PawedCast Episode 428: Chicago Rewind, New York City FC Preview, and More

The Lions took on a fresh Chicago Fire team riding a rare hot streak just a couple of days after playing to a disappointing road draw on turf away from home despite having a man advantage for more than half the game. The situation didn’t appear poised to produce a season high in goals for the Lions, but that’s what happened. Facundo Torres’ brace led the way as Orlando City blasted Chicago 4-2. Despite the continuous leaks in the defense, Mason Stajduhar turned in a heroic effort in goal to help lead the Lions to just their second home win of the season.

We looked back at our score predictions, broke down the match, and made our selections for Man of the Match.

The USMNT kicked off its Copa America campaign with a shutout victory, but it wasn’t the impressive performance we were hoping for. The Yanks must play better against Panama and then brace for Uruguay.

This week’s mailbagbox wants to know if a lack of minutes is hurting rookie midfielder Jeorgio Kocevski and what kind of minutes we can expect Duncan McGuire to get at the Olympics. 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.

After the mailbagbox, we looked at OCB’s matchup against Atlanta United 2 tonight. The Young Lions will have to go the rest of the season without center back Abdi Salim, who was loaned to USL Championship side Detroit City FC. Salim immediately made an impact in Detroit, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 friendly victory over Pumas.

Finally, we looked ahead to Orlando’s trip to the Bronx to face New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. We already know the field conditions aren’t ideal and that the Lions have a poor record there. But can they get a third straight result? We provide our key matchups and score predictions in our match preview.

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Here’s how No. 428 went down:

0:15 – The Lions scored a season-high four goals and held off a fresher Fire squad.

31:32 – Our mailbagbox asks us about an Orlando City rookie and a USMNT striker.

45:06 – OCB hosts Atlanta tonight and the MLS Lions head north to the baseball diamond.