Lion Links: 10/15/16

It’s Saturday again and I hope you all got through the work week unscathed. We can still enjoy Orlando City soccer for two more weekends so let’s make them count. We’ve got your regular lineup of links to get you into the soccer mood so let’s jump right in.

Orlando City Won’t Punish Molino Further

After being suspended from the Trinidad & Tobago national team for breaking curfew, Orlando City said that midfielder Kevin Molino will not be punished by the club. Jason Kreis said that he has not seen such behavior from Molino with Orlando. Kevin posted on social media shortly after news of the incident broke claiming that he will be taking a break from representing his country for one year.

Top Five Pride Performances

The club came out with what they believe are the five best performances from the team’s inaugural season. The kicker is that they’re from five different players and it’s representative of how a team dominated by world-renowned players had a great supporting cast. From Steph Catley’s opening goal for the club against the Portland Thorns to Jasmyne Spencer and Kristen Edmonds taking the team by storm, there are some great memories to relive.

If you’re interested in more takes on the Pride’s first season, you can also check out this week’s PawedCast with our exclusive Tom Sermanni interview.

U.S. Could Lead for 2026 World Cup

With the upcoming 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup still being held in Qatar, FIFA will eliminate countries from those continents from bidding to host the 2026 World Cup. So it’s down to North America, South America, Africa, and Oceania for the right to host. With most of the world’s major economies ruled out, it’s possible that the U.S. would be a front-runner should they submit a formal bid. The most intriguing story line to watch in the lead up may be Australia’s eligibility. The country plays in the Asian Football Confederation but is geographically in Oceania. If FIFA decides that Australia is Asian for soccer purposes, the field is narrowed even further. Voting for the 2026 Cup’s landing spot will take place in 2020.

App Store Soccer Clubs

If you’ve ever wondered what Uber would look like if they designed their own soccer team, I have your answer. Graphic UNTD came up with some pretty great kit designs based on popular app logos. Twitter’s strip looks like it was inspired by Minnesota United and its classic wing pattern but my favorite has to be Spotify with the black-on-black audio waves. Snapchat just looks like it has chicken pox. Great idea, great execution.

Those are all of your links to kick off the weekend. Keep in mind we’ve still got all of the coverage you could ever want for tomorrow’s match against the Philadelphia Union, so stop on by and check out what we’ve got throughout the weekend.