Lion Links: 3/28/23

Happy Tuesday, everyone! The soccer has been flying thick and fast since last Friday, but now we can finally take a breather for a couple of days before OCB plays Friday and Orlando City’s next game on Saturday. There are plenty of interesting things to talk over today, so let’s get into the links.

Martin Ojeda Receives League Honors for Week 5

Martin Ojeda has been named in the latest edition of the clunkily named MLS Team of the Matchday. Ojeda bagged the opening goal and the primary assist on Ivan Angulo’s eventual game-winning goal during Orlando City’s streak-snapping 2-1 road victory over the Philadelphia Union on Saturday. Outside of those big stats, he also made two key passes, had two tackles and two clearances, and passed with 79.6% accuracy. That was all good enough for him to earn the Man of the Match nod from Marcus Mitchell, who graded him a 7.5 out of 10. It’s nice to also see him get some national recognition, and hopefully this will be just the first of many times a strong performance of his is honored.

USMNT Beats El Salvador at Exploria Stadium

The United States Men’s National Team beat El Salvador at Exploria Stadium by a score of 1-0. The Yanks had a first half that was plagued by bad touches, poor set pieces, and Weston McKennie failing to do anything with the best chance of the game at the end of the half. It isn’t the first time the U.S. has struggled with El Salvador in Concacaf Nations League play, but the good guys were able to take all three points from this one. Ricardo Pepi’s goal in the 62nd minute proved to be the game winner, and while the final score was tighter than many people would have wanted, myself included, the USMNT has advanced and remains undefeated at Exploria Stadium (6-0-0) in the process.

Spanish Police Clash With Peru’s National Team

Video has emerged of Spanish police clashing with the Peruvian national team, with Pedro Gallese among the players spotted in the footage. It seems that the team was meeting fans for an event and Peruvian journalist Diego Montalvan reports that police became involved in something with former Lion Yoshi Yotun, which prompted El Pulpo and Alex Valera to step in and defend him. There isn’t much coverage of the incident aside from a few videos on Twitter, but the club did release a statement that Gallese is safe, so we will update you all if/when more information becomes available. Peru is scheduled to play a friendly against Morocco in Madrid this afternoon.

A Conversation With Brenden Aaronson

Brenden Aaronson took some time to speak with the folks over at Pro Soccer Wire before yesterday’s match against El Salvador. Among the topics of conversation were his first season at Leeds United and what it was like to be back with the United States Men’s National Team. He mentioned that he was able to visit with his family before the game, who he hadn’t seen in several months, and while on the topic of family, he also spoke about the ascent of his brother, Paxten. All in all, it’s a very interesting sit-down and one that’s worth checking out to learn a little more about him.

Free Kicks

• The Orlando Pride have received high marks for the new kit they released for the 2023 season.
• Orlando City stayed at the ninth spot in ESPN.com’s latest MLS power rankings.
• There is speculation that every team in the league might chip in to pay Lionel Messi’s salary in order to help get a move to MLS over the line.
• It might be time to evaluate how Daniel Levy runs things at Tottenham Hotspur after another coach came and went without winning a trophy.
• Matt Turner had a pretty cool gender reveal at the end of last night’s game!

That’s everything I have for you today. Y’all stay safe out there.