Lion Links: 3/6/22

Happy Sunday, Mane Landers. Well, happy as a day can be after MLS referees unexplicably disallow an Orlando City goal, something we continue to learn to live with as fans of this club. As we keep scratching our heads trying to figure out what Ismir Pekmic saw on the replay, let’s get to the links.

Orlando City Draws Fire in Chicago

The Lions arrived in The Windy City hoping to rain on Xherdan Shaqiri’s home debut for Chicago Fire FC and pick up three points there for the first time since 2015. Instead, Orlando City will fly home with just one point after a scoreless draw with Chicago, frustrated once again by the match officials disallowing a goal — this time from Junior Urso — in which the replay shows no reason for the goal not to count. Our Michael Citro has the match recap here. Adrian Barragan will have our five takeaways and Michael Citro will serve up our player grades and Man of the Match later today.

Cindy Parlow Cone Wins Re-election as USSF President

In the closest final ballot in U.S. Soccer history, Cindy Parlow Cone defeated her predecessor Carlos Cordeiro to win re-election as U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) president on Saturday. Cone won 52.9% of the weighted vote from the USSF’s National Council, and will now serve a new, four-year term that will expire in 2026.

“Now is the time for all of us to work together,” Cone said. “No more divisions. We don’t have time for all of that. Our moment is now and I promise you that each and every one of you have a friend and a partner and as president of U.S. Soccer.”

Charlotte FC’s Record Crowd Highlights Saturday in MLS

Perhaps the biggest storyline of MLS Matchweek 2 was the anticipated crowd size for expansion side Charlotte FC’s home opener. The Charlotte faithful delivered with an MLS-record 74,479 fans in attendance as the league’s newcomers lost 1-0 to the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy’s Efraín Álvarez silenced the gigantic crowd with a golazo in the 77th minute.

Bruce Arena became the all-time leader among MLS coaches for regular-season wins (241) as reigning MLS Most Valuable Player Carles Gil’s penalty kick gave the New England Revolution a 1-0 win over FC Dallas. Lewis Morgan scored a first-half hat trick as the New York Red Bulls defeated Toronto FC, 4-1. After a lightning delay of over two hours, Bobby Wood’s second-half goal led Real Salt Lake to a 1-0 victory over Seattle Sounders FC at Rio Tinto Stadium. The Philadelphia Union overcame a 1-0 deficit with goals from Alejandro Bedoya and Daniel Gazdag to beat CF Montréal, 2-1. Playing with 10 men, D.C. United shut out FC Cincinnati with a 1-0 win on a stoppage-time penalty by Ola Kamara. Diego Rubio scored and assisted on a goal to lead the Colorado Rapids to a 3-0 win over Atlanta United. Minnesota United FC and Nashville SC battled to a soggy 1-1 draw, and the Vancouver Whitecaps and New York City FC drew 0-0.

Jesse Marsch Loses EPL Debut

48-year-old American Jesse Marsch took over Monday at Leeds United after the English Premier League club sacked Marcelo Bielsa. Leicester City defeated Leeds 1-0 in Marsch’s EPL managerial debut Saturday, but there were promising signs from Marsch’s men. After allowing 20 goals in the team’s five previous matches, Leeds held Leicester City to just 0.34 expected goals (xG). Leeds posted an xG of 1.97 but Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel’s man-of-the-match performance gave the home team a clean sheet.

Free Kicks

• In preseason action yesterday, the Pride lost a preseason scrimmage to reigning NCAA champ Florida State. Pride Head Coach Amanda Cromwell complimented the squad for “fighting through the fatigue” in a post-game tweet.

• USMNT star Christian Pulisic netted a goal and added an assist in Chelsea’s 4-0 win over Burnley Saturday. Before the game, some Chelsea fans chanted the name of club owner Roman Abramovich while the teams were showing support for Ukraine. “It was not the moment to do this,” said Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel.
• It’s derby day in Manchester.
• Manchester City beat Chelsea 3-1 to win the women’s Continental League Cup.

Orlando City hosts FC Cincinnati next Saturday. I’ve got a feeling the Lions are going to score some goals. We’ll see you at Explora Stadium on Saturday. Vamos Orlando!