Chicago, June 4, 2022
The Chicago Dutch Lions FC men's team traveled to St. Louis to play league leaders St. Louis Lions (3-0-1) on Saturday evening. Same as in the last game vs Chicago FC United, the Lions had some really good parts in the game dominating play and creating chances. But also a few parts where the opponents scored a few easy goals. One of those parts was the first five minutes, where St. Louis took a 2-0 lead by goals from AJ Chastonay and Joshua Milla in the 3rd and 5th minute. The Lions picked up momentum and created several open chances with one shot hitting the post leaving the score at halftime 2-0 for St. Louis Lions.
In the second half the Lions continued where the left off and the chances resulted in two goals to tie the game. In the 58th minute Sodai Koketsu scored 2-1 and two minutes later Noah Glorioso scored the equalizer. The Lions started look for the lead but it was St. Louis Lions that scored on a counter attack in the 70th minute to take the lead again with Chastonay scoring his second goal of the evening. In the last 15 minutes St. Louis scored four more in the final 14 minutes with Chastonay scoring his third and Mcinnes also adding two, leaving the Lions empty handed.
Coach Nikhil Erlebach had this to say on the game: "We were not focused coming into the game. Perhaps because of the 5 hour ride over. They play two long balls from the back, two shots and two goals. We then play some really good soccer but miss four open chances. At halftime we pitched to play 1-3-4-3 instead of 1-4-3-3 and dominated the game and the first time they come close to our goal they score. In the end we try to push for the equalizer but got punished hard and gave up too many easy goals. It's crazy to say but I feel the boys really played some good soccer and outplay our opponent but we need to work on our defense and aggressiveness in and around the box to reward ourselves."
Line up Chicago Dutch Lions FC: William Maurice, Tyson Amoo-Mensah, Oscar Blazer, Noah Glorioso, Alexander Kinateder, Asuka Kaneda, Sodai Koketsu, Kevin Kucaba, Nana Nhuru-Frimpong, Erik Rozanski, Brennan Rzewuski
The Lions are now 1-2-0 (3 points) for the season while St. Louis Lions advances to 3-0-1 (10 points). The Lions are back in action on Wednesday for the derby vs Chicago City SC (1-0-2) at Speer Academy at 7pm.