CSL Semi-Finals (R)

[Rocket Robin]

The complete match video of Italia Shooters vs. Serbian White Eagles is posted in the 2008 CSL match video thread. Stop reading this thread if you want to watch that without being spoiled. - DJT

Result of the Friday October 17, 2008 CSL game between Italia Shooters vs. Serbian White Eagles played at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York at 8:00pm. This was a one game semi-final game.

40 min…White Eagles Nikola Budalic GOAL…SWE Uros Stamatovic 45 yard chip down middle has Budalic at 20 yards control ball and from left roll 15 yard shot between goalie Camilo Benzi and the left post.

62 min…White Eagles Alex Braletic GOAL…SWE Nikola Budalic at 22 yards in middle finds Braletic on left and his 15 yard shot is low to right corner of net just inside post.

81 min…White Eagles Milos Scepanovic GOAL…Scepanovic runs forward from center line to get to through ball on left and rounds goalie 30 yards out of net and from extreme left rolls 20 yarder into right side of open net with SWE player letting it go in on its own instead of blasting ball in from 1 yard.

Final Score:…….Italia Shooters……….0…………….Serbian White Eagles………..3………..

Attendance was about 180 on this very cold night. The fans were mostly White Eagles supporters. This game was played at Esther Shiner Stadium which is the home of the North York Astros as the stadium was available. The game was broadcast live on Rogers Community channel.

Referee Yusri Rudolph kept the game under control and didn’t give out a Yellow card until the 57 minute mark. Adding four minutes of extra time was proper but it may have been better to end it right at 90 minutes with the game well in hand and the play getting very chippy.

Dan Pelc earned the shutout for the White Eagles and did not have to make any spectacular saves to earn the shutout. Ramon McIntosh was subbed in at 84 minutes replacing Camilo Benzi to give him some playing time for the Shooters. White Eagles forward Sasa Viciknez came into the game at the 84 minute mark as well and had a few shots and crosses. He had missed a few games with a back injury. Tall defender Mark Jankovic was also on the sideline recovering from an injury but told me he may be well enough to play in the final game.

The Shooters started off very well in the first half and dominated for the first 25 minutes. White Eagles goal before halftime proved important because it was the first clear chance that they put on target up to that point in the game. White Eagles limited to Shooters to a minimum of chances in the second half.

The other semi-final takes place tomorrow afternoon at Trois-Rivieres between the Attak and Portugal FC. Rumour has it that the Attak will bring four bus loads of supporters if they make the final next Sunday at Esther Shiner Stadium at 5:45pm. The noisy White Eagles fans were buying finals tickets after the game once they knew their team would be playing.

Robin Glover

robing@eol.ca