CSL Week 12

[VPjr]

Result of the Friday August 8, 2008 Canadian Soccer League match between North York Astros and Brampton Lions at Victoria Park Stadium in Brampton.

What a great night for a soccer and this was a great soccer game. Lots of fast paced action, plenty of good chances for both sides, some moments of genuine tension/hostility between the two teams, some last minute drama and ultimately a big win for North York Astros.

I did not take detailed notes (I attended the game as a fan rather than planning to report, plus my two young boys came with me tonight so my ability to focus 100% attention on the game was limited). I did make an effort to get the names of the goal scorers (I did not make note of the exact time the goals were scored…sorry)

[u]First half summary</u>

Brampton Goal – Daniel Nascimento (#9) nets his 12th goal of the season, burying an easy sitter after a fantastic pass from Nordo Gooden (#8)

After 45 mins, Lions led 1-0, despite the fact that the Astros were by far the more dominant team. Brampton scored on its one real chance whereas Astros could not find the net on its 3 or 4 really good chances. The Astros best opportunity came midway through the half when Martin Artale (#9) was sent in all alone on Lions GK Adrian Ibanez. Ibanez came out to pressure the attacker so Artale tried to chip the goalie but sent the ball just wide.

[u]Second half summary</u>

Astros Goal – Brian Carbajal (#3) - I have no details on how the goal was scored…I had to take one of my little guys to the bathroom and just as I walked back into the stadium, I saw the ball in the back of the net but I have no idea how it got there.

Astros Goal – Franco Lalli (#7) launches a 30 yard cross into the box that somehow found its way into the net, sneaking inside the right post, likely due to a miscommunication between the Lion GK and one of his defenders. I fully expected the Lions GK to make an aggressive play on the ball but I guess he expected his defense to clear the cross. Neither happened and Astros were celebrating.

Brampton Goal – Nordo Gooden pounces on a rebound in the box to tie the game. The chance was created by Lions MF ( I think #21) who made a move around the Astros onrushing GK and unleashed a shot from 16 yards that was partially cleared off the line by an Astros defender but Gooden was there to make them pay

Astros Goal – Shane Lammie (#21) gets his 11th of the season. Astros were awarded a PK in the 88th minute. Lammie took the penalty shot but had it stopped by Ibanez. Unfortunately for Ibanez, the rebound came right back to Lammie who controlled it off his chest and hammered the ball into the back of the net to give Astros a 3-2 lead.

Final Score:….North York Astros …3… Brampton Lions …2….

As mentioned above, this was a highly entertaining match. After suffering through some almost unwatchable TFC matches lately, tonight’s game was a lot of fun. The fans definitely got full value for their dollar. Tonight is the kind of game the CSL needs to record, burn on DVD and send it out to all those people who question the quality of this league. Of course, not all CSL games are this entertaining but I’m glad this one was. Its got me even more excited for Canada v Jamaica because I’m hoping that game will be equally entertaining.

Astros player of the game was Shane Lammie. He’s the team’s star player for a reason. He was dangerous all night and was deserving of a goal. Astros also got very good performances from Brian Carbajal and Happy Hall (#2).

Lions player of the game was definitely Nordo Gooden. He was set up the Lions’ first goal and scored their second goal. Very aggressive and quick player with good skill. Nascimento left the game after 45 mins. No word on why.

The game was well attended and there was a good atmosphere at the game. Apparently the Lions’ Sunday games are even better attended so I look forward to the rematch on August 17th when these two teams return to Victoria Park Stadium to renew acquaintances.

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Friday August 8th, 2008 CSL game between Serbian White Eagles and Windsor Border Stars played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 8:00.

30 min…White Eagles Dragan Radovic GOAL…WE Milos Scepanovic cornerkick from left has Radovic head 8 yarder through crowd of players in box into center of net.

55 min…White Eagles Milos Vucinic GOAL…Vucinic turns and fires 35 yard blast up middle and has ball bend into top right corner of net beyond goalie Sean Murphy.

79 min…Border Stars George Vitmas GOAL…WBS player’s cornerkick from left is taken quickly and is rolled over up field 10 yards and another player near him crosses into SWE box. SWE defender kicks at it but spins it backwards from 10 yards and Vitmas steps behind him and kicks 5 yarder to right side of net from center of box behind goalie Dan Pelc.

83 min…White Eagles Alex Braletic GOAL…SWE Daryl Gomez taps over short pass and Braletic 22 yard blast up middle into top right corner of net behind back up goalie Mike Cezar.

88 min…White Eagles Alex Braletic GOAL…SWE Dragan Radovic dekes defender at 15 yards than back heels pass from 7 yards to Braletic who taps 10 yarder from right to left side of net.

Final Score:……Serbian White Eagles……..4……….Windsor Border Stars………1………..

Attendance was about 300 on this mild night that cooled off fast when it got dark.

White Eagles dominated the game for long stretches. Sean Murphy made some spectacular saves to keep the game close. He was injured at 61 minutes and had to be helped off the field. Border Stars had not brought a back up goalie and so defender Mike Cesar pulled on goalie’s jersey and went back to play goal. Once the team was aware that there was no way Murphy could walk off the injury, they formerly subbed in Milan Marsic six minutes later to take over in the missing defender spot.

Besides the work of WBS goalie Sean Murphy, the shooting of White Eagles was off. Goal scoring/dead ball specialist Sasa Viciknez was away on vacation for two weeks back home in Europe for his first time in two years. Midfielder Nicola Budalic was also away in Europe for two weeks. Border Stars were missing one of their best scorers in Aaron Byrd.

White Eagles also had a serious injury too at 40 minutes as defender Goran Vlaski was knocked over at the SWE 45 yard line and needed help from the trainer to limp off the field after trying to do it himself he collapsed a second time. Daryl Gomez subbed in for him four minutes later. The game wasn’t rough and referee Yusri Rudolf only gave out one Yellow card to each team.

Dragan Radovic played as the lone striker for White Eagles with Milos Scepanovic setting him up on crosses and cornerkicks.

This game was covered live on television on Rogers Community Channel. I proved to be pretty popular as I was the first to figure out which WBS player went to play goal after the injury by checking off which players were still on the field. Also with SWE officials as I was left as the only one who knew how to restart the scoreboard clock after halftime.

CSL Executive Director Stan Adamson was at the game and said that the city will install field turf at Centennial Stadium next month but he wasn’t sure how this may effect the White Eagles home dates.

Border Stars have a tough weekend because they play another game on Saturday night at home to International Division leaders Italia Shooters. Shooters officials were at the game scouting for tomorrow. I congratulated team owner Tony DeThomasis for his team beating the MLS Toronto FC Reserves team 4-0 at BMO Field and three of his players filling in when Toronto FC played an exhibition against Independiente of Argentina and not looking out of place. He agreed that some of the reason is Shooters head coach Carmine Isacco was last year’s TFC goalkeeper coach and knows who to call. DeThomasis said that if his players got to practice every day (rather than hold jobs) some of them could make the TFC squad.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

[Eric]

I was at the Brampton vs Astros game last night and I agree with VPjr, it was a great game to watch. Attacking and counter attacking back and for, very enjoyable. I believe that one of the reasons why games between these two teams are fun to watch is because of the good coaching in both squads, you can appreciate there's strategy behind their play. They also have the two top scorers in the league and they are canadian born and very young too, Lammie born in 1988 and Nascimento born in 1986, I don't want to imagen what these two players can do together with an experience play-maker behind them in any team. But of course TFC doesn't want to have anything to do with "canadian talent" or better yet they can't find any canadian talented player who can score......neither did Mitchell.

[VPjr]

^ Eric, are you planning to attend the rematch next Sunday? If so let me know.'

I agree with your assessment of the importance of the respective coaches. Astros coach Rafael Carbajal is excellent and pushes his players to play a strong, ball possession style. I don't know much about the Lions coach Armando Costa but its clear that his team is well organized and are technically solid. They were outplayed last night but worked hard for the full 90 minutes and almost pulled out a draw

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Sunday August 10th, 2008 CSL game between TFC Academy and London City played at Lamport Stadium at 3:00pm.

25 min…TFC Adrian Pena GOAL…TFC Jeremy Halliday rush down right and cross in City box over to Pena near left end line. He dekes defender and shoots sharp angle 8 yard shot into right corner of net.

35 min…TFC Erick Olazabal GOAL…Erick Olazabal on give and go on edge of box stops and 12 yard shot is into right corner of net.

47 min (1st half)…TFC Adrian Pena GOAL…TFC Eros Olazabal in City box back heels ball across box and Pena rolls in 10 yarder to right side of net behind sliding goalie Matt Baca.

65 min…TFC Eros Olazabal GOAL…TFC Junior Ellis rolls ball at 30 yards to left TFC Eros Olazabal rush in on left and he rolls 12 yard shot under falling goalie on left into center of net.

Final Score:…….TFC Academy…….4………..London City……0……..

Attendance was about 250 on this rainy day. A misty rain was falling during the warm-ups and 1st Half. About 50 fans could huddle under the press box shadow and everyone else had umbrellas. The crowd was parents and family of TFC Academy and ball kids and the exhibition playing kids teams at halftime which meant their parents were there too. No fans from the MLS TFC team were here. There were ball boys and girls but only in the end zones because they were unnecessary on the sidelines with the concrete walls and kids could get crushed. The field was wet but since it was field turf, it drained enough that there weren’t any sliding tackles. The game wasn’t rough and referee Manuel Orellana gave out only one Yellow card the entire game.

Jarret Humphreys earned the shutout for TFC but he didn’t have much to do. City had quite a few shots but most were off target. City had a 16 yard freekick from inside the box at 70 minutes called because of a bad TFC backpass and Mochine Talouait put it well over the net. Matt Baca had to be sharp enough in the City net to keep the score in single digits.

Adrian Pena scored two goals and the two Olazabal brothers playing for TFC scored one goal each. The Academy are good enough defensively to be in every game—only letting in 20 goals in 13 games up to now but had trouble scoring with a league worst 9 goals up to today. Today gave them practice in their goal celebrations with shoe shining and rifle shooting popular.

Academy had about a dozen cornerkicks and Erick Olazabal took most of them. Some he put into the box and some he had another TFC player help him work it out then he’d cross into the box.

London City had been the only CSL team I hadn’t seen this season. I wondered what had gone wrong when I read about them in CSL results but saw they were starting to score goals but losing 7-4 and 4-3 before the league break. Their Friday game they lost 1-0. The record was 0-12-1 before today’s game but their only point was July 4th against TFC Academy.

Ennio the roving PA announcer today told me the attendance at BMO Field between Barcelona of Ecuador and Millonarios of Colombia was only about 2100. The game wasn’t promoted at all well. Barcelona won 4-3 in an exciting game he thought it’s just that not many people were watching it. Better for the league to brag about the Trois-Rivieres home game which drew that many fans on Saturday night against Toronto Croatia.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

[VPjr]

good to see TFC-A finally start scoring some goals. This sets up a very good match next Friday night between TFC-A and North York Astros. Astros fell to TFC-A earlier this year at Esther Shiner and I'm sure they will want revenge.

Hopefully some TFC fans will come out to see this game. good opportunity for people to see Astros star Shane Lammie (who should be involved in the TFC developmental roster, in my opinion)

[pro_player15]

i was also at the Lions-Astros match on friday. Honestly, i wish some of the tfc games ive been to this year were as entertaining as fridays game. i'll defenently be checking out the rematch

[VPjr]

^ True indeed.....anyone in the GTA who wants to see a very good soccer match played by athletic, well coached teams should come out to Victoria Park Stadium on Sunday. Let's hope for good conditions because this should be a very good game...I can't wait.

Support local soccer folks....

[VPjr]

Just got an email that Vaughn Italia Shooters Reserves defeated TFC Academy U16s by a score of 2-1. This was a battle of the 2 top teams in the CSL Reserve division. Both teams have been quite dominant this season.

Hopefully the CSL expands its Reserve division next season. I think every team should be fielding a Reserve side, especially all the GTA area teams.

[Eric]

^ I agree, but I also wish the Shooters will not use so many players from the first team to play in the reserve division games, because not only it's not fair to the rest of the teams in the reserve division which are mostly U-21s but in my view is just an ego filler for the Shooters. I hope next year the reserve division will have an age limit and a limit in the amount of players that should come down from the first team. I will say no more than 2 players from the first team and the age group should be U-20.