CSL 2009, Quarter Finals Week 2

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Saturday October 3, 2009 CSL game between TFC Academy and Serbian White Eagles played at Centennial Stadium at 3:30pm. This was the second game of their Quarter Final playoff round.

24 min…TFCA Allando Matheson is hip checked as he tries to jump past SWE Adrian Tismenar inside the SWE box and referee David Barrie signals a Penalty kick.

25 min…TFCA Allando Matheson GOAL…Matheson takes low Penalty kick to left side of net and goalie Dan Pelc dives right.

25 min…SWE Johnathan Hurtis GOAL…Hurtis gets the ball on a break on right wing and his 15 yard low shot is into the left of net behind goalie Garrett Cyprus who came out to 10 yards to cut down the angle. This play was right after the restart.

46 min (2nd half)…SWE Sasa Viciknez GOAL…Viciknez takes 30 yard freekick from the left that hits the right post and drops down over goal line and linesman signals goal as defender clears after blocking 5 yard rebound.

62 min…SWE Sasa Viciknez GOAL…Viciknez 30 yard freekick up the middle is over wall of players and into top left corner of net over flying goalie.

74 min…SWE Adrian Tismenar GOAL…SWE Kiril Dimitrov cross from right has leaping Tismenar head ball downwards from 6 yards and it bounces into net.

Final Score:……..TFC Academy………..1………….Serbian White Eagles…………4………….

Attendance was about 150 on this cool day with the threat of rain in the air even though it had rained most of the night before. Centennial Stadium had its field covered with field turf so there was no mud. This was considered a home game for the Academy and a big e-mail was sent to the TFC mailing list but it had a minimal effect on attendance with many of the fans being White Eagles fans. A few spits of rain fell at 37 minutes but nothing more until near the end of the game when lightning could be seen in the distance. The fourth official signaled for four minutes of time added but when a big bolt of lightning lit up the south end at 90:25 the referee stopped the game. The players fled to the dressing rooms and the fans fled to their cars but everyone got soaked.

One turning point of the game was at 16 minutes when TFCA Jonathan Lao took a 22 yard freekick from the left after Allando Matheson was knocked down by SWE defender Mirko Medic. Lao’s shot hit the right post and deflected to the left post and the goalie caught the ball on the bounce after not knowing where it was when it hit the first post. A goal there and their Penalty kick goal might have changed the whole game. Sasa Viciknez did score on his attempts that proved the difference. Adrian Tismenar scored after missing the first game last week while attending the funeral of his mother in Serbia.

Both goalies Garrett Cyprus and Dan Pelc had to be aggressive coming to the edge of their box or outside to make clearances of through balls.

White Eagles won both ends of the Quarter Finals and now wait their next round opponents. A ‘tie’ would have been a good enough result today to carry them through but a loss would have resulted in an overtime mini game played right after regulation time and that would have been awkward with the downpour at the end of the regulation time.

A TFCA father confirmed to me that about six or seven players listed for today’s Academy game will play in the CSL Reserve Final in Maple on Sunday at 2:00pm. This game will be played before the Italia Shooters vs. St Catharines Wolves game at 5:00pm.

Rocket Robin

robing@eol.ca

[UltraSuperMegaMo]

Great report as always. I was there and would have guessed they're was more than 150 people, though not a huge crowd by any means. I was wondering about Lao's freekick, thinking it might have crossed the line. All and all, the TFCA just didn't measure up physically (with the exception of Matheson), the CBs for TFCA were particularly undersized. I know they've lost some of their players to college scholarships, so I guess some the older players aren't in the squad any longer.

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Sunday October 4th, 2009 CSL game between Italia Shooters and St Catharines Wolves played at St Joan of Arc Catholic High School in Maple at 5:00pm.

This was the return leg of the Quarter Finals.

15 min…Wolves Matthew Cain GOAL…Wolves Carlo Arghittu short pass from 15 yards to Cain who from right puts low shot into left corner of net from 10 yards over sprawling goalie Camilo Benzi.

25 min…Wolves YELLOW card…Danny Gallagher earns it for charging along with another Wolves player into Shooters Desi Humphrey and their high/low crunching tackle somersaults him over. Because this tackle was just inside the Wolves box, referee John Oliva also signaled for a Penalty kick.

26 min…Shooters Geron Duport GOAL…Geron blasts Penalty kick to right corner of net as goalie Tony Visca crumples to center of net.

83 min…Shooters Geron Duport GOAL…Shooters Daryl Gomez gets pass up middle to Dupont setting up a 2 on 1 breakaway but he takes 18 yard shot just over sliding goalie into center of net.

Final Score:………Italia Shooters………2………St Catharines Wolves……..1……….

Attendance was about 100 people on this cool overcast day. It had rained earlier in the afternoon wetting the aluminum seats but there was no sliding around on the field turf by the players during the game. The crowd was inflated by teams from the Richmond Hill Soccer Club which means there were family members to watch as well.

Shooters won the first game in St Catharines so Wolves had to win this game and if they did, they would have to win a 30 minutes overtime period. That would be difficult as the team had only brought 13 players. Their last game saw midfielder Matthew Stillman and forward Joe DelPriore both Red carded. I was told starting goalkeeper Claudio Perri is away on his honeymoon. Wolves had come so far this season because of their defence and they worked well getting the Shooters players called on offsides about a dozen times.

Shooters had the luxury of a full bench and always had fresh legs and even switched some players from forward to defence and defence to forward to mix things up.

Shooters almost put the game out of reach earlier when Desi Humphrey playing forward (he moved back to defence in the second half eluded a sliding defender on a rush up the middle then rounded the goalie but pushed the ball too far forward. He stopped the ball near the left end line and took a sharp angle shot from 20 yards that hit the bar and Shooters Mario Orestano took an 8 yard rebound from the right that a defender deflected behind his own net.

At 75 minutes, Shooters Fitzroy Christey helped ensure they’d advance by making a header off their own goal line when a long throw-in from the left had the goalie rush left to punch the ball before a Wolves player could head it but a cross into the box had a Wolves player send in a 12 yard shot that Christie kept out.

Shooters will once again know what it’s like to play short next week when they have something like seven players absent between this Tuesday and next Tuesday as they also play for Real Toronto who will represent Ontario in the 2009 BMO National Championships Challenge Trophy competition in Saskatchewan next week. Shooters owner Tony DeThomasis says they will be back by the second leg of the semi-final which will be against CSL regular season champs Trois-Rivieres Attak. Shooters lost their CSL regular season final game 4-3 against Wolves two weeks ago when Real Toronto were winning the Ontario championship later the same day.

Before this game TFC Academy II beat Italia Woodbridge Strikers 5-1 in a game that went into 30 minute overtime. Strikers had a player pick up his second Yellow card and the Strikers playing the last 20 minutes of regular time and the extra time, they didn’t get the offensive chances. The Academy was presented with the CSL Reserve Division championship trophy but the ceremony was spoiled by having the presentation table moved from the sideline into the center circle. We couldn’t hear a word of what was said but the players did come over singing “Champi-onas” holding the trophy to pose for their parents taking pictures. The ceremony was filmed by the guy who puts the stuff on the TFC website so I’ll get to see what was said no sooner than anyone else. Also on view should be stands ‘spectators’ Jason Bent (the head coach of Academy I) and Chris Cummins (the head coach of Toronto FC of the MLS)—they had a bye week this week—with some comments about the thrill for young players winning this competition. Bent confirmed with me that about seven players playing in today’s game were at least on the bench yesterday for the CSL quarterfinal against Serbian White Eagles. White Eagles knocked Academy 1 out of the playoffs. I also introduced myself to Chris Cummins as a TFC season ticket holder but he said he’d seen me before (good eyesight?—nope he said he saw me at last week’s Academy 1 game). I wished him good luck and gave him a card with my web site address.

Rocket Robin

robing@eol.ca

[VPjr]

Toronto Croatia 1 - Brampton Lions 1

Brampton dominated this match, especially the 2nd half. However, they simply could not get the 2nd goal they needed, despite some excellent efforts in the dying minutes. Croatia had some really good chances on the counter attack too but couldn't get an insurance marker.

Croatia advances to the semi finals where they will meet their top rival, Serbian White Eagles.

[futsal]

Toronto Croatia vs Serbs for the next 2 weeks? Awesome.

Italia vs Trois Rivieres should be interesting to say the least.