SkoPurp Soccer Episode 36: Angel City Rewind, Chicago Preview, Summer Cup, and More

The Pride are getting used to adversity early in the season. A week after opening the schedule on the road, falling behind by two goals, and losing a player to a red card before coming back to draw, Orlando again faced a tough situation. The Pride were missing even more defenders (playing nothing but fullbacks on the back line), had a goal disallowed because of a foul off the ball just before it crossed the line, and conceded a penalty to fall behind again.

But Orlando rallied late again — this time with Marta working some old-time magic off a perfectly executed set piece just before the end of normal time. That goal lifted the Pride to a second straight draw that felt like a win. Hopefully these kinds of moments will pay off later in the season. Hopefully the Pride will also stop making their own jobs tougher.

We break down the 1-1 result against Angel City FC and make our selections for Player of the Match.

After our Angel City rewind, we dove into our mailbagbox, which asked us questions about Kerry Abello, Amanda Allen, referees, sportsmanship, and more. 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. We’d also appreciate any ratings 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.

We then presented our key matchups and score predictions for the Pride’s home match against the Chicago Red Stars on Friday. Orlando will need to contend with U.S. internationals Alyssa Naeher and Mallory Swanson to get a third straight result to start the season.

Finally, we looked at the Pride’s group opponents in the inaugural Summer Cup, which pits NWSL sides against teams from Liga MXF.

Here’s how Episode 36 went down:

0:15 – The Pride had a goal waved off but still managed to get a result at home against Angel City.

18:30 – The mailbagbox is reaching new heights on this show.

35:50 – A look ahead at the Red Stars and the group stage of something called the Summer Cup.