Happy Friday, Mane Landers! It’s been a pretty hectic week for me, but I’m looking forward to a weekend filled with soccer and celebrating with some friends. It should be a nice next couple of days before the World Cup is here in full force next week. Before we dive into today’s links, let’s all wish a happy birthday to Orlando City B midfielder Dylan Judelson!

Canada Chooses Maxime Crepeau as Starting Goalkeeper

Orlando City goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau was named as the starter for Canada for the upcoming World Cup. The 32-year-old has been in a tight battle with Dayne St. Clair for the starting job for quite some time and he’s done well enough for Jesse Marsch to choose him for the role. This will be Crepeau’s first World Cup since he wasn’t able to take part in the 2022 competition due to a broken leg. Canada will play Ireland today in a friendly before hosting Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup on June 12.

Analyzing Germany Ahead of USMNT Clash

The United States Men’s National Team will take on Germany on Saturday in Chicago in its final friendly before the World Cup starts next week. This will be the 13th match between the two nations, with the most recent one being a 3-1 loss by the U.S. in October of 2023. Manuel Neuer is Germany’s starting goalkeeper, but he’s dealing with an injury and backup Oliver Baumann could play on Saturday in his place. Hopefully the U.S. can make his life difficult, but Germany has tough defenders in Jonathan Tah and Nico Schlotterbeck. Florian Wirtz, Kai Havertz, and Leroy Sane are dangerous attacking threats, while Nick Woltemade brings both height and solid ball movement at the top of the formation. It should be a great test for the USMNT before the games get serious.

USWNT Prepares for Brazil

The United States Women’s National Team is in action on Saturday as well, with the team set to play Brazil in Sao Paulo in the first of two friendlies. Plenty of attention will be on the reunited attacking trio of Sophia Wilson, Trinity Rodman, and Mallory Swanson that combined for 10 goals and five assists in the 2024 Summer Olympics. As for Brazil, the Orlando Pride are well represented, with Marta, Angelina, and Rafaelle all called up for these friendlies. There’s plenty of competing talent on Brazil’s roster, so it will be interesting to see who starts on Saturday. I’m most interested to see how the U.S. defense manages against Brazilian attackers like Ludmila, Dudinha, and Kerolin without having Naomi Girma on the back line.

Liverpool Hires Andoni Iraola as Next Manager

Liverpool didn’t waste much time finding a new manager after firing Arne Slot last week, hiring Andoni Iraola as his replacement. Iraola joins Liverpool after three years with Bournemouth that included securing Europa League qualification for the first time in club history this past season. He now joins a Liverpool team that qualified for the Champions League, but lost 12 league games after winning the league title in 2025. It will be interesting to see how Iraola does at one of England’s biggest clubs, particularly in regards to how his high-octane approach is applied.

Free Kicks

• While the Pride haven’t provided an injury update on Barbra Banda according to reporter Jeff Kassouf, she did reportedly travel for Zambia’s friendlies against Kenya and Burkina Faso as the team prepares for next month’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

• MLS created profiles for each league player taking part in this World Cup, providing info on their statistics and experience. Make sure to check out the ones for Orlando City’s Maxime Crepeau, Marco Pasalic, and Braian Ojeda.
• The Columbus Crew will take on Burnley in an exhibition on July 12, which is between the quarterfinals and semifinals of the World Cup.
• Enjoy this cool story on how former USMNT striker Jozy Altidore will be part of Telemundo’s World Cup coverage as a commentator for the Spanish network.
• Bayer Leverkusen fired Kasper Hjulmand after a sixth-place finish in the Bundesliga this past season, replacing him with Carles Martínez Novell.
• Here’s an insightful look into how soccer provides an opportunity for young Brazilian players in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastical Friday and rest of your weekend!

How’s it going, Mane Landers? We’re only a week away from the World Cup and I’m pretty excited for things to get going after all this buildup for it. Until then, there are some friendlies ahead of us to enjoy and an Orlando City B game on Sunday to look forward to as well. Let’s get to the links!

Lions Receive U.S. Open Cup Honors

Orlando City players Tiago, Griffin Dorsey, Braian Ojeda, and David Brekalo were all named to the 2026 U.S. Open Cup Team of the Round for the quarterfinals, with Ivan Angulo also named to the bench. Martin Perelman was named as the Team of the Round’s coach for leading the Lions to a 4-1 win at home against Atlanta United. Tiago scored a brace and Ojeda contributed a pair of assists, with Brekalo and Dorsey scoring Orlando’s other goals. Hopefully the Lions can continue to impress in this tournament when they travel to face the Columbus Crew on Sept. 16 in the semifinals.

Audi Field Named 2026 NWSL Championship Venue

The NWSL Championship will return to Washington D.C. this year after the league announced that Audi Field will host the 2026 league playoff final on Nov. 21. The nation’s capital previously hosted the NWSL Championship only a short while ago in 2022, with the Portland Thorns beating the Kansas City Current 2-0. Along with the NWSL Championship, the city will also host the 2026 NWSL Awards and NWSL Skills Challenge. For those not making the trip, you can watch the NWSL Championship game on CBS or Paramount+ for the fifth consecutive year.

Sergino Dest Praises Home Crowd Ahead of Friendly

Only one friendly remains for the United States Men’s National Team before the World Cup, with the team set to take on Germany on Saturday in Chicago. It should be a tough test for a U.S. side that has some momentum behind it after a 3-2 win over Senegal. Defender Sergino Dest scored early in that match and spoke on the massive support from the home crowd in the win.

“We have also played in stadiums that we didn’t really have fans, but to have a stadium full with all USA fans that is special and that is also what we need,” Dest said. “So we appreciate that and we want that kind of support because that helps us and look what we guys gave you back…a winner against Senegal, so we need it.

“It’s great to have it like that,” he continued, “We want to have it always like that because it just helps us so much to win games. Even for the opponents, it just scares them as well.”

USWNT Aims to Make the Most of Brazil Trip

The United States Women’s National Team is currently in Brazil for a pair of friendlies against the reigning Copa America Femenina champion. Next summer’s World Cup will take place in Brazil, making this trip a great chance to get the lay of the land while also playing one of the best teams in the world at World Cup venues. Road trips are a bit of a rarity for the USWNT, as it’s only played two international games outside of the U.S. since winning gold in 2024. The U.S. will play Brazil in Sao Paulo on Saturday before another friendly between the two in Fortaleza on Tuesday.

Free Kicks

• American striker Folarin Balogun was named AS Monaco’s Player of the Season after he scored 19 goals across all competitions.
• Club America and Andre Jardine have parted ways, with the manager leaving the club after winning plenty of silverware since joining the club in 2023.
• Swiss forward Breel Embolo was denied boarding the flight to the World Cup due to a criminal conviction and he has since applied for a visa with only a little over a week to go before Switzerland’s first game. Embolo has scored 24 goals in 86 international appearances and is expected to be Switzerland’s starting striker.
• Napoli has signed Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund for a reported $58 million transfer fee. The 23-year-old was loaned to Napoli last September, scoring 16 goals in 44 games for the Italian club.
• Speaking of Manchester United, Atalanta has reportedly agreed to a $47 million transfer fee for United to sign Brazilian midfielder Ederson.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

Welcome to Wednesday, Mane Landers. Usually when there are no Orlando City or Orlando Pride matches I worry that finding links will be a challenge. That was not the case today. I will also share that I’m finally starting to get excited about the World Cup. All the grifting and corruption has tempered my enthusiasm until now. I’m not going to forget about it, but darn it I do love this game. Let’s get to the links.

Pasalic, Ojeda, and Crepeau, Oh My!

Orlando City has three players representing their respective countries at the World Cup this summer: Marco Pasalic for Croatia, Braian Ojeda for Paraguay, and Maxime Crepeau for co-host Canada. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait for the tournament as there are friendlies to watch. Pasalic played about 30 minutes in Croatia’s 2-0 loss to Belgium on Tuesday. Croatia will play Slovenia in its final friendly before the World Cup on Sunday. Ojeda’s Paraguay has a friendly against Nicaragua Friday and will be the USMNT’s first opponent in the group stage.

The Canadian Men’s National Team defeated Uzbekistan 2-0 in a pre-World Cup friendly Monday evening. Maxime Crepeau was between the sticks for the Canucks at the start of the game and made a good reaction save on a header. He also made a nice one-on-one save against Eldor Shomurodov.

It was a good performance for Orlando City’s keeper. Canada will play Ireland in its final friendly Friday before the start of the World Cup.

Banda-mania Continues

It’s unsurprising that Barbra Banda is getting love all over the place following her two goals and one assist against Bay FC. Banda was a unanimous pick on offense and as captain on the team of the week for The Attacking Third at CBS Sports. She was not alone, as Cori Dyke was also a unanimous pick for her goal and defensive play in the match. Banda also got some love from the official NWSL website and from The XI Sports.

OCB Climbing the Ranks

Thanks to a second win in a row for Orlando City B, the club has jumped up to sixth in the MLS NEXT Pro power rankings. Pedro Leão and Harvey Sarajian led the way for the Young Lions, scoring three of the five goals against Chattanooga FC. Zakaria Taifi occasionally appears for OCB when not with the senior team. Now, he’s been called up to Morocco’s U-23 National Team for training camp in Salé.

USMNT News

There’s one more friendly against Germany on Saturday and then we can turn our full attention to the World Cup. Mauricio Pochettino is trying to balance pragmatism and a quest for greatness in his team.

Former Orlando City defender Alex Freeman is the only player from Florida on the USMNT World Cup roster. At 21 years old he is also the youngest ever. I know he doesn’t play for Orlando City anymore, but I think it’s okay for us to still claim him. Did you know that Matt Freese is a Harvard grad? Me neither, but it is pretty cool that he did a research paper on penalty kicks.

Of course, the oldest player on the team is also the captain. Despite his showing against Senegal, I’m not the only one that is happy Tim Ream is on the squad and wearing the armband. That is a lot of pressure for anyone, but evidently Ream deals with the stress by building with LEGOs, and I love it. Speaking of stress, two years ago Brenden Aaronson scheduled his wedding for May 30, 2026. That was two days before the start of the USMNT World Cup camp. That camp was moved back a week. Fortunately, both the families and the team were understanding.

If you haven’t yet figured out how Mauricio Pochettino is employing his team, here is a pretty good breakdown. Interestingly, it’s sort of like how Orlando City has played, using right backs Ruan, Freeman, and Griffin Dorsey as the high player when the defense pivots to three at the back while in possession.

Free Kicks

• Here is the updated list of every squad and player participating in the World Cup. There are a record 44 players from MLS this time.
• NBC has put out its Top 25 Players in the World Cup. It’s no surprise that no USMNT players made it onto the list, but perhaps that can be some extra motivation for the team.
• FIFA — yes that FIFA — launched a women’s health and performance project on Monday. Perhaps the sport’s governing body could take some of the billions it extracts all over the world and do some good with it.
• Former Orlando Pride defender Brianna Martinez is retiring from professional soccer. She was last with Carolina Ascent FC of the Gainbridge Super League.
• If Giorgian De Arrascaeta isn’t able to play in the World Cup there is a possibility that former Orlando City attacker Facundo Torres could be his replacement.

• Flamengo is allegedly scouting Martin Ojeda. I say this with all sincerity — back off! But seriously, who isn’t keeping an eye on Tincho?

That will do it for today. If you’re not watching OCB, I can’t recommend it enough. And not just because it’s the only Orlando team still playing. Vamos Orlando!