Lion Links: 7/25/19

Good morning, Mane Landers and welcome to Friday eve. It was nice to see the Young Lions of Orlando City B in action last night, since the first team absolutely needed a break…until the game started, anyway.

Before we dive into the news of the day, let’s wish a happy 21st birthday to on-loan Lion Josué Colmán.

Orlando City B Blasted by Tormenta FC at Montverde

Even though the UCL League One regular season doesn’t wrap up until early October, OCB played its third-to-last home game of the year Wednesday evening against Tormenta FC. It did not go well. The Young Lions conceded three times in the first half and lost by an eventual score of 4-1 — the club’s worst home loss of the 2019 season. If the Young Lions are going to break out of this funk, they’ll have to do it on the road.

Lions Training for Showdown with the Revs

That’s right, Cristian Higuita was finally back at Orlando City training on Wednesday morning. He was “jogging around the field for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury.” Unfortunately, Higuita isn’t quite ready to come back yet and will remain on this week’s injury list. Alex De John and Shane O’Neill will also still be out with concussions.

On a positive injury note, Head Coach James O’Connor is “hopeful” that leading man Nani will be available for Saturday’s match at New England Revolution. The last time the Lions faced off with the Revs, it was a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup round of 16 game in Exploria Stadium where this happened.

MLS All-Star Festivities Coming Soon

It’s somewhat difficult to believe that Major League Soccer All-Star Week in Orlando is nearly here. It certainly feels like it’s been quite a long time coming. Anyway, Orlando City SC wants you to get your tickets to the main event, if you haven’t already.

Nani will be leading the Lions that are participating in the All-Star Skills Challenge event on July 30. The league actually used Nani’s fellow Skills Challenge participant Chris Mueller in its marketing of the event. Five players were added to the roster for the MLS Homegrown Game. Former MLS All-Star Landon Donovan will join in the fun when he plays in the celebrity FIFA 19 eMLS tournament at Ace Cafe Sunday evening. Additionally, MLS Works will be at Neptune Middle School in Kissimmee on Monday, July 29 for its part of All-Star Week.

USWNT Announces Friendlies, Hopes to Push NWSL

The rumored first two post-Women’s World Cup friendlies for the United States Women’s National Team have officially been confirmed.

The USWNT will take on Portugal twice, once in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field on Aug. 29 and then a few days later at the brand new Allianz Field, home of Minnesota United FC, on Sept. 3.

As we all know by know, every one of the 23 women that make up the World Cup champion USWNT play in the National Women’s Soccer League. President of the NWSL, Amanda Duffy, recently stated “there has been a lot of outreach that’s happened over the last few weeks, and we feel confident and strong in those opportunities” regarding the USWNT pushing the NWSL. Hopefully, a lot of the eyes that were on the USWNT in France will eventually turn to the NWSL. A great way to show your support for the league would be to get tickets for the Orlando Pride.

Free Kicks

• Orlando City is teaming up with City Furniture for an event at the latter’s grand opening on Vineland Road this Saturday.
• I couldn’t agree with the Orlando Pride social media person more – the world needs more of Carson Pickett and Joseph!

• LA Galaxy star Zlatan Ibrahimovic received a “formal warning” for injuring former Lion Mohamed El-Munir in last Friday’s El Trafico clash with Los Angeles FC.
• U.S. Men’s National Team player Matt Miazga, who currently belongs to Chelsea FC, will spend the 2019-2020 season on loan with Reading.
• The U.S. Under-17 roster was named for a training camp beginning tomorrow, July 26, in California.
• Speaking of national teams, the medals for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were revealed.
• Record signing Matthijs de Ligt got his first start for Juventus and put the ball in the back of his own net.
• Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio will most likely miss the entire season with a ruptured ACL in his left knee.
• Despite Zinedine Zidane’s comments a few days ago, Gareth Bale is still at Real Madrid and still scoring too.
• I know it’s no longer Wolfpack Wednesday — I still have to get my weekly VfL Wolfsburg news in, however. This time, it’s about the German midfielder Maximilian Arnold.

Try to grit your teeth and make it through the rest of the work week. I’ll see all of you in a couple of days. Go City!