Orange Legionnaire

Dayton Dutch Lions v. FC London In A Battle For Great Lakes Supremacy
By Ryan Kozlowski

Dayton (OH)- The Dayton Dutch Lions will have a tough contest tomorrow morning at 1 p.m. as they'll face off against the only other undefeated team left in the Great Lakes Division in Forest City London (2-0-0). The game tomorrow at home is the Dutch Lions only late afternoon affair at Miami Valley South's Bellbrook Stadium this season. The Dutch Lions are inviting all Air Force personnel and employee's from Wright Patterson Air Force Base to this matchup with significantly discounted tickets, at $6 dollars for adults associated with W.P.A.F.B. and $3 dollars for their children.

Forest City London comes into Saturday's game in a little different stituation than the Dayton Dutch Lions; as Forest City London have only matched up against one team so far this season, the Toronto Lynx (0-0-2), who FC London beat twice in consecutive weeks (both times by a 3-nil scoreline). Forest City London could only play the Toronto Lynx twice to start off their season because all the other Great Lakes Division clubs were matching up for qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. Whereas, FC London and the Toronto Lynx can't compete in the U.S. Open Cup qualification as Canadian PDL clubs.

Therefore, Forest City London have some games to make up as the Dayton Dutch Lions, Michigan Bucks, Kalamazoo Outrage, and Chicago Fire have all played five games, Cincinnati has played six, while every other American PDL club in the Great Lakes Division have played four games, but London and Toronto have only played two. As a result, Forest City London is playing a doubleheader this weekend with a game tonight at 7:30 p.m. against the Cincinnati Kings (2-3-1) followed up by a early afternoon affair 60 miles North in Dayton against the Dutch Lions at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

However, the Dayton Dutch Lions are not going to look at Forest City London's back-to-back, busy workload as a huge advantage:

"Against an opponent like Forest City London we must work," commented Dayton Dutch Lions manager Sonny Silooy. "We cannot see any advantage from FC London playing back to back games, because I don't know them yet, they could have enough solid players for two squads, they could interchange some players and see no drop off."

The former Ajax star and Dutch National player Silooy continues:

"Were going to play our game, were going to pressure and attack. I'll have to see how the players respond; because some players can have a full week of good practices and not show up for the game. So, against a strong opponent we have to have a good read on the players and be ready to make the correct switches."

The respect appears to be mutual as Forest City London's Head Coach Martin Painter had the following to say about the Dutch Lions, “Dayton is in first place and playing at home after a week off so we expect a very challenging game."

The game will be challenging for both clubs in the afternoon heat and the winner will jump out as the sole leader in the Great Lakes Division.

LAST GAME'S OUT: