The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Orlando City’s Opener and More

Hey there, Mane Landers, and welcome to a new column I’ll be writing each week called The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. In this column we will take a look at news from Orlando City, the Orlando Pride, the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams, and anything else that makes a splash or is entertaining in the world of soccer. I wish the theme from the movie that bears the same name would automatically play when you opened the article, but that would get annoying. Instead, I’ll just include the video in this first edition.

The Good

I very much had to wait until the USWNT finished its match against England. But given that the U.S. won the SheBelieves Cup in the confines of Orlando City Stadium, it’s quite obvious that this was the good thing that happened this week. I’m not saying that Orlando City drawing D.C. United wasn’t awesome (all things considered) but let’s be fair, it’s early in the season, and the USWNT winning the SheBelieves Cup is still the best thing that happened this week so far.

The Bad

PRO gonna PRO. Let me get this out of the way, before I proceed. There is no concerted conspiracy by MLS, and PRO to screw over Orlando City. There simply is not (no matter how much they seem to be trying to prove that there is). However, I know it can feel that way at times. Let’s be clear, I think that the red card was a bad call. And I think it should be turned over, but I don’t expect that would actually happen if the club was appealing it.

The Ugly

It was also Orlando City’s opener. Despite the last-minute winner, there was plenty to be upset about. Most of the team seemed lost for the first 20 minutes. There were plenty of players that were out due to either injury or suspension. The team was at home and needed over 90 minutes to secure one point when it should have gotten three. Hence the “ugly.” Let’s not pretend that it couldn’t have gone better.

There you have it. The first of hopefully many more to come.

I also wanted to take a moment to address the fact that I’ve retired the Pride Pub feature that I’ve written for over two seasons. There are a few reasons for this decision. First, it’s nice to switch things up creatively as a writer, even though I thoroughly enjoyed the research. Second, I want to keep you, the reader, engaged, and I feel the best way to do that is with a new direction. Finally, it was getting very difficult to find beers that I hadn’t used before, as well as new and delicious pairings.

To put it in perspective, there have been 87 Pride Pub articles, covering over 174 different beers, and at least that many recipes. Even for a craft beer guy like myself, that’s a lot. However, I’m not going to completely abandon my fellow beer lovers. Every once in a while (depending on my mood), I will include a beer recommendation or review at the end of this column. I would also love for you to chime in with your own recommendations, as well as comments on my choices for the main part of the column.

Thanks for being a big part of The Mane Land community, and go City!