PawedCast Episode 403: Tigres Rewind, Leagues Cup Schedule, Atlanta Preview, and More

The Lions are out of the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup. It was always a tough ask to go into El Volcan and come home with a result. The reality was even tougher, as Orlando City failed to match the hosts’ energy early, conceded twice, and never fully battled back into the match. The Lions lost 4-2 in Mexico and at least the fixtures won’t come quite so fast and furious for a while.

We discuss a difficult night on the road and what went wrong. Not much went right, but the Lions did manage their first two away goals in Mexico, although both of them had to come from the penalty spot. We make our Man of the Match selections and look back at our predictions from the match. Plus, a lot of stuff went wrong for me that night, even deep in the night after the match, so it’s an evening I will want to quickly forget.

This week’s mailbagbox asked us to make a comparison with a key Orlando Pride signing and wanted to know about goal cameras and goal-line technology. We also had a follow-up from a question from our last episode, complete with a recording of the friend of a listener giving us his responses to our musical suggestions. That’s a first. We’ve never had the recording of a friend of a listener on the show before. 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.

Following the mailbagbox, we discussed Orlando City’s group stage schedule in the 2024 Leagues Cup. The Lions got a decent draw for the group and will take on CF Montreal and San Luis in late July/early August, with both games coming at home.

Finally, we turn our attention toward a road match against an Atlanta United side that is scoring in bunches. Can Orlando City batten down the defensive hatches against an attack that features Giorgos Giakoumakis and Thiago Almada? We provide our key matchups and score predictions, but we’ll have to wait until Sunday to find out of the Lions can get a road result in Georgia.

We closed with a five-star rating and review and a quick mention of OCB’s MLS NEXT Pro opener on Saturday, as well as the news that Zakaria Taifi has signed a two-year deal to play with the Young Lions.

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. 403 went down:

0:15 – It was a difficult (and very late) night in Monterrey, and no good came from it. Also, my phone died and my laptop crashed.

27:05 – Our mailbagbox was a lot of fun and features a guest voice of a listener’s friend. Plus, Orlando City’s Leagues Cup group stage opponents.

45:08 — A trip to Atlanta to play on the indoor fake plastic grass looms over the weekend.