Lion Links
Lion Links: 5/26/25
Lions and Pride win, OCB falls to Atlanta United 2, European soccer weekend recap, and more.
Happy Memorial Day, Mane Landers! I hope you’re all having a good holiday weekend. I’ve stayed busy working and checked out the Post Malone concert at Wrigley Field. Our Lions and the Pride picked up wins, while OCB lost to Atlanta United 2 over the weekend. We’ve got plenty to cover today, so let’s get to the links.
Lions Blank Portland Timbers at Home
Orlando City defeated the Portland Timbers 1-0 on Saturday at Inter&Co Stadium. Duncan McGuire scored the lone goal for the Lions in the first half to seal the win and extend Orlando’s unbeaten streak to 12 matches. That streak ties the club record set in 2020, and the Lions have still never lost to the Timbers at home.
The Lions jumped to fourth in the Eastern Conference standings with 27 points. Orlando City will be on the road for its next match on Wednesday to face rival Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Banda’s Hat Trick Leads Pride Over Utah Royals
The Orlando Pride defeated the Utah Royals 3-1 Friday at America First Field in Sandy, UT behind Barbra Banda’s first-half hat trick. In addition to being the first in club history, Banda’s hat trick was the fastest in NWSL history, as she scored her three goals in 38 minutes. It was also the first NWSL hat trick on the road in which all three goals were scored in the first half. Friday’s win was the first time Orlando has scored more than one goal since April 25 against Angel City FC. The Pride snapped a three-match winless streak and moved to second in the NWSL table with 19 points. The Pride will be off this weekend for the international break, and their next match is scheduled for June 7 against the Houston Dash at Inter&Co Stadium.
OCB Routed by Atlanta United 2
In perhaps the club’s worst performance of the season, OCB fell 3-0 to Atlanta United 2 at Osceola Heritage Park on Sunday in a rare “home road match.” The match was originally scheduled for Friday at Fifth Third Stadium in Georgia but was rescheduled to Sunday due to the stadium not being available. Kickoff for the match was delayed about an hour because of inclement weather, and the match was played behind close doors. Atlanta United 2 took advantage of two of OCB’s numerous mistakes to go up 2-0 in the first half and added another in the second half in a match that could have been far worse than the scoreline indicated.
European Soccer Weekend Recap
There was plenty of drama over in Europe as many leagues wrapped up the 2024-2025 season. In the Premier League, all that was left to decide was which clubs would qualify for the UEFA Champions League alongside Liverpool, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester City beat Fulham 2-0, Chelsea defeated Nottingham Forest 1-0, and Newcastle lost to Everton 1-0 but still secured the last Champions League spot alongside Manchester City and Chelsea on the final day. Aston Villa fell to Manchester United 2-0 amid controversy and joined Nottingham Forest as the two sides to miss out on the UEFA Champions League.
In Serie A, Napoli took care of business at home, beating Cagliari 2-0. Napoli edged Inter Milan by one point to clinch the scudetto for the second time in three years. In the UEFA Women’s Champions League final, Arsenal defeated Barcelona 1-0 to secure the club’s first European title since 2007 and end Barcelona’s run for a fourth title in five years. Finally, in the EFL Championship playoff final, Sunderland edged Sheffield United 2-1 with a winner from Tom Wilson in stoppage time and earned promotion to the Premier League next season after eight years in the second division.
Free Kicks
- MLS 360 analyst Dax McCarty praised Orlando City defender Alex Freeman for getting his first international call-up to the U.S. Men’s National Team 27-man roster. He also mentioned he could be a dark horse pick to make the 2026 World Cup squad.
- Esther Gonzalez scored the lone goal for NJ/NY Gotham FC to defeat Tigres 1-0 Saturday and win the first edition of the Concacaf W Champions Cup. Gotham FC has qualified for the 2026 Women’s Champions Cup and the 2028 Women’s Club World Cup.
- The LA Galaxy and San Diego FC released a statement condemning the violence between supporters from both clubs after fights broke out after the match at Snapdragon Stadium Saturday.
- Kevin De Bruyne played his final match for Manchester City on Sunday and is now a free agent. He has reportedly turned down a move to join the Chicago Fire in MLS and will hold talks to join Serie A champions Napoli.
- Erik ten Hag is reportedly set to join Bayer Leverkusen as its next manager, replacing the departing Xabi Alonso.
- Speaking of Alonso, Real Madrid has appointed the former Bayer Leverkusen manager as its next manager. Alonso has signed a contract through the 2028 La Liga season.
- Disney+ has secured exclusive live streaming rights to the UEFA Women’s Champions League in Europe on a 5-year deal.
- Boston Legacy FC has reached an agreement with Benfica women’s coach Filipa Patao to become the NWSL expansion side’s first head coach as the club prepares for its league debut in 2026.
That will do it for me today, Mane Landers. Enjoy your Monday and I’ll see you next time.
Zontar
May 26, 2025 at 9:20 am
Regarding the weird last minute decision to move the OCB vs AU2 match to Orlando…
I am unable to find any reason why the AU2 stadium in Kennesaw was “unavailable”. There was nothing scheduled, graduation was the first week of the month, so whatever reason it was unavailable, it became “unavailable” at the last minute. So I’m going to speculate here. MLS Next Pro doesn’t release attendance figures. This is very likely because mostly their horrible. A few years ago when they did still release attendance figures, AU2 was either dead last or next to last in the league, averaging 300 or so fans in a stadium that holds 10,000. AU2 uses a small college football stadium in the distant northwest Atlanta metro suburbs. I can tell you that Atlanta United and Atlanta United 2 fans have made it crystal clear that they aren’t interested in going there for any matches. Atlanta United uses it as its US Open Cup alternate stadium and attendance for those matches is bad too. So if I can speculate… This match was scheduled on a Friday night. That part of Atlanta has the worst, most congested traffic in the entire metro area and Friday afternoons to evenings are abysmal times to drive on the interstates in metro Atlanta and it’s a holiday weekend. I’m wondering if ticket sales were so bad that they decided they’d be better off to play the match on the road and invent an excuse for having to do so. Atlanta United has done this before themselves. A few years ago, they refused to host a USOC match in a round and said before the draw that they would only go on the road. The Kennesaw stadium was unavailable due to graduation ceremonies and Atlanta United for whatever reason simply refused to host at Mercedes Benz Stadium even though there were no events scheduled. They ended up going on the road to Nashville and lost. Keep an eye out for more mysterious “stadium unavailable, guess we have to go on the road” situations with AU2.