CSL 2009, Week 15

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Friday August 21st, 2009 CSL game between Serbian White Eagles and Brampton Lions played at Centennial Park in Etobicoke at 8:00pm.

20 min…Lions Daniel Nascimento GOAL…Lions Agustin Demedina rushes down right wing and crosses over to find Nascimento on left and he holds ball and takes 20 yard blast from left into top right corner of net beyond flying goalie Jason Ferreirinha.

31 min…White Eagles Sasa Viciknez GOAL…Viciknez takes 35 yard freekick from right that bounces into left side of net untouched by goalie Kevin Doyle and SWE player’s leaping header attempt.

46 min…Lions David Guzman GOAL…Guzman blasts shot up middle from 25 yards has goalie slip and ball goes into low left corner of net.

58 min…Lions Agustin Demedina GOAL…Lions David Guzman cornerkick from right has ball eventually partially cleared and Demedina takes low 25 yard shot through players in box and into left side of net.

Final Score:…….Serbian White Eagles………1………..Brampton Lions………3………

Attendance was about 200 on this warm night. Some White Eagles fans lit flares in the second half but it didn’t have the same meaning when the team was losing.

Steve DePiero was the referee and didn’t have too much to call as it wasn’t really a close checking game.

This was the Lions third win in a row with victories of 5-3, 3-0 and now 3-1. I’m not sure why the team has scored so much recently. They were the catchable 8th place team just a few weeks ago but every game they move up a position in the standings. David Guzman, Daniel Nascimento and Andrew Silva had the best chances tonight.

Sasa Viciknez wore #99 tonight with White Eagles retiring the #9 shirt usually worn before by Viciknez two weeks ago in a special ceremony to honour great Mike Stojanovic. Earlier message board reports had said he’d be wearing #29 from now on.

White Eagles missed their chance to pass Toronto Croatia for first place in the standings as Croatia are idle until Sunday night.

Different reasons have been given as to why speedy forward Shane Lammie was not in the White Eagles lineup. He was suspended for one game for mouthing off to the coach OR he’s been fired for that incident. We’ll have to wait until the next game to see what the answer is.

City staff offered the rather lame excuse their schedule showed the game would start at 9:00pm so the press box was locked so no announcements, folk music, national anthem, nor working scoreboard were available until well into the first half.

Confirmed with some officials from Italia Shooters is that St Joan of Arc Catholic High School where Shooters and the CSL Reserve League plays was unharmed by the tornados that touched down in Vaughan the night before and destroyed many homes and a different school.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Saturday August 22nd, 2009 CSL game between North York Astros and London City played at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York at 8:00pm.

38 min…Astros Alon Badat GOAL…Badat gets pass at 20 yards up middle and he rolls ball in to center of net with goalie Anthony Santilli and defender right beside him.

50 min…Astros Shondell Busby GOAL…Busby kicks in 12 yard shot while in crowd of players on left side of box to right corner of net.

55 min…Astros Adrian Pena pushes pass from 20 yards to left for Astros Alon Badat on break and City goalie grabs at his foot and trips him up at 7 yards. The ball would not have rolled over the end line so it would have been a shot to the open net. City defender Jevon Vanderreyden had charged up for header and left City short at the back. (He was subbed right after the goal). Referee Yusri Rudolf awarded Astros a Penalty kick.

56 min…Astros Diego Maradona GOAL…Maradona rolls Penalty kick into left corner of net as goalie slumps to right.

62 min…City Brian Adidakun GOAL…City Roberto Molina cornerkick from left has goalie Euloge Awitor palm ball but it falls to Adidakun who pushes shot in from 3 yards.

73 min…City John Zdrunca GOAL…City Andrica Botica 30 yard freekick from right has ball drop in box and partial clearance stopped by Zdrunca who blasts 25 yard shot through crowd of players down middle into right side of net.

Post game Red card…City Sergio Siguenza was shown the card after the game for a post game pushing match with an Astros player.

Final Score:……….North York Astros……….3………….London City………..2……….

Attendance was about 150 on this warm evening. The game had originally been scheduled for Downsview Park at 3:00pm but it was rescheduled for here. The crowd was boisterous with a group outing of Big Brothers and Big Sisters. The crowd was novice fans though as they oohed and awed as if they were watching fireworks most often for high balls sent on goalie’s punts or balls that bounced over the side fence.

City almost scored the tying goal at 78 minutes when Roberto Molina crossed the ball from 25 yards on extreme right and Andrew Loague stopped it for control and he turned and blasted 15 yard shot that goalie Eulogbe Awitor stopped on the goal line.

Other missed opportunities were at 33 minutes when Astros Phil Rivers chipped a pass on the left from 30 yards and Astros Adrian Pena 12 yard shot hit the right goal post. Two minutes later City John Zdrunca rolled a 20 yard shot from the extreme right that the goalie stopped but the ball trickled behind him and he crawled back to stop it on his line with City Roberto Molina bumping and injurying him. At 42 minutes, City Molina rolled a 5 yard shot wide left of open net when the Astros goalie and defender Kurt Ramsey messed up on a ball near the right post giving him the chance.

These were just the most obvious missed chances on both sides but that was not unexpected for a game between the 9th and 10th place teams in the league (the two worst who won’t make the playoffs). Portugal FC holds the final playoff spot and they play the league’s best team Toronto Croatia tomorrow night.

City won their first game since 2007 last week against TFC Academy scoring six of their ten goals of the season in that game all on the Academy’s number one goalie Sotiri Varlokostas according to general manager Ryan Gauss. 2008 Windsor Border Stars players goalie Anthony Santilli and defender Scott Paquitrin stabilized City this game as they were missing from the 7-0 loss against Serbian White Eagles that I saw three weeks ago.

This game was broadcast live on Rogers Community Channel and will be rebroadcast later in the week.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Sunday August 24, 2009 CSL game between Toronto Croatia and Portugal FC played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 8:15pm.

39 min…Portugal Jarvin Skeete GOAL…PFC Biruk Nida sends through ball from 35 yards between defenders to Skeete who chips over sliding goalie Marko Culjak at 10 yards into low left corner of net.

Final Score:……..Toronto Croatia……..0………Portugal FC………1……….

Attendance was about 125 people. It would have been about double that but before that they cleared the stadium of fans who had just watched the CCAN league final between St Vincent and Ivory Coast that had ended about half hour earlier but a small percentage of fans were just hanging around. St V wore blue, green and yellow, and Ivory Coast wore orange and white looking exactly like the national teams. What kind of league glorifies the old homeland? Oh yeah. I am watching Croatia vs. Portugal.
This night started off mild but the temperature cooled off quickly so fans that brought jackets were much more comfortable than those without.

Mike Silva earned the shutout for Portugal making one crucial win-saving stop at 83 minutes when Tihomir Maletic received a pass from the right and blasted a 15 yard shot up the middle that had a flying Silva push the ball wide right of the net. Silva made other stops too but he got great help from his defenders especially team captain/player coach Danny Amaral who was not afraid of making some diving header clearances. Ramon Bailey has returned from a tryout in Colombia and played a strong game in the midfield.

Croatia had many shots but most by Johnatan Bustamante, Ante Brkic, Tihomir Maletic, and Tonci Piriaja were from at least 20 yards away and many were off target..

Referee John Oliva gave out a few cards in a game that wasn’t too rough. He had to be replaced at 85 minutes by assistant Hassan Riffii when he was injured.

Taylor Lord returned to PFC and stayed on the bench this game. He is recovering from a charley horse. He has finally been given a tryout with Canada’s Under 20 national team.

This is the first defeat of the season for Toronto Croatia although they’ve been tied a few times this year and they do retain first place in the league because Serbian White Eagles lost on Friday night. Croatia had a run like this in 2007 getting all the way to the final game of the regular season before they lost. The team than recovered and swept through the playoffs. Maybe it’s better they lose now to humble them into playing better. The win was very important to Portugal who stay ahead of North York Astros (who won on Saturday night) for the final playoff spot.

The CSL Final is scheduled for Saturday October 24th at 5:00pm at either Centennial Stadium or Lamport Stadium (reserving Lamport in case the final is between Toronto Croatia and Serbian White Eagles).

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca