Lion Links: 11/28/16

Welcome to the Monday morning edition of Lion Links. It was a relatively quiet holiday weekend for soccer in the U.S. Fortunately, soccer is the world’s game. Before we get to your links, we’d like to wish Orlando Pride defender Laura Alleway a happy birthday. The Aussie international is 27 and just getting better and better.

Orlando City Honors Pulse Victims

As the progress on the stadium continues, Orlando City once again honored the victims of the Pulse nightclub shootings, as the club installed a rainbow of seats amidst the standard purple. It is gestures like this that continue to show that the club is deeply invested in the Orlando community.

Seattle Advances to MLS Cup Final

Despite a ton of pressure from the Colorado Rapids in the first half of the Western Conference Finals, the Seattle Sounders were able to advance thanks to a goal from Jordan Morris in the 56th minute. It was all the more impressive since Morris was battling a stomach bug, and evidently hurt his leg after he scored his goal. The Sounders will either visit Toronto or host Montreal to battle it out for the championship.

English Premier League Results

The top four teams in the EPL all pulled out wins this past weekend to stay on top and begin to pull away from the rest of the league. The team at the top of the standings changed three times as Manchester City, Liverpool, and finally Chelsea each won their matches in that order. Arsenal was able to stay at fourth with a win over Bournemouth

The Ugly Side of Soccer

While we all love the game, it doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen (FIFA, anyone?). The English Football Association is launching an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children in English clubs. It is something that has been going on for years, and British police were already investigating. Over in Spain, authorities are looking to give jail time to Samuel Eto’o and Neymar over fraud allegations. Eto’o supposedly owes 4 million in taxes from his time with FC Barcelona. As for Neymar, this is not the first time he’s been accused of tax evasion, as a Brazilian judge charged him with tax avoidance last year.

Russian Premier League Bicycle Kick Goal

On our final stop around the world of soccer, we head all the way to Russia and find this beauty. It was a crazy match with no one scoring until the 86th minute. There was then two more goals in stoppage time, including this game-winning bicycle kick.

There’s really nothing left to say after that goal, except to check back later for more Orlando City news.