SkoPurp Soccer Episode 139: Portland Rewind, Bay FC Preview, and More

The Orlando Pride lost at home to the Portland Thorns. That may seem like an understatement and a lame way to open this post, and it is. The Pride weren’t up to the task of taking on the Thorns Saturday afternoon, with a porous defense and a wasteful attack. Ally Lemos had a nice goal and that was just about all the positives for a Pride team that struggled to create chances for Barbra Banda.

We break down a home loss that all but sealed a season outside the playoff places for Orlando, check back to see what our predictions were, and make our picks for Player of the Match.

This week’s mailbagbox asked how much of the back line needs to be replaced, why Yolanda Thomas made the lineup changes she did, 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 forward to Sunday, when Orlando will head west to face Bay FC on the road. The Pride must get maximum points down the stretch and hope for help. The entirety of the 2026 season so far suggest that’s not likely. We look at the series history and the two teams’ relative positions in the table, provide our key matchups, and make our predictions for the final score.

Here’s how Episode 139 went down:

0:15 – The Pride’s modest unbeaten run under Yolanda Thomas came crashing to a halt.

15:07- The mailbagbox wonders what in the world was that on Saturday.

34:37 – The Pride head to California to try to rebound against Bay FC.