OK, so we forgot to talk about the end of the SheBelieves Cup, and we recorded Monday night, so we were done before the news broke about the Orlando Pride waiving Kaylie Collins and Tori Hansen on Tuesday morning. Let’s just say we still had plenty to talk about, because the Pride won their first match of 2024 and stayed unbeaten at 1-0-3.

We discuss the Pride’s trip to Utah and how Orlando came home with all three points, which will hopefully become a springboard to a playoff run. But it’s a long season. For now, we are happy to break down the Pride’s road win and another solid defensive outing. We make our selections for player of the match and check back on our score predictions.

If the Pride’s offense has been a little slow to get started in 2024, well, help is on the way. We discuss Barbra Banda’s arrival in Orlando. Banda took part in her first training session with the Pride on Tuesday and is a player who can make the offense much more dangerous. She’ll also create more room for the likes of Marta, Adriana, Ally Watt, and Julie Doyle, so that can only help those players as well.

Then we dove into our mailbagbox, which asked us about Pride newcomers, goal differential, Marta, Star Wars droid battery technology, and more. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings 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.

We finished the show with our preview of Orlando hosting the San Diego Wave on Friday night. The Pride have never beaten a California team at home, which is weird, because they have gotten plenty of results out west. Is this the year? The Pride already failed to beat Angel City at home, although a draw isn’t the worst outcome. We took a stab at predicting the score and provided our key matchups.

Here’s how Episode 39 went down:

0:15 – The Pride flew west, played at altitude, and brought home all three precious points from Utah.

22:49 – The mailbagbox contained a wide variety of questions to seriously test our expertise. Wait, what expertise?

52:25 – A look ahead to Friday’s matchup against the Wave.

The Lions came out of the bye week as if they were still on it, but Orlando City eventually got things going and came back twice to beat D.C. United in stoppage time at Audi Field. Nico Lodeiro came off the bench to serve as provider for heroics by David Brekalo and Duncan McGuire. After a slow start, the Lions have now gone three matches without a loss (2-0-1) and look a bit more like themselves. Now if those Designated Players would only start scoring, the team might really be making some progress.

We break down Orlando’s dramatic victory at Audi Field and make our selections for Man of the Match. It was nice to treat D.C. the way the Lions have been treated by United during the Wayne Rooney years.

This week’s mailbagbox asked us whether we prefer Coke or Pepsi and about Orlando City’s slow starts under Oscar Pareja. We kind of debunked the latter, actually. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

Finally, we turned our attention toward Orlando City B’s trip to Philadelphia. The Young Lions weren’t at their best, but they did come away with a 1-1 draw. The penalty shootout that followed the draw was epic, and unfortunately went the Union’s way, but it’s still always good to come home with any points from the road. Well done, Young Lions!

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

Here’s how No. 410 went down:

0:15 – The Lions Rooney’d Wayne Rooney’s old team.

30:22 – Our mailbagbox desires answers to the deepest, darkest questions in our listeners’ souls.

47:39 – OCB captured another road point in what seems like a neverending road trip to start 2024.

The Orlando Pride had the weekend off with the international window upon us, so there’s no new match for us to recap this week. Instead, we turned our attention (to start the show, anyway) on the SheBelieves Cup semifinals. Both matches on Saturday were compelling, with the U.S. falling behind in the first minute but rallying against a stubborn Japanese side to win, 2-1. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t easy, but it put the Yanks in the final and that’s what matters.

Brazil also played but none of the three Pride Brazilians started and only two of them — Marta and Angelina — got on the pitch late. Unfortunately for Marta, she did not score on her penalty and Brazil fell in a shootout after a 1-1 draw against Canada. Brazil was the better side during the 90 minutes but wasted a lot of chances and eventually conceded the equalizer before succumbing on spot kicks.

[Note: Yes, we know the final and third-place match were played Tuesday night (don’t @ us). We recorded this show on Monday night. We’ll touch on the the final day of the SheBelieves Cup on our next episode.]

After our SheBelieves Cup discussion, we dove into our mailbagbox, which weighed in on Orlando Pride attendance and start times, as well as the WSL incursion into Florida and what it means for the Pride (if anything). Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings 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.

We finished the show with our preview of Orlando at the Utah Royals. The Pride have to go play at altitude and there are no easy games in the NWSL. Still, this is one that Orlando can win. We provided our key matchups for this battle and try our luck at predicting the final score of the game.

Here’s how Episode 38 went down:

0:15 – The SheBelieves Cup semifinals got underway and included some Pride players (a little).

20:02 – The mailbagbox contained comments as well as questions.

32:03 – A look ahead to Friday’s trip to Utah to play the Royals.