Hello friends! We missed you. Last week’s show was recorded and...unusable. Sometimes the podcasting gods do not smile upon you and so it was last week when the audio on my end was an unmitigated mess. We have a new recording method that seemed to work well and my new mic helps me sound...well, as good as I can sound. So, we covered all the ground we did during the show you didn’t hear last week, plus a lot more.

Orlando City played twice since we last published a show, and we took a look back at the U.S. Open Cup draw-turned-shootout-win against Inter Miami CF. We also looked back at what happened against FC Dallas just a few days after that emotional result. The Lions seemed to have things well in hand for over an hour and then the roof caved in. We give you our analysis of the two games and make our selections for the Man of the Match for each one. We also discussed Alexandre Pato’s revealing and candid look back at his life in soccer in his Player’s Tribune piece, and we talked about Mason Stajduhar’s contract extension.

The Orlando Pride had an improbable rally deep in stoppage time to steal a point against the Washington Spirit. That was nice. But in the team’s next game the Pride was disjointed and generally terrible in a shambolic 5-0 loss at Houston. The Dash had no choice but to score buckets of goals because the Pride kept inviting them to do so. It was bad.

What was worse, however, was what happened Tuesday, when Pride Head Coach Amanda Cromwell and Assistant Coach Sam Greene were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a joint investigation to determine whether the two violated the NWSL’s policy to prevent and eliminate workplace discrimination, harassment, and bullying. We dove into what it means and what happens next.

OCB had a couple of matches that could have gone better, but Jack Lynn is scoring goals and the Young Lions seem to be in every game at the moment. So that’s good from the developmental side.

This week’s mailbag wanted to know what the NWSL has to do to compete for the title of the world’s best league on the women’s side, whether the USOC or MLS playoffs need to be two-legged, and more. If there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the next show, just ask by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC.

And we closed the show with a brief look at the USMNT’s recent friendlies.

Stay safe and enjoy the show!

Here’s how No. 297 went down:

0:15 - The Lions got a Tropic Thunder knockout in penalties and then were undone late against Dallas in an exhausting week.

29:59 - The Pride got a surprise draw, a humiliating defeat, and, at least for now, a new coach in Seb Hines.

56:58 - Our OCB rewind, the mailbag, and the USMNT.

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