Lion Links: 8/19/15

What’s up y’all? It’s Wednesday and if you were hoping to get season tickets for Orlando City, you are now out of luck.

Yesterday, the club announced it has already sold of out the 18,000 allotted season tickets for the new stadium. On the off chance you were questioning how big the soccer community is in Orlando, that should give you your answer. It speaks to what the club is doing right that they have officially sold out of next year’s season tickets before this year is even over. Impressive.

We got some more links for you today, too. Let’s get to it.

Ceren Suspended

The MLS Disciplinary Committee announced that Darwin Ceren’s yellow card shown to him in the 61st minute against the Sounders Sunday has been upgraded to a red card, so he will be suspended for next match. The committee also announced Ceren would be fined an undisclosed amount.

The play in question is, in the unanimous opinion of the Committee from all the video evidence, a clear and unequivocal red card; and The play in question is of an egregious or reckless nature, such that the Committee must act to protect player safety or the integrity of the game. It is the Committee’s unanimous decision that Darwin Ceren’s action was violent conduct that endangered the safety of an opponent. Mr. Ceren is suspended for 1 game and will be issued an undisclosed fine for this action.

It was already known that Ceren would not play in the next match, because when he was originally shown a yellow card it was his fifth of the year and meant he would be suspended for the next match anyway. Since it has been upgraded to a red, Ceren still stands at four yellow cards and when upon return will need to be a little more careful on the pitch or risk another suspension.

Why St. Ledger and Paterson are Gone

As the transfer window wound down, Orlando City made two surprising moves that left many fans speculating what could have happened and what went wrong. The club started by suddenly releasing center back Sean St. Ledger after bringing David Mateos to help out at the position. A couple weeks later, oft-injured Martin Paterson agreed to terminate his contract.

The Orlando Sentinel’s Paul Tenorio reported yesterday that it was due the duo skipping flights and training while staying in New York City after a match with NYCFC.

It’s interesting to note that the report says the two players stayed for several days, which would insinuate they made no effort to even bother coming back with the team. One has to wonder what the situation each player was going through was that would drive them to make such a decision.

I’ve never played professional soccer. But I have had my fair share of days of missing work. But I always made up an excuse for the reason why. These two don’t even seemed to have done that. Here are my top reasons for why I’ve missed work:

• Lack of sleep
• Hangover
• Weather
• Low morale
• Dropped a hot pan on my toe
• A woman

Assuming they’re regular guys like myself, I’d be willing to bet their reason for skipping the flight falls in one of those choices. And it’s probably not the fifth one because they’re coordinated.

Piggy-backing off of that, I would love to hear some of your best reasons for skipping work. Drop a comment.

Practice in Louisville

Ahead of its friendly with former club affiliate Louisville City FC, Orlando City will take part in a free, open-to-the-public practice at Louisville Slugger Field from 3-4:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24.

This would seem a lot less awkward to me if the clubs had not announced they were going to end their affiliation at the end of the season. But anywho, it is a great chance for Louisville City fans to get out and see some stars like Kaká and Tally Hall for free. The record attendance is just over 8,000 at Louisville Slugger Field.

The game will almost certainly top that number. I wouldn’t be surprised if the practice gets close. Going to be a lot of autographs for this guy to sign.

God love him.

Shocker! Players Could be Missing

In you’re not breaking news of the day, Orlando City could potentially be playing without more players than just Kaká in the Sept. 5 match against the New England Revolution.

The Lions could be missing up to five players, including Cyle Larin, Darwin Ceren, Cristian Higuita and Carlos Rivas. Larin and Ceren are likely to be called up for World Cup qualifiers, while Higuita and Rivas are being considered for a camp with the U-23 Colombian team.

Hard to compete for a playoff spot when you’re playing with a vastly different lineup every single match.

Shea Close to Returning

In an injury that seemed to be the start of Orlando City’s collapse, Brek Shea has missed the past eight games and the Lions have won just one.

But Shea is back practicing and close to returning from his groin injury.

Healthy, good players are a welcome return for a floundering Orlando City team. But it will take Shea a while to get back into game form.

And by then someone else will probably be hurt.

Good times. Good times.

Giovinco Excited

In case you didn’t hear, Orlando City is headed north to play Toronto FC this weekend, and Sebastian Giovinco is pretty excited about it.

Giovinco: “I scored a hat trick last time against Orlando. I’m looking forward to playing them again.” #TFCLive

— Toronto FC (@torontofc) August 18, 2015

And when you’re having arguably one of the best seasons in MLS history, and coming to play against a defense that has been as bad as Orlando City’s, who could blame the guy for being excited?

That’s all we’ve got for you from the Lion Links. Enjoy your Wednesday.