Publishing Details
About This Podcast
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.
Podcasting 2.0 Features
Explore Statistics
Recent Episodes
S2E2 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…
S2E1 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.…
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…
S1E6 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…
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],…
S1E6 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…
S1E5 Lone Eagles: US Goalkeepers
Some of our greatest writers have been goalkeepers. Unfortunately, none were available for this episode, so Tom and Kirk dug out their Goalkeepers’ Union cards to celebrate the one position where the…
AN AMERICAN GAME: Halftime
Peep! It's halftime at AN AMERICAN GAME, and we’re in the locker room making "tactical adjustments" (getting ice packs strapped to our bodies while guzzling ibuprofen and Gatorade.) So let's go over…
S1E3 The Original Denim Kit: The USA at the 1930 World Cup
What has steamships, chloroform, and the King of Romania? This episode of An American Game, about the US National Team's incredible performance in the first World Cup, hosted by Uruguay in 1930. Tom…
S1E2 Treasure Hunt: Where is the Oldest Trophy in US Sport?
Quick: what's the oldest trophy in American sports? Wrong. In Episode 2 of An American Game, Tom and Kirk tell the story of the AFA Cup, first given out 140 years ago (before the Stanley Cup) and,…
S1E1 Bullets: Father of American Soccer
How did a bullet change the course of American soccer? In the first of a new series about the long, colorful, and mostly-forgotten history of US soccer, Tom McCabe and Kirk Rudell--old friends,…
Introducing An American Game
A new series from the makers of the documentary SOCCERTOWN, USA about the long and colorful history of American soccer. Tom and Kirk are old friends and former teammates who share a belief that the…
Frequently Asked Questions
AN AMERICAN GAME has published 12 episodes since July 2025, covering topics in History, Soccer.
AN AMERICAN GAME is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 43m.
Similar Podcasts
AN AMERICAN GAME
SOCCERTOWN MEDIA
19 episodes
The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
Philipp Gollner
85 episodes
The Barcelona Podcast
Blue Wire
831 episodes
Rest and Recreation
Michael Millward
82 episodes
The Boys We've Seen
Conor Heffernan & Jonathan Cooper
225 episodes
The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
Philipp Gollner
76 episodes