Lion Links

Lion Links: 8/10/15

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9 years ago

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Oh, soccer.

Saturday was supposed to be the first of a couple glorious weekends in which the English Premier League and Major League Soccer intersect in their majestic orbit across the FIFA universe. I’d get to watch both Orlando City and Tottenham Hotspur (my favorite EPL club) play on Saturday, enjoying the exploits of Kaká and Harry Kane from my couch. That was the plan, anyway.

What I got was a Spurs-Manchester United match in which Tottenham lost while surrendering only a single shot on goal and a 0-0 draw between Orlando City and the Philadelphia Union in which Tally Hall had to become Superman just to earn the Lions a point.

I’m sure things will get better (more so for Orlando City than Spurs) but at least we’ve got some Lion Links to get us through our Monday morning.

Recapping the Draw with Philadelphia

This was a game Orlando City really needed to win.

Facing the last-place Philadelphia Union at home, Orlando struggled to get anything going on offense and relied on a Man-of-the-Match performance from Tally Hall in order to secure a point in a 0-0 draw. The result leaves Orlando sitting outside playoff position due to a tie-breaker with the Montreal Impact, meaning the club will need to make up some ground against more difficult opposition down the road. Here’s The Mane Land‘s coverage of the draw for those of you missed this one:

USWNT Coming to the Citrus Bowl

Orlando has officially been added to the USWNT’s post-World Cup “Celebration Tour,” as Carli Lloyd and friends will take on Brazil in an October friendly at the Citrus Bowl

The Brazil football federation has already confirmed their involvement, though an announcement has yet to be made by U.S. Soccer. Scheduled for Oct. 25 at 3 p.m., the match would take place about two hours before Orlando City’s regular season finale later that night in Philadelphia.

Orlando City is holding a presser at the Citrus Bowl today at 11:30 a.m. to announce the match (unless it’s some other “major sporting event” announcement that would involve Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak, a member of the 1999 U.S. Women’s World Cup team and Head Coach of the UCF Women’s soccer team.

This will be the second match between the United States and Brazil at the Citrus Bowl, after the teams previously met in an international friendly in 2013. The USWMNT won that encounter 4-1.

This seems like a perfect match-up on paper, with the obvious Brazilian connections that exist within Orlando City. Not to mention the fact that Orlando City midfielder Servando Carrasco is married to USWNT star Alex Morgan.

Donovan Injury “Doesn’t Look Good” According to Adrian Heath

You can add Conor Donovan to the mounting list of Orlando City players dealing with injuries late in the club’s first MLS season, as the young defender went down with a knee injury in the club’s 0-0 draw with the Philadelphia Union.

Making his MLS debut, Donovan went down 10 minutes into the game, exiting with a knee injury that coach Adrian Heath didn’t sound too optimistic about.

Heath said Donovan injury “doesn’t look good.” That’s 3 knee injuries on Citrus Bowl turf. Grass field can’t come soon enough for #OCSC.

— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) August 9, 2015

Donovan joins Rafael Ramos, Brek Shea, Kevin Molino, Tony Cascio and Carlos Rivas among the injured for Orlando City. The Lions currently have more players out with injury than any other team in MLS.

Red Bulls and NYCFC Supporters Brawl Before Match

So about that Hudson River Derby…

Before the third installment of North American soccer’s newest rivalry, supporters of both clubs met at Bello’s Bar & Grill, a New Jersey restaurant that will be forever be known as the site where soccer officially made it in America. After a group of Red Bulls fans encountered some NYCFC supporters, it didn’t take long for things to get violent.

In New Jersey and immediately encounter crowd trouble ahead of the New York derby (Red Bulls-City). Video: pic.twitter.com/slY3hYn5aM

— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) August 9, 2015

On one hand, no one affiliated with MLS should condone this sort of violence and childish behavior all because of a sporting event. But the amount of passion here is pretty remarkable considering one of these teams didn’t even exist a few months ago.

Lower-League English Side Allows Opponent to Score After Own-Goal
Okay, so this one’s a little bit complicated.

Start by watching the video of what happened in a match between League One sides Doncaster Rovers and Bury this weekend.

This is incredible (part 1/2) #Doncaster #Bury pic.twitter.com/TP35N9lu7v

— Red Is In The Blood (@IDontLikeSpurs) August 8, 2015

This is incredible (part 2/2) #Doncaster #Bury pic.twitter.com/hbi5xGYG06

— Red Is In The Blood (@IDontLikeSpurs) August 8, 2015

Here’s a recap of what happened from Screamer.

Bury’s Nathan Cameron went down with an injury, and a teammate kicked the ball out so that Cameron could receive treatment. Upon resumption of the game, Doncaster’s Harry Forrester attempted to pass the ball back to the Bury keeper…and accidentally scored. After some chaos involving the two teams, both managers, and the referees, Bury’s Leon Clarke was allowed to walk the ball into the goal.

In short, this is incredible. I’ve always found the sportsmanship that takes place after a player goes down kind of touching, but this is a great example of what can happen when it all goes horribly wrong. Kudos to the Doncaster keeper for that little fake tackle before he allows the Bury player to score. And the absolute, best part of this whole thing…is that the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

In case you’re wondering, here’s how the Doncaster manager described it in his post game presser. The only thing that could’ve made this better is if it happened to the LA Galaxy and Bruce Arena had to give the same explanation.

That’s it for Lion Links today. Hey, the NFL’s back too!

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