The Orlando Pride may not be exactly in free fall, but when compared to last season, the team certainly seems to be struggling — at least on the offensive end. The club's 1-0 home loss to Kansas City could have been a productive result if not for a defensive error that handed the league's most dangerous attacker a 1-v-1 against the goalkeeper. Alas, Friday's game wasn't an aberration. The Pride have scored once in the last three matches, and that lone goal was an extremely fortunate one in stoppage time at North Carolina.

We break down Orlando's home loss in Friday's NWSL battle for first place, discuss the game's important moments, check on our score predictions from last week, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

This week's mailbagbox wants to know about the Pride's attack, which players might provide some solutions if they transfer to Orlando, whether Haley Carter has something up her sleeve, 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.

Following our mailbagbox segment, we look ahead to the Pride's road trip to Utah to face the Royals. While Orlando has a good record against Utah, the Royals are coming off a hard-fought, high-scoring draw against Washington, so there are no gimmies in the NWSL. We look back at the series history, check out where the two teams are relative to each other, provide our key matchups, and make our 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 87 went down:

0:15 – The Pride's warning sirens are getting louder after a third consecutive match without a win.

13:19 - The mailbagbox has some concerns about the Pride's offense.

30:30 – The Pride head to Utah looking to get back on track.

The Orlando Pride continued to struggle to put the ball in the net Saturday at North Carolina, but at least they only allowed the Courage one goal. Prisca Chilufya's improbable header off a corner kick somehow found a spot where the goalkeeper couldn't get to it, allowing Orlando to escape Cary, NC, with a 1-1 draw and a vital road point in a tight NWSL race. But the Pride have just one win in their last four matches, which is a far cry from their form in the first half of 2024.

We break down Orlando's road draw, discuss the game's big talking points, check on our score predictions from last week, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

This week's mailbagbox wants to know about the Women's Club World Cup and the Harlem Globetrotters of soccer. 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.

Following our mailbagbox segment, we look ahead to the Pride's home match against the first-place Kansas City Current Friday night. The Pride and Current have developed one of the league's more organic rivalries over the course of the last year, when both teams were among the league's best. That's the case again this year, but the Current enter the weekend in better form than Orlando and a two-point lead in the standings. We discuss the series history, the tale of the tape, our key matchups, and our 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 86 went down:

0:15 – The Pride slipped out of first place with a last-gasp draw in North Carolina.

22:35 - The mailbagbox question factory shipped us a few new ones to test drive.

34:16 – The Pride prepare to host Kansas City on Friday night with a lot on the line.

The Orlando Pride have not played well for 2.5 of the last three matches, falling 1-0 on the road at Portland Saturday night. Scoring is an issue, as is breaking out of their own end. The Pride simply aren't creating enough clear-cut scoring chances, and when they do, they're not being clinical with those opportunities.

We break down Orlando's second loss of the season — tying last year's total already — discussing some of the game's big moments, looking back at our predictions from last week, and making our selections for Player of the Match.

This week's mailbagbox wants to know about NWSL announcers and officials, Pride cohesion, and the season-ending injury list. 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.

Following our mailbagbox segment, we look ahead to the Pride's trip to North Carolina to take on the Courage. It's a tough place to get a result and a quality opponent for Orlando, but you have to play everyone in their place at some point. A result against North Carolina might be just what the doctor ordered for the Pride to get back on track and go on a run after falling in two of the last three games. We break down the all-time series, preview the Courage, provide our key matchups in the game, and try to predict 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 85 went down:

0:15 – The Pride are not in the best form at the moment, but they're still in first place, so there's that.

17:26 - A bunch of questions were found in this week's mailbagbox, so we answered them.

35:30 – The Pride head to another difficult place to get results with a trip to North Carolina on the schedule for Saturday. We preview!

The Orlando Pride looked for all the world like they were about to sustain a two-game home losing streak. Down two goals to Angel City — a team the Pride had never beaten at Inter&Co Stadium — and looking hardly in the mood for the first half, the Pride came out of the locker room rejuvenated. Still, it took a while to break through and climb back into the match. Once that happened, Orlando always looked capable of going on and picking up all three points, which is what transpired. It was not only the Pride's first home win over Angel City (and the first win by the home team in the all-time series), but it was also the club's first multi-goal comeback victory.

We discuss the game's talking points and big moments, check our score predictions from last week, and make our selections for Player of the Match in the Pride's 3-2 home win over Angel City.

This week's mailbagbox wants to know about expected goals, NWSL parity, the Pride's choice of starters, underrated moments in the match, a second division in the women's game in North America, 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.

Following our mailbagbox segment, we break down Orlando's upcoming trip to Portland. The Pride have a terrible record at Providence Park (as most teams other than the Thorns do), but can Orlando exact some revenge for the Thorns ruining their unbeaten record late last season? We dive into the series history and the tale of the tape, provide our key matchups for Saturday night, and make our predictions for the final score. We're coming to the realization that we normally predict pretty much the same few scores over and over. Soccer!

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 84 went down:

0:15 – The Pride looked like they were about to take a second straight loss, but in the second half, they decided to win instead.

18:21 - Our listeners must know things. And we're here to help with that need to know in our mailbagbox segment.

41:30 – The Pride head to a difficult place to get results with a trip to Portland coming up this weekend.

The Orlando Pride lost a home game, which hasn't happened in a while. If I were wired in any kind of normal way, I'd remember how great that 22-match unbeaten run at home was, rather than the absolute howler that helped put a stop to that streak. But I'm wired like I am, which means obsessing and wondering why an experienced player continues to make the kinds of plays that indicate no learning has been done to prevent furthere such errors.

Orlando's 1-0 home loss to the Washington Spirit could have happened in a variety of ways. After all, the Spirit are a top team in the NWSL. They're talented. They're well coached. They're hard to break down and difficult to keep off the board. Yet it was simply Anna Moorhouse's refusal to make a simple pass to the left while under pressure that turned what could have been an unsastisfying-but-hard-fought 0-0 draw into a loss.

We look back at another subpar offensive night for the Pride, check our score predictions from last week, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

This week's mailbagbox wants us to put the loss into perspective, asks us to opine on whether Adriana's loss is affecting the Pride's scoring, wonders what it'll take for a different goalkeeper to get minutes for Orlando, wants to know where Angelina should be playing, 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.

Following our mailbagbox segment, we look ahead to Friday's date with Angel City. The Pride have faced their first adversity of the 2025 season, so it'll be interesting to see if they can bounce back against an opposing team that has yet to lose in Orlando. We look at the series history and the current position of both clubs, provide our key matchups for Friday, and make our predictions for the final score of the match.

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 83 went down:

0:15 – The Pride lost a home game for the first time in more than a year and a simple timely pass would have allowed the club to avoid dropping all three points.

10:27 - Our listeners have all of the questions. We have some of the answers.

31:50 – The Pride will look to rebound from their loss to Washington on Friday when Angel City visits.

The Orlando Pride returned from the break and picked up basically where they left off, playing well enough to beat the Seattle Reign on the road, while not exactly impressing with the performance that earned those three points. All wins in the NWSL are good, and none seem to come easily, but the Pride made things unnecessarily difficult on themselves in the second half with giveaways and inconsistent defending. Anna Moorhouse had to come up huge late in the game to preserve a 1-0 lead that Barbra Banda had supplied just before halftime.

We look back at another low-scoring Pride win, check our score predictions from last week's show, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

This week's mailbagbox wants to know how the Pride turned around their history of past failures, how smart USWNT Head Coach Emma Hayes is, narratives about the Pride-Spirit series, 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.

Following our mailbagbox segment, we look ahead to Saturday's matchup between the Pride and the Spirit. Orlando may have won trophies with consecutive victories over the Spirit, but Washington got the last laugh by winning the postgame penalty shootout to claim the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup at Inter&Co Stadium. The Pride will have to be sharper than they've been at both ends in recent games to hold off one of the league's top contenders. We provide our key matchups and our 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 82 went down:

0:15 – The Pride pick up just their second road win against Seattle in club history. It was anything but easy.

13:24 - Our listeners have many questions and we are always going to have some kind of answers.

33:00 – The Pride return home for a pivotal match against the Washington Spirit.

The Orlando Pride had the weekend off with the exception of a few international players. Emily Sams didn't play Saturday and we recorded this week's show before Tuesday's late night match against Brazil in California. Angelina played for the Brazilians, but it was the Yanks who prevailed in the opener.

This week's mailbagbox wants to know how quickly the NWSL will expand, whether international officiating was bad in the USWNT-Brazil match, our favorite in-person Pride experience, whether Orlando's internationals will be available for Saturday's game, 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.

The Pride go to Seattle on Saturday to face the Reign. Orlando has historically not done well in the Pacific Northwest and the Pride have only one road win in this series. Will the Pride be able to stay focused, play hard, and get a result in the state of Washington? We preview the game, give you our key matchups for Saturday, and make our predictions for the final score. We get to come back next week and talk about it!

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 81 went down:

0:15 – Pride players with their national teams and a heaping helping of the mailbagbox.

31:29 – The Pride head northwest to Seattle and we've got your preview.

The Orlando Pride made it three wins in three attempts Saturday afternoon on a hot day at Inter&Co Stadium. While the opponents didn't offer up the usual own goal this week, the Pride needed both a Haley McCutcheon goal and a Marta penalty — taken a second time after hitting the post as Kailen Sheridan left her line early — to get the dub against the San Diego Wave this week. While it wasn't a crisp performance, it was another win, and you can't be too unhappy with wins.

We break down the talking points from Orlando's win over the Wave, check back on our score predictions, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

The international break is now upon us, and a couple of Pride players might face each other in this window when the United States Women's National Team faces Brazil.

This week's mailbagbox wants to know about Haley McCutcheon's goal celebration music, players not named Emily Sams suiting up for the USWNT, an interesting hypothetical involving either Kerry Abello or Marta, 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.

With no Orlando Pride match to preview this week, the show ends after the mailbagbox, but it was a lengthy one, at least (both this episode, all things considered, and the mailbagbox segment itself). We'll be back next week to get you ready for the Pride's trip to the Pacific Northwest to face the Seattle Reign.

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 80 went down:

0:15 – The Pride played better against San Diego than they did at Gotham, but it still wasn't as good as Orlando is capable of playing. We'll gladly take the win, though.

25:46 – The mailbagbox has plenty of questions this week.

The Orlando Pride apparently won't win every game as easily as they did the season opener, but a 2-0 road win at NJ/NY Gotham FC is a good result every time. The Pride struggled with turning the ball over and had difficulty creating clear-cut scoring chances, but an own goal and a Marta penalty at opposite ends of the first half turned the tide in Orlando's favor.

We discuss the key moments in the match, look back to see how we did with our score predictions, and make our selections for Player of the Match.

This week's mailbagbox wants to know if the salary cap will go away when the next NWSL collective bargaining agreement is reached and whether a Gotham own goal was preventative medicine designed to stop the fatality opponents suffer when Haley McCutcheon scores the first Pride goal. 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, the Pride get set to welcome the San Diego Wave to Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Wave have been a thorn in the Pride's side when they've visited Orlando in the past, while things have been easier for the Pride in San Diego in the brief series history. We look at the two combatants, provide our key matchups, and make our 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 79 went down:

0:15 – The Pride were not the better side in the run of play but still come home with a 2-0 victory. That's a good sign.

23:19 – The mailbagbox believes the Gotham own goal was a player playing three-dimensional chess instead of checkers.

36:53 – The Wave come to town and have been a tough out at home for the Pride. We preview!

The Orlando Pride loved setting all those records last year so much that they decided to add some more in Friday night's 6-0 drubbing of the Chicago Stars. Orlando's six goals and six-goal win tied club marks and set new league records for setting an opponent on fire on opening day. Haley McCutcheon decided she liked being the first Pride player to score a goal in playoff games, so she brought that into the regular season and scored Orlando's fastest goal from the start of a new season just seven minutes in. The Pride seized complete control before halftime, found some breathing room just after the restart, and then unleashed Barbra Banda on an unsuspecting Stars back line which...maybe should have suspected.

We looked back at our meager predictions of winning by two and scoff at their naivete as we broke down the match and made our selections for Player of the Match.

This week's mailbagbox came with visuals we don't think our listeners can see (so we describe them). It also asks about focusing the early attack through McCutcheon, the Pride's attendance so far, Morgan Gautrat having to face her husband's team this year, and predictions for Banda's goal contributions in 2025. 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 the Pride's trip to Gotham FC on Sunday and whether Orlando can exact revenge for one of only two losses in 2024. The Pride will need to break down a good defense and beat a top-notch goalkeeper in addition to holding some excellent attacking players at bay. We break down the history, provide our key matchups, and try to predict 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 78 went down:

0:15 – The Pride played the Chicago Stars as if they were punishing them for their terrible rebrand.

19:00 – The mailbagbox is feisty this week.

39:15 – Our look ahead at the Pride's trip to Gotham with revenge on their minds.