Lion Links: 6/23/26

Good morning, everyone. We’ve had a highly enjoyable run of World Cup games during the last few days, and there’s still so much more to come. The second round of group games will continue today, and then we get treated to a whopping six games a day for four days straight to conclude the group stage. We’ve got a lot to talk about this morning, so let’s get right into the links.

Christian Pulisic Returns to Training

The United States Men’s National Team got a welcome piece of news on Monday as Christian Pulisic trained fully for the first time since June 11. The team’s offensive talisman injured his left calf two days before the Yanks’ first game of the tournament and played the first half of a 4-1 win over Paraguay before leaving at halftime after the injury flared up. His availability is a big boost to a team that is already riding high after having secured top spot in Group D. While the U.S. was ultimately mostly comfortable in a 2-0 win over Australia without Pulisic, the team did endure plenty of periods where it struggled to break down an organized Soccerroos side and seemed to miss the midfielder’s ability to beat defenders 1-v-1.

USMNT’s Choice Against Turkiye

The USMNT will however, have a decision to make ahead of Thursday’s final group game against Turkiye. With the top spot in the group locked up, do the Yanks keep rotation to a minimum and try to keep their momentum going, or does Mauricio Pochettino ring the changes, protect the health of the starters, and shield the players in danger of being suspended for yellow card accumulation? It’s a champagne problem to be sure, but Folarin Balogun, Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, and Antonee Robinson all have one yellow card and would be suspended for the Round of 32 match if they pick up another. Conventional wisdom says to rotate as much as possible to make sure all the starters are available for the knockout rounds, but there’s also a case for staying sharp and getting the returning Pulisic some competitive minutes. Speaking after the Australia match on Friday, Pochettino seemed to lean towards wanting to maintain momentum, but that was before Paraguay’s victory over Australia guaranteed the U.S. the top spot in the group

World Cup Results Roundup

We got another eventful day of World Cup action to start the week on Monday. Argentina started the day by knocking off Austria 2-0 thanks to a Lionel Messi brace. He now has five goals in two games and would have had back-to-back hat tricks had he not missed a penalty just nine minutes into the game. The second game of the day was interrupted by a lengthy weather delay due to thunderstorms in the Philadelphia area, but France eventually took down Iraq 3-0. Kylian Mbappe got his second brace in as many games, and Ousmane Dembele supplied the other goal and an assist, while Michael Olise had two helpers. Not to be outdone, Erling Haaland got a brace of his own for Norway, as the Vikings knocked off Senegal 3-2 to set up a showdown for all the marbles with France in the final match of group play. The final game of the day, Algeria vs. Jordan, kicked off after our editorial deadline.

Transfer Rumor Roundup

Transfer season never really stops, and we’ve got plenty of rumors to catch up on this morning. We begin with Julian Alvarez, who has gone on the record saying that he wants to leave Atletico Madrid this summer and that “…the best thing for everyone is a transfer.” Real Madrid is reportedly looking to sign another center back this summer and is targeting Arsenal’s Piero Hincapie. Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi reportedly wants the team to sign Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo, but the team will likely need to pay handsomely to do so. A number of teams are reportedly interested in signing Morgan Rogers, but Aston Villa is said to be prepared to ignore any approaches that aren’t comfortably higher than £100 million. Finally, Chelsea is reportedly open to listening to offers for defender Trevoh Chalobah this summer, and Serie A side Como is said to be one of the team’s interested in acquiring his services.

Free Kicks

• Orlando City’s Braian Ojeda and his Paraguay side are set to battle Australia on Thursday, with the winner guaranteed to advance to the Round of 32.
• Thomas Tuchel says he doesn’t want to disturb the mindset of his England players ahead of the team’s match against Ghana later today.
• Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said that defender Cristian Romero will undergo tests to determine the severity of the knee injury that took him out of the game in the 57th minute of Argentina’s win over Austria.
• Manchester City is reportedly close to announcing Enzo Maresca as Pep Guardiola’s successor.

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