PawedCast Episode 287: LA Rewind, Pride-Spirit, USMNT World Cup Qualifying, Portland Preview, and More

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Orlando City followed a crazy home loss to FC Cincinnati with almost a mirror image game in a 1-0 win on the road against the LA Galaxy. Both games saw the team with fewer chances, fewer shots, and much less possession find a way to win the game. We break down the win over Chicharito and company, with the Lions getting their first dub in the state of California and only their second in the Pacific time zone. We also selected our Man of the Match, spoke about Orlando’s penchant for clean sheets early in this 2022 season, and talked about the MLS Team of the Week and the Lions leaving for international duty.

Sam Svilar from Portland Timbers blog Stumptown Footy joined us to give us the perspective from the Rose City. Sam gave us a complete picture of what’s gone on with the Timbers so far this season and what we can expect when the teams kick off this Sunday. Big thanks to Sam for taking time out of his schedule to educate us Eastern Conference folk.

The Orlando Pride kicked off their 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup campaign and got Head Coach Amanda Cromwell a result in her first match at the helm. Cromwell’s bunch held the defending champion Washington Spirit to a scoreless draw this past weekend and there were both good and bad signs in the match. We’re going to focus on the positive for now since the sample size is so small. We also discussed the banner kerfuffle that took place on Saturday night at Exploria Stadium and how the club resolved it and owned up to its mistake quickly.

OCB gets underway this Saturday and we don’t have a lot of information yet about the Young Lions, but we do know that they won’t draw any games this season. MLS NEXT Pro is not having it with ties. All matches that end with the teams even on the scoreboard will go to penalties. Both teams get a point for finishing even, and the shootout winner will earn one extra point in the standings.

We also discussed the big week ahead for the USMNT. The Yanks have some work to do to clinch a spot in the World Cup. They can do it, but it won’t be easy. The second of their three games in this window is, of course, taking place in the City Beautiful at Exploria Stadium. We look at the clinching scenarios, the key players missing, and the weirdness of what happened four years ago on the final match day.

This week’s mailbag was interested in NCAA brackets, power rankings, the Concacaf Champions League, and more. If there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the next show, just ask by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC.

And we closed the show by giving our key match-ups and score predictions for Sunday’s trip to play the Timbers.

Stay safe and enjoy the show!

Here’s how No. 287 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City bounced back with an important road victory, the Lions don’t score a lot of goals, and the Lions don’t concede many goals. Also, defenders should be on Team of the Week for defending well.

24:42 – Sam Svilar jumps on with us and gives us the scoop on the happenings in a post-Diego Valeri Portland. He says the game could go either way on Sunday.

46:20 – The Pride are underway, OCB is about to get underway, the USMNT is about to get back underway, and we’ve got your mailbag responses. Plus our predictions for Sunday’s match in Portland.