Lion Links: 10/7/25

Good morning, everyone. The international break is here, but we’ve still got plenty going on around these parts. The Orlando Pride play the Portland Thorns on Friday, Orlando City welcomes the Vancouver Whitecaps to Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday, and there’s a ton of World Cup qualifying games and international friendlies to keep our eyes on this week. We’ve got a lot to discuss today, so let’s get after it. But first, join us in wishing a happy birthday to Diego (son of Oscar) Pareja, who has appeared with OCB over the years, including four appearances (one start) in 2025.

More Lions Set for International Duty

Word came through on Monday that several more Lions will be representing their nations during the October international break. Tyrese Spicer has been called up to join Trinidad & Tobago for the team’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Bermuda and Curacao.

A pair of young Lions will be featuring too, as Colin Guske and Justin Ellis will represent the U-19 U.S. Men’s National Team in a pair of friendlies across the pond in Spain.

Americans in Midweek Action

Things are much quieter than usual in the club soccer scene due to the international break, but there are still a number of Americans who will be playing games during the working week. Noahki Banks might have missed out on the United States Men’s National Team roster, but his Augsburg team has a friendly against Ulm on Wednesday, while Djordje Mihailovic and Toronto FC travel to LAFC. Thursday includes another friendly when John Tolkin and Holstein Kiel play AGF, but attention then turns to the U.S. U-20 side and its game against Italy at the U-20 World Cup. The week finishes up with the USMNT facing Ecuador Friday in a game that should be a good measuring stick of whether the team is making progress.

La Liga Game in Miami Approved

UEFA has given its approval to a proposal that would see a La Liga game between Barcelona and Villarreal take place in Miami. The federation stated that while it is against domestic league games being played outside of their home countries, it cited vague FIFA guidelines on the matter and as a result has granted approval for Milan and Como, and now Barca and Villarreal to do just that. It isn’t a done deal though, as the proposal still needs to be granted approval by FIFA itself. In addition, with the La Liga fixture currently set to take place on the weekend of Dec. 20-21, there’s a possible clash with playing the game at Hard Rock Stadium since the Miami Dolphins are set to play the Cincinnati Bengals on the night of Sunday, Dec. 21. While not impossible, flipping the stadium from hosting soccer to football in such a short time frame would not be easy.

Transfer Rumor Roundup

As you know, the transfer carousel never truly stops, and that means we’ve got some rumors to catch up on. First, Barcelona center back Ronald Araujo is said to be attracting interest from Liverpool and Juventus, among other teams, but his preference is to stay with Hansi Flick’s team. Araujo isn’t the only Barca player in the news, as goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is said to be on the radars of Manchester United, Tottenham, and Newcastle ahead of the January window. Real Madrid is reportedly prepared to submit a €150 million bid to Manchester City for Rodri next summer, although even that might not be enough to get a deal done. Finally, Bayern Munich has reportedly held early talks with Marc Guehi’s representatives, with an eye on signing him as a free transfer in June.

Free Kicks

• Orlando City held fast at no.8 in ESPN.com’s MLS power rankings.
• UEFA denied it will make changes to the Champions League format after holding talks with the Super League project.
• Memphis Depay will be a late arrival to international duty with the Netherlands after his passport was stolen.
• MLS great Darlington Nagbe will reportedly be retiring at the end of the season.

That’s all I’ve got for you this morning. Vamos Orlando!