Connect with us

Uncategorized

Where Things Stand

Published

6 years ago

on

Yesterday was about as surreal an experience I’ve ever had covering a soccer game, or any other sporting event. Everything about it was weird, from the new COVID-19 media protocols, the socially distanced crowd, and having a postgame press conference via Zoom from just a few hundred feet from where Oscar Pareja and the players actually were.

But the weirdest part of yesterday was the mood. The sports protests yesterday played out from shortly before I left for the stadium and lasted all evening. It put a damper on covering the game, and sports, which generally serve as a nice distraction, weren’t quite able to do that last night.

When I left for the stadium directly from work yesterday, the Milwaukee Bucks had just determined they would not play the Orlando Magic in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, WI. That ended up being the first domino in a chain of events but I had no idea at the time. I’d seen some rumblings on social media that other NBA games might be affected and wondered if I might have to write up a story last night about Orlando City’s match against Nashville SC being postponed or canceled, but I headed to the stadium anyway to see how it played out.

I was just up the road from downtown Orlando in Maitland — not terribly far away. At that time, Orlando players were already en route to Exploria Stadium. I arrived and watched the players walking in just minutes after I got there. Nobody appeared to be on their phones. At just past 6 p.m. Orlando City released a statement that a first-team player had tested inconclusive for COVID-19 and was in quarantine awaiting the results of a second test. In the press box, I chatted with other media members and tried to recall who was missing from the players we saw walk through the stadium to the locker room.

While the players changed into their training kits and focused on their assignments, we followed social media as the rest of the NBA games were called. At this point there were online reports that the WNBA games would go on but the players would stop every seven minutes in protest. Those rumors didn’t come to pass and eventually changed to the WNBA calling it a night in solidarity with the NBA. Baseball later followed suit.

Orlando City came out onto the field for warmups a few minutes after the clock started and we speculated whether they might have been discussing whether or not to play the match, but they were just a little late coming on. We also chatted about whether a decision not to play might happen after warmups.

But the teams walked out onto the field as usual, the anthem was played, and the match got underway.

Shortly after the match started, Major League Soccer released a statement in support of the Black community, condemning racism, and specifically citing the shooting of Blake and unrest in Kenosha. There wasn’t anything in it about not playing.

Sydney Leroux, watching events unfold from home, wasn’t happy with OCSC playing the match. She sent out the tweet below moments after the MLS statement. There were other angry tweets through our timeline as well. And those were later joined by a scathing tweet by Mark-Anthony Kaye after midnight, stating he was disappointed in Orlando City players (not Nashville SC’s, apparently), for playing the match.

Leroux and Kaye are professional athletes and they know how focused players are just prior to games. Orlando City players were in their work environment. They weren’t scanning social the way we were in the press box. Both team captain Nani and Head Coach Oscar Pareja were asked about playing the game following Orlando City’s 3-1 win and both said they had heard some rumors of protests but didn’t know the extent of it. The Atlanta United-Inter Miami match was the second one scheduled last night. It was slated for 30 minutes after Orlando City kicked off. It wasn’t even clear to us in the press box at 9 p.m. that the game in South Florida wouldn’t be played. Eventually we did get that word. By that time it was after halftime at Exploria Stadium.

By the time it became clear that no other MLS matches would happen Wednesday night — with a second statement from the league — the Lions and Nashville were in their final 20 minutes, with Orlando City protecting a lead.

Pareja met with media (via Zoom) shortly after the match and was asked about the team proceeding with playing the game. He professed the club’s support of social justice and said the team had only heard rumors. Nani then echoed those sentiments during his interview period, saying the team had heard rumors but “nothing concrete” about any organized protests. Some Nashville players discussed how the dropped three points didn’t matter in wake of what was happening in the world, but it’s important to note that Nashville SC also did not seem to know the full extent of what was happening elsewhere and they also didn’t protest the match. They were the first to take the field for warmups and were lined up and ready to go at kickoff.

Today, Pareja had media availability ahead of Saturday’s match against Atlanta and again faced questions about playing the game last night.

“I understand maybe some people think that we should have not played and we understand,” Pareja said during today’s press conference. “I think we would have just not not played the game if we had all the information and good timing. We didn’t know the whole thing.

“You know that our locker room with all these protocols are very closed or sealed and there were no cell phones around because we were in the middle of starting our game. But I understand if someone thinks that this should have been handled differently.”

So, the game was played, Orlando City won, and then players and coaches returned to their phones, their social media streams, their television sets, and they found out that this was the only match played. Had the game been scheduled for even 30 minutes later, it likely would not have happened.

But where do things go from here? When we left the stadium last night, we had no idea how long sports might be halted. There were online reports about LeBron James having talked about ending the NBA playoffs. But it appears the games are returning, barring some other unforeseen circumstances.

Pareja said today that his team focused on recovery this morning with a quick turnaround for Saturday, when his Lions will now be playing on the road against a rested Atlanta United club that did not put in a 90-minute shift in the heat and humidity of South Florida as was expected. Atlanta is preparing for Orlando City’s arrival.

So, in the end, Orlando City playing Nashville instead of taking the night off in protest, like the rest of the league did, appears to be just a function of timing. MLS Commissioner Don Garber could have called Alex Leitao before kickoff to explain what was going on around the league and kept it from being the only match played, but that apparently never happened.

Where things stand now is that we live in a society that’s been broken for quite a while but in some respects it is only starting to come to grips with being broken. That might sound depressing, and it is, but it’s also hopeful because we also live in a time when our athletes are recognizing how much power their voices have — and, after last night, the impact it can make when they miss the opportunity to use them.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

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

2 weeks 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!

Continue Reading

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

3 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.

Continue Reading

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.

Continue Reading

Trending