Lion Links: 5/22/16

Good morning Lions fans! Hopefully you’ve recovered from last night, we over here at The Mane Land are still filled to the brim with excitement to officially have a winning weekend as both Orlando City and the Pride took home wins. While you come down off your high from last night, check out these links to fill your need for all things Orlando City. Before that, though, The Mane Land staff would like to wish a very happy birthday to Becky Edwards and this weekend’s goal scorer, Kristen Edmonds. We hope today is as great as you are!

Orlando City Breaks Winless Streak

After six games without a win, Orlando City has finally come out on top, defeating the Montreal Impact 2-1. With the attacking duo of Cyle Larin and Kaka scoring and assisting on both goals, respectively, it was clearly Orlando’s night to shine. In case you missed last nights festivities:

• Gavin Ewbank wrote our match recap.
• Michael Citro passed out player grades and Man of the Match.

Check The Mane Land later today for our photo gallery from Nick Leyva and our five takeaways by Austin David.

Heath Still Believes in Nocerino

Saying Antonio Nocerino has a been a disappointment is a bit of an understatement. Orlando City’s biggest signing in 2016 has yet to pay off on the field and seems to do nothing but disrupt play. Since joining the team, Orlando has only won two games. However, Adrian Heath is not ready to give up on him quite yet. Heath explained:

"It has not been an easy time for him to come into the group," Heath admitted. "And it has not been a good time for the team as well in the last six games, so it has been a double problem for him in many ways. First, he has been fighting to get his match fitness, having not had a preseason at all. And then he's come into a team that has not hit its stride recently. But he's been working really hard to get in the best shape possible and he's a really good character, so I'm not overly worried."

Heath believes that players go through pits and peaks and unfortunately this is a lower point in Nocerino's career, but Heath believes that a peak is just around the corner. Heath admits that Nocerino will be the first one to tell you he is not pleased with his play, but is still set on getting better and improving Orlando. Nocerino has yet to lose confidence from the Orlando City staff, but has he lost it from the fans?

Orlando City B to Host Rochester Rhinos

Defending USL Champions Rochester Rhinos have traveled down to Florida to take on Orlando City B today at Titan Soccer Complex at 7:30 p.m. This will be the first game for the team in over two weeks and the players are itching to take the field in what will be the fourth of six consecutive home games. OCB is coming off a draw with Bethlehem Steel FC, thanks to Tyler Turner's equalizer. The Rhinos are coming off a 0-0 draw against the Charlotte Independence. Orlando City B will be back in action following tonight's match on Saturday, May 28, when the young Lions host Charlotte. Check back later for Jeff Milby's match preview!

Jurgen Klinsmann Announces Copa America Centenario Roster

The U.S. Men’s National Team has announced the 23-man roster ahead of the historic 2016 Copa America Centenario tournament. The roster includes 15 from the 2014 FIFA World Cup team, and 18 who appeared during qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. Klinsmann shared his thoughts on how he made his decisions for the final roster:

"This roster really was put together based on what we saw over the last year, and it's one that makes us the strongest team possible to compete in Copa America and to hopefully surprise a lot of people," We feel that these 23 going into the very special Copa America, they really deserved to be there. Obviously when you get down and you decide on the final 23-man roster, there are very close, tight decisions to make. The moment when you decide, it's about definitely who you feel the strongest about."

The men will begin the tournament against fourth-ranked Colombia on June 3 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. They will then take on Costa Rica in Chicago on June 7 and Paraguay on June 11 at Lincoln Financial Filed in Philadelphia. All games can be watched on Fox Sports 1. Our Daniel Byrd made his predictions on the U.S. group.

That's it for today folks, enjoy your Sunday and go Lions!