NextPod is a weekly look at North American soccer prospects. Primarily focusing on MLS Next Pro, the Canadian Premier League, USL and NCAA soccer, hosts Duane Rollins and James Grossi are on the hunt for the next stars of MLS and European football. Published each Tuesday.
James catches up with the Canadian women's U-20 national team coach Cindy Tye ahead of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Colombia.
James chats with Italy U-20 national team coach Alberto Bollini, welcomes back Pierce Lang as the end of the League1 Ontario season takes shape, and touches on Canada's run at the 2024 Concacaf Girls U-15 Championship, the League1 Canada Inter-Provincial Championship, as well as the inaugural Canada Soccer PDP Championship in the news and notes.
Amy Walsh joins the show to talk about the women's professional player pathway in Canada ahead of the inaugural season of the Northern Super League, Jesse Marsch urges the acceleration of player development for the men's national team and touches on the role the Canadian Premier League can play, and Andrew Olivieri looks ahead to the men's U-20 national team's Concacaf Championship adventure
The boys talk League1 BC with Michael McColl of AFTN and have a look at the Canadian Premier League U-21 minutes table 11 rounds into the season.
The boys talk League1 Alberta with Scott Strasser of the YYC Soccer Podcast and dive into some of the draws and schedule drops for a busy summer ahead.
The boys return with a look at the League1 Ontario season and an interview with CanW17 coach Emma Humphries.
James and Duane react to Canada's elimination from u17 women's World Cup qualifying after a 2-1 loss to Mexico and then look ahead to Men's u20 qualifying with head coach Andrew Olivieri.
The boys are back after their holiday break to launch season 2 of the podcast. In today's episode, they are joined by Canadian u20 women's head coach Emma Humphries to talk about the Concacaf qualifying tournament. James and Duane also get into MLS and CanPL training camp news and talk about the need for the CanPL to get young players under contract.
In the final show of 2023, James and Duane talk to John Molinaro about the state of development at Toronto FC, wrap up the u17 World Cup, set up the women's U17 qualifying and touch on developments in the League1 pyramid. We end the show by reflecting on 2024 and looking ahead to season 2 of NextPod.
In today's NextPod, James and Duane lament another oh-for World Cup for Canada after the u17s lose against Mali and then talk to Ben Steiner of CB Sports about the 2023 USports men's and women's championship weekend.
In this special edition of the podcast, James and Duane look back on Canada's first two games at the 2023 FIFA u17 World Cup and set up the team's final game against Mali.
In this special edition of NextPod, the boys preview the 2023 FIFA u17 men's World Cup. With appearances by Canada Soccer's Men's National Youth Excel Director Andrew Olivieri and MLSSoccer's Charles Bohem, who looks at the USYNT and the role of NextPro in shaping the roster.
On today's show, James and Duane are joined by Austin FC's Sal Mazzaferro. The Canadian defender talks about his first pro season in the MLS system and his future plans. The boys also touch on the 2023 Canadian Premier League final, whether young players get enough of a look in the playoffs, what makes a successful pro academy and on the legacy of Christine Sinclair.
Duane and James set-up the 2024 CanPL Final and talk u21 player of the year with CanPL.ca's Mitchell Tierney.
In this week's NextPod, Duane and James are joined by former US international and Houston Dynamo legend Rico Clark to talk about his first season as head coach of Whitecaps 2. Rico discusses the role of MLS NextPro in the development pathway, how to balance wins and losses with other development needs, what he's learned about himself as a coach and more.
CEO and co-owner of League1 Ontario champions Simcoe County Rovers joins us to talk about the success of the club, its place in the Barrie, Ont. market and whether they might have CanPL or Project 8 aspirations in the future. That and James and Duane breakdown all the news in Canadian development circles for the week.
Duane and James are joined by CS Saint Laurent's sporting director Rocco Placentino. Rocco talks to us about the difference between development today and when he was a player, building the Quebec League1 championship roster, how much he's looking forward to competing in the Canadian championship and how Quebec needs more professional teams -- he even tells us that he's been working the phones to find investors to bring the CanPL to Montreal! Also, we look at the MLS NextPro playoff picture, talk CanWNT Olympic qualifying and update the CanPL u21 minutes.
James and Duane are joined by Canada Soccer's Mike Vitulano to talk about the Canadian men's u15 program, development in Canada and how the CSA identifies talent. We even ask the big question: are we too reliant on the three MLS academies?
Duane and James discuss the end of the League1 Ontario season with the voice of the league, Pierce Lang. They then look ahead to 2024, with a chat with Connor Vande Weghe, who is the Sporting Director at the newest League2 Ontario side, Sudbury Cyclones.
In a special Labour Day Weekend edition of the podcast, Duane and James are joined by Canada Soccer's head of referees to talk about the development of officials. The boys also touch on the League1 Ontario final (next week's show will be all in on a season review), CanW17 qualifying and Metropolitain University of Toronto forfeiting games because of suggested hazing.
The boys start the show off by reacting to the breaking news of John Herdman leaving the CanMNT to take over at TFC. After that they quickly bring on the voice of League1 Ontario, Pierce Lang, to set-up this weekend's final. Then they have Travis Clark of TopDrawerSoccer.com on to talk about Canadians in the NCAA in 2023. They even threw in a little canW17 chat for good measure! Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/24thminute.
In a news bits n' bites edition of the pod, Duane and James have a look at the League1 Ontario men's playoffs before talking about the Sudbury Cyclones joining the L1O system at the recently created League2 level. Duane dreams of a league of cities that start with B (Belleville, Brampton, Barrie, Brockville...) and James humors him in this dream. Then the boys talk about CanW17 pre-qualifying and how it's a blessing in disguise that Canada doesn't have a direct bye into the final event. After the break, the pod dives into the MLS Next playoff picture, highlights some Canadians that are getting it done in the MLS development league, and sets up next week's Canucks in NCAA chat. In a particular highlight, Duane tries to figure out if the Big East Conference still exists. It's hard to keep track. Support the pod through http://www.Patreon.com/24thminute
In a news round-up edition of the pod, James and Duane breakdown the exciting news that HFX Wanderers are getting involved in League1 Atlantic on both the men's and women's side and react to the surprising announcement that the league intends to launch in 2024. They also discuss Canada's performance at the Concacaf u15 boys event and what kind of attention you should be giving to 14-year-olds. After that they go deep on the 2023 interprovincial championships and congratulate the Vancouver Whitecaps women on winning the national championship before wrapping the show up with an update on York United's u21 minutes and ask the question of whether having Messi in MLS is good for us development geeks?
As Duane was off gallivanting around Niagara, James went solo on this holiday weekemd edition of NextPod. He spoke to Charlie O'Conner-Clarke of CanPL.ca about the York United u21 minutes situation, as well as general CanPL youth news and trends. James also touches on the BCL1 finals, the L1O women's final, the Interprovincial finals and the u15 Boy's Concacaf Championships.
James and Duane start by lamenting the Canadian women's crash out of the World Cup and talk about things that need to happen on the women's development side. They celebrate the retirement of one of the O.G. Canadian homegrowns, Ashtone Morgan, update the League1 BC and Ontario playoffs and then they invite CBC.ca and 49-sport.com's Ben Steiner on, to set-up the 2023 USport season.
In this week's show, James and Duane are joined by AFTN's (aftn.ca) Michael McColl to talk about the final week of BC League1 and the upcoming playoffs. Along the way, the boys touch on the Women's World Cup, League1 Ontario's stretch drive, Vancouver FC's integration with the BC soccer scene and tease the podcast's upcoming USport coverage.
James and Duane are joined by League1 Ontario's Pierce Lang to check back in on how the 2023 season is going, talk about the league's top pro prospects, how Pro/Rel is shaping up, the magic of Vaughan SC and more. We even squeeze a little CanWNT talk into the mix!
After taking last week off to celebrate Canada Day, James and Duane are back this week to talk Canada at the Gold Cup, with an eye towards the younger players that got a look there. They discuss the lack of opportunities that young guys are going to get going forward with no Olympic Qualifying to look forward to and lament the state of youth performance. lastly, the boys look at the League1 Ontario relegation scrap and James tells us why he's not as big a fan of Pro/Rel as you might expect!
In this week's NextPod James and Duane are joined by League1 Canada President Dino Rossi in an exclusive interview about changes to the third tier of the Canadian pyramid. They discuss expansion to Atlantic Canada and the Prairies, referee development, promotion and relegation and more.
In this week's NextPod, James and Duane talk about the MLS Next tournament and look at the performance of the three Canadian MLS academies in the event. They talk about what the role of private academies is in the development structure and then end by going a bit off the brief of the podcast to breakdown Canada's loss in the Nations League Final. Don't worry though, they did get a Jahkeele Marshall Rutty conversation in there though!
In a solo effort this week, James is joined by the CanPL.ca's Benedict Rhodes to talk about Olivia Smith, the CanWNT roster, CanPL u21 minutes and to wrap up the FIFa u20 men's World Cup.
James and Duane celebrate the Canadian under 20 women's qualification to the World Cup, but ask what needs to happen to make them competitive at that World Cup. They also wonder why there isn't a women's Canadian Championship yet as they review the men's event with a look at what young players stood out this year.
Duane is back this week and talking to James about the Canadian women's u20 qualifying tournament so far. The boys then lament Canada's struggles on the u20 men's side before getting into a discussion about youth dual nationals and asking how we can attract more people to watch League1 games.
In this long-weekend edition of the podcast, James goes solo in a conversation with Quebec Soccer Magazine's editor Quentin Parisis about the development scene in Quebec. After that we get the thoughts of CanW20 coach Cindy Tye as we head into the final qualifying tournament for the 2024 FIFA Women's Under 20 World Cup. If you listen long enough you may even hear Bob Bradley's thoughts on the TFC academy.
After a week off for Duane to go be cultured in Stratford, the boys are back discussion whether TFC is a good place for young players right now, the Quebec development situation, wU20 qualifying and the early trends in CanPL u21 minutes for 2023.
James and Duane are joined by the voice of League1 Ontario, Pierce Lang, to talk about the state of L1O in 2023, it's importance to the game in this country and the role that it plays in women's development. after the interview, the guys look at Canada's dominate performance at the Concacaf qualifying tournament for the CanW20 World Cup tournament.
In this week's NextPod Duane and James are joined by AFTN.ca's Michael McCool to discuss TSS Rovers upset of Valour in the Votageurs Cup and the state of development in BC.
In this week's NextPod, Duane and James preview the 2023 Canadian Premier league season, with an eye towards the u21 rule and by looking at the trends emerging in how players are coming into the league. They end the show with some thoughts on how they see the season playing out and we hear from several of the league's coaches on the prospects at their club.
In this week's NextPod James and Duane discuss the challenges faced by small teams in playing in the Canadian Championship and encourage listeners to support TSS Rover's ticket exchange -- get more information at https://www.tssfc.ca/. They talk aboiut the Hamilton United partnership with Forge FC, breakdown the Canadian GA Cup results and end the show by talking about Amanda Allen's signing with Orlando Pride and what that says about development on the women's side of the game.
In this week's NextPod. Duane and James go a little off-topic to discuss the Canadian men's national team's two wins during the international break. Don't worry though. They do work in a development angle, by asking when it's time to start looking at younger players on the senior national team. They then look at the first week of MLS Next Pro and set up the Generation Adidas Cup. They wrap the show up by looking at the development scene in Vancouver and wonder why it is no longer the strongest region for developing players in Canada.
In this week's NextPod Duane and James address rumours that TFC's Bob Bradley struggles to work with young players, we look at a couple signings to TFC2 and the choice those players made to go to MLS NextPro over CanPL before ending the show with a debate of what exactly the definition of "prospect" is.
In this week's NextPod Duane and James talk about the MLS NextPro schedule drop and some of the new rules that the league will be testing out this year. They take stock of the play of young players at the three Canadian MLS teams so far in 2023, discuss the Generation Adidas Cup and end with a discussion about the future plans of the Canadian League1 project. They even get a little CanMNT talk in as well!
In this week's NextPod, Duane and James talk about the Leagues Cup and whether it might be an opportunity for young players to play, Kadin Chung's release from Toronto FC and immediate signing for Vancouver FC -- does his failure to stick in MLS hurt the CanPL? Finally, they chat about the value of MLS to CanPL loans.
In the first episode of NextPod, Duane and James look at the problems at the Canadian Soccer Association and how they might impact development, wrap up the Concacaf u17 men's qualifying tournament and talk about the three Canadian MLS teams approach to homegrown players.