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love soccer, you know that FIFA is at the center of it all, and recently it was at the center of the biggest sports scandal in history. Ken Bensinger, an award winning journalist for Buzzfeed put together the most explosive expose on what was actually happening behind the scenes at FIFA and why Russia and others were getting the go ahead to host the greatest event in sports, The World Cup. He joins us to talk about his book, "Red Card: How the U.S. Blew the Whistle on the World's Biggest Sports Scandal." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We talk with Nate Abaurrea about Maradona's remarkable visit to Tijuana plus hear his version of the infamous goal scored by the man some refer to as "Dios".. Meanwhile in Chicago recently, the US held their Soccer Coaches Convention and James Bridget Gordon was there to give us details plus insight into what lies ahead for the NWSL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Howler 15 contributor Elliot Sheaf, editor of Top Corner Magazine and West Ham United supporter, shares thoughts on the ConIFA World Cup, rediscovering a love of the England team, and trying to love the London Stadium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Howler Radio welcomes novelist, Howler Magazine contributor and former DI collegiate player Jomo Hendrickson to talk writing, soccer and what happens when you put writing and soccer together. His book, The American Way, follows the life of Japeth Walker, as he endeavours to become a soccer superstar, following the murder of his best friend.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Georgia Cloepfil, the author of The Shape of a Dream Can Expand and Shrink: An American Soccer Life in South Korea, an extraordinary two-part piece we ran on the site in early August joins the podcast. The piece speaks about just one chapter in her unique and varied soccer career. The podcast speaks about everything else, including her professional experiences in Australia, South Korea and other countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New editor Dennie Wendt and founding editor George Quraishi discuss the contents, creative process and—incredibly, and at long last—the completion of Howler 15.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TOMMY SMYTH, PART II: One man’s story of coming to the U.S. and becoming one of the great voices of the American game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The great Tommy Smyth joins Howler Radio for a wide-ranging, insightful and occasionally surprising World Cup roundup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Japan may have come out victorious in Tom's final match at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but the real winners were the Colombian fans and Tom, who shares a moment from the match that moved him more than any other during his two week travels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was it the train ride from Hell or Heaven? There was lots of beer, Koreans, Swedes, Songs, Dogs and Cats living together. Massive Hysteria. But if you are going to survive World Cup 2018, this isn’t a bad way. Tom Kludt continues his story from somewhere in Russia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I can finally check this off my bucket list, and while it wasn't a US game, it had an incredible finish. However, it was the journey to that point from before the game in a bar to the ride to the stadium to the wonderful people I know consider my friends that made this the most special game of Futbol i had ever seen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the World Cup 2018 is about to begin, it's Tom Kludt's job to find out who made the journey and which of those create the loudest cheers for their teams. Would it be Morocco, Iran, Saudi Arabia, or would the Mexican contingent actually be so good they would help their team beat Germany? And don't forget about the Russians. Just because they are hosting this thing, doesn't mean they can't get a little rowdy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 It's almost like being there! reporter Tom Kludt sends us audio postcards of his experiences at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. This first one takes you from JFK all the way to Moscow and shares the stories of the fans he met along the way.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Goalmouth is a new, 5-minute podcast that will show up on your phone by 7 a.m. EST every weekday morning so you can hear the latest soccer news and nonsense on your commute. In collaboration with the Total Soccer Show and Dirty Tackle. For more information, visit: http://fifa.wtf/2dgVPgT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For our final episode of Season Two, Matt Nelson talks to Zlatan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robin Friday remains one of the great what-ifs: what if he’d played in an era when the best players could easily transfer to the best teams? What if we had more footage of his games—including a clip of his greatest goal, the one those witnessed it swear to be the best goal ever scored? What if he’d cut back on the drinking and the drugs and the troublemaking? Well, the answer to that one is easy—without all that, without the hijinks and debauchery, he wouldn’t have been Robin Friday. In this episode, historians, supporters, and family members recall one of the sport’s great prodigies and great rabble-rousers, a man in the mold of George Best and Paul Gascoigne, who made an indelible mark on English soccer before burning out and fading away from the game forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has there ever been a more… befuddling team? France in the late 1990s and into the aughts had more than a few of the world’s most beguiling players, and they actually knew how to win. And yet Les Bleus also scored high marks in self-sabotage: Zidane’s red card in ’98, again in oh-six. Nevermind the 2002 World Cup—the holders didn’t score a single goal—or whatever that was in 2010. The World Cup holders barely qualified for Euro 2000, and their top scorer at the 1998 tournament—Thierry Henry—had been demoted to the U-21 national team during qualifying. And yet at the tournament itself, Zidane, Henry, Barthez, Petit, Deschamps, Blanc, Anelka, Trezeguet, Pires, Vieira, and the rest cemented their legacy as of the greatest teams ever to wear the country’s royal blue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It had been 30 years since England had won the World Cup, 30 years since the country had hosted a tournament. Gazza, Shearer, Sheringham, Seaman, Adams, and Ince played all their home games at Wembley that summer, and Three Lions topped the singles charts for two weeks with a refrain that echoed all over England: “Football’s coming home.” After a dazzling demolition of the Dutch, Terry Venables’s side met Germany in the semifinal—one final obstacle before the finals, and it looked a whole lot like the one that had sent England home from Italia 90. This is the story of Euro 96. Performed by Anatol Yusef. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a story about perennial losers who finally figured out how to win—and then basically didn’t stop winning for years and years. Looking back from 2016, it's undeniable that Spain’s brand of high-possession, high-pressing tiki taka has influenced global soccer to an astonishing degree. But on the eve of Euro 2008, the national team’s head coach, Luis Aragonés, had a decision to make: would he play to his squad’s strengths and unleash what has turned out to be the most dominant midfield in the history of the game, or go for a safer, more conventional style of soccer that might not win any trophies… but then again, who really expected Spain to win a trophy? We know the answer. With hindsight, it seems inevitable. But travel back with us to 2008 and relive the tournament in which the Spaniards first showed the world what they could do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going into Euro ’92, Denmark wasn’t a favorite to win the tournament. They weren't even expected to play in it. But when Yugoslavia began to fall apart, its team was barred and Denmark brought in as a replacement. What followed was one of the unlikeliest runs through a major tournament in the history of soccer, or, really, any sport. Written by Gaby Kirschner. Performed by Anatol Yusef. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Decades before he became a fat-cat football executive (and got banned from soccer), Michel Platini was known as one of the game’s greatest players—and his utter domination of Euro 84 was perhaps the most triumphant moment in a glittering career. But Platini was only one member of France’s enchanting midfield. Le Carré Magique, as it was known, also included Tigana, Giresse, and Fernandez. Under the guidance of a manager who was unafraid to bet on the talents of his three playmakers, the French stormed through the tournament, reaching a climax in the semifinal with Portugal. Historic moments flatten with time; we might recollect a headline, a couple of grainy highlights, and the name of the team that won the final. Howler Radio’s five-part Euro Miniseries is a vehicle for traveling back over the decades and reliving some of these foundational events in world soccer as they happened. Welcome to Euro 84. Written by Dominic Bliss. Presented by Anatol Yusef, who is currently starring in Preacher on AMC. (You might also know as Meyer Lansky in Boardwalk Empire.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Che Che Vidal loves football. And the internet. One of these things nearly got him killed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Angry Kilmarnock Fan is very angry. This banging dance anthem celebrates his anger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When my mate Rory was a kid he shouted abuse at legendary England midfielder Ray Wilkins in the middle of a crowded street. Now he wants to apologize. In this episode we also discover what makes the angriest man in Kilmarnock tick. Warning: The language in this one is very Scottish, and very coarse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our intrepid reporter embarks on an epic journey to discover the origins of the Panenka penalty kick—a subtle yet audacious technique that turns players into either heroes or goats. It's a quest that him to the fringes of North America's professional game, a raucous stadium in Ireland, where a cocky journalist makes a fool of himself, and a continental final in Belgrade where the audacious penalty balances significant social and political implications as it is introduced to the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is a mash-up of two older stories that we released a while back. One is about a fan who lived every football fan’s dream when he was subbed on to play for the team he supports–the other is about a guy who played in a professional game in a dream-like state because he was high on valium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this classic episode, we travel back to the year 2000, when Luis Figo did the unthinkable: he moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid. In 2002, on a return trip to the Camp Nou, he found that the blaugrana faithful had turned the ground into what we’ll politely call a hostile working environment, turning out to be one of the most memorable Clásicos in years. Our correspondent, Danny Scott, bribed his way into the stadium that night and now, 12 years later, recounts the story to his fiancé over a bottle of wine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you have ever wondered what it’s like to experience a US-Mexico game at Estadio Azteca, this episode will give you a taste. Howler contributor Robert Andrew Powell takes us behind the fencing and riot police to witness the USMNT’s historic road win over El Tri in August 2012. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A little preview of season 2 of Howler Radio that will feature the Panenka, sexy Landon fanfic, and Daring to Zlatan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices