Orlando City rebounded from its opening day loss with a comprehensive 4-2 win over Toronto FC that wasn’t necessarily as close as the final score indicates. Sure, there are still a few worrying defensive lapses, but that’s bound to happen when continuously shuffling the back line out of necessity, which is what the Lions had to do with both Robin Jansson and David Brekalo out this week.

We look back on a night of goal scoring by committee that featured big contributions on the offensive end from players who primarily defend. We check back on last week’s score predictions, discuss the key plays in the match, and make our selections for Man of the Match. Oh, and two Lions ended up on the MLS Team of the Matchday.

The mailbagbox wants us to guess which jersey numbers one of our colleagues did not see in the stands on Saturday, if we saw this performance from Alex Freeman coming, whether the Lions are too complacent in the transfer market, 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.

OCB kicks off its 2025 MLS NEXT Pro season this weekend, and we discussed how little we know about the roster at this point. However, we tell you who will likely play more (and fewer) minutes with OCB this year as opposed to in 2024.

Finally, we looked ahead to Saturday night’s trip to Yankee Stadium to play New York City FC. The Pigeons lost their best player (much like Orlando City) this off-season, and they’re off to a poor start to the season, but they are always dangerous on the smaller field at home, where the Lions have rarely taken points. We look at the series history, provide 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.

Here’s how No. 467 went down:

0:15 – The Lions bounced back from the Philly loss by putting four on the board in a win against Toronto.

26:33 – The mailbagbox is full this week with both regular questions and requests for blind guesses.

56:43 – OCB prepares for the season opener and our key matchups and score predictions for Orlando City at NYCFC on Saturday.

With the Orlando Pride’s NWSL Challenge Cup match against the Washington Spirit just over a week away, it’s time for us to reconvene and begin preparing for the 2025 season. We’ve been away for a few weeks, and the main thing we’ve learned is that the Pride is serious about defense.

To that end, we discuss the club re-signing Emily Sams and Cori Dyke to new deals through 2017, touching on the fact that Dyke has now signed her first three professional contracts in less than a calendar year. That’s an odd yet delightful factoid.

It wasn’t just current defenders that the Pride were interested in signing. Spanish international Oihane Hernandez became the newest member of the Pride. Questions abound about where everyone on the back line will find minutes, but it’s a great problem for Seb Hines to have.

This week’s mailbagbox blindsides us with picking co-ed 7-v-7 sides. Hear us struggle in real time. You can’t get that kind of audio entertainment just anywhere. We also give a comprehensive overview on the club’s international slot situation. 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.

Our weekly season schedule is back. We’ll be back next week to get you ready for the Pride vs. the Spirit at Inter&Co Stadium with another trophy on the line. We’ll also bring you any news that drops between now and then. Welcome back, Pride fans. We made it through the shortest off-season in Orlando history.

Here’s how Episode 75 went down:

0:15 – Orlando Pride news in recent weeks has been all about the defense.

19:07 – The mailbagbox beckons us with a hypothetical for which we were totally unprepared.

Overall, Orlando City — as a team — played a decent game in its 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Union on Saturday. But there were some individual mistakes that…yeah, they were pretty awful and not what we’ve come to expect out of the Lions in the Oscar Pareja era. Prior to our breakdown of the Lions’ breakdowns, we discuss the Orlando City news that came out on match day, including two short-term contract signings and a last-minute injury that took captain Robin Jansson out of the lineup.

After that, we get into the nitty and also the gritty of Orlando’s loss to Philadelphia on opening night. Perhaps the only memorable thing will be the start to Marco Pasalic’s career in purple. The Croatian’s brace was a welcome bright spot on an otherwise forgettable night. We also look back at our score predictions, which were well below the total of goals scored on Saturday

The mailbagbox wants to know if we’ve changed our minds about our preseason thoughts after seeing the team play on Saturday and whether Dagur Dan Thorhallsson is ready for a move back to the midfield with the continued emergence of Alex Freeman. 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.

Finally, we looked ahead to Saturday night’s matchup against Toronto FC. There are a lot of new faces on the Reds and both teams will be going for their first win of the season. We take a brief look at the Toronto roster, provide 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.

Here’s how No. 466 went down:

0:15 – The Lions played well as a team when they weren’t making horrible individual mistakes in their own end. It was costly.

27:06 – The mailbagbox wants to know if our preseason opinions have changed yet.

38:15 – Our key matchups and score predictions for Orlando City vs. Toronto FC on Saturday.