SkoPurp No. 142: International Pride and Houston Preview

<p>The Orlando Pride will return to action on Sunday in Houston, and aside from contracts, there isn&#39;t much left to play for. Even though there&#39;s a teeny, tiny statistical chance of making the postseason, it is ludicrously complicated and you&#39;ll have more luck with a lottery ticket.</p><p>We open the show with a discussion of the USWNT&#39;s 2-0 loss to Spain (this show was recorded prior to Tuesday night&#39;s 2-2 draw) and how some of the Pride players fared over the weekend in international action. </p><p>We then turn our attention to our weekly mailbagbox. </p><p>This week&#39;s mailbagbox asked us about goalkeeper superpowers, scheduling approaches, NWSL expansion, and more. Remember, you can ask us <em>anything </em>by hitting us up on Twitter at either <a href="https://twitter.com/TheManeLand">@TheManeLand</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/SkoPurpSoccer">@SkoPurpSoccer</a> and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/themaneland.bsky.social">hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky</a>. Or you can <a href="https://themaneland.com/skopurp-soccer-an-orlando-pride-pawedcast/">visit our show page</a>, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We&#39;d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we&#39;ll find them easily and read them on the show.</p><p>Finally, we look ahead to Sunday&#39;s matinee match with the Houston Dash, and even though meteorologist Dave says the weather won&#39;t be super hot, it was a big gamble scheduling a game in Houston during midday. We look at the series history, check out how hot on Orlando&#39;s tail the Dash are, provide our key matchups, and try to predict the final score.</p><p>Here’s how Episode 142 went down:</p><p><strong>0:15 –</strong> The USWNT, Pride players on national team duty, and our mailbagbox.</p><p><strong>21:55 - </strong>The Pride head to Houston Sunday for a matinee match against the Dash.</p>