CSL Week 6

[soccerman2]

There was one game in the CSL tonight:

Toronto Croatia 1, St. Catharines Wolves 0

[soccerman2]

UNBEATEN CROATIA IN SECOND PLACE

Wednesday - June 13, 2007

Win 1-0 over Wolves

Toronto Croatia midfielder Hayden Fitzwilliams scored the only goal at 22 minutes to give his side a narrow 1-0 victory over St. Catharines Wolves in the only game scheduled in the Canadian Soccer League Wednesday night.

Fitzwilliams beat Wolves’ goalkeeper Andy Lucchetti from close range in a well played game in ideal conditions that saw few goalscoring opportunities and when a goal looked a possibility Lucchetti and Croatia goalkeeper George Azcurra both made good saves.

The win moved Croatia into second place in the International Conference with an unbeaten 3-0-2 WLT record for 11 points, three points behind the division leaders Italia Shooters. St. Catharines have a 1-1-1 record for 4 points in the National Conference.

St. Catharines travel to Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough on Sunday for a game with Canadian Lions, while Toronto Croatia’s next encounter is with Portuguese Supra at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke.

[soccerman2]

Italian Shooters spank London City

Sat, June 16, 2007

By MORRIS DALLA COSTA, SUN MEDIA

There's an old saying that sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better.

One can't imagine it getting much worse for London City.

On their heels of one of their worse home performances in years, a 5-0 loss last week to Windsor Border Stars, the Canadian Soccer League team laid another egg, this one of ostrich-size variety.

International Division leading Italian Shooters came to Cove Road and spanked London City 6-1 last night.

There really wasn't much that could be said. City actually had a chance to take the lead when Miguel Knox, in his first game back this year, earned a penalty when Shooters' Fitzroy Christie handled the ball in the penalty area in the 12th minute.

Knox took the penalty but Shooters keeper Camilio Benzi guessed correctly, diving to his left to stop the shot.

Things went downhill quickly after that.

The floodgates opened in the 17th minute when Sean Myers found himself with an open header in the middle of the penalty area. He popped it into the corner past a helpless Tommy Bianchi in the City net.

The Shooters scored pretty much every which way after that. They took advantage of mistakes by the City backline as well as gaps in the midfield.

Myers had one more goal in the half. It was a happy homecoming for former City player Kaidian Lecky. He scored three goals in the first half, using his quickness and ability to find the openings.

As bad as the final scoreline looked, player-coach Gentjan Dervishi said he was happy with how his club played.

"You've got to start somewhere," he said. "We created some chances. We have a young team, tonight we had three under-16 players. We're learning. I think the penalty shot changed the game."

City continued looking for some sort of combination that worked. Dervishi, who last week played in the midfield, played as a sweeper last night. Mike Sawchuk, a striker last year, was on the back line. At the start of the second half, Sawchuk was back up front.

Even with Isu Bluku, Jager Hassan and Eris Tajfi back after missing the last home game, this is a team that needs a lot more help. Up front City does create the occasional chance but they haven't been able to finish them.

But it's at the back that London City is suffering. Opponents attack them with balls down the side, stretching the defence and them ripping them open in the middle.

The second half was a different story.

"We dominated. It was 1-1 in the second half," Dervishi said.

Whether the Shooters took their foot off the gas in the second half or City managed to find some pride and energy in their game, is open to debate.

City scored in the 82nd minute when Gesi Commisso did some good work along the end line and found Sawchuk in front of the net. Sawchuk had no trouble slamming it past Benzi.

It was scant consolation.

"I know people are frustrated because they are looking at results," Dervishi said. "You have too look past the results. We're building. Look at what we did. The final score didn't mean anything to me. I thought we played well in the second half."

The loss dropped City to 0-1-5, with their next home game Friday against North York Astros.

[soccerman2]

There were four games in the Canadian Soccer League Sunday.

North York Astros 3, Italia Shooters 2

Portuguese Supra 1, Toronto Croatia1

Serbian White Eagles 2, Trois-Rivieres Attak 1

St. Catharines Wolves 3, Canadian Lions 1

[soccerman2]

NORTH YORK, SERBIA, WOLVES WIN

Sunday - June 17, 2007

Astros stop Italia Shooters

CSL 2006 champions Italia Shooters suffered their first defeat, Serbian White Eagles won and are still undefeated, St. Catharines Wolves scored an away victory and Portuguese Supra were held to a tie at home by Toronto Croatia, four games played in the CSL Sunday.

North York Astros were full measure for a 3-2 win over Italia Shooters at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York when defender Brian Carbajal collected a cross to strike home the winner at the 85th minute. The winning goal came after Jana Sadacharalingham tied 2-2 for Astros at 73 minutes following a second half goal by Shooters’ Kadian Lecky, his fourth of the weekend. These goals came following a 1-1 tie at the interval, Jason De Thomasis scoring for Italia Shooters at 33 minutes and Johnson Akuoka tying for Astros three minutes later.

The win gives Astros a 2-2-1 WLT record for seven points, while Italia Shooters remain on top of the International Conference with a 5-1-2 record for 17 points.

Serbian White Eagles maintained their 100 per cent record with a fourth successive win since their opening victory on May 18. Eagles edged Trois-Rivieres Attak, 2-1, at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivieres. Midfielder Alex Braletic scored twice for Serbia, at 10 minutes, then striking the winner at 86 minutes after the Attak’s Darko Kolic scored from the penalty spot at the 62nd minute mark.

Serbian White Eagles have a 4-0-0 record for 12 points and tied with Toronto Croatia for second position in the International Conference while Trois-Rivieres are at 2-3-2 for eight points and second in the National Division.

St. Catharines had a decided edge in defeating Canadian Lions, 3-1, at Birchmount Stadium. Wolves opened the scoring at 14 minutes on a goal by forward Antanio Serangs, Canadian Lions tied it 1-1 on a goal at 66 minutes by midfielder Ryan Reece and Carlo Arghittu scored twice, at 87 and 90 minutes for the 3-1 win.

St. Catharines improve to 2-1-1 for seven points, while Canadian Lions are winless at 0-4-2.

Portuguese Supra were held to a 1-1 tie at home at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke when Yami Williams tied the score for the home side 11 minutes into the second half. Tommy Ples had opened the scoring for Croatia at 25 minutes.

Portuguese Supra are at 1-4-2 for five points, while Toronto Croatia are still undefeated with a 3-0-3 record for 12 points and tied for second position with Serbian White Eagles in the International Conference.

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Sunday June 17, 2007 CSL game between Canadian Lions and St Catharines Roma Wolves played at Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough at 6:00pm.

13 min…Wolves Antonio Stranges GOAL…Lions goalie Matthew Willis flubs on kicking a back pass and ball gets by him. It looks like he’s already in the net when he kicks it off left goalpost out and it hits charging Antonio Stranges about one yard off line but referee’s assistant had already signalled a goal.

65 min…Lions Ryan Reece GOAL…Lions Joe Rini run on left cross in from 20 yards and Reece kicks in 6 yarder to right side of net beyond goalie Claudio Perri.

85 min…Wolves Carlo Arghittu GOAL…Wolves Tanardo Copeland passes to set through ball for Arghittu who rushes on left and cuts towards middle and his 18 yard roller is just inside right post with goalie sprawling at 5 yards.

89 min…Wolves Nick Aragona pass from left has Wolves Tanardo Copeland get ball and goalie grabs his ankle on his way by near the end line on left of net. Referee Mercy Watfa calls for a Penalty kick.

90 min…Wolves Carlo Arghittu GOAL…Arghittu’s Penalty kick is low to right corner as goalie sprawls in middle of net.

93 min…game ends.

Final Score:……...Canadian Lions……..1………St Catharines Roma Wolves………3……..

Attendance was about 90 people on this very hot and humid early evening with a bright sun from the north east.

I was at the Toronto FC game earlier today. I took my car for the first time this year as I found a cheap place to park then drove cross-town to get to this game with plenty of time to spare. For the first time at a CSL or Lynx game I saw a Toronto FC fan. It was “David CFS” of the Ultras and he’d gone to both games too.

Carlo Arghittu played a very effective game as he only came in at the 78 minutes mark to replace Marc Morrency. Tanardo Copeland had come in at 60 minutes to replace Tony Mermigas.

The Lions were repeatedly caught offside on most of their rushes which really broke up their momentum. Evan Milward was once again the fastest player on the field and his best play was at 54 minutes when he rushed by two defenders on a 60 yard run up the right wing and his cross into box was just a step ahead of the charging Dejan Jakovic. The Lions were in the game until the second goal being scored so late in the game and it was quite competitive up to that point.

It was my first game at Birchmount Stadium this season. The scoreboard was not working. They grounds crew did not put any corner flags up until well into the first half so small cones were used at the start of the game. There were plenty of kids invited from the games of earlier in the day but none of them were used as ball boys and that was delaying because of the very deep end zones at both ends that this stadium has. The team has a promotion for sports reporters to file weekly reports on their club. There’s a chance to win a 40” colour television for anyone interested. Telephone (416) 875-5916. Sounds like a tough job as officials didn’t bring a copy of the Lions roster to the press box until halftime.

Canadian Lions now have just two ties and no wins in their six league games this year. The Wolves record goes to two wins, one loss and one tie this early in the season.

Rocket Robin

robing@eol.ca