The Mane Land PawedCast

It's been a month since our last episode of this show, and Orlando City's preseason is winding down. The Lions will start their 2026 regular season in less than two weeks, and there seem to be a lot more questions this year as opening day approaches. We start this show with some of the bad news, beginning with the sale of Alex Freeman to Villarreal in Spain's La Liga. While we're happy Alex is cha...

Orlando City has gathered for preseason camp ahead of the 2026 season, and we're still here to talk about it. How long that continues to be the case may unknown at this point, but we're trending in the right direction, so if that continues, you're stuck with us for a while longer. The Lions have had various comings and goings since our last show, and we discuss the movement in and out of the roste...

It's been a few weeks since we last shipped a factory-fresh episode of the PawedCast, but we're back to drop off this audio present that discusses the news that's happened since early in the month. However, we start with an update on The Mane Land's current situation with regard to whether or not we are going to be able to continue service in 2026. Right now, we're remaining optimistic amidst seve...

We're checking in early this December, although it probably won't be our only show of the month. Alex Freeman keeps giving us stuff to talk about. The young fullback dazzled the crowd in Tampa with his brace against Uruguay for the U.S. Men's National Team. That performance made him Man of the Match, but it was just one aspect of a great year that got him named as a finalist for U.S. Male Player o...

Our off-season schedule isn't exactly going as planned, as we continue not being able to take a week off. This week, we're back once again as happenings with the club keep on...well, happening. We start this episode with a discussion of Orlando City's central midfield. Wilder Cartagena is returning to it in 2026, but Cesar Araujo is not. We look back at our predictions for those two players' futur...

We may be in our off-season schedule here on The Mane Land PawedCast, but as promised, we are back when there is news, so here we are. For this episode, we open with a discussion of Alex Freeman's year-end awards, with the 21-year-old fullback picking up MLS Young Player of the Year and becoming the first Lion to grace the MLS Best XI. It's been a phenomenal breakout season for Freeman, who was al...

The Lions crashed out of the playoffs hard, as the Chicago Fire torched Orlando City's defense in a 3-1 loss that could have been much more lopsided than that. Tyrese Spicer kept the Lions from getting shut out, but goals and wins down the stretch were hard to come by for OCSC, and having a clean slate as the postseason started did nothing to change that. We discussed Orlando's brief stay in the p...

The Lions had a lot to play for on Saturday but forgot to do so. Orlando City's trip to Toronto hopefully led to some cool sightseeing in Canada, because it didn't produce any points. As a result — and other results elsewhere — the club has to go to Chicago for the wild card game instead of facing a first-round, best-of-three series. We reluctantly look back at a game that started poorly, could ha...

The Lions entered Saturday's matchup against Vancouver missing a lot of bodies, including half the starting back line. Then things got worse when starting center back and team captain Robin Jansson suffered a nasty-looking injury early in the game. Despite all that, the Lions took the lead through Dagur Dan Thorhallsson's well-taken goal. Although the Whitecaps dominated possession and smothered O...

The Lions fell behind in the first half, but struck back immediately against the Columbus Crew on Saturday. However, neither side could dent the twine in the back of the net afterwards, despite each club getting some quality looks at goal. Marco Pasalic's goal broke a dry spell for him and secured a point for Orlando City, allowing the lads in purple to stay above the dreaded play-in wild card gam...

Orlando City left it late again. Tyrese Spicer reprised his role from the Nashville game by providing the assist for a goal late in stoppage time, but this time it was a different goal scorer and a road draw instead of a home win. Alex Freeman played great against FC Cincinnati, so it was fitting that he literally pulled a point out of thin air on a Sunday night that saw the Lions squander numerou...

Orlando City made up for drawing at D.C. United by getting an important win over Nashville SC, one of the team's chief competitors for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference. Martin Ojeda's brace was worth the price of admission alone, but after the visitors drew level, it required a show-stopping performance by Duncan McGuire, who snatched all three points at the death with a vintage Cardi...

Orlando City went to Audi Field needing three points against last-place D.C. United, but the Lions had one of their periodic nights when putting the ball in the net was an issue. After falling behind, the Lions got back on level footing and went up a man for more than half an hour of the second half, but Orlando still couldn't find a second goal, dropping valuable points in the race for a postseas...

Orlando City, as Duncan McGuire is still in the process of coming back from his second shoulder surgery in less than a year. The club will need him to get back to his old self sooner rather than later, or it could be costly down the stretch run toward the playoffs. With a tough schedule of opponents ahead, the Lions will need every goal they can find. We discuss the pros and cons — and the less-th...

I couldn't tell you why this show is nearly an hour other than the fact that we are verbose. Orlando City crashed out of Leagues Cup with back-to-back losses in games that had a Concacaf Champions Cup berth on the line. The Lions did almost nothing in the first half against the LA Galaxy on the road, and threw Martin Ojeda's second-half equalizer away just seven minutes after he scored it with a h...

Just days after The Mane Land PawedCast celebrated its 500th episode, it is the 500th show for one of your hosts, while the other is inching ever closer to that same number, although he's got a way to go. Regardless of how many shows we've published or how many times we've hosted, it likely pales in comparison to the number of calls Inter Miami has gotten or will get during the Lionel Messi era. T...

It's our 500th episode! Wow, we never would have expected 500 episodes of this podcast would be produced when we started back in December of 2014. Heck, it's been so long ago that during the recording of this episode, I mistakenly said our first show came in early 2015. It did not. I'm just old and forgetful and have done a lot of these shows over the years. It was great to look back a little at t...

Orlando City's run of explosive offense ended during match play, but the Lions still scored on six of seven penalties to beat Toluca 6-5 in a penalty shootout following the team's 0-0 draw at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA. There were few shots, and only one shot on target, but ultimately, once the players started going to the penalty spot, things picked up. Pedro Gallese was the shining...

Orlando City and Sporting Kansas City endured a torturous three-hour delay for inclement weather Saturday night. By the time the match finally started, the Lions pounced to take an early lead, then were largely ineffective for most of the first half, heading to the locker room tied at 1-1. Orlando came out much better in the second half, thanks to a couple of key halftime adjustments, and as Satur...

Orlando City went for a repeat of the Necaxa game but came up just short of that 5-1 result when Publix enemies Inter Miami CF visited Inter&Co Stadium Sunday night. The Lions struck early, gave up the 1-0 lead, then owned the second half in a 4-1 victory to sweep the Herons in the 2025 season series by a 7-1 aggregate. Lionel Messi once again missed the trip to Orlando — this time with a hamstrin...

Orlando City started the script the old familiar way — scoring an early goal and then missing several chances to double the lead. But then the Lions started scoring again and it didn't seem like they would stop, as Luis Muriel fired home a hat trick in just 11 minutes and Martin Ojeda added a brace in a comprehensive 5-1 beatdown of Liga MX visitors Necaxa. It was a thing of beauty, especially Oje...

Orlando City blew a 1-0 lead at home again. However, the Lions also finally did two things they hadn't done in a while — scored more than one goal at home and won at home. Those two things are probably related. The Lions were able to overcome giving up the tying goal in the second half by scoring twice more to beat Atlas FC 3-1, staying alive in their bid to reach the Leagues Cup knockout rounds....

Orlando City played half a good game against Pumas but didn't show up at all in the second half, so it was no surprise that Rodrigo Schlegel's early goal couldn't stand up to the constant pressure the Liga MX side brought after halftime. The Lions couldn't keep the ball, broke down at critical moments in the attacking third, and could not mount a coherent counterattack. Orlando looked like the tir...

Orlando City looked second best all night, so when the Columbus Crew scored on a penalty kick just past the hour night, it seemed like the hosts would go on and win the game by multiple goals. But Ramiro Enrique said no. The Argentine came off the bench and got on the end of two key passes from left winger Ivan Angulo to give Orlando the lead, before Martin Ojeda called game in stoppage time with...

Orlando City entered Saturday night having won just once at Gillette Stadium. That happened a year ago when the Lions swept the New England Revolution for the first time in club history. Both teams entered the match on winless streaks, and the Lions snapped theirs thanks to Martin Ojeda's brace in a 2-1 win, capturing their second consecutive victory in a stadium where they'd never won before 2024...