Before this week’s show gets underway, we’ve got some announcements to make and we are pretty pumped up about them all. There is our fundraiser to launch our independence, obviously, which has us all extremely emotional and thankful. To that end, we began the long process of giving out our shout-outs to our brand new Founders. It’s going to take a few shows to get them all in! If you were part of this week’s, it means we don’t have any way to contact you to get your benefits to you, so please email us.

Then there are some podcast-specific announcements that we feel will make everyone’s experience more enjoyable. We hope you like what’s coming!

Now, on to why you’re here...

Orlando City has played to two consecutive scoreless draws and the two results felt quite different from each other. The Lions survived squad rotation against a good FC Cincinnati side last weekend in league play and survived Tigres in Concacaf Champions League play on Tuesday night in Mexico. We analyze the two matches and make our Man of the Match selections for both games.

After our conversation about two straight 0-0 draws, Orlando Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and General Manager Haley Carter jumps on with us to talk about the job she’s been hired to do. Among the things she shared with us is a huge tease about the summer transfer window, but alas...no specifics yet. Carter obviously has a lot of belief in Pride Head Coach Seb Hines and in strengthening the club through development at every level.

After our discussion with Carter, there was news from the Pride side about the team’s latest preseason win, the signing of draft picks Messiah Bright and Summer Yates, and a minor schedule change.

We dipped into a full mailbag this week to discuss Ercan Kara, the AFC Richmond players we’d want to suit up for Orlando City, 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.

Finally, we looked ahead to Saturday night’s showdown at D.C. United, with key match-ups and predictions, and we’re extremely amped about next Wednesday’s rematch with Tigres.

Stay safe and enjoy the show!

Here’s how No. 329 went down:

0:15 - Celebrating a shutout win for the second straight year and yet another opening day result for the Lions. Also celebrating a potential new deal for Torres.

36:09 - Haley Carter joins us to talk about her task of turning the Pride around, her thoughts on the current roster, and maybe a surprise is coming?

57:15 - The Pride won another preseason game and signed two more draft picks ahead of the 2023 season.

1:04:46 - Things we love: the mailbagbox, 5-star reviews on Apple Podcasts, and making predictions that will probably turn out to be horribly wrong.

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