Orlando City was capable of beating two of the three best teams in MLS a week ago, but on Saturday, the Lions weren’t good enough in a terrible first half that led to a 3-2 road loss at the New York Red Bulls. The defensive problems the team has experienced on the road all season resurfaced, with New York hardly having to work up a sweat to find runners behind the Lions’ leaky back line.

We break down Orlando City’s latest road defeat, which at least showed a little fight in the second half, look back at our score predictions, and make our selections for Man of the Match.

We also chatted briefly about Maxime Crepeau’s fine showing at the MLS All-Star Game and Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about Orlando City’s top three goal scorers at season’s end, Justin Ellis, 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 go through the OCB minute, as the Young Lions continue to spiral without Harvey Sarajian, Gustavo Caraballo, and Bernardo Rhein. They’re off this weekend, so there is time to fix some things before the next match.

Finally, we get ready for the Don Garber cash grab Leagues Cup tournament. Orlando has a difficult first opponent before playing two clubs near the bottom of the Liga MX table. We’d like to see the kids play for the Lions to retain focus on the MLS season, but that’s not typically in this club’s DNA. Monterrey and Leon are up this week for Orlando City, and the first of those teams just signed both Diego Rossi and Hugo Cuypers, so…it could be another rough outing for Orlando’s defense.

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Here’s how No. 545 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City gets swept by the Red Bulls and can’t stop letting teenagers score, but at least Crepeau had some fun at the All-Star Game.

22:49 – The mailbagbox asks about Justin Ellis and wants us to predict things even though we’re bad at predicting things.

31:46 – OCB continues to struggle and the senior Lions head into Leagues Cup.

This week, we learned that it is possible to pepper a goal without making the goalkeeper have to do anything, as the Orlando Pride sent dozens of shots at Chicago Stars FC netminder Katie Atkinson, who barely had to move to stop any of the ones on target. Sure, there was a step and a half to her right to stop Marta’s penalty, but other than that, her toughest save came off the face of her own teammate, which she swatted off the crossbar with a desperate, flailing lunge.

Aside from that, the Pride were content to fire shot after shot right at Atkinson’s torso.

Eventually, Julie Doyle managed to hit the target without hitting Atkinson, saving the Pride from wasting a dominant performance in almost nearly every other aspect of the match. We look back at a frustrating win (victories are not supposed to be frustrating!), review our score predictions, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

We also touched on Seven Castain’s new contract and subsequent loan to Dallas Trinity. Hopefully, Castain will get minutes and develop her skills to be able to contribute at an NWSL level while Orlando has her under contract.

This week’s mailbagbox pitted the Pride against Barbra Banda, asked how the Pride won the double two years ago, and more. 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.

Finally, we looked ahead to Friday’s road battle against the North Carolina Courage. The Pride may need to find the net twice to beat North Carolina in its own stadium, and that has proven to be difficult even when Banda isn’t playing in international tournaments with Zambia. Where the goals will come from is anyone’s guess, but we reviewed the series history, provided our key matchups for the game, and tried our luck at predicting the final score.

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Here’s how Episode 131 went down:

0:15 – The Pride snapped their two-game losing streak, but it wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t nearly as easy as the number of shots suggest it should have been.

21:44 – The mailbagbox rarely complains after a win, but…

42:24 – Orlando heads north to play the Courage. We preview!

Orlando City is coming off its best week of the season after going on the road and beating the Western Division co-leaders (second on goal differential, technically) and returning home a few days later to beat the MLS Supporters’ Shield leaders. It was something we didn’t see coming, and even the most optimistic fans out there didn’t likely expect six points out of six this week, despite the presence of Antoine Griezmann.

We break down both matches, discussing the key players, moments, and plays, as well as the new tactical setup of the team. We touch on Bernardo Rhein signing a Homegrown Player deal ahead of Saturday’s match. And we look back on our understandably pessimistic score predictions and make our selections for Man of the Match for both outings.

Our mailbagbox asked us about Orlando City left backs from now until the end of the season, 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 go through the OCB minute, as the Young Lions are struggling offensively and were fortunate to lose only 1-0 at home on Sunday against Huntsville City. We also look ahead to OCB’s trip to CT United FC.

It’s All-Star Week, and there’s no doubt Orlando fans will be keeping an eye out to see how well Maxime Crepeau plays after his fantastic week in which he kept the team’s first two MLS clean sheets in over a year.

Finally, we look ahead to Orlando City’s matchup on the road against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night. Can Martin Perelman and Antoine Griezmann keep the good vibes going in the final game before the Leagues Cup kicks off? We look at the history of the series, present our key matchups, and make our score predictions.

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. 544 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City played two games against two of the three best teams in MLS and beat them both without allowing a goal. That was…unexpected.

40:07 – The mailbagbox is left-handed.

50:51 – OCB was bad on Sunday, but another match awaits on Saturday. Meanwhile, the senior Lions will be on the road in New Jersey.