Lion Links: 9/12/23

Happy Tuesday, everyone! We have an extremely busy week ahead of us. The United States Men’s National Team is back in action tonight, Orlando City B travels to Chicago on Friday, Orlando City takes on the Columbus Crew on Saturday, and the Orlando Pride are at home against the North Carolina Courage on Sunday. All that action means that there’s plenty to discuss, so let’s get after it.

DeJuan Jones Replaces Joe Scally on USMNT Roster

DeJuan Jones has been added to the USMNT’s roster ahead of tonight’s friendly against Oman. Jones comes in as a replacement for Joe Scally, who has left camp for family reasons. He will be in line to earn his seventh cap for the team after making his debut earlier this year. Additionally, Gregg Berhalter announced that Ethan Horvath will get the start in net for tonight’s game, following Matt Turner leaving camp due to the impending birth of his child.

Paul Pogba Faces Doping Ban

Paul Pogba is facing the possibility of a four-year ban after testing positive for testosterone following a Serie A game last month. Pogba tested positive after a game on Aug. 20 in which he was on the bench but did not play. He has been suspended, effective immediately, and could be banned for up to four years depending on the results of a backup sample and subsequent trial. He has struggled with injuries since returning to Juventus from Manchester United, and might be back on the sidelines for an extended period of time depending on how things play out.

Euro 2024 Qualifying Continues

Qualifying rolls on for Euro 2024 next summer, and there are several results to catch up on from Monday. Portugal tallied the most eye-popping scoreline of the day, as it smashed nine goals past an overmatched Luxembourg, which did not manage to get on the board. It was Portugal’s biggest win in a competitive match and came when Cristiano Ronaldo was suspended.

An Aaron Ramsey penalty kick and late goal from David Brooks were enough to give Wales a 2-0 victory over Latvia, which has not picked up a point in five attempts.

Slovakia scored three times in the opening six minutes of the match and cruised to a 3-0 win over Liechtenstein.

A pair of 1-0 wins rounded out the day’s action, with Iceland scoring a winner in stoppage time over Bosnia and Herzegovina for its second win of qualifying, while Croatia scored in the 13th minute and hung on to beat Armenia.

Transfer Rumor Roundup

Transfer season never truly stops, and there are several interesting rumors to talk through this morning. First up, Jadon Sancho is reportedly expected to leave Manchester United in the January window. The winger is said to have had talks with Erik ten Hag on Monday which did not go well, with the relationship between the two now broken.

As a possible domino effect, the Red Devils have been linked with a surprising move for winger Anwar El Ghazi, who is currently a free agent after being released by PSV Eindhoven and has previous Premier League experience with Everton and Aston Villa.

Finally, Marco Verratti has arrived in Qatar ahead of an expected move to Al Arabi.

Free Kicks

• Duncan McGuire makes the cut as one of the most underrated signings in Major League Soccer this year.
• Take the time to brush up on what has made Wilfried Nancy so successful ahead of Orlando’s match with the Crew this weekend.
• Get some insight into how the USMNT keeps winning the battles for dual nationals.

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