Road To NWSL Playoffs Starts in July for Orlando Pride

Our month-long wait is nearly over, as the Pride’s season will resume next week when they travel to California to play Angel City. The Pride will join Orlando City B (OCB) and make it two local teams in action, as the Young Lions and the rest of MLS NEXT Pro are still channeling their inner Elton John and singing “we’re still standing,” though after their loss on Sunday OCB is no longer doing it better than they ever did. Oh well, hopefully the Young Lions will start a new win streak this weekend.

The Pride, however, are still on a winning streak, as they won their last two games before the June hiatus by defeating San Diego 1-0 and Bay FC 3-1. With their next game away at Angel City, they have a chance to make it three wins in a row against the California teams, and that would kick off what is going to be an important month of July for Orlando.

The Pride will play six games in July (more than every other team in the league except Gotham and Washington), and by month’s end they will have gone from 40% through the season to 60%. They have one of the league’s easier schedules in July, based on the records of their opponents, and with half of those games against teams above them in the table they can take a big step toward solidifying a playoff spot if they can perform well during the upcoming month.

The Pride’s next six games are:

• July 3 at Angel City
• July 10 vs. Kansas City
• July 15 vs. Boston
• July 18 at Utah
• July 24 vs. Chicago
• July 31 at North Carolina

Those six opponents combine for the following stats:

*Top 30 players according to the goals added ranking by American Soccer Analysis , excluding goalkeepers

That -12 goal differential is heavily influenced by Chicago’s -19, but Boston also has a negative goal differential and both Angel City and Kansas City are only slightly positive. The -12 ranks 14th across all of NWSL and the 1.34 points earned per match ranks 10th, so this upcoming stretch of games is a critical one for the Pride to take advantage of.

And, of course, during this critical stretch of games Barbra Banda has to depart for the rescheduled Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) tournament that begins in late July. FIFA’s rules say that club teams must release their players for the tournament by July 20, but we do not know yet if Banda will want to depart earlier to help Zambia prepare for the tournament (which will also be a qualifier for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, so it is a huge deal). If she stays until the July 20 deadline, she will be there for four of the Pride’s six July games, but it is possible she will want to leave a little earlier, which could mean missing the Pride’s game in Salt Lake City on July 18.

Banda is only one player, but as every Pride fan knows, she is a force, as she is leading the Golden Boot race and is one of the league’s top candidates for Most Valuable Player at this stage of the season. She has scored 11 of the Pride’s 18 goals — a tidy 61% — and if you add in her one assist, that makes 12 goal contributions. In other words, she is contributing to two out of every three Pride goals.

The NWSL’s summer transfer window opens on July 14, so it is possible that the Pride could have someone lined up to come in and be available as Banda departs, but the more likely scenario is that the Pride rely on their current attackers, who had a month to continue to recover in June, through July.

Jacquie Ovalle was nearing full health as of the final game before the June break, and while Marta did not play in that game, she was dressed (and she went to Brazil and played in the second of the two friendlies against the USWNT), so hopefully with more than a month in between games she will be fully fit for the upcoming July slate. Solai Washington was called up for Jamaica during the June international window as well, and if all three of those players are healthy then the Pride’s depth will be much better equipped to try to cover for Banda’s absence. Zambia finishes the group stage on Aug. 2, but depending on how it does, the Pride could be without their superstar forward until potentially after Aug. 16, the day of the WAFCON final.

This places more urgency on getting results while Orlando is whole, and in particular during those first few games in July. The Pride have already defeated Angel City once this season, so hopefully they can repeat that accomplishment, and then a week later Kansas City comes to the City Beautiful for the next edition of one of the league’s marquee matchups. Boston arrives for a midweek game the following week, and the Pride will want to avenge their poor performance from their first matchup.

Banda is likely to be available for all three of those games, depending on her recovery from a leg injury suffered against Bay FC, and hopefully the Pride can pick up at least six points. However, we know the Pride will be Banda-less for the Chicago and North Carolina games to close out July, with the August games being evaluated on a game-by-game basis depending on how Zambia performs.

Hopefully, the Pride honor Independence Day by creating their own fireworks all throughout July, starting with their game in Los Angeles on July 3. A great July will set the team up for another opportunity to make a run in the NWSL playoffs and to hoist another championship banner in Inter&Co Stadium.

Vamos Orlando!