PawedCast Episode 379: Orlando City and OCB News, Montreal Preview, and More

Without a match to recap since our last show, we turned our attention to several news bites that have come out since Monday. We started with the news that Ajax is “monitoring” Orlando City winger Facundo Torres. Hey, they’re not the only ones. Plenty of teams are keeping an eye on the young Uruguayan, and boy if he ever develops a right foot to go with his left, he’ll get snatched up quickly. The bottom line is that Orlando City brought Torres in with selling him later in mind. That was the goal, so if it happens, it’ll be mission accomplished, even though we’ll miss those pretend selfies after El Cuervo’s goals. As with all the Lions, enjoy them while they’re here. Sports careers are fleeting, let alone the parts of those careers spent with one team.

We also had plenty of OCB news to discuss, including the Young Lions’ trip to Columbus to play Crew 2 this Sunday in the first round of the 2023 MLS NEXT Pro playoffs. The Crew chose OCB as their opponents, so it would be nice for the Young Lions to make the Ohio-based side pay for that decision. We also talked about “Big Jack” Lynn, who was named to the MLS NEXT Pro Best XI this week after winning a three-way share of the league’s Golden Boot. We’re rock guys who enjoy AC/DC, so we think “Big Jack” is a solid nickname for the young striker. What do you think?

An OCB defender is on his way to Brazil with the U-17 USMNT to play the host nation twice in friendly competition during the upcoming camp. We hope it’s a great experience and that the U.S. brings home a pair of dubs.

We also looked in on former Lions Alexandre Pato and Sebas Mendez and discussed their recent trophy with Sao Paulo.

Our mailbagbox featured questions about parenthood, the Orlando City rivalry with Inter Miami, 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.

Finally, we looked ahead to Saturday’s matchup with CF Montreal at Exploria Stadium, providing our key matchups and our score predictions for the Lions’ penultimate home match of the 2023 regular season.

Here’s how No. 379 went down:

0:15 – A smattering of news from Orlando City and OCB, as well as a trophy for two former Lions.

20:14 – Our mailbagbox has some great questions this time out and we predict what will happen Saturday vs. Montreal.