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USA vs. Japan, Tournament of Nations: Final Score 3-0 as Yanks Finish Tourney Strong

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9 years ago

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The United States Women’s National Team finished with its strongest outing in months, defeating FIFA’s No. 6 team, Japan, to close the inaugural Tournament of Nations at the StubHub Center in Carson, CA. Alex Morgan came on in the second half and snapped an eight-game goal-less streak in international play, to go with strikes by Megan Rapinoe and Mallory Pugh in a 3-0 win.

The USWNT improved to 27-1-7 against Japan in the all-time series, and 8-0-4 on home soil. The United States finished second in the tournament after Australia had mauled Brazil earlier in the evening.

Jill Ellis didn’t start Morgan or Ali Krieger of the Pride in her 4-3-3, but did give the nod to all four Chicago Red Stars on the roster. She started Alyssa Naeher in net behind a back four of Casey Short, Becky Sauerbrunn, Abby Dahlkemper, and Kelley O’Hara. The midfield starters were Julie Ertz, Sam Mewis, and Carli Lloyd, with a strike force of Rapinoe, Christen Press, and Pugh.

The Nadeshiko countered with a 3-5-2 formation of goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita; defenders Miho Manya, Aya Sameshima, and Nana Ichise; midfielders Madoka Haji, Rin Sumida, Rumi Utsugi, Emi Nakajima and Mizuho Sakaguchi — with the latter playing below strikers Yuka Momiki and Mina Tanaka.

Rapinoe was the most dangerous player on the pitch in the game’s opening minutes. She skimmed a shot off the top of the crossbar in the ninth minute and then forced a good save by Yamashita in the 10th. Two minutes later, she scored on the break.

After the U.S. stopped a Japanese counterattack, Press slipped Rapinoe into the box. The Seattle Reign star could have shot first touch but waited while Sameshima slid in front for the block, then let the ball run while the defender got up, clearing space for Rapinoe to shoot. She slotted her shot inside the back post to put the Yanks up 1-0 at the 12-minute mark.

Rapinoe tried to return the favor with a pass to Press two minutes after the opening goal but the shot was blocked. Press then fired wide at the 18-minute mark on a volley of a pass from Short, as the U.S. continued to pressure the Japanese.

After that flurry, the Japanese started creeping more and more into the match. Nakajima fired from outside the box after an initial clearance of a Japan corner, and the shot sent Naeher scrambling to make a diving save in the 23rd minute.

After O’Hara picked up a knock at 30’ and had to come off for Taylor Smith, the Japanese picked up the pressure. The Nadeshiko nearly equalized in the 34th minute on the counter, when two deflected balls fell perfectly for Japan. At the end, Tanaka rounded Naeher and had an empty net in front but Ertz hustled back to deflect the ball behind for a corner.

It was a vital intercession for the defensive midfielder, who ran into the post on the end of the play and had to receive treatment before resuming.

Momiki took a shot from the top of the box in the 38th as Japan kept coming at the U.S., but the striker couldn’t get any power on her shot and it was straight at Naeher. Japan finished off the first half’s chances with a curling effort from Sameshima from the right, which fizzed just wide of the back post in the 44th minute, and the USWNT took a slim 1-0 edge into the break.

The U.S. made an effort to get back on the front foot after the restart. Lloyd did well to take down a long pass and get a shot off just seconds into the second half but her effort was off target. At the 48-minute mark, Pugh found Press at the top of the penalty area. Press dribbled left to open space but missed the net with her left-footed shot.

Japan came back two minutes later with a good buildup that resulted in a shot from halftime sub Yui Hasegawa, who sent Naeher diving to make a save on a shot that was well placed but without much pace on it. Two minutes later, the U.S. turned it over and Japan countered again, with Haji shooting from outside the area but it was an easy fly ball for Naeher.

Ertz had to come off for the U.S. at 54’ with an apparent leg injury after a slide tackle that bumped the same knee that hit the post earlier. Allie Long came on to replace her.

Just when the game started to get a bit sleepy, the USWNT doubled the lead in the 60th minute. Smith sent a gorgeous through ball to Pugh, who accelerated past the defense and slotted her shot between Yamashita and the near post to make it 2-0.

Five minutes after Pugh scored, Lloyd was subbed off for Lindsey Horan. With both Ertz and Lloyd out of the midfield, Japan started to create more problems and get forward again. Haji should have scored at 68’ off a turnover in the defensive half but missed the net by about a foot with her shot. Moments later, Japan nearly got in behind but Dahlkemper made a vital challenge from behind to break up the attack.

Ellis made wholesale changes in the 73rd minute, bringing on Morgan, Sydney Leroux, and Lynn Williams for Press, Rapinoe, and Pugh. The moves energized the U.S. a bit. After Hikaru Hitagawa buzzed a cross into the six that Naeher caught in the 78th minute, the U.S. got onto the front foot, starting with a counter attack ignited by Short that ended up with a long-range effort from Mewis that was saved.

Two minutes later, a Smith cross found Morgan in front of goal and the Pride striker flicked it off the defender and into the net to make it 3-0. It was Morgan’s 74th career international goal.

Leroux nearly made it 4-0 in the 86th with a wonderful move to get around a defender in the box but her point-blank shot was well saved by Yamashita. From that point on, the Yanks saw out the remainder of the clock and celebrated their finest outing of the tournament.

The USWNT will be back in action against New Zealand in a pair of friendlies on Sept. 15 and 19 in Commerce City, CO, and Cincinnati, OH, respectively.

Australia 6, Brazil 1

In the early game, Australia needed just a win or a draw to capture the Tournament of Nations title, and the Matildas were able to cruise to a laugher after falling behind early. The win by the Aussies eliminated the USWNT before the second match even began, rendering it nothing more than an ordinary friendly.

Pride defender Steph Catley started for the Matildas, along with former Orlando players Laura Alleway and Lisa De Vanna. Alanna Kennedy was on the bench. For Brazil, Camila and Monica started, while Marta was out, although she was listed as being available on the bench. The Brazilian star took a bit of a hard knock on the foot against the USWNT on Sunday night.

Camila drew first blood with a goal off a set piece in just the second minute of the game, giving the Canarinhas a 1-0 lead. It was Camila’s second international goal, with both coming in this tournament.

Unfortunately for Brazil, Australia equalized quickly after the Matildas were awarded a penalty. De Vanna had her spot kick stopped but the rebound fell for her to easily finish to level the game five minutes later.

Camila missed the target about 10 minutes later on a Brazil attack and De Vanna had a shot saved on a 1-v-1 against Brazil goalkeeper Dani Neuhaus in the 25th minute.

The Aussies took the lead in the 32nd minute on a Caitlin Foord counter attack goal from a Sam Kerr pass.

Three minutes later, the Matildas put it out of reach on De Vanna’s second of the game — also set up by Kerr. De Vanna was subbed out in the second half as Australia’s all-time goal-scoring leader, with 42.

Midfielder Katrina Gorry, who narrowly missed chipping the goalkeeper for a goal just minutes earlier, made it 4-1 before halftime with a tremendous strike off the back post and in.

Foord got a brace on a goalkeeping error at 68’, as Neuhaus came off her line to try to get to a long ball over the top sent by Tameka Butt. But Foord beat Neuhaus to the ball and easily rounded her to score an empty-net goal to make it 5-1.

Australia subbed Kennedy on in the 72nd minute for Alleway. She may be able to play on Saturday but Catley went the full 90 and will likely be unavailable for Tom Sermanni against the Red Stars. Camila and Monica also went 90 for Brazil.

Kerr made it 6-1 in the 81st minute as her outstanding tournament — and season — continued.

The Matildas saw out the final minutes from there without inflicting any more pain on the Brazilians and celebrated their tournament win.

Congrats to Australia for a deserved result in the first-ever Tournament of Nations, winning all three games by a combined score of 11-4.

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PawedCast Episode 515: Orlando City Transfers, Preseason Schedule, OCB Signings, and More

We’re back to discuss Orlando City’s transfer news and rumors, OCB roster additions, and the preseason schedule.

Published

4 weeks ago

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January 13, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City has gathered for preseason camp ahead of the 2026 season, and we’re still here to talk about it. How long that continues to be the case may unknown at this point, but we’re trending in the right direction, so if that continues, you’re stuck with us for a while longer.

The Lions have had various comings and goings since our last show, and we discuss the movement in and out of the roster. We thought Carlos Coronel was going to be the new Orlando City starter in goal, but he fled to Brazil, so we welcome Canadian international Maxime Crepeau to the City Beautiful. It’s not as splashy an addition, but it could be just as effective a roster move if he can regain his form from his Vancouver and LAFC days.

We also discussed the additions of Tiago, Luis Otavio, and Braian Ojeda. On the other hand, departures took place as well, such as Nico Rodriguez being loaned to Atletico Nacional and the reports that Luis Muriel may be finalizing a deal to move on. We chatted about what those moves mean in the grand scheme of things. Kyle Smith went home and we are glad he’s still playing but sad to see him in another team’s uniform.

The preseason schedule was a bit underwhelming, but we ran through it quickly.

Our mailbagbox was a little light, and it proved to us how little we know about the Polish national team. 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.

Finally, we talked a bit about the recent moves OCB has made, including the addition of a Brazilian striker. Former OCB forward Shak Mohammed is off to Nashville, while OCB/OCSC left wing Yutaro Tsukada showed up to preseason camp with a wedding ring. Congrats to Yutaro!

Note: we are now in our off-season podcast schedule, which is guaranteed to give you at least one episode per month but we will only be weekly if/when news warrants it. We’ll also return for at least one more show to say goodbye if things don’t work out for us to continue, but we are hoping it doesn’t come to that!

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. 515 went down:

0:15 – An update on our staffing crisis is more hopeful than the last one, and we go through the various arrivals and departures.

30:16 – The mailbagbox seeks help for Orlando City from Poland and wants to know which position we’d least like to see the club make a Designated Player signing.

41:52 – OCB news, a new home for Shak, and Tsukada ties the knot.

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A Few Words About the Future of The Mane Land

TML needs help to continue bringing you coverage of Orlando City, the Orlando Pride, OCB, and all things soccer related in the City Beautiful.

Published

2 months ago

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December 9, 2025

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Stock image courtesy of GoDaddy.com Managed WordPress

For the last 11 years, The Mane Land has worked hard to provide daily content telling the story of Orlando City SC, the Orlando Pride, OCB, and any other soccer-related events we can get to in the Central Florida area. We love doing that, but we’re at a critical stage in being able to do so. Staff has been difficult to replace in recent years, and we’ve come to a point where some of us have not only been stretched to an unsustainable limit, but we’ve been going at that rate for multiple years without a break.

To that point, TML is now at a critical juncture where we must have more contributors who can cover live events in order to survive in our current format (and possibly at all). For the past few years, we have had only two primary game night writers covering three teams, and we are unable to continue at that pace, regardless of how much we enjoy doing it.

To continue as an entity, we’re going to need anywhere from two to four new contributors who can pitch in with game-night coverage of Orlando City/Orlando Pride matches. Additionally, another copy editor is essential, while two more would be preferred.

We’d like to continue into 2026, but if we can’t get the additional help we need, the current plan is to shut down at the end of the 2025 calendar year. The minimum we need to carry on would be two new live event writers and a copy editor.

What does this mean? Well, if you’ve ever thought it would be cool to cover soccer matches (it is) or thought about joining us, now is the time to volunteer. If you enjoy soccer and talking about this club with your friends, you might be perfect for our team, because if you can talk about soccer, you can probably write about it as well. Writing is just talking on a screen with your fingers, after all.

To get started, please write to us at themaneland@gmail.com and let us know how you’d like to contribute — writing, editing, etc.

It is important to note that we do this out of a love for the beautiful game and these positions are on a voluntary basis. However, if freed from the shackles of such an overwhelming schedule, my goal is to spend more time creating strategic partnerships and promoting our membership platform that could combine to bring in revenue that would go toward compensating staff writers. Additionally, some of our staff members have gone on to more financially rewarding opportunities as a result of their time with us. You never know what this experience will lead to. Like anything else in life, you’re likely to get out of it what you put in.

The good news is that we have already reached out to our Founders and our Buy Me a Coffee subscribers about this subject, and several have shown an interest in helping, so we are in the process of exploring those potential contributors at the moment.

We Are Currently Seeking:

  • Match writers – You don’t need a degree in journalism or English to write for us. If you like to talk about soccer, you can probably write about it as well. Staff writers contribute regularly to our game coverage, which could be in the form of recaps, player grades pieces, five takeaways posts, etc. We have a need for this on both the Orlando City and Pride sides, and you can do both if you want. If you’re not local to the Orlando area, you can cover road matches via the broadcast/stream.
  • Editors – Can you spot a subject/verb disagreement from a mile away? An editor position may be for you! How often do you get to correct people without anyone shaming you for it? This position will edit copy for submitted stories, make headlines punchier and more SEO-friendly, and ensure the story has a properly cropped/centered photo that helps tell the story. Typically you’ll only be on “desk duty” one or two evenings per week when it fits your schedule. You may also write stories if you wish!

About TML

Our little blog became an idea and then an independent WordPress site in late September of 2014, and went live on SBNation in December of that year. When SBNation stopped funding nearly all of its MLS blogs a few years ago, we went independent again, and we’ve long been the only outlet providing daily coverage of Orlando City’s teams. Even the club doesn’t post new content to its website every day!

FAQ

Why shutter the site at the end of December? Why do you need help now when the season doesn’t start for a couple of months?

Preparing to cover three teams requires advance planning. Each year, we put together a publication schedule to ensure all our bases are covered. This includes what will run (a placeholder or sometimes the specific piece) on every day of the year, which obviously doesn’t take into account breaking news or extra features that people want to do. Setting up this publication schedule also includes noting when major soccer events are coming, known USMNT/USWNT scheduled matches, MLS and NWSL deadlines, player birthdays, important milestones and anniversaries, and more. We also put together volunteer sign-up sheets for grades and takeaways posts. That setup work is all for naught if we don’t have the bodies to physically cover the team when the season starts. Also, it’s easier to pull the plug on our LLC at the end of a calendar year. None of us want to stop, but we have to be realistic about being able to continue covering the team as we have.

Why not just scale back and cover what you can? Do you have to cover every game?

I don’t have a good answer for this other than I would not feel right about putting my name on a product I don’t believe in. I don’t ever want our audience to have to guess whether or not they’re getting a game recap or any follow-up analysis from a given match. In my opinion, we have never had the personnel to fully provide what I envision. For example, I want to add more video content, player grades and recaps for the Pride games, and to bring back weekend Lion Links and OCB match previews. And we should have a lot more features and analysis pieces! In short, we’re already doing the bare minimum that I’m comfortable with. And, I have to be honest: if there was a game coming up with no one to cover it, knowing me, I’d probably just do it myself, and I already know I can’t continue the pace of the past few years. I have to save me from myself sometimes.

Could The Mane Land continue in a different form?

I have toyed with the idea of turning TML into a newsletter. This might be a daily that includes a Lion Links-type section and opinion/analysis of club news. It would not include match coverage or any kind of regular news. I almost pivoted to that when SBNation stopped funding us, but we decided to make a go of it as an independent outlet. The problem with the newsletter style is that I can’t do it daily every single day or it would be no different than the situation I’m in, so some help would still be needed. Some of that could come from the current TML staff, but I’m not sure all of it could, and the newsletter format is not for everyone, so we’d be leaving part of our audience behind. I’m not sure it’s the way to go.

Is new management or investment needed?

Possibly. I am willing to sell the name and logo and turn over all our passwords for someone else to take over the operations, which would free up a considerable amount of my time. I’m even willing to continue on as a writing and editing contributor, because I love covering the club. Some of the other staff might as well. But I would not be interested in covering every single match. I’m not a kid anymore, and I have a regular job, a family, and other side gigs that require my attention.

Will you still do the podcasts if the site shuts down?

No. I think if we decide to shut down, it will be across the board. I much prefer our written content, and that’s the reason I started our outlet to begin with. I feel the podcasts complement our coverage and give us more of an opinion platform and a way to discuss matches in a deeper, richer way, but I’m not interested in doing only the podcasts. That said, others on our staff might want to continue and I’m OK with that.

Contact us at themaneland@gmail.com today to get started as a new contributor!

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PawedCast Episode 506: Cincinnati Rewind, OCB-Carolina Core, Columbus Preview, and More

The Lions claimed a late draw at Cincy and now host Columbus while OCB’s playoff hopes hang by a thread.

Published

4 months ago

on

September 30, 2025

By

Image of Alex Freeman celebrating after scoring the tying goal at Cincinnati.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

Orlando City left it late again. Tyrese Spicer reprised his role from the Nashville game by providing the assist for a goal late in stoppage time, but this time it was a different goal scorer and a road draw instead of a home win. Alex Freeman played great against FC Cincinnati, so it was fitting that he literally pulled a point out of thin air on a Sunday night that saw the Lions squander numerous good opportunities to score while allowing the hosts only one Kevin Denkey strike.

We look back at the key moments, players, and plays of a critical road match, check our score predictions, and make our selections for Man of the Match, splitting the vote

This week’s mailbagbox asked us a pair of trivia questions and added an individual question for each host. 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.

OCB got two points at Carolina Core FC when it needed three, but it did enough to stay alive in the postseason race but there is no margin for error. The Young Lions fell behind by two goals, battled back to get level, conceded again, and once again equalized on the road. Carlos Mercado then helped his team win the penalty shootout on his birthday to claim the extra point. OCB must beat FC Cincinnati 2 on Sunday at home and get help to reach the postseason.

Finally, Orlando City returns home with another game against a good team from the Buckeye State, as the Columbus Crew visits Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday. Whether Diego Rossi plays or not, the Crew are always a difficult opponent. We break down the series history, look at the battle ahead, provide our key matchups, and make our predictions for the final score.

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. 506 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City didn’t seem to want to put the ball in the net, but maybe that’s because it wasn’t yet the death of stoppage time. Earlier goals are OK too, guys!

27:55 – The mailbagbox offers trivia, but no prizes if we get them right.

39:11 – OCB was listening to Meat Loaf and thinking two out of three ain’t bad, and the senior Lions prepare for Columbus.

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