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PawedCast Episode 295: Toronto Rewind, Pride-Current, OCB, Austin Preview, and More

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Orlando City had a nice bounce-back game in league play on the return trip to Canada. The Lions went to BMO Field and came home with three points for the first time ever. Orlando had never won in that venue but — thanks to Alexandre Pato’s exquisite delivery and Kyle Smith’s well-timed noggin flick — brought home a 1-0 victory. We break down the Toronto away match, give our picks for Man of the Match, discuss which Lions showed up on MLS Team of the Week, and check in on last week’s predictions. We also touched briefly on the midseason MLSPA salary reveal.

The Orlando Pride came home to play the Kansas City Current. For 60 minutes, the Pride played great soccer. However, the Current turned the game around in the final half hour, dominating chances and possession in the final third. It seemed inevitable that Kansas City would score at least one, but the visitors took the lead early in stoppage time. The Pride did well to fight back and Orlando equalized on a late Toni Pressley penalty to earn a come-from-ahead-then-come-from-behind draw at home.

We gave our thoughts on the Pride match as well as OCB’s first game in three weeks. The Young Lions still can’t score goals, falling 1-0 to Philadelphia Union II on the road. OCB is doing a lot of things well — especially goalkeeper Javier Otero — but there seems to be no bite in the attack or enough quality in connecting the lines in the midfield.

This week’s mailbag asked about which soccer leagues we like best, television characters that are easy to dislike, and the biggest surprises and disappointments on Orlando City’s roster at this point in the season. 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 Austin FC for the first time.

Stay safe and enjoy the show!


Here’s how No. 295 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City shut out another opponent on the road, our Man of the Match, and Team of the Week observations.

31:26 – The Pride picked up a point, but it could have been three. But it could have been none. Plus our thoughts on OCB’s match on Monday.

51:28 – The mailbag calls and we answer. Oh, and our picks for the Austin match.

Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 120: Louisville Rewind, Spirit Preview, and More

The Pride couldn’t get out of their own way early in both halves and it was costly in a road loss in Kentucky. The Spirit are up next.

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Image of Barbra Banda celebrating a goal against Louisville.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

The Orlando Pride must really hate Kentucky. The club has never won there and a lot of weird things seem to happen. For example, on Friday, the Pride went to Louisville, dominated at least 80% of the game, fired 27 shots toward Racing’s goal, and still left town with a 3-2 loss. It was a wasteful performance spent mostly shooting either right at the goalkeeper or off the target entirely, but at least Barbra Banda scored a brace to give fans a couple of moments of magic.

We break down Orlando putting the ‘L’ in Louisville, due largely to a terrible start to the second half, look back at our score predictions to see if we came close, and made our unanimous selections for Player of the Match.

Our mailbagbox asked about the Pride’s attackers, Orlando’s best and worst matchups around the league, 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.

After the mailbagbox, we look ahead to the Washington Spirit’s visit to Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Trinity Rodman is the big name, but the Spirit have a lot of quality in the squad, and the Pride will have to be much better prepared and locked in for 90 minutes than they were against Racing Louisville. We look back at the series history, provide our key matchups, and make our predictions for the final score.

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 Episode 120 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with our breakdown of the Pride’s latest loss in Louisville.

10:55 – The mailbagbox beckons from all corners of the internet.

24:52 – The Pride are set to host the Washington Spirit, so bouncing back is of utmost importance.

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PawedCast Episode 530: D.C. Rewind, Revs and Miami Previews, OCB-Chicago, and More

The Lions lose on the road again and now have two more away games looming.

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Image of Adrian Marin playing the ball against D.C. United.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The good times from the win over Charlotte didn’t last long, as just three days later the Lions started and finished poorly on the road at D.C. United. The part that was good was nice, but everything else, especially the late collapse, was subpar. We look back at Orlando City’s latest road loss in a season full of them already. In fact, the Lions have already lost the same number of road matches in 2026 as they did all of last year, when they went 6-4-7 away from home.

We review our score predictions from last week, discuss the goals that counted and the one that didn’t, and make our selections for Man of the Match.

Our mailbagbox wanted to know how much ground Orlando City could reasonably make up on the playoff places after Antoine Griezmann’s arrival. 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 looked back at OCB’s wild match at Chicago Fire FC II Sunday afternoon. This time it was the Young Lions who fell behind two goals before rallying to tie the game, but OCB continued its trend of shootout wins to grab the extra point. There are still no wins under Edward Wilding, but at least the matches are just as crazy as ever.

Finally, we looked ahead to both of Orlando City’s road games this week. The Lions will visit a good New England team Wednesday night in U.S. Open Cup play before heading south to play an even better Inter Miami squad on Saturday. The team’s fortunes so far wouldn’t suggest a positive result in either place for the Lions, but you never know.

We give our key matchups and score predictions for the league game, because you never know how much rotation a team will use in the USOC.

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. 530 went down:

0:15 – The Lions lost again and we’re stuck talking about how this one happened.

21:45 – Our mailbagbox is small but mighty and we discuss OCB, the club’s only team to snag any points over the weekend.

33:19 – Two massive road games await this week, and we’re not super confident the Lions will get a win in either, but we’ll keep watching because that’s what you do.

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 529: Charlotte Rewind, D.C. Preview, and More

The Lions take out weeks of frustration on Charlotte FC and will try to make it two in a row at D.C. United.

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Image of Justin Ellis playing the ball against Charlotte.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City played shockingly like the Lions of the last six years on Wednesday night in a 4-1 home win over Charlotte FC. We didn’t anticipate having such a long show this week, but we’re not used to talking about multi-goal wins, and it turns out it’s a lot more enjoyable to do that than to discuss five- and six-goal losses. Injuries, illnesses, and Charlotte FC combined couldn’t slow down the Lions for at least one night.

We break down Orlando’s best (by far) match of the season; discuss the key moments, players, and the postgame press conference; check back on our score predictions; and make our selections for Man of the Match.

In our mailbagbox segment, our listeners wanted to know about Ignacio Gomez’s availability after playing twice on a short-term deal, stadium names (again), OCB players to watch out for with the first team, 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 looked ahead to OCB’s match at Chicago Fire FC II on Sunday afternoon. The teams are evenly matched in the standings, but can the Young Lions finally give their new head coach his first win?

Finally, we looked forward to Saturday’s road game against D.C. United. The Lions have yet to win on the road or put together back-to-back victories this season, and with healthy bodies scarce, it’s hard to imagine the team not wearing down on short rest with travel involved unless some guys return from injury. However, that could happen! Maybe!

We look at the series history between the Lions and the Black & Red, check out their relative status in the table, discuss the danger of Tai Baribo, provide our key matchups, and make our final score predictions. We will hopefully be just as wrong on Saturday as we were on Wednesday.

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. 529 went down:

0:15 – The Lions not only won, but won big! That’s new (at least in 2026). We discuss.

31:03 – Our mailbagbox is even sweeter after a win. We’d forgotten about that.

48:10 – OCB visits Chicago II and Orlando City heads to the nation’s capital.

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