Small group training has returned to the NWSL and the Orlando Pride are among the teams that have already implemented that and will soon be able to train as a full team. There’s still a lot of discussion about the reported NWSL tournament in Utah and with players able to train together now, we ramp up some of those discussions here. We’re not sure if USWNT players will take part or boycott this and a lot of other things remain up in the air as well at this point.

England’s men will return to complete the 2019-2020 season but the women won’t. That doesn’t sit well with me and obviously money plays a role.

The Bundesliga came under fire on social media for piping in crowd noise. I defend the move and we discuss whether canned crowd is better than no noise at all. Either way, VAR is still a mess in Germany.

And then there’s MLS Leaks. People aren’t happy that news keeps finding its way out of the MLS offices and into the virtual pages of The Athletic. But things get funnier when the memo about the leak to The Athletic is subsequently leaked to The Athletic. It’s all very meta and we talk about how/why there are news leaks and how spending money to hire leaks of which you already are aware is kinda dumb.

I also gave in and watched an Orlando City Classic this week and it was delightful. I’m not typically a dude who rewatches soccer games but this one was well worth it. (Check out the 2016 game vs. Portland here.)

We would have answered our listeners’ questions after that but this week we surprisingly had none. If there’s anything — and we do mean anything —you want us to address on our next show, just ask by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC.

Finally, we spent more time rambling than we should during discussion of our continued rewatch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This week, we broke down two of the lower rungs on the MCU ladder — Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. Better films (and better villains) are ahead but we still have to talk about what didn’t work (and what did).

Stay safe and enjoy the show.

Here’s how show No. 198 went down:

0:16 - The Orlando Pride are training together and full team training isn’t far away. Plus, what’s going on in England and Germany, along with the MLS battle to keep info quiet.

39:30 - I rave about this week’s Orlando City Classic match between the Lions and the Portland Timbers in 2016 at the Citrus Bowl.

50:17 - We dive into this week’s MCU movies: Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. Not two of the best but definitely two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films that exist.

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