Lion Links
Lion Links: 4/2/15
It's almost game day, Lions' fans! Tomorrow morning we will be waking up to a beautiful Good Friday that promises to entertain with Orlando City soccer! Now, let's get to those Lion Links!
Purple Pitch
It’s done. Years of hard work complete. The “Purple Pitch” is ready for Friday. Read: http://t.co/2KqPiMRcz4 #GoCity pic.twitter.com/OBz3O61pv6
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) April 1, 2015
Great job, Orlando City, you got us! There was certainly a good number of soccer fans that were convinced that Orlando City and D.C. United would play on a purple pitch this Friday. A notable victim? SBIsoccer.com’s Franco Panizo was fooled all too easily by the club’s announcement.
— Franco Panizo (@FrancoPanizo) April 1, 2015
— Franco Panizo (@FrancoPanizo) April 1, 2015
The club did a great job with this April Fool's Day stunt, creating a fake turf supplier in TurfRite Labs. The article also contained quotes from both Phil Rawlins and fictional TurfRite Labs employee, Dr. Chris Jones.
Ribeiro on Playing with Kaká
Orlando City beat writer Simon Veness features Pedro Ribeiro in his piece for MLSsoccer.com. While Orlando just picked up Ribeiro from Philadelphia in the Expansion Draft, the Brazilian's journey to our city has been much longer and more complicated. Pedro was picked up by Brazilian club Cruzeiro at age 17. When he had to make a difficult choice between school and soccer, he chose education.
Luckily though, Ribeiro got the chance to come and play college soccer with Coastal Carolina. The attacker scored 31 goals and amassed 26 assists in his career and made his way to Philadelphia via the 2014 MLS SuperDraft.
Van der Vaart to MLS Heats Up
Netherlands international and current Hamburg captain Rafael van der Vaart might be on his way to MLS when the Bundesliga season concludes. Sporting Kansas City CEO Robb Heineman has publicly said that productive talks have been held between the club and the former Real Madrid star. Both parties, however, have refrained from commitment. This latest report includes a quote from van der Vaart that states, “I can imagine playing in America.”
USMNT Late-Game Struggles
Do you want to re-watch all of the painful last minute goals that the U.S. has given up in the past 15 games? For some reason, the folks over at MLSsoccer.com think that you do! Perhaps if we watch all the goals that have been scored on the USMNT past the 75-minute mark, we can figure out what's been going wrong. God knows Jurgen Klinsmann can't.
That's all for today, folks! Continue to check in with The Mane Land as we provide you with coverage leading up to and following tomorrow night's match!