Orlando City B is the lone team still playing through the World Cup and by golly we're going to reward them for that by talking about the Young Lions. This week, they took to the road to face Huntsville City in Alabama and brought all three points back with them after a 2-1 comeback win. For the second straight game, the Young Lions started the game a bit lethargically and fell behind. But OCB is nothing if not resilient. The team kicked it into gear in the second half and grabbed a hard-fought three points on the road.
We discuss the match, including how Matthew Belgodere suddenly can't stop scoring and Parker Amoo-Mensah has earned his shiny new MLS NEXT Pro contract.
After our OCB-Carolina Core rewind, we discussed the USMNT's 4-1 beatdown of Paraguay in the team's World Cup opener. Former Lion Alex Freeman was one of several players who shone brightly in the opener, which hopefully will provide some momentum going up against Australia this week. We discussed the unexpected joy of watching the U.S. playe like one of the world's soccer super powers, even if it was only one game.
We also look ahead to Sunday's OCB match at home against Philadelphia Union II. Sunday's visitors don't score a lot, but they also don't concede many goals. If OCB can keep things rolling, it would be a big step toward getting a decent postseason seed, although there is a lot of soccer yet to be played. I was supposed to do the mailbagbox next but it's out of order. It's fine. You'll figure it out.
Our mailbagbox is timely, asking about which Lion will ultimately finish their career with the most caps for their national team. Our vote was split. 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.
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Here’s how No. 538 went down:
0:15 – OCB won on the road despite a poor start, and the U.S. started and ended strong against South American competition.
24:02 – OCB is back at home Sunday, looking to add more points to its 2026 total.
29:04 – Our mailbagbox asks us to predict the future.
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