Lion Links: 3/10/15

As a soccer fan, yelling at the TV has worked for me approximately three times in my life. Once was in 2010, when Landon Donovan scored the game-winner against Algeria in the World Cup, The second time came last summer in Brazil when John Brooks scored to beat Ghana. And the third time was on Sunday.

Because that was a game Orlando City SC just couldn’t lose.

Let's get to your Tuesday morning Lion Links.

Kaká fires up the team

Kaká always struck me as the kind of guy who leads by example. Well, it turns out the captain can deliver a pretty amazing pre-game speech when he needs to.

It's some powerful stuff.

Rawlins talks game day emotions

Lions owner Phil Rawlins joined ExtraTime radio over at MLS.com yesterday to talk about his experience on Sunday and confessed to getting a little emotional.

It's not all that surprising, considering Rawlins has seen the team grow from a minor league club based in a Texas high school football stadium to a professional team playing in front of 62,000 people, but it's still interesting to get the perspective of a man who's been with Orlando City every step of the way.

Skip ahead to about the 8-minute mark for Rawlins' interview.

Heath sounds off on simulation

The crowd was expected. The final score was the same from when Orlando City and New York City FC met in preseason play two weeks ago.

The only really shocking thing about Sunday’s draw was the amount of simulation penalties called on Orlando City. Brek Shea, Kevin Molino and Cristian Higuita were all carded for flopping, and Adrian Heath wasn’t happy about it.

While he stopped short of accusing the referees of blowing the calls (though he sounded particularly indignant about the card shown to Kevin Molino), Heath did call for "common sense" with regard to simulation calls. He stressed that Orlando City will have to be cautious about drawing simulation penalties in the future.

NYCFC opens rest of Yankee Stadium

Cute.

NYCFC announced that 400 level seats at Yankee Stadium will be open for the club’s inaugural home match against D.C. United. With 15,000 season tickets sold and a large crowd expected on Sunday, it appears the team may sell out the the big ballpark in the Bronx after all.

But since Yankee Stadium only seats 50,000 people, NYCFC will have to put seats in the parking lot to surpass the Lions' opening day attendance mark.

Orlando makes its first trip to New York to take on NYCFC on July 26.

Josh Williams 1988-2015

He was a good man.

That's it for Tuesday's Lion Links. Wear purple today.