SkoPurp No. 129: Current Rewind and Boston & Utah Previews

The Orlando Pride bounced back from their worst performance in some time away at Angel City in Friday's 3-0 win over the Kansas City Current. Given the relative forms the two teams were in when they entered the match, it was a shock result. The Pride were without Rafaelle but the pairing of Zara Chavoshi and Hannah Anderson — flanked by Kerry Abello and Cori Dyke — did well in helping Anna Moorhouse keep a clean sheet. Meanwhile, Marta scored a worldie, Anderson finished a great corner cross from Ally Lemos, and Barbra Banda returned from injury to score off the bench. It was a complete victory and could not have been more needed.We looked back at the matchup, reviewed our completely erroneous score predictions, and made our selections for Player of the Match. After a game in which we didn't like any of the Pride's performances, we struggled to find one that wasn't above average in this most recent game.This week's mailbagbox asked about Hailie Mace's role, how much longer Marta will run things in Orlando, and more. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We'd also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we'll find them easily and read them on the show.Finally, we looked ahead to a pair of matches coming up this week. First up is Boston Legacy tonight at Inter&Co Stadium, followed by the Pride traveling to Utah to square off against the Royals. It's anyone's guess which Orlando team will show up in either match, but it would be a good time for the Pride to find some consistency. We looked at both opponents and the series histories, provided our key matchups, and made our score predictions.If you'd like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we'd love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.Here’s how Episode 129 went down:0:15 – The Pride and Current battled throughout, but it was Orlando that finished its chances.17:38 - The mailbagbox wanted us to weigh in on Julie Doyle's hustle and the three best Pride players on Friday aside from the Player of the Match.35:50 - A look ahead to games against the Legacy and the Royals.