Lion Links: 2/25/19

Merry Monday morning, Mane Landers! I hope you had a good weekend. It’s been quite warm here in the Sunshine State, and I know that the rest of the country is darn jealous. I got in some bike rides, and some post ride craft beers. Did you do anything fun? Let us know in the comments below. For now, let’s get to the links!

SeaWolves Fall

The Orlando SeaWolves traveled to Kansas City to take on the Comets. Unfortunately, they were unable to break down KC’s stingy defense, and lost, 9-4. The loss drops Orlando to 6-6 overall and 4-3 on the road. The SeaWolves kept it close in the first half as they were only down 3-2. The second half was not nearly so kind, as the club was outscored 6-2. Orlando returns to Silver Spurs Arena on March 1 and 2 with back-to-back matches against the Milwaukee Wave and Florida Tropics.

Ubogagu Gets the Go-Ahead

A mere five days ago, Chioma Ubogagu was left off of England’s SheBelieves squad. However, Manchester City’s Jill Scott withdrew from the squad in order to get back to full fitness for the Women’s World Cup this summer. Following that, the Orlando Pride midfielder was called up to replace Scott for the tournament. joining many of her Pride teammates in the pattern of representing her country.

U-20 Men’s World Cup Group Stage Set

The Under-20 Men’s World Cup starts in May and the group assignments are finally set. The U.S. U-20 team is in Group D with Nigeria, Ukraine and Qatar. The U.S. come into the World Cup as Concacaf Champions and as a pretty talented group. The tournament will depend largely on which players are released from their club teams for each nation’s squad. You can be sure that Head Coach Tab Ramos will have the lads as ready as possible.

A Battle of Wills

Chelsea fell to Manchester City, 4-3 on penalties in the League Cup game Sunday. However, that wasn’t the most interesting part of the match. In the 30th minute of extra time, Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri wanted to sub off keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, as he thought his goalie was injured and wouldn’t be able to continue. The team doctors had not made it back to the bench to inform Sarri that Arrizabalaga was fine. It was, according to both parties, a big misunderstanding. At the time it certainly didn’t look like that and it looked like Arrizabalaga was simply refusing Sarri’s orders.

Free Kicks

• The unsung heroes of Orlando City SC and Orlando City Stadium are the grounds crew. Well done, gentlemen.

• While I wish it hadn’t happened yesterday against Liverpool, you have to give it up to David de Gea on the accomplishment. He is only the seventh player to get 100 clean sheets with one English Premier League club.

• Did you know that the Orlando SeaWolves signed Derek Huffman? Did you know he’s considered quite the troublemaker? Neither did I, but Derek seems to think he’s not so bad.
• Long time New York Red Bulls and Columbus Crew winger Mike Grella has announced his retirement from professional soccer. The last two years have been injury-plagued for Grella, and certainly contributed to his decision. Grella had a great career, and we wish him well going into this next phase of his life.

• In case you needed a reminder of why Marta is the GOAT, enjoy this short film

It’s hard to top that, so let’s call it a day.