Lion Links: 12/4/15

Happy Friday, everyone! Congrats on making it through another week and getting closer to the end of the year. Good luck to all the college and high school folks who are preparing for final exams in the next week or two. I'll be sure to think about you as I remember my times cramming for finals fondly. But not really. It's a terrible, stressful time and it sucks. Anyways, enough about my hatred for exams, let's get on with the Links, shall we?

FIFA Gonna FIFA (a.k.a. More Arrests for Corruption)

In a move that everyone knew was coming eventually, the Swiss authorities, along with the U.S. government, made another round of arrests of FIFA officials in Zurich. First, two of the FIFA vice presidents were arrested early Thursday morning. By the time the day was done, 16 total FIFA officials were taken into custody, many of them from CONCACAF and CONMEBOL. Many of the arrests even took place in the same hotel that other arrests were made in back in May. I think it's safe to say that there will be some more big news coming out of this situation before the year is done.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch sent another strong message afterwards.

"And the message from this announcement should be clear to every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade our investigation: you will not wait us out; you will not escape our focus."

Get some.

More USWNT Friendlies Upcoming

The U.S. Women’s National Team will take the field four times in December against Trinidad and Tobago as well as China, playing each team twice in different cities around the country. Yesterday, the team announced it will play one last friendly before Olympic qualifying begins in February. The ladies will take the field out in San Diego to play the Republic of Ireland on Jan. 23. This game, as well as the others in December, should feature current Orlando City players Alex Morgan and Ashlyn Harris, so be sure to keep a lookout for the games on TV, starting this Sunday.

Goal and Save of the Year Announced by MLS

MLS announced yesterday that Sporting Kansas City’s Krisztián Németh won its Goal of the Year award, while the Portland Timbers‘ Adam Kwarasey won the league’s Save of the Year. Németh beat out MVP winner Sebastian Giovinco, while Kwarasey edged Vancouver Whitecaps goalie David Ousted. Our own Brent Petkus predicted the winners and ended up being 50% right, but I’m personally still more sold on Giovinco’s goal being the overall winner.

Don Garber Reflection Day

MLS Commissioner Don Garber was all over the place Thursday and hosted a Q&A on MLS's website. In it, he said that his two favorite memories from the 2015 season were the home opener for Orlando and the home opener for NYCFC. Garber also talked about the last 20 years of MLS and how this past year has impacted the league going forward. Interesting stuff from the commish.

Other Random Stuff

The acting FIFA president, Issa Hayatou, fell asleep during a meeting.

— Dan Roan (@danroan) December 3, 2015

Purpose2Play hung out with Ashlyn Harris for lunch

Florida State women's soccer plays Duke tonight in the College Cup semifinal. The Pride selected former Seminoles Jamia Fields and Toni Pressley in the NWSL Expansion Draft.

And with that, I'm out of links. Have a great weekend, everyone!