PawedCast Episode 223: MLS Awards, Orlando Pride News, USMNT, New York City FC Preview, and More

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Orlando City had a few finalists for major MLS awards and neither of them won. Daryl Dike was never likely to upset three-year MLS veteran and 2020 Golden Boot winner Diego Rossi for the Rookie Young Player of the Year, but we figured Oscar Pareja had a great shot at Coach of the Year. Alas, that didn’t happen and we’re here to discuss the absurdity of turning around a historically un-turn-aroundable team and not being deemed the top gaffer in MLS. We also discuss the news that Major League Soccer is going to try to cut down on quarantine times for internationals by chartering them flights home — and whether that’s a good idea, given [gestures broadly at everything].

We then turn our attention to the Orlando Pride, who lost one key player and the rights to another player to Racing Louisville in the NWSL Expansion Draft. We also tell you which Pride players did and didn’t make the 23-player roster for the USWNT’s friendly vs. the Netherlands. Oh, and the USMNT just played twice and was actually fun to watch!

Christian Smith from Hudson River Blue jumps on with us to give us the New York City FC point of view entering Saturday’s historic playoff match at Exploria Stadium. Find out which player from Orlando strikes terror into the hearts of all Pigeons.

Our mailbag demands to know which players match up with which traditional Thanksgiving menu items, which USMNT player we’d like to add to Orlando City, which celebrity owners we want to take over the club, and more. If there’s anything — and we do mean anything —you want us to address on our next show, just ask by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC.

Finally, we’re here with our key match-ups and predictions for Saturday’s match against NYCFC.

That’s all for this week.

Stay safe and enjoy the show!

Here’s how show No. 223 went down:

0:15 – The Lions got shut out of the major end-of-season awards despite having a great season and we’re here to defend the gaffer with logic, data, and jokes (obviously).

47:51 – Christian Smith tells us why NYCFC is playing better and what he thinks will happen on Saturday.

1:09:50 – Our mailbag is a veritable horn of plenty this week and we tell you what we think will happen on Saturday.