PawedCast Episode 230: Ian Fleming Interview, Orlando City and Pride News, National Team Talk, and More

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We’re back with another off-season show. It feels a bit weird to us to have more than one in an off-season month, but we’re getting used to it. This week’s show kicks off with discussions of the latest Orlando City news, as we break down the MLS SuperDraft, the addition of goalkeeper Brandon Austin on loan from Tottenham, and the MLS dropping some key dates, including opening weekend.

The Orlando Pride continue to make off-season moves, and we’ll tell you about the latest ones — namely, the signings of Jordyn Listro and Phoebe McClernon. The Pride roster is beginning to take shape.

Speaking of the Pride, we are joined by the team’s new general manager, Ian Fleming, who talks to us about a variety of topics, including his philosophy of improving the team, the use of NWSL Allocation Money, the status of the still-unsigned players (and those who chose to finish their seasons in England), his first NWSL Draft with the club, and more. We thank Ian for being so generous with his time and so informative about the goings-on with the Pride.

We then turned our attention to the U.S. national teams, with the women recently completing a pair of friendly wins over Colombia at Exploria Stadium. Pride defender Ali Krieger took part in the second of those victories on her club’s home pitch. It made for a nice warm-up for next month’s SheBelieves Cup, which will also take place at Exploria. After that, we discuss the four Lions who made the roster for the USMNT’s friendly against Trinidad & Tobago on Jan. 31 at…you guessed it, Exploria Stadium. We talk about who we think will get minutes and what Gregg Berhalter and Chris Mueller had to say from the U.S. camp on Monday.

The mailbag was a bit light again this week but we give our responses to questions about the Pride’s back line and what might happen on the second season of Ted Lasso. It turns out we spend way too much time thinking about fictional team AFC Richmond. But you probably already knew that. 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.

That’s all for this week.

Stay safe and enjoy the show!

Here’s how show No. 230 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City’s SuperDraft haul and what I saw when I watched some of them on YouTube, plus a new goalkeeper arrives from the EPL, the Pride sign a couple of young players, and more.

25:35- We pick the brain of Pride GM Ian Fleming.

47:04 – USWNT and USMNT talk — heavily skewed towards Orlando — and our mailbag asks us about one of our favorite subjects, Ted Lasso.