SkoPurp Soccer Episode 44: Reign Rewind, Portland Preview, and More

The Orlando Pride appeared to be headed to an absolute beatdown of the Seattle Reign on the road Sunday, but a third goal was (correctly) overturned, and a Seattle goal late in first-half stoppage time gave the hosts a lifeline. The Reign tied the game eventually, but the Pride have Barbra Banda. Sometimes that’s the only difference you need. Orlando won in Seattle for the first time and tied a league record with its seventh consecutive win.

We break down the Pride’s road victory, check in on our score predictions, and make our selections for Player of the Match. Great stuff from Seb Hines and company.

Our mailbagbox this week was quite stuffed. Our listeners asked us about that foul on Banda, theme nights for Pride matches, the lines on the field, 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 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.

After the mailbagbox, we dove into the game of the season so far, as the Portland Thorns visit the Pride Friday night in what is the league’s first-ever battle between two teams on winning streaks of four or more matches. The Pride will need to be at their best both offensively and defensively to get a result against the surging Thorns. We provide our key matchups and score predictions for a match that Orlando could probably win and still somehow not rise to the top of the ESPN power rankings.

Here’s how Episode 44 went down:

0:15 – The Pride got into an unexpected shootout in Seattle but came out on top. Reign, you’ve been Banda’d!

20:13 – The mailbagbox is starting to grow nicely.

35:16 – A massive battle awaits Friday with the arrival of the Thorns in Orlando.