Lion Links
Lion Links: 3/25/25
Lions earn plaudits, Marco Pasalic up for Goal of the Week, Kylie Nadaner’s performance honored, and more.
Happy Tuesday, everyone! It was a great weekend for Orlando soccer as the two teams that were in action each picked up wins for a six-point weekend. It was done in exciting fashion too, as Orlando City and the Orlando Pride combined to score six goals between them. With a little luck, we’ll get to enjoy some similar results this coming weekend. We’ve got a lot to discuss this morning though, so let’s talk through today’s links.
Lions’ Performances Earn Plaudits
Orlando City blew D.C. United away 4-1 on Saturday, and some of the key performers from the win have been rewarded with places in the MLS Team of the Matchday. Martin Ojeda and Alex Freeman are named to the starting XI while Luis Muriel slots in on the bench to ensure the squad has a decidedly purple tint. Ojeda tallied a goal and two assists in a Man of the Match performance, Freeman did his best to match him with a goal and an assist of his own, and Muriel made his own impact by scoring the opening goal and logging a secondary assist. Here’s hoping they keep up the good work!
Marco Pasalic Up for Weekly Honors
Marco Pasalic was the only goal scorer from Saturday’s win to not be included in the MLS Team of the Matchday, but instead he finds himself nominated for the MLS Goal of the Matchday. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you which strike I’m talking about, but in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last several days, the Croatian did this to score Orlando’s fourth goal of the win.
Between the fluid buildup and the beauty of the strike itself, if this doesn’t win Goal of the Week then we live in a world without justice. Make sure you go vote!
Pride’s Kylie Nadaner Earns Recognition
The Orlando Pride beat NJ/NY Gotham FC 2-0 on the road on Sunday, and center back Kylie Nadaner has been nominated for the NWSL Player of the Week due to her contributions in the match. Nadaner got the start at center back and helped the Pride keep a clean sheet — marking the first time the club has ever begun a season with back-to-back shutouts. While it wasn’t the Pride’s cleanest defensive performance, Nadaner and her fellow defenders mostly did a good job at preventing any truly dangerous chances, and in the end Orlando picked up three good points away from home.
U.S. Women Announce Three Matches
The United States Women’s National Team has announced three friendlies that will take place during the summer, with two occurring in June and the other in early July. The first two will be against Ireland in Colorado on June 26 and again against the Irish on June 29 in Cincinnati. The last match will be held on July 2 with an opponent and location for the game to be announced at a later date. It will be the first meeting between the U.S. and Ireland since April 2023, when the sides met in a pair of matches during the buildup to the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The USWNT won both of those matches and will try to replicate the feat in a few months.
Free Kicks
- Barba Banda had hateful language directed towards her during Sunday’s game, and the NWSL, Pride, and Gotham FC have all come out with strong responses.
- Luis Muriel has looked like a different player to start the 2025 season, and people are taking notice.
- It isn’t just Muriel either, as all three of Orlando City’s Designated Players are getting some much deserved love after opening the campaign strong.
- In a pretty surprising move for an organization that didn’t give him much in the way of firepower to work with, CF Montreal has fired head coach Laurent Courtois just five games into the season.
- Orlando City held fast at no. 19 in ESPN.com’s MLS power rankings.
- Likewise, the Pride kept the no. 1 spot in ESPN.com’s NWSL power rankings.
- Gotham FC has acquired Brazilian international Geyse on loan from Manchester United for the rest of the season.
That’s all I have for you this morning. Vamos Orlando!
Zontar
March 25, 2025 at 8:41 am
I’m not surprised by Montreal firing Courtois. Montreal had the lowest salary expenditure of any MLS team in 2024. It’s a good guess that they’ll be at the bottom in 2025. Owner Joey Saputo seems to really not care much anymore, so firing the manager and seeing if a replacement can improve things is cheaper than getting good players. Note that when MLS Next Pro was announced, Garber said all MLS teams would have teams in it. They don’t. DC United will sometime in the upcoming years eventually join it, but Montreal has no plans to join, apparently ever. They instead field a team in a Canadian division 3 U-23 league based in Quebec. This seems to be all about saving money as they can make their U-23 team travel by bus whereas an MLS Next Pro team would have to fly to most or all out of town matches. I’ve seen some talk elsewhere and Montreal residents say that unfortunately the reality is that if Saputo sells, the team will leave Montreal. It seems that there’s no viable other owner in the area, so MLS is stuck with an owner who doesn’t care and can’t be forced to do anything beyond the bare minimum to compete in MLS.