Lion Links: 7/16/15

Another Thursday, another set of Lion Links from yours truly. Time to dive into the soccer world and how it relates to Orlando City this morning.

Let's get started.

Orlando City 3 -1 West Bromwich Albion

Orlando City welcomed English Premier League side West Bromwich Albion to the Citrus Bowl on Wednesday night for a midweek friendly sandwiched between MLS matches against FC Dallas and New York Red Bulls. Both teams played with modified lineups, but the Lions rallied for a 3-1 win over the Baggies despite falling behind early.

Callum McManaman struck first for West Brom in what appeared to be a deflected goal off OCSC’s Aurélien Collin, but a stellar Kaká goal just before the half swung things in Orlando’s direction. Second half goals from Carlos Rivas and Bryan Róchez sealed the deal for the Lions and gave OCSC its second international friendly win of the season.

Another chance to be a part of something special

Orlando City announced on Wednesday that the season ticket total for 2016 will be expanded to 18,000 seats, following an announcement by the club last month to expand the capacity of their new downtown soccer stadium to anywhere between 25,000 and 28,000 seats. The club sold out its entire allotment of 14,000 season tickets for its Major League Soccer debut this season, and since starting a waiting list in May, the club has received over 2,000 requests.

Get your seats, guys!

Inside the Orlando City supporters' culture

MLSsoccer.com‘s Rachel Bonnetta recently took a trip to Orlando to get the inside scoop on what makes Orlando City supporters so great. Together with Heineken, they produced a great five-minute video from the 1-0 win over D.C. United that you’ll want to check out.

LA Finally Get Their Man

The Los Angeles Galaxy officially announced on Wednesday the signing of Mexican National Team star Giovani dos Santos after a four-year pursuit of one of the biggest names in Mexican soccer today. Gio dos Santos, who will reportedly join LA on a four-and-a-half year contract, joins Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard as the team’s other two designated players. Omar Gonzalez, who was a DP coming into the day, became the first known product of the new Targeted Allocation Money rule, as the Galaxy bought down his salary to open up the DP slot for dos Santos.

USL Welcomes a New Team To The League

USL welcomed its first member of the 2016 expansion class on Wednesday, with the announcement that Rio Grande Valley will be joining the league next season as its 25th franchise. Rio Grande will become the official USL affiliate of the Houston Dynamo starting next season. Although it was announced a couple weeks ago, Orlando City’s soon-to-be USL franchise will become one of the next new members in due time once the formal paper work is sorted out.