Lion Links: 5/14/18

Not so merry Monday morning, Mane Landers! It was a bit of a mixed bag this weekend with the Pride finally beating Portland, and Orlando City’s win streak coming to an end. All we can do is to take the lessons learned and move forward. That being said, let’s hit the links!

Orlando City Falls 2-1 to Atlanta United

The ref wasn’t great, but neither was Orlando City in the first half. Atlanta scored twice before the break and it was all it needed to end the Lions’ win streak. There was a lot of ugliness on the field and off, between the officiating, the chippiness of the players, and the unrest shown by the fans. It’s a shame that what could have been a fantastic match (even in defeat) was overshadowed by all of that. Everyone has less than a week to get their composure back as the Lions travel to BMO Field to take on Toronto FC this Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

• Michael Citro has your match recap.
• Scott Carnevale has your player grades and man of the match.
• The opposing view of the match comes from Haris Kruskic over at Dirty South Soccer.

Check back later for our five takeaways from Sean Rollins and our match photo gallery.

Mother’s Day with Sydney

For those that watched the Pride match on Saturday, you may have seen a segment on Sydney Leroux and how she is handling being a wife, mother, and professional soccer player. In the segment, she talks about the challenges and rewards of all the roles she plays, and how nice it is being together with her family. If you missed it, no worries, NWSL Twitter has you covered.

Premier League Season Ends

There wasn’t a lot of drama to end the English Premier League season, as Manchester City had the top spot locked up weeks ago, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some interesting storylines. Liverpool secured its second Champions League qualification in two years after beating Brighton, 4-0. The top four finishers were Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, and Liverpool. Three of those teams have never been relegated in Premier League history. Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah won the League’s Golden Boot while breaking the league record for goals scored, with 32 in a 38-game season.

The World Cup is Coming

No the USMNT isn’t going to Russia, but just in case you are, you might want to check out the official Fan ID for the 2018 event. Even if you’re not making the trip to Russia, there’s still plenty to know before it begins. If you’re curious about everything from qualifying to the draws, here is a good primer on it all. As for who is going to win the whole thing, there is an advanced computer model picking each group winner. It will be interesting to see if any of the predictions come to pass. Meanwhile, looking ahead to the World Cup, one of the referees selected is under investigation in Saudi Arabia.

Free Kicks

• I don’t care which team you support, the bar has been raised by this kid in Liverpool.

• Evidently, an Israeli football club has named its team Beitar Trump Jerusalem in honor of Donald Trump.
• Famous birthdays for today include the following: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (34), the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski (29), Cate Blanchett (49), George Lucas (74), Tim Roth (57), Frank Gore (35), Clay Matthews (32), and Sabine Schmitz (49).

That’s going to do it for your Monday links. The good news about losing is that Orlando City can start a new win streak on Friday. Time to get back on the front foot.