Lion Links: 8/12/15

Howdy Mane Landers, it’s Wednesday and we’re another day closer to watching the Lions maul the Sounders. It was a pretty big day for Orlando City Tuesday so let’s get right into some links.

Valentino Named Assistant Coach of Orlando City USL Team

Former Orlando City defender Rob Valentino has been named an assistant coach of the new Orlando City USL team that will come next year. Valentino joined Orlando City in 2011 and won two playoff titles with the Lions before moving on to Arizona FC for the 2015 season.

The 29-year-old will be retiring from soccer after this season, a decision he announced on his Twitter account with a message to his fans.

Obviously, Valentino is welcomed back to the den with open arms.

Conor Donovan Done for Year with Torn ACL

Man, Orlando City just can’t seem to catch a break. Two weeks ago, when Orlando City acquired David Mateos, it was a move that was supposed to solidify the back line. But then OCSC waived Sean St. Ledger and now fellow center back CConor Donovan is out for the year with a torn ACL.

Donovan had just recently returned from a loan stint in Pittsburgh because of the St. Ledger injury and was expected to be a part of the lineup down the final stretch of the season.

He is also the third Orlando City player to get a major knee injury on the Citrus Bowl turf.

Man, it's almost like turf is bad for your knees or something.

Soccer Hooligans are Horrible People

Grown ups take sports far too seriously. The brawl in New York at a New York City FC-New York Red Bulls game is just another example of that. Forget about the point of the story for a second (albeit, the author makes a good point about MLS having to worry about these things becoming more frequent as the league becomes more relevant).

The real issue here is that these are grown men fighting over a soccer game. These are grown men who have become so inflated to think that the club they support so dearly, supports them in return. Professional athletes, in my experience, sure as hell don't care about the fans who do this kind of thing.

Find a hobby, hooligans.

Dos a Cero Trademarked?

The U.S. Soccer Federation wants to put a trademark on the famous chant "Dos a cero."

Don't fret, soccer fans, you will probably still be able to yell the chant at every meaningless friendly between two abysmal teams that ends in a 2-0 scoreline if you want. This is probably just to get the saying on some T-shirts or something.

I don't know what the likelihood of this getting approved would be, but my gut instinct says not very good.

Russia Trying to Cap Salaries

After spending frivolously to acquire major stars in recent years, Russian football bosses want to cap players' salaries at $31,000 a month.

I don't know. I would play for $31,000 a month. If Russia's soccer leagues are anything like MLS, there will be plenty of ways around this rule. And if there aren't, somebody will invent ways around it.

Either way, this likely would not hurt the country's ability to lure stars into the league. Living near Vladimir Putin, however, may be a different story.

That's your links gang. Enjoy your hump day.