Lion Links: 7/6/16

Hellooooo, Lion Nation. I’m so excited to be hosting another Wednesday edition of your morning Lion Links here at The Mane Land.

You know, I used to feature on Links regularly for about six months last year, before I left sometime in the off-season — back when Orlando City hadn’t yet caused so many fans to scream in outrage over way too many things.

Back when things were simpler…

*goes into song and dance*

But anyway, we’ve got a great set of Links for you this morning, Modern Baseball is here! So stick around, and read what we’ve got to share for you.

Adrian Winter Says Goodbye

Orlando City officially confirmed on Tuesday that the club has mutually agreed with Adrian Winter to terminate his MLS contract, letting him return home to play in Switzerland. Winter decided last week to leave the club due to family reasons. The former Lions midfielder wrote a touching goodbye letter to the fans, thanking them for all of their support since his arrival to the club last summer.

From the Ruckus and Iron Lion Firm to all the amazing families I met who bleed purple, the support always gave me extra energy. I will cherish the memories that we created together. We can always celebrate together my first goal with the club at home against Sporting KC or the first game this season in front of 60,000 screaming fans to score the game-tying goal against Real Salt Lake. Keep up the great support because every great club needs fans like you!

Orlando City Looking to Make Moves

Speaking of Winter’s departure, the club is now forced into a situation of need as they look for his potential replacements, both within and outside the roster. Luckily the transfer window just opened up, giving the team the opportunity to find that replacement soon. Adrian Heath told MLSSoccer.com that the club is hoping to bring in "two or three players" during this window.

"We have known about Adrian’s situation for probably a week to 10 days," Heath explained. "We have enough people to cope at this time, but it does leave us a bit bare if we have any further injuries or suspensions, so we are actively looking to bring in two or three new players during the [transfer] window.

"Obviously it is not ideal because Adrian’s been playing well and was an important member of the group, on and off the field. But sometimes these things happen; sometimes your personal situation overtakes football, and we respect that."

Joe Bendik Up For MLS Save of the Week

Believe it or not, an Orlando City player actually did something admirable in the club’s 4-0 loss at FC Dallas on Monday night, with goalkeeper Joe Bendik earning his way into the MLS Save of the Week voting bracket with an outstanding point-blank save on Walker Zimmerman’s header off a corner in the 59th minute.

So go ahead and vote away for Joe this week. Somebody’s gotta pull in a win for this club.

Michael Cox Named to USL Team of the Week

Some more positive news for the club this week: Orlando City B forward Michael Cox was named to the USL Team of the Week after scoring the equalizer for OCB, which used its 1-1 draw with Charlotte to stay above the red line in the Eastern Conference. After a rough start, OCB has found a much better form of late.

Alex Morgan: “No Chance” of New CBA Before Olympics

The ongoing battle for equal pay for the USWNT continues to, well, go on, and Orlando Pride captain and United States star Alex Morgan recently said there are "slim to no chances" that a new collective bargaining agreement between the USWNT and the U.S. Soccer Federation is in place before the team heads to Rio for the Olympics next month.

"No I don't see that happening," Morgan said to SI Now's Maggie Gray in regards to the timing of the completed CBA talks. "The Olympics is a month away and we're still pretty far away. So I'd say that that's slim to no chances."

Free Kicks

UEFA wants to keep cute kids off of the field. What do you have against cute kids, UEFA?…The Argentinian FA is in utter chaos and continues to get worse…Maybe you missed this, but Gregg Berhalter pulled off a pretty baller scorpion kick from the sidelines last week…PBS lied to you on the Fourth of July…and finally, it’s never too late to celebrate Rick Monday.

One of the great things about our editor giving us the freedom to make Lion Links our own thing each morning is that I get the opportunity to throw my favorite music out here at the bottom, not only because it gives me an excuse to listen to it, but because I like to share some lesser-known acts with the world.

So this morning, I share with you Modern Baseball, a lesser-known rock band from Philadelphia.

That's if for today's Links. I wanna thank my editor, Michael Citro, for letting me be here, Scott Crumbly, the man editing this story, for making my story error-free, everybody that made these links for me to reproduce for you, and of course, Modern Baseball.

Have a great day, fam.