Lion Links: 8/7/19

Happy Wednesday, Mane Landers! There’s nothing like a weeknight game downtown to help break up the work week, am I right? City hosted Atlanta United last night in the club’s first ever time in the semifinals for the U.S. Open Cup and…well, we’ll talk about that in a second. Let’s get to the links.

Orlando City Falls out of U.S. Open Cup

The Lions had a rough night in the U.S. Open Cup, mostly with self-inflicted wounds. Dom Dwyer and Sacha Kljestan each missed good opportunities and the visitors put two past Adam Grinwis to win 2-0 and advance to the final. Orlando had a good run in the tournament but now it’s over and it’s time to focus on trying to get back in the hunt for the postseason.

While it wasn’t a sellout, Orlando did turn out for the match.

Marc Skinner Wants his team to Fight for it

In a video shared to the Orlando Pride Twitter account, Head Coach Marc Skinner talked about the international players integrating back into club play, the passion players are showing as they fight for their fans, and how he wants player to step up and show who they are. As the the women of the USWNT are back, Skinner is ready to be the bad guy as he makes decisions on who will and wont be in the starting XI this Saturday as they take on Houston Dash.

Chade Up for USL League One Save of the Week

Orlando City B keeper Juliano Chade is up for the USL League One Save of the Week for his 65th-minute double save against Lansing. Let’s all vote and win him the honor. It would be nice to see OCB win something.

Florida Cup News

Officials with the 2020 Florida Cup announced that Corinthians will join the tournament as the third team to be named. The sixth edition of this tournament will be held in January at Explorira Stadium.

“We are thrilled to welcome Corinthians again to Orlando. It is a club that has, on several occasions, been able to follow up their excellent preparation in the Florida Cup by victorious seasons in their home campaigns. In addition to the first-class condition of training and matches, the event offers a number of options for entertainment and unique opportunities for club and partner activations,” said Ricardo Villar, CEO of the Florida Cup. 

Good News for Orlando City?

You won’t often see me posting about D.C. United news if it’s not reporting on a D.C. vs. Orlando match, but this is newsworthy. Wayne Rooney continues to flex his master skills in game play against Orlando because he seemingly loathes the Lions and sets out to embarrass them as often as he’s able. Well, D.C. United shared a statement Tuesday that Rooney will be leaving MLS at the close of this season to return to England to be closer to family and to serve as player-coach for Derby County in the English Championship for 2020.

Free Kicks

• Forbes lists the highest-paid female athletes of 2019 and Alex Morgan is on it (mainly due to endorsements).
• The FA Player will stream all FA WSL games for free.
• Orlando City B’s Nathan Simeon will join University of San Francisco men’s soccer team.
• Swiss federal prosecutors filed fraud charges against three former senior German soccer officials over a suspect payment linked to the 2006 World Cup.
• D.C. United traded with Vancouver for Felipe Martins.
• Sydney Leroux continues to inspire:

That’s going to do it for me this morning, Mane Landers! Here’s hoping everyone got enough sleep and/or caffeine to make it through the day.