Lion Links: 9/6/22

Happy Tuesday, everyone. I hope you had a relaxing Labor Day weekend. I experienced all kinds of fun activities, such as mowing, edging, trimming, laundry, loading the dishwasher, taking out the trash. Well, you get the picture.

At least I did have some time to get caught up on House of the Dragon, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and The Rings of Power. I also got to finally see the Elvis Presley biopic and listen to some records. Oh yeah, and I watched some college football and a little bit of soccer, too.

Tomorrow is the big day, with Orlando City hosting Sacramento Republic FC at Exploria Stadium with a trophy on the line. While we wait for that, let’s get into the news of the day.

Lions Get Addition to Kits for Final

It warms my heart to check out the video below of the equipment staff of Orlando City adding a special patch to the front of the Lions’ shirts for the U.S. Open Cup final. You absolutely love to see it.

Orlando City Holds in ESPN’s Power Rankings

Without playing a match this past weekend, the Lions remained at the No. 10 spot in ESPN’s MLS Power Rankings this week. While Ryan Rosenblatt may be right not to trust this team, there’s little doubt that something has changed in recent weeks, even if no one can quite put their finger on it. I’ve asked several players after the last couple of games what has changed but nobody seems to have a response other than they are playing with confidence at the moment. Let’s hope whatever it is, it continues.

USWNT Prepares to Close Out Nigeria Series

The United States Women’s National Team will close out its September friendlies this evening at 6 p.m. when the Yanks host Nigeria at Audi Field. The USWNT beat Nigeria 4-0 in the first meeting on Saturday. The game against the Super Falcons will be televised on ESPN2 and at the conclusion of the match, the USWNT Players Association will sign the new collective bargaining agreement putting the team’s athletes on equal footing with their male counterparts in terms of the economics of representing the U.S. Let’s hope the Yanks can maintain their perfect record against African competition tonight.

Houston Dynamo Fire Paulo Nagamura

After the Houston Dynamo sunk to the bottom of the Western Conference standings with a 2-1 loss to Seattle, the club sacked Paulo Nagamura as head coach as well as assistants Jimmy Nielsen and Chris Martinez. For the time being, Houston will be led by Dynamo 2 coach Kenny Bundy. Nagamura didn’t last long, as he was hired just this past off-season.

Free Kicks

• It’s been a while since an American player had his own chant in the EPL, but Leeds United supporters have one for Brenden Aaronson.

• If you didn’t get a chance to hear the TUDN call of Chicharito’s awful penalty over the weekend, do yourself a favor and give it a play with the sound on.

• Is Diego Costa headed to Wolves? We’ll see.

I’m sorry to say that’s all I have for you today, but try to survive your first day back to work after a long weekend and get ready for the USWNT tonight.