Lion Links: 12/15/20 Share this story Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports Happy Tuesday, everyone. Today is a busy day with the MLS Expansion Draft and Concacaf Champions league matches all taking place. That means there’s a lot of news to cover, so lets get into it. Lions Announce Protected List Orlando City SC has announced its list of protected players ahead of today’s MLS Expansion Draft. New club Austin FC will select five players to help fill out its first ever roster, and each MLS club is able to protect players from being selected. The Lions have 18 players on their protected list, with six of those automatically protected due to either being a Homegrown or Generation Adidas player. Alexander Alvarado, Matheus Aias, Tesho Akindele, Joey DeZart, Kamal Miller, Kyle Smith, and Uri Rosell are the players who were not on Orlando’s protected list. The biggest potential loss for Orlando is starter Rosell, although his age and salary mean he probably won’t be selected. A possible selection could be Smith, as he’s a proven versatile quantity at the MLS level and doesn’t cost too much salary-wise. You can find the full list of MLS players available for selection here, with some of the best players available for selection here.