Podcasts
PawedCast Episode 417: Orlando City’s Fullback Situation, Philadelphia Preview, OCB-NYRB II, and More
City’s fullback depth will be tested by a good Union side, and the Young Lions got their first home win of the year.
Orlando City had a tough enough task waiting on Saturday with a trip to Philadephia to face the Union. That job got even more difficult given the news that fullbacks Dagur Dan Thorhallsson is in concussion protocol and Rafael Santos didn’t train Thursday. We break down Oscar Pareja’s options and talk more in depth about the likelier ones. Without the Rodrigo Schlegel red card, a three-man back line was in play, and could still happen, but it seems unlikely. Kyle Smith and Michael Halliday are the likely starters Saturday night, and Orlando will have to get a big night from them both to help stifle Daniel Gazdag, Julian Carranza, and Michael Uhre.
OCB played a midweek game, hosting New York Red Bulls II. It was just the second match this season for the Young Lions at Osceola County Stadium, but they jumped out to a good start and then survived a lot of turnovers of their own making en route to a 3-1 win. We discuss the excellent night from Yutaro Tsukada and, of course, it’s always nice to see Shak Mohammed score.
This week’s mailbagbox asked us about Halliday’s expanding role with Thorhallsson sidelined, and we were also given the task of designing a new third kit for Orlando City (we present two ideas, actually). 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 turned our attention to Orlando City’s visit to the greater Philly area to take on the Union Saturday, complete with our key matchups for the game — on which we agreed — and our score predictions. [Note: We did not take into account that Julian Carranza is out on suspension for yellow card accumulation, so apologies for the error, but Philly will still be difficult.]
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Here’s how No. 417 went down:
0:15 – A look at Orlando City’s options with Santos and Thorhallsson likely out, and a breakdown of OCB’s first home win of 2024.
21:54 – Our mailbagbox asks about Halliday and the third kits we’d like to see for OCSC.
34:20 – Our preview of the Lions’ trip to Philadelphia to face the Union.