Podcasts
PawedCast Episode 380: Montreal Rewind, OCB in the Playoffs, Nashville Preview, and More
The Lions look to carry a strong performance into their toughest remaining fixture of the regular season.

The Lions put together a complete game on Saturday night, soundly defeating visiting CF Montreal to the tune of 3-0 at Exploria Stadium. Orlando City needed that victory, which snapped a modest, two-game winless streak (0-1-1). Facundo Torres, Rafael Santos, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson were particularly good but the entire team played a solid match. We break down the victory — Pedro Gallese’s ninth shutout of the season — and check back on our score predictions. We also give our selections for Man of the Match and tell you which of our picks made the MLS Team of the Matchday for his performance.
Orlando City B played its first MLS NEXT Pro playoff match and performed well on the road, but still lost 2-1 to Columbus Crew 2. The difference in the game was conceding two penalties. The Crew capitalized on both, despite the fact that Javier Otero saved one of them. In the end, there wasn’t enough offense from OCB and two penalties conceded too many. Those kinds of mistakes are difficult to overcome anywhere, let alone on the road in the postseason. Still, it was a good season for the Young Lions and a much more entertaining one than we were expecting.
Our mailbagbox featured questions about grammar, becoming friends with past and present Lions, Michael Halliday’s future, 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 Wednesday’s matchup against Nashville SC on the road, providing our key matchups and our score predictions for the Lions’ penultimate road match of the 2023 regular season in a week that’s shaping up to be critical in terms of where Orlando City will finish with regard to home field in the postseason.
Here’s how No. 380 went down:
0:15 – A complete victory over CF Montreal at home.
25:36 – OCB bows out of the playoffs quickly, but weird things happened, so you know it was an authentic Orlando City B match.
40:37 — Our mailbagbox has some interesting questions for us and we look ahead to a big match on Wednesday in Nashville.
Podcasts
SkoPurp Soccer Episode 85: Portland Rewind, North Carolina Preview, and More
The Pride equal last year’s loss total with another bad night in Portland, while the Courage wait in North Carolina.

The Orlando Pride have not played well for 2.5 of the last three matches, falling 1-0 on the road at Portland Saturday night. Scoring is an issue, as is breaking out of their own end. The Pride simply aren’t creating enough clear-cut scoring chances, and when they do, they’re not being clinical with those opportunities.
We break down Orlando’s second loss of the season — tying last year’s total already — discussing some of the game’s big moments, looking back at our predictions from last week, and making our selections for Player of the Match.
This week’s mailbagbox wants to know about NWSL announcers and officials, Pride cohesion, and the season-ending injury list. 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.
Following our mailbagbox segment, we look ahead to the Pride’s trip to North Carolina to take on the Courage. It’s a tough place to get a result and a quality opponent for Orlando, but you have to play everyone in their place at some point. A result against North Carolina might be just what the doctor ordered for the Pride to get back on track and go on a run after falling in two of the last three games. We break down the all-time series, preview the Courage, provide our key matchups in the game, and try to predict 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 85 went down:
0:15 – The Pride are not in the best form at the moment, but they’re still in first place, so there’s that.
17:26 – A bunch of questions were found in this week’s mailbagbox, so we answered them.
35:30 – The Pride head to another difficult place to get results with a trip to North Carolina on the schedule for Saturday. We preview!
Podcasts
PawedCast Episode 476: Chicago Rewind, OCB at Fire II, Tampa Bay Rowdies Preview, and More
The Lions are stuck with another 0-0 draw, OCB gets drilled in Chicago, and Orlando heads to Tampa Bay.

Orlando City may have found its scoring boots against Atlanta, but the Lions put those away, wrapped them in mothballs, and stuck them in the attic before heading to Soldier Field to play the Chicago Fire. The result was another 0-0 draw, but it was a lack of lethality that plagued Orlando on Saturday night on the road, despite being up a man for more than half the match. Martin Ojeda and Marco Pasalic each hit the woodwork in the second half, but the Lions got no closer, as they refused to put shots on target — where they might create problems for a young goalkeeper who had to step in when Chris Brady was sent off late in the first half.
The Lions put only two shots on target all night in a wasteful effort in Chicago, and the draw felt a bit like a loss, but the upshot is they still ran their unbeaten streak to eight games (3-0-5). We looked back at our score predictions, discussed all the key moments, and made our picks for Man of the Match (honestly, there was no contest for that honor on Saturday, as Pedro Gallese was magnificent). Gallese’s effort earned him a spot on the Team of the Matchday this week.
The mailbagbox asks about what we collect, what’s up with music today, what we might see Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup, 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’s leaky defense over the previous two games was nothing compared to Friday night in Chicago, when Fire FC II pounded the Young Lions 5-1. Shak Mohammed scored first, but missed a penalty just before halftime that could have made a big difference. Chicago rode its momentum into the second half instead and simply beat the brakes off OCB. The Young Lions will have to live with that at least until hosting Inter Miami II on May 17.
Finally, we looked ahead to Orlando City’s trip to Tampa Bay Wednesday for the latest iteration of the I-4 Derby. The Lions last met the Rowdies in their first match of the 2022 U.S. Open Cup and now will open the 2025 run against their in-state rivals. The good news is that the 2022 team ended up playing six games in the competition and winning a nice, shiny trophy at the end. We provide our key matchups and score predictions for the midweek USOC match.
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. 476 went down:
0:15 – The Lions kept a fifth straight clean sheet, but also failed to score for the fourth time in five outings. That’s not optimal.
23:38– The mailbagbox is a welcome salve on our souls after another scoreless draw.
42:10 – OCB got pounded again, and the Lions head to Tampa Bay to renew the I-4 Derby rivalry.
Podcasts
SkoPurp Soccer Episode 84: Angel City Rewind, Portland Preview, and More
The Pride came from behind to beat Angel City and will head northwest to Portland.

The Orlando Pride looked for all the world like they were about to sustain a two-game home losing streak. Down two goals to Angel City — a team the Pride had never beaten at Inter&Co Stadium — and looking hardly in the mood for the first half, the Pride came out of the locker room rejuvenated. Still, it took a while to break through and climb back into the match. Once that happened, Orlando always looked capable of going on and picking up all three points, which is what transpired. It was not only the Pride’s first home win over Angel City (and the first win by the home team in the all-time series), but it was also the club’s first multi-goal comeback victory.
We discuss the game’s talking points and big moments, check our score predictions from last week, and make our selections for Player of the Match in the Pride’s 3-2 home win over Angel City.
This week’s mailbagbox wants to know about expected goals, NWSL parity, the Pride’s choice of starters, underrated moments in the match, a second division in the women’s game in North America, 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.
Following our mailbagbox segment, we break down Orlando’s upcoming trip to Portland. The Pride have a terrible record at Providence Park (as most teams other than the Thorns do), but can Orlando exact some revenge for the Thorns ruining their unbeaten record late last season? We dive into the series history and the tale of the tape, provide our key matchups for Saturday night, and make our predictions for the final score. We’re coming to the realization that we normally predict pretty much the same few scores over and over. Soccer!
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 84 went down:
0:15 – The Pride looked like they were about to take a second straight loss, but in the second half, they decided to win instead.
18:21 – Our listeners must know things. And we’re here to help with that need to know in our mailbagbox segment.
41:30 – The Pride head to a difficult place to get results with a trip to Portland coming up this weekend.
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