Lion Links
Lion Links: 9/5/24
Orlando City partners with Sporting CP, Barbra Banda nominated for Ballon d’Or, Orlando Pride prepare for Chicago, and more.
How’s it going, Mane Landers? I hope this week has been going smoothly for you as we gear up for plenty of club and international soccer over the next few days. I’ve been getting plenty of reading done when not working and am looking forward to another trip to my local bookstore this weekend. Let’s dive into today’s links!
Orlando City Partners With Sporting CP
Orlando City and Portuguese club Sporting CP have officially agreed to be technical partners, meaning they will share information and methodologies in regards to player development, recruitment, and more. The two clubs have had links before, with former Lions Nani and Uri Rosell joining Orlando from Sporting. The two clubs will also organize training periods for academy players to train with the other club in a different environment. Orlando City Vice President of Soccer Operations and Technical Director Ricardo Moreira spoke on how this partnership will help both clubs moving forward.
“This is an agreement that will foster a great exchange of information for the betterment of both sets of players and coaches, setting both clubs up for even more success in the future. The culture within both clubs is very similar and we’re excited to see the benefits this partnership brings for everyone involved, especially in an academy level.”
Barbra Banda Nominated for 2024 Women’s Ballon d’Or
Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda was one of 30 players nominated for this year’s Women’s Ballon d’Or, which is one of the top honors in women’s soccer. Since joining the Pride in March, Banda has scored 12 goals in 14 matches this season and is the first NWSL player to score 10 goals in her first 10 league appearances. The 24-year-old also had four goals and an assist with Zambia in this summer’s Olympics.
She’s joined on the nomination list by five United States Women’s National Team players: Alyssa Naeher, Sophia Smith, Malory Swanson, Trinity Rodman, and Lindsey Horan. I’m not surprised to see as many players who play for European clubs nominated, but I do think San Diego Wave defender Naomi Girma was snubbed. The winner will be announced in Paris on Oct. 28.
Orlando Pride Prepare for Chicago
After a dominant 2-0 win at home against NJ/NY Gotham FC, the Orlando Pride will hit the road for a match against the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday. It’s the second match between them this season, with the two sides splitting the points in a 1-1 draw in Orlando on March 29. The Pride sit atop the NWSL standings, and it should be a tough road game against a Chicago side fighting to keep its playoff position. Head Coach Seb Hines spoke on the difficulty of playing in Chicago, as well as how the Pride have been able to score in different ways this year.
Croix Bethune Out for the Season
Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune suffered a torn meniscus, reportedly while throwing out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game, and will miss the remainder of the NWSL season as a result. It’s brutal news for Bethune, who was the clear frontrunner for NWSL Rookie of the Year and just an assist shy of breaking the NWSL record of 10. She finishes with five goals and 10 assists in her rookie campaign, and also made the trip to Paris this summer for the Olympics with the USWNT. Her injury is also a blow to the Spirit’s NWSL Shield aspirations, as they are currently six points behind the Pride and now without one of their best playmakers.
Free Kicks
- Enjoy the sights and sounds from the Pride’s rainy win over Gotham. The video exemplifies just how fun the Pride have been to watch this year.
- Carlos Bocanegra is no longer the vice president and technical director of Atlanta United, with President and CEO Garth Lagerwey taking over in an interim capacity for the rest of the season.
- Sporting Kansas City transferred American defender Kayden Pierre to Genk in Belgium’s top flight.
- The U.S. Women’s U-20 National Team won 2-0 against Morocco in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, with the Pride’s Ally Lemos coming off the bench in the second half. The team’s last group stage game will be on Saturday against Paraguay.
- For the first time since 2003, neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi were nominated for the Ballon d’Or.
- Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen has joined Galatasaray on loan from Napoli after being left off the Italian club’s 23-man roster for the Serie A season. Galatasaray has won all three of its matches so far this Super Lig season and will compete in the Europa League.
- AS Roma added 35-year-old center back Mats Hummels on a free transfer to bolster its defense.
That’s all I have for you today. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!
John McNamara
September 5, 2024 at 11:38 am
Last week MLS.com had Araújo sitting one yellow card away from a suspension. The game stats still show he picked up a yellow Saturday (although for what, I have no clue; I thought it was on McGuire at first). MLS.com still has Araújo sitting one card away from suspension. Any clues on what is going on?
Zontar
September 5, 2024 at 12:19 pm
I can explain. Araujo currently has 9 yellow cards on the season, including the one on Saturday. MLS saying he was one yellow card away from a suspension last week was incorrect. Here are the suspension points in MLS:
5 yellows
8 yellows (Araujo has reached this level)
11 yellows
13 yellows
15 yellows and every 2 cards after (17, 19, 21, etc.)
So with 9 yellows, he actually won’t be suspended until he gets his 11th yellow.
John McNamara
September 5, 2024 at 3:11 pm
I give up. MLS stats do not have him receiving a yellow against Nashville, but all the match reports do. I will be thankful he is not yet suspended.
Zontar
September 6, 2024 at 8:20 am
This might be helpful. You may not know about the transfermarkt.us website. It is often quickly up to date on stats, which is where I went. See the link below to Araujo’s current stats. The site http://www.fbref.com is also pretty good. The official MLS website is often woefully out of date. I’ve seen players remain listed on team rosters for months after they’ve left MLS.
https://www.transfermarkt.us/cesar-araujo/leistungsdaten/spieler/690533
And FBREF which is also up to date on his yellow cards (see the CrdY stats):
https://fbref.com/en/players/3ed214ff/Cesar-Araujo
Zontar
September 5, 2024 at 12:33 pm
On the Carlos Bocanegra firing… It’s long overdue and he should have been fired last year after the 4 U-22s fiasco or at least at the end of the season. I would say that team president Garth Lagerwey’s single biggest decision at the end of the 2023 season was “Does CB return or not?” He decided “Yes” so I really don’t know what suddenly changed. There doesn’t seem to be anything that CB did in the past few days that crossed some line and made it impossible for him to stay. The case against him, to me, seems no different yesterday than it was, say, on Monday the previous week. If I had to guess, several things seem to be going on.
I do know that a significant number of team supporters groups and season ticket holders were adamant that CB had to go. It could be that a noticeable number of season tickets were not renewed. Renewal notices went out sometime in August and a good number of STHs were very pissed off about the state of the team and some probably didn’t renew. It could be that pissed off supporters and STHs reached a level that something had to be done. Also, I can tell you that the Atlanta Falcons, who have the same owner, were structured in the previous decade so that the GM and head coach could not be fired by anybody except the owner. Yep. It could be that CB on his recent contract renewal asked for this clause and there may have been some problems in getting in touch with the owner, who spends the vast majority of his time at sea in his yacht. So maybe GL wanted to fire CB last week, but took a long time to get in touch with the owner and get approval. The season is pretty much lost for Atlanta United and I’ll be shocked if they finish anywhere above the playoff line.