The Mane Land PawedCast

Orlando City’s 2021 season is underway and although the Lions didn’t start with a win, they still earned a point without several key players in the lineup. We break down the match, give our Man of the Match selections, and discuss how much we hate lower body injuries while adding another to the tally. We’re joined this week by Paul Tenorio of The Athletic and the Allocation Disorder podcast. Paul...

Orlando City is all done with the preseason and the games now count. The Lions dispatched the Loons from Minnesota United in the final preseason scrimmage and signed draft pick Rio Hope-Gund last week and now it’s time to prepare for Atlanta United on opening day this Saturday. That Daryl Dike dude keeps on scoring and I tried to do contract math about it. To help us prepare for the 2021 Major Lea...

Orlando City played one and a half preseason games this week and although there isn’t much info on them, we’re here to discuss them just the same. At least we can talk about the goal scorers. The Lions added another Homegrown Player this week as Raul Aguilera signed a first team deal. Orlando City and the Pride both went through their first round of COVID-19 vaccinations, and we’ll tell you why th...

Orlando City played a pair of preseason matches in the last week and both were good results. We’re here to talk as much about them as we can, given the information we have, but the bottom line is that winning is better than not winning. The Lions no doubt got strong contributions from Kyle Smith, who was rewarded with a new two-year contract on Monday. We break down why this was a good move from t...

Orlando City was tripped up at home by New York City FC in preseason action but we’re calling shenanigans as the Pigeons got not one but two (!) penalty kick goals in one half of a preseason (!) match. At any rate, Alexandre Pato is already scoring goals in Orlando purple and that’s a good thing. The Lions signed a new Homegrown Player this week in forward Wilfredo Rivera and that’s another good t...

Orlando City is playing games! The Lions kicked off their preseason schedule with a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union. We’re here to tell you what we know about it, which honestly isn’t much more than you probably already knew, but we’re discussing it anyway, because why not? Alexander Alvarado was the offensive hero for the Lions and Brandon Austin saw his first minutes with the club. MLS annou...

Orlando City might be sold to a family that already has a purple team. The Wilf family are reportedly in talks about potentially buying the Lions. But will they also buy the Pride? Exploria Stadium? We aren’t sure just yet, but we’re keeping an eye on things. The club released its new ‘Thick N Thin’ kits and we like some things about it and dislike others. We discuss why we think Daryl Dike will r...

Orlando City terminated the contract of left back Jonathan Suarez this past week after he and his brother were arrested on sexual battery charges last Tuesday. Obviously this is a terrible subject but we’re talking about it anyway. Nobody will walk away from this unscathed. From a strictly soccer standpoint, the Lions did the right thing and can now work on finding a replacement before the 2021 se...

Orlando City added yet another quality attacking piece to the roster on Tuesday, officially signing Silvester van der Water from Heracles Almelo of the Dutch Eredivisie. The Lions locked up van der Water for three years with a club option and we’re here to talk about what it means for the roster and potential starting lineups. We also discussed the two Lions who were named to the preliminary USMNT...

Orlando City added Brazilian forward Alexandre Pato this past week after a tumultuous week of getting his signature. The Lions have addressed another key need this off-season and that should pay dividends when the team takes the field this season. We’re here to break down the week that was and discuss how sometimes these kinds of situations take twists and turns. We also address some Lucas Lima ru...

Orlando City addressed one major roster need within the last week and appears poised to fill another. Left back Jonathan Suarez is in the fold for 2021 — a much-needed backup for the recovering Joao Moutinho — and Brazilian forward Alexandre Pato could be added soon as well, if he accepts the club’s offer. We’re breaking down those moves/potential moves and discussing the Major League Soccer colle...

This week’s show starts with a little United States Men’s National Team talk as the Yanks visited Exploria Stadium with four Lions on the roster. Three of those Orlando City players got in the game on a night when the USMNT demolished the overmatched Soca Warriors. The U.S. is unbeaten and untied at Exploria, with the men and women each posting 4-0-0 records so far on Orlando City’s home grounds....

We’re back with another off-season show. It feels a bit weird to us to have more than one in an off-season month, but we’re getting used to it. This week’s show kicks off with discussions of the latest Orlando City news, as we break down the MLS SuperDraft, the addition of goalkeeper Brandon Austin on loan from Tottenham, and the MLS dropping some key dates, including opening weekend. The Orlando...

It’s our first show of 2021 after a couple of weeks off (so happy new year!) and we’re rejuvenated and ready to talk about stuff. Orlando City had a little news since our last show, including ripping up Robin Jansson’s option year and signing the Beefy Swede to a new multi-year deal. We’re here to talk about that being good for Orlando and the FIFA switch being good for Lions midfielder Andres Per...

As we move into the holiday season, it’s the time for giving. The internet has given us a nice, juicy Orlando City transfer rumor to discuss, so we break down a report out of Portugal and why it doesn’t make sense for the Lions. Also, our sources say it isn’t happening and we believe them, otherwise, they wouldn’t be our sources! Speaking of that, we’ll get into all of the questions that people we...

As we move through December, there’s still plenty of soccer news to discuss, and we start this show with a discussion of Chris Mueller’s outstanding USMNT debut against El Salvador last week. Cash showed he belonged in the discussion to be in the player pool and that his first big moment wasn’t too big for him. We also discuss the MLS Expansion Draft and Orlando City losing defender Kamal Miller,...

Since our last show, there has been plenty of news and we’re here to discuss it — some of it with a very special guest. Orlando City announced its post-season roster decisions and we discuss them, even though none of them were all that surprising. The biggest talking point was that Dom Dwyer is now a free agent, but even that wasn’t all that big of a surprise. We’re also talking about Chris Muelle...

It’s never easy to say goodbye to your team at the end of the year, but here we are. Orlando City is done for the 2020 season after bowing out of the playoffs against the New England Revolution. It was a game filled with talking points and turning points and nearly all of them were bad for the Lions. We’re here to dive extremely deeply into Sunday’s Eastern Conference semifinal, point out that som...

Orlando City is nothing if not on brand. The Lions advanced in their historic first playoff match but didn’t even win it. The result will go down as a draw, with the lads in purple advancing on penalties after the weirdest shootout most people have ever seen. But hey, how many times do you get to celebrate advancing in the playoffs three times in one day? We break down the Lions’ incredible shooto...

Orlando City had a few finalists for major MLS awards and neither of them won. Daryl Dike was never likely to upset three-year MLS veteran and 2020 Golden Boot winner Diego Rossi for the Rookie Young Player of the Year, but we figured Oscar Pareja had a great shot at Coach of the Year. Alas, that didn’t happen and we’re here to discuss the absurdity of turning around a historically un-turn-arounda...

Orlando City finished the regular season this past week with a pair of home contests. Overall, the Lions played well in both but Wednesday’s match against the Columbus Crew took an awful turn just after halftime when Nani was sent off — erroneously according to the unanimous decision of the Independent Review Panel — with a red card in the 52nd minute. That turned out to not matter because Maurici...

Orlando City got over its loss at Inter Miami with a pair of wins since our last show. Dave and I break down both the Lions’ 4-1 home win over Atlanta United and 1-0 victory against the Montreal Impact at Red Bull Arena. We make our Man of the Match selections, as well, as some players returned to the lineup and some got a much-needed rest. The important thing is it was six points out of six. Pat...

Orlando City said goodbye to its club record 12-game unbeaten streak with Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Inter Miami. The shame of it is that the Lions were only a minute removed from a golden opportunity to take the lead and only a few moments from making it 13 straight when the decisive goal came. Nobody had to make a difficult play, either, as the Lions simply had some confusion in coverage on a set pi...

Orlando City has clinched a playoff spot after a pair of 1-1 draws against the teams from New York. We’re breaking down the performances of a dwindling number of Lions against New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls and handing out our Man of the Match awards for each. Plus, there’s talk of the club being sold in reputable business publications and we’re here to discuss what that might mean an...

Orlando City got an unexpected break from the busy schedule Sunday when positive COVID-19 tests from two Columbus Crew staff members forced MLS to postpone the match. Hopefully it’s just what the Lions need to get a few of their walking wounded healthy in time for this week’s matches. But for now we’ve got your breakdown of last week’s 0-0 draw with Atlanta United and our Man of the Match. We’ve a...