PREVIEW: ROPS - VPS Arch Bell - Thursday, August 20, 2009
Lawrence Smith and VPS hit the road to take on next-to-last place RoPS at Keskuskenttä Stadium in Rovaniemi on Sunday.
As of late, VPS head coach Petri Vuorinen has moved Smith out of the starting lineup and into a halftime substitution role.
Questions about the amount of future playing time for the Charleston, South Carolina native have arisen due to the club bringing in young striker Arttu Seppälä on loan from defending champions FC Inter.
Smith is likely to come off the bench and play the full second half, but it remains to be seen how much playing time he may lose out to Seppälä going down the stretch of the Veikkausliiga season.
As for the match itself, VPS have situated themselves into a mid-table position where they are comfortably above the relegation zone, yet also double digit points away from first place TPS.
Even though Vuorinen's squad continued to lead in the Veikkausliiga Fair Play standings, a string of good results would at least put the club in contention to earn a Europa League berth on the field heading into the final weeks of the season.
RoPS enter the match with just 15 points and sit next to last in the league standings.
The hosts are co-coached by Mika Lumijärvi and Zambian Zeddy Saileti with the latter importing eight of his countrymen to the northern Finnish city to play for the club.
The injury bug continues to linger for VPS defender Jyrki Saranpää and midfielder Toni Hahto who will be out for several more weeks.
Lumijärvi and Saileti will be without the services of defender Joonas Ikäläinen, forward Jarno Tenkula and forward Chileshe Chibwe whom are all injured.
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