Lion Links
Lion Links: 7/29/26
Lions power up, Banda keeps scoring, MLS rule changes, and more.
Welcome to Wednesday, Mane Landers! If you’re wanting some soccer to watch tonight, there is the MLS All-Star Game against the Liga MX All-Stars. Orlando City’s Maxime Crepeau will be in attendance and will most likely make an appearance. I think they should move to an Eastern Conference versus Western Conference model, but that isn’t the case yet. For now, let’s get to the links.
Lovable Lions
It’s not often lately that Orlando City gets any love from the media, but it actually happened in the latest MLS power rankings. The Lions moved up eight spots to 17th following their back-to-back clean sheets over two of the league’s top teams. Crepeau showed love when visiting with Special Olympics athletes ahead of the 11th annual Special Olympics Unified Sports event.
Crepeau followed that up by winning Goalie Wars at Tuesday night’s MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.
Pride Progress
The Orlando Pride were able to secure a victory over the Chicago Stars but still fell one spot to ninth in the Goal.com power rankings. It was what the team needed with Barbra Banda on international duty with Zambia. Given how hard it is for the team to score without her, eking out the win was No. 7 in Yahoo’s NWSL Matchweek 14 Top Moments. The Pride will have a bit more to deal with in their match against the Portland Thorns on August 15 as Meghan Klingenberg will be honored by the team prior to the match.
Banda Rolls over Egypt
Barbra Banda can’t stop scoring. Unfortunately for us, she’s currently scoring goals for Zambia in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. The Orlando Pride striker scored four goals in Zambia’s 6-0 victory over Egypt. She was also involved in the other two goals. She earned the penalty for the first goal, though she didn’t take it, and assisted on the other goal she didn’t score. Zambia’s next match will be Saturday against Nigeria.
Potential MLS Rules Changes
MLS owners are meeting to hear a presentation concerning major changes to the structure of the league’s roster rules and regulations. In the proposal, the salary cap system isn’t going away but will be changed to be more open. The league is trying to change how teams spend money on rosters without completely overhauling the entire thing. Designated Players will likely still be a thing, as will incentives for signing younger players.
Free Kicks
- Evidently, NWSL teams can sign players that aren’t already with the club. Who knew?
- Former Orlando Pride defender Ali Krieger is on the list of candidates in her first year of eligibility for the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
- It’s been several weeks since the USMNT exited the World Cup and the status of Mauricio Pochettino is still up in the air. How long can U.S. Soccer wait on his decision?
- Gianni Infantino wants to expand his corruption beyond FIFA. Big surprise. However, European teams are considering a World Cup boycott if he goes through with the plan.
- After watching Inter Miami for the last few years, this level of cheating from Lionel Messi shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the video evidence is certainly compelling.
That will do it for today. Don’t forget to watch Maxime Crepeau in the MLS All-Star Game tonight and check back for our coverage of the Orlando City and Orlando Pride matches this weekend. Vamos Orlando!