Just when you think the Orlando Pride have bottomed out and things might start to turn around, the team shows you there’s a new, lower level possible. The Pride played an apathetic and inept brand of soccer on the road against a struggling North Carolina Courage team, which put Orlando on full blast. The 5-0 loss could have been even worse, and the attack rarely created much threat for the Courage back line to deal with. If this is what life is like without Barbra Banda, the Pride are literally a one-player team, and that’s simply not good enough.

We look back at a lopsided loss for as long as we could bear it, checked our score predictions, deferred our selections for Player of the Match to any fan who sat through the entire game, and pondered what the club’s general manager is doing, whether the players have tuned out Head Coach Seb Hines, and what exactly the plan is to fix the mess that the 2024 double winners have quickly become.

This week’s mailbagbox is understandably bitter and cynical, although we did get to reminisce about shopping for school supplies and Trapper Keepers. 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, we looked ahead to Friday’s home game against Racing Louisville. Both of your hosts will be in the stadium as fans for that one (our first time seeing a match together), and we’re curious whether Orlando will show some…err…pride…after such a dreadful showing at North Carolina. We look at the series history, the teams’ relative positions in the standings, and who has been creating danger for Louisville. Then we provide our key matchups and 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 132 went down:

0:15 – The Pride were awful on Friday against the Courage.

14:40 – The mailbagbox has had it.

33:47 – Orlando prepares for Racing Louisville at home.

Orlando City was capable of beating two of the three best teams in MLS a week ago, but on Saturday, the Lions weren’t good enough in a terrible first half that led to a 3-2 road loss at the New York Red Bulls. The defensive problems the team has experienced on the road all season resurfaced, with New York hardly having to work up a sweat to find runners behind the Lions’ leaky back line.

We break down Orlando City’s latest road defeat, which at least showed a little fight in the second half, look back at our score predictions, and make our selections for Man of the Match.

We also chatted briefly about Maxime Crepeau’s fine showing at the MLS All-Star Game and Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about Orlando City’s top three goal scorers at season’s end, Justin Ellis, 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.

After the mailbagbox, we go through the OCB minute, as the Young Lions continue to spiral without Harvey Sarajian, Gustavo Caraballo, and Bernardo Rhein. They’re off this weekend, so there is time to fix some things before the next match.

Finally, we get ready for the Don Garber cash grab Leagues Cup tournament. Orlando has a difficult first opponent before playing two clubs near the bottom of the Liga MX table. We’d like to see the kids play for the Lions to retain focus on the MLS season, but that’s not typically in this club’s DNA. Monterrey and Leon are up this week for Orlando City, and the first of those teams just signed both Diego Rossi and Hugo Cuypers, so…it could be another rough outing for Orlando’s defense.

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.

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 No. 545 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City gets swept by the Red Bulls and can’t stop letting teenagers score, but at least Crepeau had some fun at the All-Star Game.

22:49 – The mailbagbox asks about Justin Ellis and wants us to predict things even though we’re bad at predicting things.

31:46 – OCB continues to struggle and the senior Lions head into Leagues Cup.

This week, we learned that it is possible to pepper a goal without making the goalkeeper have to do anything, as the Orlando Pride sent dozens of shots at Chicago Stars FC netminder Katie Atkinson, who barely had to move to stop any of the ones on target. Sure, there was a step and a half to her right to stop Marta’s penalty, but other than that, her toughest save came off the face of her own teammate, which she swatted off the crossbar with a desperate, flailing lunge.

Aside from that, the Pride were content to fire shot after shot right at Atkinson’s torso.

Eventually, Julie Doyle managed to hit the target without hitting Atkinson, saving the Pride from wasting a dominant performance in almost nearly every other aspect of the match. We look back at a frustrating win (victories are not supposed to be frustrating!), review our score predictions, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

We also touched on Seven Castain’s new contract and subsequent loan to Dallas Trinity. Hopefully, Castain will get minutes and develop her skills to be able to contribute at an NWSL level while Orlando has her under contract.

This week’s mailbagbox pitted the Pride against Barbra Banda, asked how the Pride won the double two years ago, 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.

Finally, we looked ahead to Friday’s road battle against the North Carolina Courage. The Pride may need to find the net twice to beat North Carolina in its own stadium, and that has proven to be difficult even when Banda isn’t playing in international tournaments with Zambia. Where the goals will come from is anyone’s guess, but we reviewed the series history, provided our key matchups for the game, and tried our luck at predicting the final score.

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 131 went down:

0:15 – The Pride snapped their two-game losing streak, but it wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t nearly as easy as the number of shots suggest it should have been.

21:44 – The mailbagbox rarely complains after a win, but…

42:24 – Orlando heads north to play the Courage. We preview!