Lion Links: 3/3/22

Hello, Mane Landers. I hope your Thursday is off to a great start. We are now only a few days away from Orlando City’s next match, so lets power trough and get you up to speed with the links.

Orlando Pride Draw Kansas City

The Orlando Pride played their only open preseason match of 2022 last night at Exploria Stadium against the Kansas City Current and the teams played to a 0-0 draw. Lynn Williams created some opportunities for the visitors but couldn’t beat goalkeeper Erin McLeod. For the Pride, Darian Jenkins was lurking around the goal much of the night. In the end, neither team found a breakthrough. The Pride will play next on Saturday against Florida State.

Orlando City Getting Ready for Chicago Trip

Orlando City will travel north to the Windy City to play its second game of the season on the road against the Chicago Fire. Get your first look at the revamped Fire in this week’s Know Your Opponent from the OCSC website. Chicago has many new faces since the last time the two clubs met, including new head coach Ezra Hendrickson, Xherdan Shaqiri, and Kacper Przybylko, to name a few. This will be the home opener for the Fire after playing the first game of the season away at Inter Miami to a 0-0 draw. The Lions will surely want to improve on their all-time mark of 4-5-5 against the Fire this Saturday.

The OCSC site also took a look at the Lions inside the numbers. Last weekend’s opening win was also Pedro Gallese’s 12th career clean sheet for Orlando City, only one behind Joe Bendik’s club record. Przybylko may be in a new city but he’s a familiar foe for Orlando, having scored six goals in five games against the Lions. The X-factor for this upcoming match is Chicago’s shiny off-season signing Shaqiri. The two-time UEFA Champions League winner will no doubt be excited to put on a show in his first home game with the Fire.

Robin Jansson, Junior Urso Fined by MLS

There was bad news Wednesday for two Lions as the MLS Disciplinary Committee handed out fines to Jansson and Urso for their actions on Sunday. If receiving a red card wasn’t punishment enough for Jansson, MLS added a fine for failing to leave the field in a timely matter. The incident occurred in the 81st minute of the match. Urso was also the subject of punishment when in the 87th of the same match, the Bear was cited for embellishment. Orlando City wasn’t the only side that received fines for that match, CF Montréal forward Romell Quioto was handed a fine for failing to leave the field in a timely matter after he was sent off in the 66th minute. All three fines were undisclosed.

Lions Score High for Off-Season Transfers

With the 2022 MLS season underway and transfers wrapping up for now, mlssoccer.com writers reviewed and delivered transfer grades for all 28 clubs. Orlando City received an A- for this off-season, which is a high grade given how much the Lions had to replace in key attacking players. Orlando was lauded for adding attacking pieces but the Lions were knocked down a half-letter grade for not adding depth at left back.

Pride Roster Update

The Pride announced an updated preseason roster on Wednesday. A few notable players will be with the club soon with newly signed goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse expected to join the Pride this week and midfielder Chelsee Washington returning from her loan in Australia within the coming days.

Free Kicks

• Former Lion Uri Rosell will be out the next few weeks for Sporting Kansas City after sustaining a hamstring injury.

• Another former Lion signed on with a new club as Glentoran FC announced the signing of midfielder Dillon Powers.

• Sad news came out of Stanford Wednesday, as the university announced the sudden passing of goalkeeper Katie Meyer. Meyer helped win the 2019 College Cup in a penalty shootout.
• Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovic announced in a statement that he will be selling the club.

That will do it for me. May the rest of your Thursday go well and remember to make plans for the Orlando City away match at 6 p.m. on Saturday.