Playoff push takes "Soccer Saturdays" to a whole new level when FC Miami City visits Saturday

LAKELAND – “Soccer Night in Lakeland” takes on a whole new meaning the next two Saturdays at historic Bryant Stadium when the Tropics host FC Miami City and the SIMA Aguilas in a race to the Premier Development League post-season.

It starts tomorrow night, when the first 1,000 fans get free Tropics Rally Towels to welcome FC Miami City, the only team to have defeated the 6-1-1 Lakeland side. That loss came in the Tropics first-ever game, May 11, in Broward County. Since then Lakeland has gone unbeaten in seven straight, including six straight wins and a 1-1 draw Wednesday in Stuart against the South Florida Surf.

SIMA is atop the PDL southeast table with a 7-0-1 mark (22 points), while Miami is 7-1-0 (21 points.) With 19 points going into the game, a win would vault Lakeland into sole possession of second place. Only the top two teams in the division earn a post-season berth. And SIMA will visit Bryant Stadium next Saturday for another “Soccer Night in Lakeland” extravaganza.

The Tropics are led by captain Ricardo Diegues, who has at least one goal in each of the seven games in the current unbeaten streak, and has nine for the year, good for second place on the goal scoring list for the 72-team PDL. Victor Rojas and Juan Tejada are second on the team in goals with four each. Rojas leads the PDL in shots taken this year with 33.

Lakeland goalkeep Jonathan Valerio has faced the fifth most shots in the league this year, and comes in with a sparkling .818 save percentage, fifth in the league among backstops who have played at least 500 minutes this season.

FC Miami City is led in scoring by Kevin Coiffic and Mohammed Kourouma who have five goals each. The Champions have been especially stingy on defense, allowing just four goals all season. Mehdi Taieb and Eric Edge have split time in goal.

Tickets are available by calling the Tropics office at 863-240-0101, or online at www.lakelandtropics.com. They are also available at the stadium starting two hours prior to kickoff.

The game will be webcast live at i1tv.net.