SkoPurp Soccer Episode 16: Gotham FC Rewind, USWNT at the World Cup, Courage Preview, and More

The Orlando Pride have been good at home against good teams this season but that was not the case on Sunday against NJ/NY Gotham FC. The Pride played a good opening half but still entered halftime only tied at 1-1 due to a conceded penalty. They went on to play not great throughout the second half, unless being offside is great (it’s not). We walk through the game and make our selections for Player of the Match.

This week’s mailbagbox asked us to create a starting XI out of former Pride players who are still playing elswhere. We gave it our best shot. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form.

The USWNT started its 2023 World Cup schedule on Friday and it was a fairly lopsided game, even if the final score was only 3-0. We are used to the U.S. starting tournaments slowly and improving over the course of the competition, but tonight’s match is a big one, so the Yanks need to level up quickly.

Finally, we looked ahead to Saturday’s Pride trip to North Carolina to take on the Courage in the NWSL Challenge Cup. We gave our key matchups and our score predictions and simply hope Orlando can get in the win column before this tournament is over.

Here’s how Episode 16 went down:

0:15 – Our views of Orlando’s loss at home against Gotham FC.

12:15 — The mailbagbox summons the ghosts of Pride past.

17:31 – The USWNT got past Vietnam and our key matchups and predictions for North Carolina.