The Orlando Pride made it three wins in three attempts Saturday afternoon on a hot day at Inter&Co Stadium. While the opponents didn’t offer up the usual own goal this week, the Pride needed both a Haley McCutcheon goal and a Marta penalty — taken a second time after hitting the post as Kailen Sheridan left her line early — to get the dub against the San Diego Wave this week. While it wasn’t a crisp performance, it was another win, and you can’t be too unhappy with wins.

We break down the talking points from Orlando’s win over the Wave, check back on our score predictions, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

The international break is now upon us, and a couple of Pride players might face each other in this window when the United States Women’s National Team faces Brazil.

This week’s mailbagbox wants to know about Haley McCutcheon’s goal celebration music, players not named Emily Sams suiting up for the USWNT, an interesting hypothetical involving either Kerry Abello or Marta, and more. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. 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.

With no Orlando Pride match to preview this week, the show ends after the mailbagbox, but it was a lengthy one, at least (both this episode, all things considered, and the mailbagbox segment itself). We’ll be back next week to get you ready for the Pride’s trip to the Pacific Northwest to face the Seattle Reign.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 80 went down:

0:15 – The Pride played better against San Diego than they did at Gotham, but it still wasn’t as good as Orlando is capable of playing. We’ll gladly take the win, though.

25:46 – The mailbagbox has plenty of questions this week.

The Orlando Pride apparently won’t win every game as easily as they did the season opener, but a 2-0 road win at NJ/NY Gotham FC is a good result every time. The Pride struggled with turning the ball over and had difficulty creating clear-cut scoring chances, but an own goal and a Marta penalty at opposite ends of the first half turned the tide in Orlando’s favor.

We discuss the key moments in the match, look back to see how we did with our score predictions, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

This week’s mailbagbox wants to know if the salary cap will go away when the next NWSL collective bargaining agreement is reached and whether a Gotham own goal was preventative medicine designed to stop the fatality opponents suffer when Haley McCutcheon scores the first Pride goal. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. 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.

Finally, the Pride get set to welcome the San Diego Wave to Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Wave have been a thorn in the Pride’s side when they’ve visited Orlando in the past, while things have been easier for the Pride in San Diego in the brief series history. We look at the two combatants, provide our key matchups, and make our score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 79 went down:

0:15 – The Pride were not the better side in the run of play but still come home with a 2-0 victory. That’s a good sign.

23:19 – The mailbagbox believes the Gotham own goal was a player playing three-dimensional chess instead of checkers.

36:53 – The Wave come to town and have been a tough out at home for the Pride. We preview!

Orlando City came home from the team’s second trip to the greater New York area in a bad mood and took it out on D.C. United Saturday night, ripping off four more goals and putting in the team’s best defensive outing of the year so far, despite being backstopped by a goalkeeper in his first MLS start. Javier Otero played well, but the team in front of him ensured he wasn’t called into action too often in what was a dominating performance.

Once again, it was Orlando’s trio of Designated Players leading the way, combining for three goals and three assists, while Homegrown fullback chipped in a goal and an assist and left wing Ivan Angulo picked up a pair of assists of his own. The Lions’ strong performance led to Ojeda and Freeman making Team of the Matchday with Muriel on the bench, while Marco Pasalic’s goal is a candidate for Goal of the Week.

We look back at Orlando City’s impressive win, look back at our predictions, and make our selections for Man of the Match.

The mailbagbox asks about Angulo’s unusual exit from the game, Freeman’s future, and more. 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.

OCB has a trip to face Crown Legacy during the midweek, so we touched on that, before diving into our match preview for Saturday night, when the Lions play a late one in Los Angeles against the Galaxy.

Orlando City doesn’t have the most successful history in the state of California, but the defending champion Galaxy have looked vulnerable early in the season. We break down the series history, select our key matchups, and make our score predictions.

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. 470 went down:

0:15 – The Lions dominate D.C. and the offense runs rampant again.

24:23– The mailbagbox is also confused by Ivan Angulo’s failure to leave the field.

44:49 – OCB visits Crown Legacy and the Lions head to LA to face the Galaxy.