Happy Friday! Apart from working and reading, I’ve been spending most of the week trying to bake a birthday cake for the first time, and it’s much harder than I expected. Practice makes perfect though, and my apartment has been smelling better than ever as a result. Hopefully practice is just as helpful for Orlando City this week so that the Lions can stop free falling. Fingers crossed!

Orlando City World Cup Hopefuls to Watch For

Sunday night’s match between Orlando City and the Columbus Crew is a clash between two struggling Eastern Conference teams, but it’s also a chance for many players to prove they should play at the World Cup this summer. While goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau is likely to make Canada’s roster regardless, conceding an absurd amount of goals this season isn’t helping his case to start over Dayne St. Clair, but a strong performance could help turn that around. Similar things can be said about defensive midfielder Braian Ojeda, who is in the running to make Paraguay’s roster after it qualified for its first World Cup since 2010. Croatian winger Marco Pasalic started and had an assist for his country in March but only has a goal and an assist so far this season with the Lions.

Edward Wilding Named Orlando City B Head Coach

Orlando City B announced that Edward Wilding will be the team’s new head coach, making him the youngest active head coach in MLS NEXT Pro. Wilding is an internal hire who is familiar with the club’s youth system, recently serving as the head coach of the academy’s U-18 team. He replaces Manuel Goldberg, who became an assistant coach with the senior team following Oscar Pareja’s departure. For Goldberg, it may mean he’s out of a job if Martin Perelman doesn’t get the head coach gig full time with the MLS squad. OCB is currently fifth in the Eastern Conference standings after four games and its next game will be Saturday on the road against Chattanooga FC.

Inter&Co Stadium Will Host International Friendly

England will play a pair of friendlies in Florida in preparation for the World Cup and Inter&Co Stadium is set to host the team’s match against Costa Rica on June 10. It’s nice to see some international soccer coming to Inter&Co Stadium, considering last month’s friendlies featuring Brazil, Croatia, and Colombia were held at Camping World Stadium. The match in Orlando will take place a few days after England plays New Zealand over in my neck of the woods at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on June 6.

Analyzing Japan Ahead of USWNT Friendlies

The United States Women’s National Team will play Japan Saturday in the first of three April friendlies. It should be an exciting series, as the USWNT won the SheBelieves Cup while Japan won the AFC Asian Cup title in convincing fashion last month. Japan only conceded one goal over the course of the tournament, and Manchester City goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita won’t make things easy for the USWNT. As for the attack, midfielders Yui Hasegawa and Manaka Matsukubo can create plenty of chances for themselves and others. It will be interesting to see who can make an impact up top between Utah Royals forward Tanaka Mina and West Ham’s Riko Ueki during these matches as well.

Free Kicks

• FC Cincinnati is reportedly in preliminary talks with Brazilian forward Neymar. Part of me wants this to happen just to know what he thinks of Cincinnati-style chili. [Managing Editor’s note: It’s fricken delicious!]

• Ollie Watkins had a brace in Aston Villa’s 3-1 win over Bologna in the first leg of its Europa League quarterfinal. Elsewhere, Freiburg beat Celta Vigo, while Porto and Nottingham Forest played to a 1-1 draw.
• FIFA announced the 52 referees who will officiate World Cup matches this summer and the list includes two women, Tori Penso and Katia Garcia. A record total of 170 match officials were selected for the tournament, which makes sense considering the expanded field.
• Enjoy this dive into the analytical side of the United States Men’s National Team’s World Cup preparations.
• Left back Andy Robertson announced that he will leave Liverpool following this season after nine years with the club.
• CAF President Patrice Motsepe stated that he welcomes an investigation into corruption in the confederation following scrutiny over the decision to award the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title to Morocco.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend. Go Orlando!

How’s it going, Mane Landers? It’s been a bit of a hectic week for me, but I’m hoping things settle down a bit as we edge closer to the weekend. There’s plenty of soccer ahead of us to get excited about, and an Orlando City game too. Let’s go ahead and jump right into today’s links!

Orlando City Prepares For the Columbus Crew

Orlando City will be on the road on Sunday for an Eastern Conference showdown against the Columbus Crew. The Lions haven’t scored a goal since a 2-1 win at home over CF Montreal on March 14, losing their past two games in embarrassing fashion. The Crew have been having a slow start to the season as well but are coming off of their only win of the season, a 3-1 victory in Atlanta. Orlando and Columbus both have U.S. Open Cup games next week, but Orlando forward Duncan McGuire spoke on how the team is focused entirely on this upcoming road match.

Orlando Pride Players on International Duty

Multiple Pride players are spending the international break abroad with their respective teams. Forward Seven Castain was called up for the U-23 U.S. Women’s National Team’s roster for a trio of friendlies in Spain, joining Pride teammates Ally Lemos and Simone Jackson.

Brazil also has three friendlies lined up and Angelina was called up for those matches against South Korea, Zambia, and Canada. Forward Solai Washington will be with Jamaica for Concacaf W Championship qualifiers against Antigua & Barbuda and Guyana. Goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse will be in Europe for England’s World Cup qualifiers against Spain and Iceland as well.

Anthony Martial Linked With Orlando City

It’s not much more than a rumor at this point, but Orlando City is one of three MLS clubs reportedly interested in French forward Anthony Martial. The 30-year-old has been with Monterrey in Liga MX since joining the club last September.

Now that Antoine Griezmann has been signed, Orlando no longer has an open Designated Player and it would take some serious roster magic to bring Martial to the City Beautiful anytime soon. LAFC and the New England Revolution were noted as the other two MLS teams reportedly interested.

UEFA Champions League Roundup

The first legs of this year’s UEFA Champions League quarterfinals wrapped up this week and Atletico Madrid came up with a huge 2-0 win on the road against Barcelona. Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth did the scoring and it was Head Coach Diego Simeone’s first time winning at Camp Nou. Griezmann started in the match and Simeone spoke prior to the match about his gratitude towards Griezmann as their time together winds down.

Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia both scored in Paris Saint-Germain’s 2-0 win over Liverpool in Paris. Liverpool only managed three shots over the course of the game, failing to put any of them on target. PSG failed to widen the gap despite controlling the match though, so we’ll see if that comes back to bite the club next week at Anfield.

Free Kicks

• Real Salt Lake Zavier Gozo won MLS Goal of the Matchday for his volleyed strike that put a cherry on his team’s 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City. It was an audacious effort from the 19-year-old, who has two goals and three assists this season.
• FC Naples defender Julian Cisneros was named to the Team of the Round after the second round of the U.S. Open Cup. The Lions will face Naples on the road Wednesday in Orlando’s first match of this year’s tournament.
• Here’s a nice breakdown of how the MLS players fighting for a spot on the United States Men’s National Team roster stack up.
• Nike is aware of the bulge at the shoulder seam of its national team kits, explaining the computing behind the design. For some teams it’s not too noticeable, but it does make other teams look like supervillains.
• Leicester City lost its appeal of a six-point deduction for breaking spending rules. The club remains in the relegation zone of the EFL Championship table with five matches remaining.

That’s all I have for you all this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!

Welcome to Wednesday, Mane Landers. If you’re like me, you are basking in the glow of a wonderful Orlando Pride win and are shoving your feelings about Orlando City way down into a ball of anger and frustration deep inside of you. That’s a healthy way to do that, right? Right?! Now that I’ve repressed those negative emotions, let’s turn to something more positive and wish Orlando City forward Tiago a happy 21st birthday. With that done, let’s get to the links.

Lions Head North to Face Crew

Orlando City is back on the road against the Columbus Crew Sunday evening. Away matches haven’t been kind for the Lions so far this season, but the Crew are not the top of the table clubs that Orlando City has mostly faced so far. It’s an opportunity to get back on track for a struggling club. While you’re most likely familiar with the Crew, here is the pertinent information on 2026’s version of Orlando City’s Eastern Conference opponent.

Pride Climb Power Rankings

The Orlando Pride moved from seventh to fifth in the ESPN NWSL power rankings following their late winner against Angel City FC. As I said on this week’s SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast, the win reminded me of the grittiness we saw from this club in 2024. It was enough for ESPN’s Futbol Americas – Futbol W show to have the win headline the show.

Agyemang Officially Out

We discussed Patrick Agyemang’s injury news in Tuesday’s Lion Links, but later in the day the striker was officially ruled out of playing in the upcoming World Cup after sustaining an Achilles tendon injury in Derby County’s win over Stoke City on Monday. It is truly unfortunate for the American striker to miss playing in a World Cup on home soil. It is also unfortunate as it is one fewer option for the USMNT at forward going into the competition. I know he’s not in form, and hasn’t really gotten a look from Mauricio Pochettino, but Duncan McGuire is an American striker. On a more serious note, we wish Agyemang a full and speedy recovery.

USWNT’s Trio of Matches

The USWNT will play three friendlies against Japan — on April 11 in San Jose, CA; April 14 in Seattle, WA; and April 17 in Commerce City (Denver-ish), CO. At each match there will be a homecoming of sorts for different players getting to play in the area where they grew up or played college soccer. Meanwhile, former Pride defender Emily Sams saw her stock fall in Si.com’s estimation following her return to Inter&Co Stadium.

Free Kicks

• Transfermarkt has dropped MLS market values for players and teams. You probably don’t want to look, but if you’re a glutton for punishment, here is the Orlando City page.
• Orlando City is listed in the MLS power rankings, though I don’t recommend you actually go look since you can probably guess how bad it is.
• The Colorado Rapids are going to do the dumbest thing an MLS club with an American style name can do. They are going to rebrand. I don’t know for sure that they will change the name, but I really hope they don’t. We don’t need another “FC,” “Real,” or “United.”
• Former Lion Cyle Larin helped Southampton defeat Wrexham AFC 5-1 in the English Championship on Tuesday.

• Stu Holden was rightly called out for being more than a bit tone deaf when he posted a link for expensive hospitality packages to the upcoming World Cup. I followed the link so you don’t have to. The prices for the USMNT match against Paraguay in Los Angeles start at $3,300 per person.

• Let’s finish today with the actual feel good story of Tony Incenzo who went to matches at every single ground in the English non-league system. He started the journey in 1981. Good on you, Tony.

That will do it for today. Check back as we get you ready for the Orlando City and Orlando City B matches this weekend. Vamos Orlando!