Lion Links: 1/20/19

Happy Sunday, Mane Landers. I hope you’re all enjoying your weekend. I say let’s jump right into this thing, right? Yeah! Screw the chitchat, let’s do this thing.

Without further ado, lions and lionesses, your Sunday serving of Lion Links. Bon appétit.

Dom Dwyer Delivers Short MLS Media Day Appearance

Dom Dwyer seemed disinterested in answering many questions with reporters from around the league for a round table yesterday. Eventually, he got going, and he answered questions about kicking it with the new youngsters and touched on some of the Lions’ offseason moves. All in all, the session lasted only around three minutes, when they typically last 10 to 15 minutes. This is where we insert the eyes emoji, relax, and hope everything is all right with the club’s best scorer.

U.S. Women’s National Team Loses to France

Say “au revoir” to that 28-match unbeaten streak, as the USWNT fell to a superior French side, 3-1 in Le Havre, France. The Yanks were unfortunately forced to deploy a more-than-makeshift lineup, with Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath, Kelley O’Hara and Julie Ertz all missing through illness. Again, unfortunately, the forced changes contributed to the fault in the armor for the Yanks, as the French scored early and pressed high, keeping the pressure on the Americans. Mallory Pugh ensured that the match wasn’t a shutout, though, as she got on the end of a Carli Lloyd pass and notched one for her country.

MLS Club Pursuing Captain of Belgian Club FC Kortrijk

Is this the move all of us Lions supporters have been waiting for? Who knows…but reports are that there’s an unnamed MLS club that is seriously interested in recruiting the talents that Hannes Van der Bruggen could potentially bring to their midfield. The club captain, just 25 years old, could be a game-changer in MLS — and one has to wonder if James O’Connor has his eye on the young dynamo. In total, Van der Bruggen has scored seven goals in 179 Belgian league appearances, and has also starred in 16 Europa League playoff matches. He has also laced up for Belgium’s U-19 and U-21 sides.

Bill Hamid Sounds Off

Bill Hamid, a 28-year-old, 6-foot-3 towering goalkeeper has sounded off, claiming that he’s better than all of the goalkeepers in the USMNT camp. It’s a bold statement considering the wealth of talent that has come through the MLS pipeline of late, but what do you think? He does have a strong grasp of the program, having grown up playing through the system at various levels under different regimes. Most recently, Hamid was capped for the 2017 Concacaf Gold Cup, even earning his first-ever competitive international start, earning a clean sheet and sending his country to the top of the group.

Zlatan Promises Second-Year Title

In a stunningly Zlatan-esque move, Zlatan Ibrahimović has made the bold claim that he will win a trophy in his second year with the LA Galaxy. The charismatic forward was in scintillating form this past season, scoring 22 goals and adding 10 assists for his side.

“I think as a football player, you want to feel alive, as long as you’re active,” Ibrahimovic said. “After one season with the Galaxy, I came back after one-and-a-half years without playing football from my bad injury, I was feeling alive again. You want to give yourself challenges, you want to feel that there is a challenge out there that you want to take and you want to succeed. I felt that I’m not finished here because wherever I went, I won, and I didn’t win here. So I give it another year and I will win here this second year.”

I’m never one to question Zlatan. I’ve learned my lesson. So what exactly will the Galaxy be taking home this year? The MLS Cup? The U.S. Open Cup? Only time will tell. But for some odd reason, I believe.

Free Kicks

• American starlet Timothy Weah, owned by Paris Saint-Germain but loaned out to Celtic, scored on his Celtic debut yesterday. Coming on in the 69th minute, Weah notched the match’s final goal in the 83rd minute to ensure Celtic’s progression in the Scottish Cup.
• The New York Red Bulls have officially secured the year-long loan signing of 21-year-old American midfielder Keaton Parks from Portuguese stalwarts Benfica.
• Alberth Elis won’t be jumping the pond quite yet, as he will be remaining with the Houston Dynamo until at least the opening of the summer transfer window. It’s reported that he’ll eventually join Turkish giants Fenerbahce, assuming the two sides can come to an agreement.
• Remember that awesome, Wayne Rooney-inspired mid-season turnaround that D.C. United showed us last season? Well, the boys in D.C. don’t think that momentum will be stopping anytime soon, claiming that they’ll be riding that confidence into the 2019 season and expecting strong results.
• German coach Imke Wuebbenhorst, the manager of BV Cloppenburg, is the first woman to ever be appointed to coach a club at such a high level. She also is continuously forced to deal with sexist questions from the press. Well…she got a bit cheeky with a recent response to a question regarding whether she has to warn her players to put pants on before she enters the locker room. Her response? Just see for yourself.
• Major props, love, and cheers go out to Crystal Palace, as the Premier League side has made the admirable decision to use their stadium and grounds as an emergency shelter for the homeless during freezing temperatures.
• Interested in seeing the stats behind the greatness that has been Mohamed Salah over the last few years? Sweet! SkySports took a deep dive into just that topic for you!
• For Los Madridistas, good news: Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Sevilla yesterday means they’ve begun their ascent from recent mediocrity — maybe. They’ve moved into fourth place in La Liga.

That’s all I’ve got for you today, folks. Enjoy the remainder of your Sunday and have an excellent week! Before I make my leave though, I gift you with the #10YearChallenge submission from former Orlando Pride head coach Tom Sermanni. Well played, sir. Well played.