Lion Links: 6/16/16

Happy Thursday everyone! Brad here and after a long, arduous Copa America break we finally have some Orlando City Soccer Club action, and quite frankly, after a long and emotionally taxing week, it couldn’t come a moment sooner. The club is playing San Jose on Saturday and two hours north of there is some of America’s best wine. So, I’m gonna recommend a nice Napa Valley vintage…say a Starmont Winery Pino Noir with a white pizza.

Now, on to the news!

Mateos Header Sinks Armada

Orlando City went up I-95 yesterday and brought back a W. David Mateos scored in the 62nd minute as the Lions defeated the NASL's Jacksonville Armada 1-0 at Southern Oak Stadium last night. If you weren't there, it was a bit of a frustrating game, as the game's video stream cut out at halftime and didn't come back until just after Mateos' goal. Then it rewound to the 49th minute and didn't revert back to real time until the 82nd minute. It's OK though because — spoiler alert — Orlando City keeper Earl Edwards Jr. kept a clean sheet. The Lions will find out their fifth-round opponent later today.

Multiple Lions in the Running to Make MLS All-Star Game

Human brick wall Joe Bendik, Orlando City captain Kaká, and — surprisingly enough — Brek Shea are all in the top three for their positions to make the MLS All-Star team this year. This would be Kaká’s second appearance, as well as Shea’s (although voted to the team in 2011, Shea did not play due to being involved in a CONCACAF Champion’s League match). Assuming he makes the squad and the voting holds, it would be Joe Bendik’s first. The 2016 MLS All-Star Game will take place July 28 and will be against Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal squad in San Jose.

Would it surprise you to learn that Ashlyn Harris is up for NWSL Save of the Week?

So, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Orlando Pride goalkeeper is among the nominees for NWSL Save of the Week. As of this writing, she has 50% of the vote, with Lydia Williams in second place with 26%.

Harris has already won the award several times this season and at this point I’m considering just letting you know when she isn’t nominated. Just keep checking here at The Mane Land to find out when she isn’t.

Jermaine Jones Said an Obvious Thing

According to the Colorado Rapids defender/midfielder/whatever, "big players like big games." This quote shocked me because I would have figured guys like Messi, Ronaldo, Zlatan, and Lewandowski all enjoy coasting around and just sorta giving a "meh" effort. Which, the article in question goes over the USMNT’s mentality entering their Copa America Centenario match against Costa Rica which ended in a 4-0 drubbing of the Ticos.

Euro 2016 Keeps on Trucking

Yesterday, Slovakia pulled off an upset over Russia, Romania and Switzerland played to a 1-1 draw, thanks in part to an absolutely insane goal by Switzerland’s Admir Mehmedi, and France needed the full match to put away Albania, thanks to a 90th minute Antoine Griezmann goal and Dimitri Payet’s dagger in the sixth minute of stoppage. Speaking of Euros, we now know why Germany’s Joachim Löw had his hands down his pants then sniffed his fingers and, well. The explanation doesn’t make it any better.

Free Kicks

Today’s birthdays include the Ultimate Warrior, who passed away in 2014, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is 49, Phil Mickelson is 46, Tupac Shakur (who, I’m not entirely convinced is dead) may or may not be 45, and New York Rangers forward Rick Nash is 32…Cristiano Ronaldo is a pretty sore draw-er? Tie-er? Someone adjudged to be equally as good as the Icelandic soccer team?…The LA Galaxy used a pretty cheap tactic to beat La Máquina FC in the U.S. Open Cup match and now, La Máquina is protesting the result…and finally, an avocado shortage is fueling a crime wave in New Zealand.

That’s it for today!

Play us out, Buffon!