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Orlando City Coach’s Show Recap: Adrian Heath Reviews San Jose and Looks Ahead to Columbus

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Tuesday night’s Orlando City Coach’s Show with Adrian Heath reviewed Sunday’s draw with the San Jose Earthquakes, previewed Saturday’s upcoming match with the Columbus Crew, as well as other issues surrounding the club.

San Jose Recap

Adrian Heath was not thrilled with only gathering one point from Sunday's game in San Jose but conceded that the point is a decent result. After going down to ten men with Brek Shea being sent off in the 51st minute, Heath said that "you would take a point."

He said that in the first half he was very disappointed feeling that the team played down to their competition. It was something he let the team know about during his halftime talk. He said the team "let the game meander along," and that they should've been on the front foot a bit more.

Overall Performance

Overall Heath said the team defended really well for being a man down. He said that everyone worked really hard in the second half after what was a "very comfortable" first half. However, after the way the team played the last few games, Heath said overall he was disappointed in the performance.

Brek Shea's Red Card

Heath said he felt that Shea didn't deserve the red card he received early in the second half. However, the league told teams prior to the season that if a player's feet come completely off the ground they will be sent off. While Heath said it could've been yellow, he was surprised to see red.

San Jose's Reaction

When Rafael Ramos was sent off in Columbus, the Crew players and staff pressured the referee to show red. Nobody on the Earthquakes did this Sunday. However, Heath said that head coach Dominic Kinnear jumping off the bench may have influenced the final decision to show red.

Referee Consistency

Heath has said several times this season that teams want to see referee consistency from game to game. He made that point again Tuesday night calling referee consistency "the most important thing."

Players Returning

Heath said he was pleased that finally the Lions are seeing several players on their way back. Midfielders Lewis Neal and Carlos Rivas are now back to full training along with forward Pedro Ribeiro. Meanwhile, defender Aurelien Collin is on his way back. Heath said that Rivas has missed 50 days of training this season and needs consistent playing time to continue improving as a player.

Play of Back Five

Heath said that he's been very happy with the back five (four defenders and goalkeeper). He said that Tally's presence has given everyone a lift as a reassuring presence. He very undemonstrative but is a great communicator for defenders. He's great at directing traffic in the box.

Heath also said that he’s been very happy with center backs Seb Hines and Sean St. Ledger. He said they’ve been excellent in their last few games. They’ve taken their opportunity very well making it tough for him to make any changes. Also their play has given the team the opportunity to take their time with Aurelien Collin’s return.

Heath said that St. Ledger particularly has been very vocal in the back which helps. "Every day on the training ground he never shuts up," Heath quipped.

Winning Against the West

Despite the fact that MLS' Western Conference is considered much tougher than the East, Orlando City has been much better against them. Heath said that these wins will breed confidence in the team going into the next two games which are very important games against the East.

Darwin Ceren's Penalty

A deciding point in the game was when central defensive midfielder Darwin Ceren committed a foul in the box giving San Jose a penalty. Heath said that both Ceren and Cristian Higuita are “young and petulant” but you don’t want to take away their aggressiveness. He emphasized that you have to be careful when you’re in the box calling Ceren’s challenge a “stupid effort.” The referee had little choice on the call after giving Orlando City a penalty earlier.

Playing Defensively

Playing a man down means that a team must then play defensively, something they had to do weeks prior in Columbus. Heath said that he thought Kaká did that very well considering how attacking he generally is. He said it's a tough transition for a player to make.

The team handled this situation better than they did in Columbus. Following the Crew game where Rafael Ramos was sent off, the team talked about how they would handle that situation if it occurred again. They worked hard on how to handle it and that helped on Sunday.

Scoring by Penalty

Earthquakes striker Chris Wondolowski scored his 100th MLS goal on a penalty and Heath was asked if that makes a difference to a striker. Heath, who had a terrific scoring record in England, said it doesn’t. He said as long as you score, it doesn’t matter how. He also said that years from now nobody will care or even remember how the goal was scored.

Inaugural Season's 1/3-Mark

Heath said that it's strange because something that everyone's waited so long for is going by so quickly. After playing a third of the season, Heath said that "We are where we are in the league," and he still thinks the team can make the playoffs.

Player Changes

Heath said that when the next transfer window opens to expect some changes in the team. He said he’d like to add at least one defender, one midfielder, and one forward to add to the team’s depth. Moves will likely depend on whether other teams want to trade and player health.

Cyle Larin and Martin Paterson

Heath said that there are questions with certain players which may require reinforcements later in the season. Cyle Larin has never played more than three or four months in a season so it's plausible that he could get tired later on in the season.

Martin Paterson has just come back from several small injuries which had kept him out throughout much of the early part of the season. Questions remain as to whether he will be able to remain fit.

Surprising Opponents

Heath said that the team in the league that has surprised him most this season has been New York City FC. The other expansion side this season has struggled mightily, much more than Orlando City. NYCFC has only won once this season and is winless in their last ten games.

Houston's Slow Start

Heath said that he’s not surprised by the slow start of the Houston Dynamo. After Dom Kinnear left for San Jose, he was replaced by Scottish manager Owen Coyle. Heath said they are a team in transition changing coaches, losing Tally Hall, and their leader Brad Davis is nearing the end of his career. He said that the same transition is hampering Real Salt Lake. New England, on the other hand, Heath said is the team to beat in his opinion as long as their three key players remain healthy.

Eastern Conference

After a third of the season, Heath said that teams are where they deserve to be. He feels that Orlando City are about as good as Toronto FC this season. The one exception right now is the Montreal Impact. They’ve played many fewer games than everyone else due to their CONCACAF Champions League run which postponed several early games. But Heath said that they will be very good at home and will do well this season.

Crowded Fixture Plans

With the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup underway, and Orlando City joining soon, there will be frequent games to deal with. Heath was asked how he plans to handle that. He said that he knew this month would be a busy one and you just have to hope to get as many people back as possible. One option would be to give some of the younger players some time during Open Cup games.

2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

As he's said many times this season, Heath reiterated that the team will take the Open Cup very seriously. He said that some teams in the league treat it as some big English teams treat the League Cup where they don't play their first team players until the semifinal. Heath said that's hard for him to understand how the tournament all of the sudden becomes important later on.

Winning MLS Cup

Heath said that if the Lions make the playoffs, he believes they have enough talent to make a run for the championship. He said that his team will be a tough matchup for most teams and that any team can hit a hot streak in the playoffs. "Anything's possible," Heath stated.

Ticket Update

Vice President of Communications Lenny Santiago was asked about how ticket sales are going for Saturday night's matchup at the Citrus Bowl against the Columbus Crew. Santiago said that so far they have sold 23 or 24 thousand tickets which is on par with most other games, if not a little ahead. He said the club expects another full-looking stadium.

Stadium Update

Having mentioned the stadium, Santiago was asked about an update on the soccer-specific stadium due to open next year. Santiago said that while work continues on preparing the site, they are still waiting on the legislature to approve $30 million. The state legislature will meet for the month of June in Tallahassee to balance the budget at which time they are expected to approve the stadium.

Discussing Brek Shea with Jurgen Klinsmann

Heath was asked if he had spoken with Klinsmann about Brek Shea’s recent switch from left back to left midfield, his natural position. Heath said he hadn’t spoken with Klinsmann in five or six weeks when they spoke about his move to left back. He stated that “ultimately I’m going to do what’s right for us rather than the U.S.”

Biggest Surprises This Season

Heath said there have been both good and bad surprises this season. On the good side, he's been surprised with the reaction of the city and area to the team. He said that everyone around the country has been amazed by the support for the team and that other teams' coaches have spoken about it. He also is pleased with how the younger players have adapted to MLS. He said that Rafael Ramos could be the best right back in MLS and that Cyle Larin continues to show progress.

On the bad side Heath said that the team hasn’t gotten all the points they deserve which has been disappointing. In the home games against D.C. United and the Vancouver Whitecaps the team deserved all three points but didn’t get any.

Lessons on Dropped Points

Heath said that he hopes his players have learned lessons in games which have turned out disappointing. He said that if players aren't learning from their mistakes then it becomes a trend and changes have to be made.

Pleasant Surprises

Heath said he's been pleasantly surprised by both right back Ramos and Tyler Turner. He said that coming into the season they weren't sure if they could play at the MLS level but that both has proven their quality. Other managers have questioned him about Ramos who he called "absolutely fabulous." He also said that once Cristian Higuita settled in he is a big plus for the team. Heath stated that other young players are getting better just from being around the more experienced players.

Lessons Learned by Rafael Ramos

Heath said that Ramos has learned from his mistakes this season and gotten better. He said that playing in the first team is different than playing in the reserves or youth teams at SL Benfica, Ramos' former club. Heath that in the first team you get punished for your mistakes costing your team points.

Recovering from Travel

Something different about MLS to other leagues around the world is the strenuous travel schedule. Heath said that it certainly isn't easy mainly due to the time difference. Traveling to away games forces teams to lose days of training and gives the home team the advantage of additional training days.

U-23 Team

Heath said that he unfortunately doesn't get to see much of the U-23 team due to his requirements with the first team. But he said that former Lions midfielder and current coach Anthony Pulis sees them plenty. As he works mainly with the first team during training, Pulis keeps the coaches updated on their progress. The U-23 team have played two games this season so far, dropping both.

Team Reflecting Heath's Personality

Heath said that ideally he would want to the team to reflect his personality and they’re getting there. He said that they did mirror him in their games against the New England Revolution and Los Angeles Galaxy.

Previewing Columbus

Heath said that his message to players prior to the Columbus game will be to carry on as they have. It will be a tough game against one of the best teams in the league. Also against a team that plays different than every other team in the league.

He said Columbus won't sit back but will bring the game to Orlando City much like the Lions do. They will bring their outside back into the attack which may make them vulnerable to counter attacks. It's something the team has spoken about and need to take advantage of.

Heath said that Columbus has many good players pointing out Kei Kamara, Federico Higuain, Ethan Finlay, and Justin Meram. He said that he believes that Finlay is one of the best midfielders in the league. He said the game will be an end-to-end battle producing many goals.

An important emphasis this weekend will be Columbus’ number 10 Higuain. The veteran is great at finding holes and his teammates know where to find him. Heath said that Orlando City’s holding midfielder must close him down because he will punish those who give him time and space.

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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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