Lion Links: 8/27/15

Good morning everyone, welcome to today's edition of Lion Links. If I seem especially happy today, it's thanks to the fact that Manchester United will now be playing in the Champions League despite the horrible missed penalty by Chicharito (I guess it's time for him to come to Orlando). In fairness, he did slip.

Orlando City Still Has a Playoff Chance

Yesterday, ESPN MLS analyst Paul Carr shared the Soccer Power Index which calculates the chance of making the playoffs for each MLS team. Orlando City is sitting pretty at an 18 percent chance while NYCFC has a 25 percent chance.

Orlando looks to improve those chances this Saturday against Chicago.

Orlando City Youth Player Commits to UVA

OCSC Youth Player David Norris has committed to the University of Virginia and will join them in 2016 with the hopes that one day he will get to play with Orlando's senior team. Norris has been an outstanding youth player, even making appearances in training with the likes of Kaká. Best of luck to the young man as he progresses in his soccer career and his education.

U.S. Soccer Makes Youth Development Changes

U.S. Soccer recently announced changes to their development rules when it comes to age groups. The USSF will now be on par with the rest of the world in terms of Olympic development and this could potentially help U.S. Soccer develop. The changes, beginning in 2017, will move the age cutoff date from Aug. 1 to Jan. 1. Current age group teams will not be affected.

BlazerCon Convention Announced by Men In Blazers

On a slightly lighter note, soccer podcasters "Men in Blazers" will be hosting a soccer convention in Brooklyn and it looks to be a blast. The podcast and subsequent TV appearances garner a large audience–much like the very famous Mane Land PawedCast (new episode drops at 1:30 pm!)–and BlazerCon looks to be a huge hit for soccer fans across the nation.

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That's it for today's Lion Links, thanks for reading and have a great day!