Lion Links: 12/14/20

Merry Monday morning, Mane Landers! Now that the MLS season is over our thoughts turn to things like family, friends, and the holidays. Just kidding, we’re all just waiting to see what will happen with transfers, other leagues, and when next season will start. Until then, you should just check out today’s links.

Alex Morgan Scores Again

The Orlando Pride’s Alex Morgan is finding her way with Tottenham Hotspur, scoring another goal in Spurs’ 3-1 win over Aston Villa. Morgan was fouled by Villa’s keeper and put the ensuing penalty into the back of the net.

Nadine Hanssen leveled for Villa in the 24th minute, but Caroline Siems’ own goal gave Spurs the lead again. Rosella Ayane put it out of reach in the 63rd minute. Morgan is being integrated into Tottenham’s attack more and more.

Elsewhere in the Women’s Super League, Emily van Egmond scored and had an assist in West Ham United’s 4-0 dismantling of Bristol City. The win puts West Ham back above Aston Villa in 10th place.

MLS Clubs Start Trading

Orlando City already decided to keep many of its players from last season, but other teams are made moves during yesterday’s trade window. United States Men’s National Team left back Marco Farfan is headed to LAFC from the Portland Timbers. It is LAFC’s fourth signing in the off-season. Adrian Heath brought in Callum Montgomery from FC Dallas in exchange for a 2022 fourth-round MLS SuperDraft pick and $50,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM). The New England Revolution, Colorado Rapids, and Atlanta United also made moves. Ben Sweat is already moving on from Inter Miami CF. The defender is headed to Austin FC in exchange for $100,000 in GAM.

Women’s Soccer Must Maintain Momentum

2020 might have been one of the worst years in recent memory, but for women’s soccer it was a banner year for viewership. The NWSL broke league ratings records by nearly 300%, and U.S. audiences were able to watch the English Women’s league as well. It may be that there was less competition from other sports, and many people were home more than not, but it’s still impressive growth. The challenge going forward is keeping as many of those new viewers as possible once the world gets back to normal.

Peacock TV Pulls Premier League Replays

Watching soccer matches in the U.S. has never been an easy process. With different leagues on different channels and streaming services, supporters may or may not even have access to watch their favorite clubs via replay. As an example, NBC moved some of its English Premier League coverage to the new Peacock TV streaming service earlier this year. This was not well received, but NBC told subscribers they would be able to watch replays of all 380 matches on demand. Now, NBC has made it so that replays of any matches played on NBCSN or NBC will not be available on Peacock TV. It’s an unfortunate situation.

Free Kicks

• While Pierre Da Silva was actually the first to go through each level of Orlando City’s system, congratulations still go out to Jordan Bender on his anniversary.

• Red Bull Salzburg boss Jesse Marsch is being mentioned as a possible replacement for Lucien Favre after Borussia Dortmund let Favre go.
• Weston McKennie continued his run of good form for Juventus, getting his second assist this season.

That’s going to do it for today. Stay safe out there.