Lion Links: 6/21/18

Hey, Mane Landers. Hope you all are having an awesome week and a wonderful Thursday. The World Cup has produced some wild results so far and Orlando was back in action last night for its first game without Jason Kreis since 2016. Anyway, let’s get right into today’s links.

Orlando Advances Past D.C. United in U.S. Open Cup on Penalties

After an hour and a half delay due to lightning just minutes in, Orlando City and D.C. United finally got back underway last night. The cardiac cats brought out a new 3-4-3 formation under interim head coach Bobby Murphy and he had this to say about it.

“Whether you’re an adult or you’re a child or whatever, sometimes you need new things to get the neurons firing again and to re-engage,” said Murphy. “I think the same old same old becomes routine so we’ll see what happens with that.”

The Lions fell behind early on a goal from Luciano Acosta in the 10th minute but answered back quickly with a goal from Justin Meram to equalize in the 17th minute. The game had plenty of moments and ended up going into extra time at 1-1. Orlando City had numerous chances in extra time with the best coming on a wonderful shot from Josué Colmán that was saved by Steve Clark. The Lions advanced on penalty kicks, 4-2, to their third U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals as Colmán scored the clincher.

Mason Stajduhar Has Completed His Cancer Treatment

Orlando City announced on Wednesday that the 20-year-old goalkeeper rang the bell at the Orlando Health Pediatric Cancer Unit to signal an end to his bone cancer treatment. Stajduhar was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma in November 2017, which placed him on the season-ending injury list for this season. Even in his time of treatment, Mason was practicing with the club and has recently been cleared for diving drills as well. The young goalkeeper has been with the club since November 2015. He was a staple for Orlando’s academy teams as well as the U.S. U-18 and U-20 teams. Congrats on completing your cancer treatment, Mason, and best of luck to you moving forward.

Orlando City U-19s Draw 1-1 Against Baltimore Armour

The Orlando City U-19 team drew with the U-19 Baltimore Armour, 1-1, in a playoff match-up. Orlando City came into the match as the sixth wildcard team while the Baltimore Armour came in as the 11th playoff team. Baltimore’s Jacob Williams got the scoring started in the 26th minute and it did not take long for Orlando City to respond. Alejandro Pereira scored just eight minutes later in the 34th minute to equalize and the score held firm. Orlando will play BW Gottschee Academy on June 22, which obtained the third wildcard playoff spot.

FIFA World Cup Day 7 Recap

• Portugal defeated Morocco, 1-0, behind Cristiano Ronaldo’s fourth-minute goal, putting him over Ferenc Puskas for second in all-time international goals.
• Uruguay won 1-0 again over Saudi Arabia with Luis Suárez netting the winner in the 23rd minute and putting his country and Russia into the Round of 16.
• Spain survived Iran in a tough 1-0 victory after Iran’s equalizer was removed by an offside call.

Free Kicks

• Marta received the top NWSL moment from Weeks 11 and 12.

• Orlando Pride’s Alex Morgan ranked higher than Zach Steffen and other men’s players on ebid.net in a U.S. jersey auction.
• Fans of Senegal and Japan also cleaned up after themselves and others before leaving their respective matches.

• As with smaller countries comes amazing support, and this picture of Tunisians sitting in a 2000-year old amphitheater says a lot.

• The NFL announced that the 2019 Pro Bowl will be played in Orlando at Camping World Stadium