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Status Update on The Mane Land’s Future

Published

3 years ago

on

As you may know, SBNation support of MLS blogs such as The Mane Land is being discontinued after recent cuts by Vox Media. March is the last month we will have that support and we are planning a transition to an independent website. The folks at SBNation have been great and have graciously allowed us to keep our name and our domain. Although I’m still a bit fuzzy on the details of how the latter will be transferred and the timing of it, we do expect to be 100% independent next month.

The cuts by Vox threatened not only our existence as a popular media outlet covering Orlando City, the Orlando Pride, and OCB, but the very voice of independent, localized writing. Many national media members count on sites like ours to keep up with the day-to-day activities of the club.

Some of our fellow SBN sites have already rebranded and launched new sites. Some have pivoted to newsletter formats. Some have gone to a tiered paid platform. We plan to continue under our existing name, offering at least the same level of coverage as before at no cost to our readers. But some things will change and, we think, for the better.

Many of our readers and listeners have responded in amazing and humbling ways since the news of the Vox cuts broke. To those, we say ‘thank you!’ for both your moral support and for reaching out to find out how you can help.

How You Can Help

The challenge with pivoting to independence is that (like anything else) there are a lot of startup costs — all of which are modest when taken individually, but they do start to add up when you incur them all at once. To deal with those, we have started a GoFundMe crowdsourcing fundraiser.

After polling our social media followers, we found a fairly even split between the folks who preferred a one-time donation to get the new site up and running and those who would prefer we instead add a premium tier at the new site with subscriber benefits (a Patreon-type setup). Because the split was so even and everyone has different wants and needs, we prefer to leave the choice up to you. So, we are going to use both methods and let you decide if you want to choose one, the other, both, or neither (hey, that’s also a choice!).

Whether you choose to help us get started or to become a subscriber to some future premium tier later, it’s important to us that you get something meaningful in return (more on that below) beyond the mere continuation of the site you’ve been reading and the podcast that you’ve been downloading/streaming. Those who go above and beyond deserve that much.

While we have not yet finalized a list of Patreon benefits, which will come later for those who want them, we have identified our startup needs that we think will provide the best user experience for you.

How We’ll Put the Donations to Work for You

This fundraiser will be used to cover those needs, which include:

  • LLC setup/management
  • domain registration
  • website hosting
  • plug-in costs
  • podcast hosting (and in exciting news, we plan to give the Pride their own dedicated podcast)
  • business, technical, and legal consulting
  • some design work that needs to be farmed out

Our goal is to fund the site’s first couple of years up front. After that, it will be our problem to keep it going and we’ll try to do that in a variety of ways — Patreon subscribers, advertising, etc. Additionally, this is only for operations…this is not designed to cover the stipends a few of our staffers are losing in the transition from SBNation.

I also want to clarify that we are NOT taking part in the GoFundMe titled ‘Funds for folks affected by SBNation shutdowns.’ We applaud those efforts and we have obviously been affected, but we wanted to keep our fundraising efforts separate to ensure any donations by our readers and listeners go directly and specifically to transitioning The Mane Land to its new independent home rather than being divided up among a large group of people.

TML’s History and Future

For more than eight years, a small group of writers (some local, some remote) and fans of the club, like you, have told the story of the soccer club with our unique voices. You’ve made us one of the most popular SBNation team-specific sites among MLS/NWSL teams. We thank you for that and we want to continue informing and entertaining you to the best of our abilities.

We started as an independent free WordPress site and we could return to that if need be, but we think you deserve better, and we know you’re used to a more robust online experience than we could provide if we go backwards. We want to provide you with a new site that functions as similar to our current one as possible, with as little disruption as is feasible. Hence, this startup crowdsourcing effort.

Enough Talk! What Do You Get for Your Support?

Now, what do you get for your donations for helping man the digital wall? For helping us get started, you will be forever* immortalized as a founding member of the new, independent version of The Mane Land!

We’re open to suggestions for more benefits within our means, but we have come up with the following benefits, at a minimum:

  • $5 (Basic Founder) – A personalized, downloadable certificate of thanks for helping “man the digital wall” will be sent to you, and you’ll be publicly thanked on the podcast.
  • $10 (Bronze Level Founder) – All Basic Founder benefits, plus permanent special acknowledgment in a special Bronze Level Founder area on the site.
  • $20 (Silver Level Founder) – All Bronze Level Founder benefits plus permanent special acknowledgment in the Silver Level Founder area on the site. You’ll also be notified of podcast guests in advance and you get to submit a question for one guest of your choice via a recorded audio message (written is fine if you don’t want to record something). We’ll read it and credit you with the question by name.
  • $30 (Gold Level Founder) – All Silver Level Founder benefits plus permanent special acknowledgment in the Gold Level Founder area on the site. You’ll not only be notified of podcast guests in advance, but you can submit a question (in the same manner as Silver Level Founders, and with special recognition) for each guest you wish to submit questions for.
  • $50 (Platinum Level Founder) – All Gold Level Founder benefits plus permanent special acknowledgment in the Platinum Level Founder area on the site. You will also get an opportunity to guest co-host on an episode of the podcast to talk a little Orlando City and you can pick the topic for a segment.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because of some of the limitations of GoFundMe, we will need you to email us a screenshot of your donation receipt to themaneland (the ‘at’ sign here) gmail (add the dot and the com at the end) showing the amount to confirm your Founder level status so we can properly log your benefits. Please let us know how you’d like your name to be displayed (please submit name only, no organizations or businesses, which can be misconstrued as advertising). Sorry we wrote the address like that but bots are a thing. 

It’s also important to note that if you make your donation anonymously, we respect that, but we won’t be able to provide Founder benefits.

What Happens if We Surpass Our Startup Goal?

If we surpass our goal, we would use any surplus to add features to the site, extend our hosting deals into future years, get additional expert consulting for improvements, and potentially cover the costs of some travel to provide better road coverage.

The staff of The Mane Land thanks you for your support over the past eight-plus years! We also thank those who generously become Founders of the new, independent version of TML. If we fall short of our goal, we will implement as many of the items on our list as possible.

For those who either prefer to support us through a Patreon-style tiered benefits subscription option, or who want that in addition to helping support our transition to independence, stay tuned!

*Forever or for as long as our site exists, whichever comes first.

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.

Published

4 days ago

on

July 22, 2026

By

Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

July 14, 2026

By

Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

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Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

3 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

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