Lion Links: 2/23/20

Sunday salutations, Mane Landers! First, let us bid new Lion Pedro Gallese a happy birthday! Hopefully, you’ve been able to sleep in and enjoy your morning. We’re now less than a week away from opening day, and if you’re like me you can hardly wait. There are so many unknowns, worries, expectations, and I’m ready for all the Orlando City goodness I can take. Now that you have your first cup of coffee ready, let’s get to the links!

OCB Played a Match?

While the unexplainable media blackout from the Orlando City front office continues in regards to Orlando City B, we are fortunately able to get information from other sources. It seems that OCB had a match against Miami FC yesterday. Unfortunately, the Young Lions lost 2-0 to the USL Championship side.

While we don’t know much about OCB — Miami FC’s report didn’t even name a single OCB player, although it did mention the goalkeeper played well — we do know that Miami FC has former Lions Romario Williams (OCSC U-23), Harrison Heath, and Lawrence Olum on the squad. In fact, Williams scored one of the goals, while Marco Franco netted the other. Here’s hoping we get some more information from the club regarding the OCB squad soon.

SeaWolves Fall Again

The Orlando SeaWolves traveled to the PA Farm Show Arena to take on the Harrisburg Heat a day after losing to the Baltimore Blast. Unfortunately, the SeaWolves continued their losing ways in Pennsylvania, falling to the Heat by a score of 11-8. I guess we can be glad they didn’t have to travel that far between losses. Jeff Michaud earned a hat trick for the SeaWolves and the team scored four goals in the fourth quarter. To be fair, the club played better than they have recently, and almost were able to make a comeback against the Heat.

Hercules on Jones

In yesterday’s links we mentioned Jermaine Jones’ comments regarding Bruce Arena, U.S. Soccer, and other topics. Now we have a reaction to Jones’ comments from former USMNT striker Hercules Gomez. Gomez is a commentator in both English and Spanish for ESPN. Jermaine’s comments were critical of many aspect of U.S. Soccer, and Hercules does a good job of giving a little outside perspective.

USWNT U-20s Roll Cuba

The U-20 USWNT started its World Cup qualifying campaign with a decisive 9-0 win over Cuba. Five different players scored in the rout, with Mia Fishel netting four goals, Brianna Pinto getting a brace, and Alexa Spaanstra, Summer Yates, and Samantha Meza each getting one apiece. The U.S. continues its Group C campaign playing on Monday vs. the Dominican Republic.

Free Kicks

• Paul Arriola is out for the 2020 season, as he will undergo ACL surgery. Arriola was injured during the preseason match against Orlando City.
• We’ve previously mentioned former Lion Danny Acosta’s knee injury. Acosta has had his surgery and will miss seven to nine months.
• Bundesliga club Schalke 04 extended Nick Taitague’s contract through June 2021 with an option through 2023. The midfielder signed with the club in 2017, but has had a stretch of injuries that has hampered his development. Obviously, Schalke 04 had enough belief in his ability enough to extend the contract.
• If you wondered how much power EA Sports has, Conmebol has threatened any team that doesn’t release its rights to EA Sports with a continental ban.

That will do it for today. Keep checking back with The Mane Land for all the news as we head into the new season.