Lion Links: 3/20/26

Happy Friday, Mane Landers! The tough part of the week is nearly over and we have an exciting weekend of soccer ahead of us, starting with the Orlando Pride’s match tonight. Before we dive into today’s links, let’s all wish a happy birthday to Pride forward Barbra Banda. Hopefully she can celebrate it in style tonight at home with some goals.

Orlando City Players Earn Call-Ups

Orlando City goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau was called up for Canada’s pair of friendlies against Iceland and Tunisia later this month. His time in Orlando has been a rollercoaster so far, so it will be interesting to see how the fight for the starting job between him and Dayne St. Clair develops. Canada’s roster also includes plenty of former Lions in Cyle Larin, Richie Laryea, and Kamal Miller.

Former USL Lion and OCB assistant coach Rob Valentino called up 20 players for the U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team’s training camp, including Orlando defender Tahir Reid-Brown. Fellow Lions Justin Ellis and Colin Guske were both called up to the U.S. U-19 Men’s National Team for its training camp in Spain as well.

Orlando Pride Host the Denver Summit Tonight

The Orlando Pride will look to get back on track tonight when they host the Denver Summit at 8 p.m. Orlando leaned on its younger players in its season opener, with their versatility helping cover some of the gaps due to injury. While it wasn’t enough to get a result, there were bright spots to build on for the Pride and both teams will fight for their first points of the season tonight. It’s Denver’s first trip to Orlando, but it will be a homecoming of sorts for former Pride players Ally Brazier (née Watt) and Carson Pickett.

Orlando Pride Theme Nights Unveiled

The promotional schedule for this year’s Orlando Pride season was announced and there are nine theme nights set to take place. The one that stands out the most to me is the match on Sept. 6 where fans are encouraged to bring new teddy bears to the game and throw them on the field at halftime for donation to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. This year’s Pride In Our City night will be on May 29 and will include a tribute to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting 10 years ago. The annual dog-friendly night will be on Oct. 2, and fan appreciation night will be on Aug. 7. There are plenty of different themes this year, so be sure to check them out and plan accordingly if coming to a game on one of those days.

MLS Announces 2027 Sprint Season Details

MLS officially laid out how next year’s shortened season will go down as the league works on transitioning to a new schedule format. Each team will exclusively play teams in their own conference next season, with seven games at home and seven on the road from February to April. The top eight teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs, which will be a single-elimination format. Despite the season being shortened, there will still be 2028 Concacaf Champions Cup berths up for grabs based on the results. The 2027-2028 season will then kick off in July to start a new era of sorts for the league.

Free Kicks

• Soccer games at the 2028 Summer Olympics will be hosted all over the country and not just in Los Angeles. BMO Stadium and Dignity Health Sports Park won’t be a soccer venue at all, and the Rose Bowl will host both gold medal games.
• American midfielder Tyler Adams will miss Bournemouth’s game today against Manchester United due to injury.
• The Houston Dash officially traded Yazmeen Ryan and Delanie Sheehan to the Denver Summit, receiving $800,000 in intraleague transfer funds and $200,000 in expansion allocation funds in return.
• FIFA passed a new rule that will require each team to have at least one woman as a head coach or assistant coach at women’s soccer tournaments moving forward.
• Nottingham Forest beat Midtjylland in a penalty shootout to advance to the Europa League quarterfinals. Aston Villa, Porto, and Real Betis are a few of the other teams moving on to the next round.
• According to the U.S. Soccer Federation’s tax filing, United States Men’s National Team Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino earned over $5 million in his first seven months on the job. It’s a pretty hefty amount of money compared to others in the program.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend. Go Orlando!