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Top 10 Moments of 2021: Orlando City Starts Season With Club Record Six-Match Unbeaten Streak
As we count down to the new year of 2022 — which will be Orlando City’s eighth in MLS and the Orlando Pride’s seventh in the NWSL — and say goodbye to 2021, it’s time to look back at the club’s 10 best moments of the year.
Coming into the 2021 season, Orlando City had never lost a season opener in Major League Soccer and that streak continued on opening day. While the Lions have only won once on the first day, a 1-0 win over NYCFC back in 2017 when the team christened the building then known as Orlando City Stadium, the good guys were 1-0-5 on opening day heading into the 2021 season. OCSC ran that record to 1-0-6 after a 0-0 draw against Atlanta United in a game where Orlando had some good chances but couldn’t quite apply the finishing touch to them.
In a back-and-forth game where Orlando City was missing Mauricio Pereyra and Joao Moutinho, the Lions had slightly less possession than Atlanta, with 40.3% to the visitors’ 59.7%. Perhaps the best chance for the men in purple came during the second half. Chris Mueller found Alexandre Pato in the box, and after the striker’s shot came off a defender and then Brad Guzan, the goalkeeper was able to smother the ball as it trickled towards the goal line.
🧤 OMG quel arrêt de Guzan 🇺🇸 ! #ORLvATL pic.twitter.com/cKixE6eYCC
— La MLS en Français 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇫🇷 (@MLS_FRA) April 17, 2021
That draw was the start of a club-record best six-game unbeaten run to start the season.
The following week resulted in another draw for the Lions, with this one coming in a slightly more frustrating fashion. Orlando went on the road to face Sporting Kansas City and found itself on the wrong end of the scoresheet following a nightmarish sequence at the back from Pedro Gallese and Antonio Carlos. A mishandled pass by Carlos allowed SKC to get a fairly simple goal and take the lead just before halftime. The Lions fought back though and equalized courtesy of a brilliant Nani backheel after Mueller’s shot was blocked. The score would stay at 1-1 as Orlando got out of Kansas City with a valuable road point.
Nani with the backheel!
After video review, the goal stands! We're all level at 1-1. #SKCvORL pic.twitter.com/UJs9lvVeBa
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 24, 2021
The third match of the season saw Orlando get its first win of 2021 in dominant fashion back in the comfortable confines of Exploria Stadium. The Lions immediately got off to a strong start against FC Cincinnati, with Tesho Akindele scoring with just 31 seconds on the clock.
33 SECONDS INTO THE GAME! 🚨
In his 100th start, @Tesho13 scores the fastest goal in #OrlandoCity history. pic.twitter.com/BTuWAh5Db9
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 1, 2021
Things got even better in the 19th minute as Nani absolutely mangled Yuya Kubo’s ankles by faking right, coming back to his left and unleashing a howitzer that Przemysław Tytoń had absolutely no chance of getting to.
😱 OMG @LUISNANI! 😱 pic.twitter.com/IhMga2d0JL
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 2, 2021
Junior Urso made it 3-0 with 10 minutes to play and that was how the score finished. It was an emphatic display against a poor Cincinnati side, as Pedro Gallese didn’t need to make a single save on the night, while the Lions out-shot the visitors 22-7.
The following week resulted in Orlando’s third draw in four games, but anyone watching the game was treated to yet another stupendous strike from Nani — his third excellent goal in three games. Hosting New York City FC at home, things were deadlocked going into halftime, but in the 52nd minute Urso brought the ball forward, nutmegged his man, and found Pereyra. The Uruguayan linked up with fellow Designated Player Nani, who cut inside onto his left foot and smacked a scorcher into the side netting from 20 yards that left Sean Johnson fully rooted to the spot.
🚨 OMG NANI GOLAZO 🚨
(@JrUrso nutmeg too) pic.twitter.com/RbCHKYv8Dz
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 8, 2021
It wasn’t enough, however, and the Lions were pegged back just inside of a quarter of an hour left to play. Moutinho fouled Ismael Tajouri-Shradi in the box and eventual Golden Boot winner Valentin Castellanos stepped up and made no mistake from the spot. Things very well could have gotten even worse for the hosts though. With just seconds to go in stoppage time, Antonio Carlos got sucked into the midfield and Jesus Medina was sent into the resulting gap with an excellent pass. Gallese stood tall when he was needed most though, and stonewalled Medina to preserve a point for OCSC.
OMG 😲
The Octopus secures the draw at the death! pic.twitter.com/zMNynhSRQc
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 9, 2021
The next week saw OCSC hit the road to take on D.C. United, and this one was a fairly ugly affair after the first 15 minutes. The Lions started well enough and Nani headed wide early on, with the chance a sign of things to come. Orlando nabbed a neat little goal after just seven minutes with Kyle Smith sending an excellent ball in to Pereyra, who chested it down to Akindele, got the return, and calmly stuck the ball past Jon Kempin to give the visitors a lead they would never relinquish. Neither team put a shot on target during the second half, but getting a win after traveling and playing on the same day was great for the Lions, and it was also only the second time they got a victory on the road against D.C.
Pereyra taps it away to give @OrlandoCitySC the early lead! #DCvORL pic.twitter.com/AOt7Nrx6uE
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 17, 2021
The final game of the unbeaten run was a win against Toronto FC back home at Exploria Stadium, and that win came courtesy of yet another early goal. Nani was suspended and both Moutinho and Ruan were missing, but the Lions got off to a great start inside a quarter of an hour. Making his first start for OCSC, Silvester van der Water cut the ball back on the right side of the box and played an inch-perfect ball onto Tesho’s head for the Canadian to nod home past Alex Bono.
Quality service. Quality finish. Quality start to this one. 😈@Tesho13 | @Silvestervdwat1 pic.twitter.com/dsyTyrGfOk
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) May 22, 2021
From there, Toronto grew into the game well with Yeferson Soteldo in particular causing the Lions plenty of headaches. Orlando should maybe have put the proceedings beyond doubt with an 84th minute chance that Benji Michel just couldn’t quite convert, but the hosts held on for a 1-0 win regardless.
The unbeaten run came to an end the following game, as the Lions fell 2-1 on the road against the New York Red Bulls as a comeback attempt came up just short. Regardless, the club’s best-ever start to a season gave us plenty to cheer about, and it’s well deserving of the eighth spot on our list of the top 10 moments of 2021.
Come back through New Year’s Eve as we count down the rest of Orlando City’s top 10 moments of 2021.
Previous Top 10 Moments of 2021
10. Orlando City takes part in club’s first international competition against Liga MX side Santos Laguna in the Leagues Cup.
9. Orlando Pride get only their second win ever against Portland as Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux lead the way.
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A Note About Hurricane Milton and The Mane Land
First of all, be safe. Second of all, be safe. Third of all, here’s what’s up regarding our upcoming schedule.
Hello, Mane Landers! With another powerful storm bearing down on the Sunshine State, it’s good to know that Orlando City and OCB are off and the Pride are on the road this weekend. We hope that everyone remains safe as Hurricane Milton passes through and near the areas in which many of you (and us) live.
As always, I hate writing these pieces but it seems to be required at least once per year, so I wanted to let everyone know that we at The Mane Land are going to do our best to continue our normal coverage and publication schedule as best we can — understanding that we are not a priority for anyone in the area at the moment. Our schedule in the coming days is not really up to us, as there are always unknown aspects to every storm, and while Hurricane Milton may or may not disrupt some or all of us personally, there are cell, internet, and electricity services that could be affected — something far beyond our control — to the point where our normal service isn’t possible. So we ask that you be aware of that and to be patient if that happens.
Hopefully our cable/satellite/electricity/internet will stay on for all the normal reasons, as well as so we can continue our coverage of Orlando’s soccer teams.
As Hurricane Milton threatens our state, we want to wish all of you the best of luck. Mother Nature is not a force to be trifled with, so we hope that everyone takes the mindset to err on the side of caution rather than take unnecessary risks. The weather is undefeated and should never be challenged.
The weather is undefeated and should never be challenged.
For those who read us throughout the Central Florida area and beyond, please let this serve as a reminder that several of our writers will be within reach of the storm, and all or some of us could find ourselves without power, internet, and/or cell service soon. Some of our staff members live in the more vulnerable areas along the Gulf Coast and Space Coast, where flooding could be severe.
When The Weather Channel sends people to your area to broadcast about the storm, you definitely take notice.
The safety of the TML staff is obviously of paramount importance to me. I urge all of our staff to take appropriate precautions, including – should they deem it necessary – evacuation. I urge everyone to be wherever they’re going to be by 5 p.m. tonight and then to stay put. As a website, we will strive to continue to function as normally as possible over the coming days.
I will personally do everything in my power (provided I have power and either the internet or cell service, or both) to maintain the site’s schedule of features with whatever breaking news we can cover over the span of the storm’s passing and beyond. However, please be aware that the site could potentially go without updates for an indeterminate period if the storm is particularly destructive and leaves us without power/internet, or with more immediate problems that must be overcome before we can even think about sitting down to write a blog post or record a podcast. This may be unavoidable, but we will do everything we can to avoid it.
I will try to provide updates from The Mane Land Twitter account (@TheManeLand) periodically to let people know that we’re OK as I get reports from our staff, and what the status of stories will be over the days (and weeks, if need be) to come. We hope the storm isn’t too disruptive to our daily functions but…this is a blog and it is infinitely less important than real life. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we’ll do what we have to do and get back to normal as quickly as we can.
Hopefully I’ll be able to look back on this post in a few days and laugh about having written it.
But this is a two-way community, so enough about us. Where are you located in relation to the storm’s path? What are you doing to prepare for the hurricane? Are you getting out of harm’s way, or are you staying put? How are you planning to pass the time? What are your best hurricane hacks? Let us know what you’re up to in the comments section below and keep us updated on how the weather is affecting your area.
Stay safe, Lion Nation.
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Reflecting on Eight Years with The Mane Land
A look back over my time with The Mane Land (so far).
As of last week, I have been a contributor at The Mane Land for eight years. That’s longer than I’ve ever been at any of my actual jobs in my life. There are literally only a couple of people who have been with the site longer, but I’m still amazed at how long it’s been. This is not to say I’m going anywhere, but rather I wanted to take the opportunity to look back at the past eight years, and look ahead to the future.
Unlike some, I didn’t come to be a supporter of Orlando City until it was announced that the club was joining MLS. At the time, I was contemplating picking a club to follow in MLS, but being in Tallahassee, there were no nearby options at that time. I considered FC Dallas and D.C. United, given the two were geographically closer in proximity to me than any others. Fortunately, it was literally while I was considering my options that the announcement was made regarding Orlando City’s jump to MLS. It was an easy decision.
As I do in many aspects of my life, I immediately started researching my new club, which led me to the content being produced by The Mane Land. There was also an article on the site titled “Join The Mane Land Staff.” I had often over the years internally bemoaned that I rarely used my Bachelor’s degree in English, and the desire to write welled up in me so much that I emailed the staff.
In response, one of our former editors, Andrew Marcinko, contacted me and said “I think your voice would be a great fit on TML.” He asked me to submit a Fan Post (those went away with our presence on SBN), and then another piece for review. Following that, our founder and managing editor, Michael Citro, emailed me to welcome me to the staff. I had no idea at the time how big a part of my life this blog would become.
I started out writing Monday’s Lions Links — often one of the more difficult days to write — and a feature piece. It’s been many years gone by now, but there was a time when the feature piece was “Pride Pub,” an ongoing series that paired craft beer and good food based on Orlando City’s opponent. I can tell you that the research for that was very enjoyable, and I still use some of the recipes I found to this day.
Eventually, I started contributing more match coverage and analytical pieces. Staff came and went, but I never thought to leave since I was enjoying myself. Sometime after that, I was promoted to senior columnist, for which I’m grateful. I can without reservation say that I’m a better writer thanks to my time with the site, and from working with such excellent staff.
In November of 2016, Michael asked if I wanted to give co-hosting The Mane Land PawedCast a try. My first recording was for Episode 71. We just recorded Episode 354, and with the exception of maybe two or three episodes, I have been on every single one of 283 episodes over the last six plus years. Michael and I have spent a lot of time talking on and off the podcast over the years, and I’m proud of what we have produced and to call him my friend.
We recently added an Orlando Pride-specific podcast called Skopurp: An Orlando Pride PawedCast. For years we wanted to give the Pride the time and attention the club deserves. Now, it is a reality, but one that I ask you to listen to and share. I’ll even put out that although Michael and I are the current hosts, we merely consider ourselves stewards and are hoping to get others to come onboard and eventually take it to the next level.
When I started with The Mane Land, the site had just made the move from a free WordPress site to the SBNation network. It was a big deal, and for many years it was a good partnership. Of course that all came to an end not too long ago, and our blog went the independent route thanks to the incredibly generous support of our readers and listeners. In fact, if you want to be one of those supporting our efforts, please go to our Buy Me A Coffee site to become a member. The move has allowed a flexibility we didn’t have before, but I really want others to have the same sense of joy and accomplishment that I have as a member of our staff.
At one point we had nearly twice the staff that we do now, and as you know, many hands make light work. The opposite of that is also true. I genuinely believe that there must be others out there with the same passion for Orlando City as I have — with the same desire to have their voice heard, whether through the written word or on a podcast. I promise you there is an opportunity to contribute here with us. Our internal discussions are informative, engaging, and often funny. Please consider joining us, as I did eight years ago. I haven’t regretted it and I know you won’t either.
I want to thank all of those who contributed to The Mane Land over the years. There are many that I am still in touch with, though they are no longer a part of the staff. Of course, the current staff are a pleasure to work with, and I appreciate their dedication to what we are trying to do.
Finally, I want to thank the readers and listeners over the years. From those who regularly comment on our articles, to those that I’ve personally met at matches or even randomly on the street, you are a big reason that we do all of this. You are a big reason why I’ve been doing this for the better part of a decade. it is always a genuine pleasure hearing your thoughts or simply sharing a moment of joy together — U.S. Open Cup final, anyone?
So, thank you. I look forward to many more years of this journey together.
Orlando City
The Mane Land Announces Membership Program
Maximize your Mane Land experience with our new TML membership program while supporting our independent efforts.
Hello, readers of The Mane Land and listeners of our podcasts. Before you start reading this, please note that the most important part of this post is at the end. So, don’t stop until you get to the bottom.
You may recall that when we left SBNation to become independent, we really weren’t sure the best way to go about that. Many of our readers and listeners generously offered to help us make that transition, but we still weren’t sure the best path forward, so we took a poll.
The poll was pretty much split down the middle between those who preferred a one-time, Kickstarter-style campaign (which we did, and those of you who stepped up to help completely blew us away!) and those who favored a Patreon-style, subscription-based membership with extra perks. In fact, the member subscriptions option got a few more votes in our poll.
The folks who took part in our GoFundMe fundraiser were fantastic and are now immortalized on this very site on the “Our Founders” page. But we had always planned to give folks the option to choose whichever method of support they preferred and we tried to communicate that throughout the process. It took a little longer than expected to get up and running, but our membership subscription program is now in place! (You may notice the fancy new banner ad about it on the home page, echoed below.)
Part of that delay was thinking up something that didn’t encroach on the benefits we gave our Founders. Those folks helped us get started and deserve the exclusivity of the perks they got. The other part of the delay is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. (However, for you guys, I’m willing to be cloned.)
We have utilized the popular Buy Me a Coffee platform to run this program. You can find the basics here. The Mane Land premium membership program includes three tiers of membership, as well as the option to click on the “Support” tab for those who just want to help us out whenever, without joining the program or adding any recurring “appointment-based” payments to their budgets. We love that feature of Buy Me a Coffee (or “Buy Us a Beer” in our case…you drink what you like).
For those who do choose to become members, we hope we have provided value and we are planning to add benefits along the way, in addition to providing special giveaways, events, etc. (more on that below). We have also provided subscription options — with monthly or annual memberships. The annual cost essentially gives you 12 months for the price of 10.
Current Benefits
The current membership benefits depend on which level of support you choose — Homegrown Player, TAM Player, or Designated Player level. Each level includes all benefits from the lower tiers, with additional benefits for each higher level.
Homegrown Player: This is a basic set-it-and-forget-it level of support for The Mane Land, providing a way for our readers and podcast listeners to contribute to the success of TML‘s independence goals. We want to compensate our current volunteers, replace lost income of those who previously received small stipends from being part of the SBNation network, add photographers, attract new writers, and expand our coverage. Additionally, each Homegrown Player Level member will be recognized in a Lion Links column, which is still typically our most widely read post of each day and one of the top daily links columns among soccer sites. Homegrown Player Level members will also be included in any future prize drawings we have or events we host and may be subject to future benefits as they are added.
TAM Player: In addition to Homegrown Player benefits, TAM Players will receive a new weekly e-newsletter in their inbox (unless you opt out…some people hate email). These will be informal missives from myself, other TML writers, or a combination, discussing what’s on our mind regarding Orlando City, the Pride, OCB, or soccer in general. Think of it as an extra post from our site that may cover multiple topics. Additionally, you’ll get a 10% discount from our web shop items that we control (presently, that means everything except our listed MLS Shop items). We will definitely have more benefits coming for this level soon and will look for opportunities to include additional benefits as they become available.
Designated Player: This limited availability level of support includes all perks from the Homegrown and TAM levels, but it goes beyond. Your discount at our webshop (for items we control) will be 15% off. Additionally, we’ll send you Zoom links to watch us “make the doughnuts” whenever we record the podcast. This includes when we interview guests. You’ll see how the sausage is made behind the scenes and everything that we say, some of which will end up on the cutting room floor before the final podcast is sent out. This includes both The Mane Land PawedCast and SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast. And after two months of membership you can commission a bonus episode of either podcast simply by letting us know what topic you want us to cover. Think of this as an extended Ask Us Anything. We’ll do a whole show about your topic and you can even join us to discuss it if you wish.
The DP Level will certainly have additional benefits tacked on as we move forward. It is currently limited to 40 members but could be expanded slightly depending on demand and our Zoom attendance.
Future Benefits / Benefits Under Consideration
While we won’t be able to schedule these due to the random nature of items falling into our hands, there will be periodic prize giveaways in drawings that include all of our members, regardless of level. The catch is that you get one entry per level of support, meaning Homegrown Player Level members will get one entry per prize drawing, TAM Player Level members will get two entries per drawing, and Designated Player Level members get three entries for prize drawings. Some of the kinds of items we have come across in the past include match tickets, trinkets, posters, scarves, and so on.
We are planning to add a message board to our website, well…soon-ish is the word that comes to mind. The plan for the message board is to build our community and further the discussion about the club. As part of this, we’re planning an exclusive, members-only area of that message board that TAM and DP members can access. This will be a place our staff can share informational nuggets we can’t necessarily write stories about for various reasons and interact with our members on a daily basis.
Other things in the works include meet-and-greets/watch parties where you can chat with TML staff members and catch a road match with a bunch of like-minded Orlando City/Pride fans while we all cheer on the team together. There may also be other informal outings with one or more members of the staff, organized fantasy leagues, random Zoom calls for Q&A sessions, and perhaps even some organized group outings for Orlando City / Pride matches, national team games, etc.
The Most Important Part of This Post
Remember at the top of this post, when I said the most important part is at the bottom? Well, that seems like a long time ago, now, so it’s OK if you’ve already forgotten.
The most important part of our membership program is you. We want your feedback so we can make this program something that interests and excites you. We want to know what you like and dislike about this program. We want to know if there are some things we didn’t think of that interest you. If you like what we’re offering, tell us! If you hate what we’re offering, we want to know what you’d prefer instead or in addition. If you want to go drinking with Dave, we can probably arrange that, but it’ll be a unique tier and we’ll have to figure out the cost of that.
No idea is too crazy to suggest, even if it’s too insane for us to actually offer. Let us know what you want from your subscription and we’ll see if that’s something we can do. We’ll make it easy for you by putting the form right here below this post, which is now concluded.
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