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Staff Roundtable Week 4: Orlando City vs. Portland Timbers

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After a week off for the international break, Orlando City will get back to the business of winning a Major League Soccer championship this weekend when defending MLS Cup champion Portland visits the Citrus Bowl. The Timbers are a dynamic team that proved their worth in the postseason in 2015 after finishing third in the Western Conference during the regular season.

Four Lions played during the off week, with Kevin Molino, Darwin Ceren and Cyle Larin representing their countries in World Cup qualifying. Tommy Redding took part in the Dallas Cup with the U-20 USMNT. Meanwhile, several reserve players got some time with Orlando City B last weekend. Orlando City is ready to get back at it and so is The Mane Land staff. Joining us at the big, round, purple table this week is Andrew Harrison, Sean Rollins and Robert Vega.

Let's get right to the questions:

Orlando City went into the international break with some momentum, going unbeaten in the three games in March, finishing with a road win at New York City FC. How does the team keep (or regain) that momentum after the layoff?

Andrew: The answer is simple: just keeping doing what you were doing. Okay, some guys were gone from training last week but they were still getting games. They were still staying match sharp. The Lions just need to return from the international break injury free and I think they will find it easy to keep the momentum going in April due to the systems that Head Coach Adrian Heath employs and the style that is asked by coach on game day.

Sean: The schedule's going to get harder going forward, making it more difficult to maintain their momentum. Orlando City must get some better play out of key players. The team was dominated by NYCFC their last time out, after a poor outing. It should help getting Kaká back to add leadership and stability to the team. It'll be difficult with Portland, New York, and SKC coming up, but this team hasn't played its best game yet.

Robert: I get it that the team was unbeaten in March, but it doesn't really feel like there was much momentum. Outside of the furious finish in the opener, it hasn't really felt like the team was rolling. The NYCFC game was a win, sure, but I don't think anyone came away from that game feeling like it was the start of something special. It was more like the great escape. That said, whether we're talking about keeping or building momentum, the key will be getting some consistency in the lineup. With Larin over his illness, Kaká finally returning, and Nocerino getting a bit more time to learn his teammates' names, getting everybody comfortable in their roles will be what gets this train rolling.

Cyle Larin opened his Orlando City account against Portland in 2015. He has three goals in three games with the Lions in 2016. Does he continue his 34-goal pace against the Timbers or will the tough international matches against Mexico break his rhythm?

Robert: I love the "fun with small sample sizes" game! Larin's on pace for 34 goals, Hadji Barry's on pace for 11 assists, and my wife's on pace for 102 heart attacks after I scare her by screaming "shoot the damn ball!" Obviously Larin will have many scoreless games, and while I'm not a fan of his overall game, he has shown a knack for getting and holding position and finishing the play. Portland has yet to have a clean sheet this season and has given up two goals in each of their past two games. With Kaká back, I think Orlando City will create more good looks at goal, and I think Larin will finish one of them to take his streak to four. Ultimately, though, he'll finish the season with less than 34 goals. Maybe 32.

Andrew: Larin has been through the international break a few times now and I don't think that will throw him off. The biggest challenge for him would have been the back line of Portland, however, with Liam Ridgewell out through injury, the usual partnership of Ridgewell/Borchers is not available to Caleb Porter and therefore the defending MLS Cup champs have already shipped five goals, so expect to see Larin get his name on the score sheet.

Sean: If anybody scores for Orlando City Sunday night, it's likely to be Larin. This season he's clearly the target man for the team, which will give him more chances, something that didn't happen until later last season. The fact that Kaká is back will probably draw some attention away from him as well.

City hasn't lost yet this season but has struggled to score goals. What must the team do to start filling the net more regularly?

Sean: The service into the area needs to be better than it has been. A good ball into the box can make a world of difference to a striker. It's also important for Larin to be in the right place, at the right time. This is how Chris Wondolowski scores so many goals. It's why Larin scored against NYCFC.

Robert: Outside of the NYCFC game, the team has done a good job of maintaining possession, but hasn't been able to build up the play to where they're generating enough legitimate scoring opportunities. The crosses have been dreadful and the finishing, outside of Larin, has been pathetic. Somebody else on the team has to step up as a threat in the final third, and it doesn't necessarily have to be scoring goals, but even just creating the opportunities.

Andrew: SHOOT. They have to learn to take more shots. Molino has to shake off the yips and be willing to just take a shot. That goes for other players as well. The best opportunity to score a goal is take a shot. Larin has taken 11 shots this season for three goals. The next player with the most shots is Winter who has taken five, and this should come as no surprise but those people are the only people to have scored for Orlando City this season.

Which of the following will benefit most from the return of Kaká to the lineup: Kevin Molino's play in the final third, Larin's goal-scoring opportunities, or Orlando City's set piece quality?

Robert: I'm going to go with Molino's play in the final third. With Kaká back, Molino should have a little more freedom and space to do Molino things (and maybe to shoot). For the most part, I look at Kaká's return the same way I look at adding an elite closer in baseball. It's not that the closer's play in and of itself makes the team so much better, but his presence puts everyone else back into a role that they're comfortable in. Kaká's presence draws attention that frees other players up and puts them in less stressful positions. Now, it would be nice if someone else could take some more pressure off Kaká, but that wasn't the question.

Andrew: This is a tough one but I have to go with set piece quality. We have no goals from set pieces this season despite the number across MLS being higher than in previous seasons and we know that Kaká has the ability to help rectify this situation. I believe that Molino is the only one who can resolve his scoring difficulties, as playing next to Kaká last season didn't get him on the score sheet before his injury and Larin hasn't had any problems scoring goals so far, and, with Kaká's calls for him to be less selfish in providing for others, Kaká's biggest asset to Orlando City will be his set piece ability.

Sean: I think Kevin Molino's play in the final third will improve with Kaká's return. One reason why Molino has struggled is that he plays faster than others around him. Unfortunately, he's unable to slow his pace to theirs. Kaká can and will play at Molino's speed, which is why he enjoys playing with Kevin so much. Being on the field together will benefit both players.

What match-up must Orlando City win on Sunday to defeat a tough Portland side and come away with the first home win of 2016?

Andrew: Despite many answers to this question, I am going with their playmaker, Diego Valeri. His tireless effort and ability to create something out of nothing for DP striker Fanendo Adi makes him the biggest threat to Orlando and it will be up to our defensive duo Cristian Higuita and Darwin Cerén to keep him out of the game while also handling Portland's other significant midfield threats of Darlington Nagbe and Diego Chara.

Sean: Last year Nat Borchers and Liam Ridgewell proved to be a difficult pair to crack in the middle of the Portland defense. As the lone striker and big body up front, it'll be important that Larin doesn't get frustrated by the center backs (though Ridgewell is out) and matches up aggressively. This should create opportunities for players in the midfield on goal.

Robert: Tommy Redding against Fanedo Adi. Adi has been hot to start the season with three goals this season, including two against RSL. Redding was fantastic against David Villa last week, and will need to replicate that performance against Adi. Redding and Hines will have to neutralize the big Nigerian if they are to be successful. Orlando City is unlikely to score in bunches, so keeping Portland limited will be essential.

* * *

That's your roundtable discussion for Week 4 in preparation for the Portland Timbers. Feel free to add your answers to these questions or explain why our staff is right/wrong in their predictions or analysis in the comments section below.

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Reflecting on Eight Years with The Mane Land

A look back over my time with The Mane Land (so far).

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Nick Leyva, The Mane Land

As of last week, I have been a contributor at The Mane Land for eight years. That’s longer than I’ve ever been at any of my actual jobs in my life. There are literally only a couple of people who have been with the site longer, but I’m still amazed at how long it’s been. This is not to say I’m going anywhere, but rather I wanted to take the opportunity to look back at the past eight years, and look ahead to the future.

Unlike some, I didn’t come to be a supporter of Orlando City until it was announced that the club was joining MLS. At the time, I was contemplating picking a club to follow in MLS, but being in Tallahassee, there were no nearby options at that time. I considered FC Dallas and D.C. United, given the two were geographically closer in proximity to me than any others. Fortunately, it was literally while I was considering my options that the announcement was made regarding Orlando City’s jump to MLS. It was an easy decision.

As I do in many aspects of my life, I immediately started researching my new club, which led me to the content being produced by The Mane Land. There was also an article on the site titled “Join The Mane Land Staff.” I had often over the years internally bemoaned that I rarely used my Bachelor’s degree in English, and the desire to write welled up in me so much that I emailed the staff. 

In response, one of our former editors, Andrew Marcinko, contacted me and said “I think your voice would be a great fit on TML.” He asked me to submit a Fan Post (those went away with our presence on SBN), and then another piece for review. Following that, our founder and managing editor, Michael Citro, emailed me to welcome me to the staff. I had no idea at the time how big a part of my life this blog would become.

I started out writing Monday’s Lions Links — often one of the more difficult days to write — and a feature piece. It’s been many years gone by now, but there was a time when the feature piece was “Pride Pub,” an ongoing series that paired craft beer and good food based on Orlando City’s opponent. I can tell you that the research for that was very enjoyable, and I still use some of the recipes I found to this day.

Eventually, I started contributing more match coverage and analytical pieces. Staff came and went, but I never thought to leave since I was enjoying myself. Sometime after that, I was promoted to senior columnist, for which I’m grateful. I can without reservation say that I’m a better writer thanks to my time with the site, and from working with such excellent staff.

In November of 2016, Michael asked if I wanted to give co-hosting The Mane Land PawedCast a try. My first recording was for Episode 71. We just recorded Episode 354, and with the exception of maybe two or three episodes, I have been on every single one of 283 episodes over the last six plus years. Michael and I have spent a lot of time talking on and off the podcast over the years, and I’m proud of what we have produced and to call him my friend.

We recently added an Orlando Pride-specific podcast called Skopurp: An Orlando Pride PawedCast. For years we wanted to give the Pride the time and attention the club deserves. Now, it is a reality, but one that I ask you to listen to and share. I’ll even put out that although Michael and I are the current hosts, we merely consider ourselves stewards and are hoping to get others to come onboard and eventually take it to the next level.

When I started with The Mane Land, the site had just made the move from a free WordPress site to the SBNation network. It was a big deal, and for many years it was a good partnership. Of course that all came to an end not too long ago, and our blog went the independent route thanks to the incredibly generous support of our readers and listeners. In fact, if you want to be one of those supporting our efforts, please go to our Buy Me A Coffee site to become a member. The move has allowed a flexibility we didn’t have before, but I really want others to have the same sense of joy and accomplishment that I have as a member of our staff. 

At one point we had nearly twice the staff that we do now, and as you know, many hands make light work. The opposite of that is also true. I genuinely believe that there must be others out there with the same passion for Orlando City as I have — with the same desire to have their voice heard, whether through the written word or on a podcast. I promise you there is an opportunity to contribute here with us. Our internal discussions are informative, engaging, and often funny. Please consider joining us, as I did eight years ago. I haven’t regretted it and I know you won’t either.

I want to thank all of those who contributed to The Mane Land over the years. There are many that I am still in touch with, though they are no longer a part of the staff. Of course, the current staff are a pleasure to work with, and I appreciate their dedication to what we are trying to do.

Finally, I want to thank the readers and listeners over the years. From those who regularly comment on our articles, to those that I’ve personally met at matches or even randomly on the street, you are a big reason that we do all of this. You are a big reason why I’ve been doing this for the better part of a decade. it is always a genuine pleasure hearing your thoughts or simply sharing a moment of joy together — U.S. Open Cup final, anyone?

So, thank you. I look forward to many more years of this journey together.

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The Mane Land Announces Membership Program

Maximize your Mane Land experience with our new TML membership program while supporting our independent efforts.

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Hello, readers of The Mane Land and listeners of our podcasts. Before you start reading this, please note that the most important part of this post is at the end. So, don’t stop until you get to the bottom.

You may recall that when we left SBNation to become independent, we really weren’t sure the best way to go about that. Many of our readers and listeners generously offered to help us make that transition, but we still weren’t sure the best path forward, so we took a poll.

The poll was pretty much split down the middle between those who preferred a one-time, Kickstarter-style campaign (which we did, and those of you who stepped up to help completely blew us away!) and those who favored a Patreon-style, subscription-based membership with extra perks. In fact, the member subscriptions option got a few more votes in our poll.

The folks who took part in our GoFundMe fundraiser were fantastic and are now immortalized on this very site on the “Our Founders” page. But we had always planned to give folks the option to choose whichever method of support they preferred and we tried to communicate that throughout the process. It took a little longer than expected to get up and running, but our membership subscription program is now in place! (You may notice the fancy new banner ad about it on the home page, echoed below.)

Supporting TML helps build a better TML for you to enjoy, so you’re really subscribing to your own Orlando soccer fandom.

Part of that delay was thinking up something that didn’t encroach on the benefits we gave our Founders. Those folks helped us get started and deserve the exclusivity of the perks they got. The other part of the delay is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. (However, for you guys, I’m willing to be cloned.)

We have utilized the popular Buy Me a Coffee platform to run this program. You can find the basics here. The Mane Land premium membership program includes three tiers of membership, as well as the option to click on the “Support” tab for those who just want to help us out whenever, without joining the program or adding any recurring “appointment-based” payments to their budgets. We love that feature of Buy Me a Coffee (or “Buy Us a Beer” in our case…you drink what you like).

For those who do choose to become members, we hope we have provided value and we are planning to add benefits along the way, in addition to providing special giveaways, events, etc. (more on that below). We have also provided subscription options — with monthly or annual memberships. The annual cost essentially gives you 12 months for the price of 10.


Current Benefits

The current membership benefits depend on which level of support you choose — Homegrown Player, TAM Player, or Designated Player level. Each level includes all benefits from the lower tiers, with additional benefits for each higher level.

Homegrown Player: This is a basic set-it-and-forget-it level of support for The Mane Land, providing a way for our readers and podcast listeners to contribute to the success of TML‘s independence goals. We want to compensate our current volunteers, replace lost income of those who previously received small stipends from being part of the SBNation network, add photographers, attract new writers, and expand our coverage. Additionally, each Homegrown Player Level member will be recognized in a Lion Links column, which is still typically our most widely read post of each day and one of the top daily links columns among soccer sites. Homegrown Player Level members will also be included in any future prize drawings we have or events we host and may be subject to future benefits as they are added.

TAM Player: In addition to Homegrown Player benefits, TAM Players will receive a new weekly e-newsletter in their inbox (unless you opt out…some people hate email). These will be informal missives from myself, other TML writers, or a combination, discussing what’s on our mind regarding Orlando City, the Pride, OCB, or soccer in general. Think of it as an extra post from our site that may cover multiple topics. Additionally, you’ll get a 10% discount from our web shop items that we control (presently, that means everything except our listed MLS Shop items). We will definitely have more benefits coming for this level soon and will look for opportunities to include additional benefits as they become available.

Designated Player: This limited availability level of support includes all perks from the Homegrown and TAM levels, but it goes beyond. Your discount at our webshop (for items we control) will be 15% off. Additionally, we’ll send you Zoom links to watch us “make the doughnuts” whenever we record the podcast. This includes when we interview guests. You’ll see how the sausage is made behind the scenes and everything that we say, some of which will end up on the cutting room floor before the final podcast is sent out. This includes both The Mane Land PawedCast and SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast. And after two months of membership you can commission a bonus episode of either podcast simply by letting us know what topic you want us to cover. Think of this as an extended Ask Us Anything. We’ll do a whole show about your topic and you can even join us to discuss it if you wish.

The DP Level will certainly have additional benefits tacked on as we move forward. It is currently limited to 40 members but could be expanded slightly depending on demand and our Zoom attendance.


Future Benefits / Benefits Under Consideration

While we won’t be able to schedule these due to the random nature of items falling into our hands, there will be periodic prize giveaways in drawings that include all of our members, regardless of level. The catch is that you get one entry per level of support, meaning Homegrown Player Level members will get one entry per prize drawing, TAM Player Level members will get two entries per drawing, and Designated Player Level members get three entries for prize drawings. Some of the kinds of items we have come across in the past include match tickets, trinkets, posters, scarves, and so on.

We are planning to add a message board to our website, well…soon-ish is the word that comes to mind. The plan for the message board is to build our community and further the discussion about the club. As part of this, we’re planning an exclusive, members-only area of that message board that TAM and DP members can access. This will be a place our staff can share informational nuggets we can’t necessarily write stories about for various reasons and interact with our members on a daily basis.

Other things in the works include meet-and-greets/watch parties where you can chat with TML staff members and catch a road match with a bunch of like-minded Orlando City/Pride fans while we all cheer on the team together. There may also be other informal outings with one or more members of the staff, organized fantasy leagues, random Zoom calls for Q&A sessions, and perhaps even some organized group outings for Orlando City / Pride matches, national team games, etc.


The Most Important Part of This Post

Remember at the top of this post, when I said the most important part is at the bottom? Well, that seems like a long time ago, now, so it’s OK if you’ve already forgotten.

The most important part of our membership program is you. We want your feedback so we can make this program something that interests and excites you. We want to know what you like and dislike about this program. We want to know if there are some things we didn’t think of that interest you. If you like what we’re offering, tell us! If you hate what we’re offering, we want to know what you’d prefer instead or in addition. If you want to go drinking with Dave, we can probably arrange that, but it’ll be a unique tier and we’ll have to figure out the cost of that.

No idea is too crazy to suggest, even if it’s too insane for us to actually offer. Let us know what you want from your subscription and we’ll see if that’s something we can do. We’ll make it easy for you by putting the form right here below this post, which is now concluded.

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Welcome Home!

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Where do I even start? When we were told in January that SBNation was pulling its support of The Mane Land and other MLS and NHL blogs — and many podcasts — I was devastated. The site had become my new baby in September of 2014 and after eight and a half years, I wasn’t ready to let it go.

I was in a pickle. I couldn’t afford to lose the monthly stipend I had been getting from SBNation to manage the site and provide a steady stream of content. It wasn’t that it was a huge monthly sum, but it mostly covered my car payment. That car was purchased when my salary was higher. The pandemic hit my day job like it did to many, and after a four-month layoff, I got my old job back but not at the same rate. So, imagine taking a pay decrease at work and then, on top of that, losing the amount you spend per month on your car payment. There was simply no way to launch The Mane Land independently, I thought, because I simply couldn’t cover the startup costs. Even with some generous offers from the staff to pitch in, there simply wasn’t a way.

Once we took the news public, there was an outpouring of support on social media. We appreciated both the pledges to help out that we got from the community and the signal boosting that the national media gave blogs like ours. Those national folks rely on local reporting for background.

Encouraged by this outpouring of public support, I met with the TML staff and we threw some ideas around. We polled our Twitter followers to see how our community would prefer to show their support. We got pretty close to a 50/50 split between those who wanted to provide a one-time donation via a Kickstarter or GoFundMe crowdsourcing effort, and those who would prefer some sort of premium subscription add-on service like Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee.

We didn’t get a lot of responses to that poll, but we decided as a group that since the results were so similar, we would offer both and let the public choose one path, the other, or even both. (Stay tuned for news soon-ish on the premium subscription level, but rest assured, everything you’ve been getting for free at TML will remain free!)

I was, admittedly, skeptical that we could raise enough startup money to create a private business, pay for hosting a new site and two podcasts (having long wanted to give the Orlando Pride their own unique show), registering a domain, paying for some design work and consulting, and any unexpected expenses that might come up. However, I thought we’d at least give it a try.

Then the amazing Orlando City, Orlando Pride, and TML community got involved. You guys pushed us past our bare minimum goal in just four and a half hours when our fundraiser went live on March 1. We reset our goal and you met that by midnight. We reset our goal again, to the dream total we discussed on our initial staff Zoom chat and you met that by that first weekend.

Stunned. Humbled. Amazed. Touched. All of these words apply to how that made us feel, but they don’t quite cover it. I think we all felt an enormous responsibility, as well. We felt a mandate to provide you the best site and the best coverage we can.

We got everything we needed to run the site for two years, even if we don’t earn a penny after our launch — and we plan to try, via advertising, a Patreon (or similar) program, an online shop, affiliate links, and anything else we can think of. But we decided to leave the GoFundMe open through the end of March, just in case there were folks who wanted to contribute but needed to wait for payday, or if more people wanted to become founding members of this new site.

Now, here we are. You guys did this. We’re here because of you. And this site isn’t quite what it will become. I’m still learning my way around WordPress, after being away from it for years. There’s more to build, and some of the things you’re seeing on this site now will be improved in the future. We’ll continue to tweak it, add things, and upgrade as we go.

For now, I just want to welcome you to your new online home. On behalf of our entire staff, I thank our founding members, who are now immortalized on this site in our founders section. If you weren’t able to contribute to our transition from SBNation’s network to an autonomous and independent, new version of The Mane Land, you can thank the folks on our founders page, because without them, we wouldn’t be here. And if you still want to help out, we’ve got more things on the way.

Vamos.

Michael Citro
Managing Editor

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