Lion Links: 7/12/16

Yesterday was pretty quiet by Orlando City's recent standards, so we'll take a quick breather from all the recent craziness with today's Lion Links as we prepare for a double game week and make sure you have everything you need to know on this Tuesday.

Coaches Corner

We are almost a week out since the sacking of Head Coach Adrian Heath from Orlando City, and with one point to show from last week’s encounter against the Houston Dynamo, it should come as no surprise that OCB Head Coach Anthony Pulis will be continuing in his role as assistant manager of the senior Lions roster ahead of Wednesday’s contest against the New York Red Bulls. (Click here to read how former Orlando City defender Aurélien Collin feels about Heath’s firing.)

It was also revealed yesterday that Head Coach Tom Sermanni of the Orlando Pride stopped by to offer Interim Head Coach Bobby Murphy some words of wisdom before Friday’s contest. Sermanni also received some good news yesterday with the announcement that two-goal hero Kristen Edmonds has been cleared to return to action for the Orlando Pride after her injury time collision with Boston Breakers goalkeeper Jami Kranich as she scored the winning goal.

Ranking Yanks

With MLS the only soccer league currently in play right now, American Soccer Now has updated its rankings of American soccer players around the globe. Needless to say all USMNT players make the list (yes, including Chris Wondolowski) and two of our very own Orlando City SC Lions make the cut with Brek Shea coming in at No. 61 and young homegrown talent Tommy Redding at No. 86. The only thing that has us salty over here at Mane Land HQ is that New York-born Joe Bendik did not make the cut. Let us know how you feel about the rankings in the comments below.

Olympic Countdown Continues

Despite the debacle this weekend in the NWSL, where the Western New York Flash were made to take on the Seattle Reign on a Lilliputian pitch, the countdown to the USWNT taking the field in the 2016 Olympic Games continues. So first off, we take a look at the USWNT reaction to this weekend’s pitch fiasco, Alex Morgan’s alma mater reviews her career so far, and ThinkProgress.org has provided an insight into the Equal Play, Equal Pay argument after this weekend.

Euro 2016 Round-up

Cristiano Ronaldo may have walked away with the tournament trophy after Portugal’s 1-0 extra time win over France, however fellow finalist Antoine Griezmann from France took home both player of the tournament as well the tournament’s Golden Boot award. Ronaldo did however win the tournament’s Silver Boot award, but he promptly gave it to Nani, which lets you know his feelings toward that accomplishment. You can also see the team of the tournament below:

Parkes Banned Worldwide

You may have already forgotten who Romeo Parkes is, however if you watch the below video you will remember pretty quickly:

Jamaican-born Parkes, who received a season-long ban from USL for that incident and was subsequently fired by the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, has now received even more news with FIFA confirming that he has been banned from football worldwide for the length of his USL ban.

That's it from me today. Make sure you keep it on The Mane Land as it's a double game week for your Lions, so we will have double everything this week and Episode 57 of the Pawedcast will drop early for you, so check back this afternoon for that.