Oliver Strand

New York

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Staff Writer at Time Out New York Kids

Chief Spellchecker at Hudson River Blue

Author @TheFilterXYZ, chief spellchecker @HudsonRiverBlue. Bylines in @NYTimes, @VogueMagazine, @BonAppetit, @FoodandWine, @Fool_Magazine, @WSJ, @TimeOutKids.

Articles

Will New York City act before the transfer window closes?

2 days ago | hudsonriverblue.com | Oliver Strand

With the 2025 primary transfer window set to close tomorrow, many of the sickos and pundits out in soccerland might be wondering if New York City FC will add any players to reinforce a young and imbalanced squad that has struggled in recent games. To go by the club's transfer history, the answer is yes. The club tends to be more active in the primary transfer window at the start of the season than in the secondary transfer window in the summer.
New York City FC weaknesses exposed by New England Revolution

4 days ago | hudsonriverblue.com | Oliver Strand

New York City FC had to like their chances heading into this game. It's not easy to get a result on the road, but they were facing a New England Revolution that scored just four goals in the seven matches they played so far this season – one of which was an own goal courtesy of NYCFC defender Thiago Martins – and managed to log just two wins despite a roster packed with big signings. But any hope that New York City could control the tempo of this game faded quickly.
ICYMI: The Top 5 soccerball stories this week

5 days ago | hudsonriverblue.com | Oliver Strand

1. Transfer rumors? We've been light on transfer rumors this window, but that changed on Tuesday when news surfaced that New York City is looking at midfielder Aiden O'Neill of Standard de Liège. The 26-year-old Australian International previously spent three seasons at City Football Group's sister club Melbourne City. And the we learned that NYCFC really could be making a play for Kevin De Bruyne. Read more in our transfer tracker here. 2.
Coffee Maximalist

1 week ago | ediblemanhattan.com | Oliver Strand

There was a time when you could judge a coffee shop by the menu. The best cafés had the simplest drinks, with nothing more baroque on offer than a latte—and even that was treated with some snobby skepticism. In part, it was a way to underscore the difference between the independent shops that put quality first and the branded franchises that sold syrupy milkshake-like drinks to the masses.
New York City vs Philadelphia player ratings

1 week ago | hudsonriverblue.com | Oliver Strand

New York City FC player ratings are determined by Hudson River Blue readers: Here are your NYCFC player ratings after a rainy 1-0 win over Philadelphia Union at Citi Field. The field was damp on Saturday night, but the feels were bright after New York City defeated Philadelphia at home for the first time since 2019. So what if the Union were without Dániel Gazdag after his shock transfer to Columbus Crew, and started 19-year-old Andrew Rick in goal?
Not Clear, Not Obvious: Timothy Ford's VAR overreach

1 week ago | hudsonriverblue.com | Oliver Strand

Earlier today, PRO Referees released the Inside Video Review for Matchday 7, and the penalty awarded last Sunday to New York City FC striker Alonso Martínez was one of the five plays that made the cut. According to Greg Barkey, Manager of Video Review, Martínez was correctly awarded the penalty. But that was only after VAR referee Timothy Ford spent more than 4 minutes dissecting the play and making a case to referee Sergii Boiko that the call on the field should be overturned.
David Lee on NYCFC transfers: 'We expect to be pretty active'

3 weeks ago | hudsonriverblue.com | Andrew Leigh |Oliver Strand

New York City FC Sporting Director David Lee addressed his plans for the current and future transfer windows in a new video shared by the team. There have been expectations of new signings coming and coming soon, given Lee sold Santiago Rodríguez and Christian McFarlane, loaned out James Sands and Jovan Mijatović, has the most available General Allocation Money (GAM) in Major League Soccer, and has Designated Player and U22 Initiative slots available.
New York City FC: The most flexible roster in MLS

3 weeks ago | hudsonriverblue.com | Andrew Leigh |Oliver Strand

With the 2025 Primary Transfer Window set to close on April 23, it's a good time to check in on which clubs in Major League Soccer are positioned to add the kind of high-impact players who demand higher salaries, higher fees, and scarce roster positions. To that end allow us to introduce the MLS Roster Matrix, which graphs the Roster Flexibility and Financial Flexibility of each club. We filled the matrix using data from the Club Roster Profiles released by MLS earlier this year.
Casino across from NYCFC stadium moves closer to reality

3 weeks ago | hudsonriverblue.com | Andrew Leigh |Oliver Strand |Michael Battista

Billionaire New York Mets owner Steve Cohen might get his Willets Point casino after all. Cohen's scheme to build the $8 billion Metropolitan Park megadevelopment atop the parking lots that surround Citi Field received two big positive pieces of news, bringing the project closer to fruition than it's ever been since first proposed. The obstacles blocking Cohen's casino progress have long been multi-pronged.
New York City 3-4 Atlanta: 5 Thoughts

3 weeks ago | hudsonriverblue.com | Andrew Leigh |Oliver Strand

New York City FC looked to be on the way to a first away win of 2025, but instead, the team threw away a two-goal lead in the second half and fell 4-3 to Atlanta United FC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. This was a mess of a game that saw each team make costly mistake after costly mistake, but Atlanta did more to take advantage and got the goals they needed to overturn what was a 3-1 deficit by the 52nd minute.