Lion Links: 4/1/20

Good morning, Mane Landers! We are halfway through what is (hopefully) another stay-at-home week and I hope today finds you and your families doing well. Let’s go ahead and jump into the links.

Alex Morgan Talks Silver Linings

Orlando Pride forward Alex Morgan was certain of one thing when she announced her pregnancy, that she would give birth to her baby girl in April and then compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo less than three months later. Obviously, plans have changed since then. She sat down with Glamour Magazine for a feature on where she is right now.

“Casual fans of the game were just like, ‘Why would she do something like that during the peak of her career?’,” Morgan shared with the interviewer. “It’s not like women can’t do both—our bodies are incredible—it’s the fact that this world isn’t really set up for women to thrive,” she says. “That was one thing where I was like, ‘Do I want to be public with this?’ This is my body, my family, my life. I thought to myself, I have the support in place to be able to come back. There’s no reason for me to stop just to start a family.”

Orlando City Fans Organize Tournament

While everyone is missing soccer, FIFA 20 continues to rise in popularity to help fans find their soccer fix. Here in Orlando, fans organized two bracketed tournaments for PlayStations and Xbox users this past weekend. The event was streamed over Twitch and was a great distraction from the current events.

Nani Hosts, “Ask me Anything”

Nani joined Football Wave on Instagram to answer fan questions yesterday.

“A dream I have fulfilled is to become a top professional player. I have always dreamed of this. I will try to continue winning more titles in the future, that is my dream.” Nani answered when a fan asked about his past and current dreams.

Ask De John Too!

Orlando City’s Alex De John took over Orlando City’s twitter to answer fan questions. You’ll have to check out OCSC’s twitter because they quote tweet the answers so there’s no real thread to post for you here, but below is his response after being asked about spending this free time with his son.

“Yes a lot of times on my hands now, Covid-19 has definitely given me some real quality extra time with Madden. The best part is watching him change and grow everyday. Every day there is something new he does. He recently just started to smile and every time I see him smile brings me utter joy.”

Free Kicks

• Tottenham cut the wages of 550 non-playing staff by 20% amid the coronavirus outbreak.
• Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish, was in a car accident just a day after promoting government lockdown orders.
• A seventh-tier Swedish soccer team was forced to cancel a friendly for player safety after a bookie made bets open to the public.
• With $2.7 billion reserves, FIFA says it has a “duty” to use its reserves to assist the football industry.

That’ll do it for me today, everyone. Have a great week and stay safe!