Lion Links: 6/30/16

Happy Thursday everyone, Brad here with your weekly food and drink pairing. Orlando played last night against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and don’t play again until July 4 against FC Dallas; and the Pride don’t play again until the 10th. So, I’m just gonna go ahead and suggest you celebrate the fourth with some Bulleit Rye and burgers fresh off the grill. Celebrate all that ‘Merica.

Now, on to the news!

Lions Out of U.S. Open Cup on 120th-Minute Goal

Orlando City conceded early and late in bowing out of the U.S. Open Cup last night at Camping World Stadium, in front of a paltry “crowd” of 3,162. PC (seriously, that’s his name) scored on the only shot Ft. Lauderdale had after the half (compared to Orlando’s 20) as the Strikers stole one from the Lions, 2-1 in extra time. Gavin Ewbank has your match recap from a game that saw Kevin Molino score in the 15th minute and get sent off in the 67th minute, as both teams finished with 10 men. The Cup dream is over, which will at least open up that congested schedule a bit. So there’s that.

Kevin Molino makes FIFA Team of the Week

For the FIFA 16 Team of the Week for week 42, Orlando City’s own Kevin Molino has been selected as a silver card with a 74 rating as a Left Mid. Molino assisted on two of the three goals against Toronto FC this past Saturday.

Jasmyne Spencer and (Yeah, You Guessed It) Ashlyn Harris Up for NWSL Honors

As we should all expect by now, it’s that time of the week where we remind you to vote for Ashlyn Harris for doing Ashlyn Harris things. However, I will also tell you to go and vote for this Jasmyne Spencer goal:

As of writing this, Spencer leads with 45% of the overall vote. You can add to that over here.

A Statistical Breakdown of NWSL Attendance

So, good news everyone! NWSL attendance is up across the board from where it was last year! There is also another team, the USWNT just won the World Cup, and we’re entering an Olympic year. So, yeah. There are your reasons as to why that is. Another interesting point to all this is that while the Portland Thorns are far and away the league leaders in average attendance, the Pride aren’t too far off from them either after setting a single game attendance record with their home opener against the Houston Dash.

USMNT Captain Michael Bradley makes Copa America Worst XI

So, this is surprising, at least to me. Because, most of the time it’s honestly hard for me to tell when Michael Bradley is playing worse than he usually does. But apparently he was adjudged to play below his norm. The U.S. captain was the only American on the list that also featured Brazil’s Willian, Uruguay’s Edinson Cavani, and Mexico’s Andres Guardado.

Free Kicks

Today’s birthdays include David Allan Grier, who is 60, "Iron" Mike Tyson is 50, Mean Girls' Lizzy Caplan is 34, and T-Pain is 31…Fun fact: in the 50 years since their World Cup win, England has won six knockout games, Germany has won 35…It hurts Ronaldo to see Messi cry…and finally, elections might be the problem with democracy.

That’s it for today!

Play us out, Messi!