Result of the Wednesday October 5, 2011 CSL game between Brampton City United and York Region Shooters played at Victoria Park in Brampton at 9:00pm.

41 min...BCU Andy Garcia GOAL...BCU David Velastagui throws in from left to Garcia who blasts 30 yarder from left into top right corner of net beyond goalie Adam Majer.

60 min...BCU Andy Garcia GOAL...Garcia intercepts ball from goalie at 22 yards on left and rolls 15 yard shot from left under goalie into short left side of net.

76 min...BCU Kevin Omokhua GOAL...Omokhua at 15 yards on left rolls low shot into right side of net beyond goalie Hosiko Yosuto.

Final Score:......Brampton City United........3...........York Region Shooters..........0...........

Attendance was about 80 on this cold night although there was no wind. This game made up for the one postponed from scheduled for August 7th. Their were no children in attendance and BCU is one of the GTA area teams where many of their fans are children with parents. Many in the crowd were from other teams scouting for the playoffs. I recognized a few familiar team parkas from Toronto Croatia and Serbian White Eagles.

The game was pushed back from its 8:30pm scheduled start by a Reserves League game between these two teams. BCU won that game by a 2-1 score. Because both teams wore different uniforms and numbers I didn't recognize if any/many players played in both games. Both teams used a lot of players not usually in their CSL League lineup. BCU's Judah Hernandez and YRS Kadian Lecky were in the stands watching.

At 70 minutes it was pointed out to me by a referee assessor that YRS had switched goalies with Hosidko Yosuto replacing Adam Majer. He also said that YRS were playing a man down. I saw one sub made at 76 minutes. I noticed that YRS defender Aundrae Rollins was limping along the sideline with his knee wrapped up. Early in the second half YRS forward Matthew Amore was injured for quite some time but eventually returned to the game. I saw midfielder Armando Garcia with a big ice pack on his knee and his ankle after the game as well but he stayed until the end. At 82 minutes I saw YRS Ricky Herron had left the game but not been replaced. They listed seven subs so what was going on—playing ten players for so long? After the game Kadian Lecky answered that he wasn't playing as he had a slight injury and was resting for the playoffs which start this weekend. He said they had sent all the reserve players home as they had to go to school the next day. Hmm, I'm thinking the game ended just before 11:00pm and it took me almost an hour to drive home almost straight east whereas most players would have a further drive north as well.

Jacob Matthews and Luca Leone shared the shutout for BCU although Leone came into the game at 87 minutes and only made one stop before the game ended. Roy Blanche their main goalie was on the bench but not called into the game. Their other main goalie, Kodzo Awitor was serving a suspension from being Red carded in their last game.

I didn't count a 'good' chance for the first half hour but at 31 minutes BCU Kevin Omokhua was chipped a ball in the middle and his low 20 yard shot was pushed wide left by the diving goalie and a defender blocked a BCU rebound attempt. 45 minutes had YRS Aundrae Rollins 30 yard shot from the right sideline had the leaping goalie jump to catch over his head at 6 yards. 48 minutes had BCU David Velastagui on a rush on the left actually run around the goalie and roll an 18 yard shot from the extreme left which YRS Matthew O'Connor saved just off the goal line. Most other shots were from 25 yards away or longer. Both teams were called on many offsides. Referee Justin Tasev didn't give out any Yellow cards as far as I saw.

I was there until a few minutes after 11pm and the City of Brampton still had not shut off the stadium lights but that was a worry if this game had dragged on and why there was almost no time between the end of the Reserve game and the main game.

This was the league's final game of the season for the playoff bound teams. A win for either team would somewhat alter the playoff match-ups. Brampton winning means they finish fourth instead of fifth. They finish with a 15-8-3 record. The win flips them over Serbian White Eagles but either way they were destined to play that team in the two game quarterfinal. Shooters loss keeps them in eighth place at 12-8-6. 42 points is the same as Mississauga Eagles but that team has one more win. A win would have taken them to sixth place but a match up with Capital City from Ottawa. The CSL website listed that Capital City will play Montreal Impact Academy so I'm sure both those teams will enjoy the time/money saved in that match up.

I've heard from different GTA team officials in the league welcoming the challenge of playing the regular season champs SC Toronto. They have something like eight players who are students from York University. This Friday York U plays McMaster and Sunday they play Brock. Look for a shortage of players and the absence of SC Toronto head coach Carmine Isacco who is also the head coach of York U.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Result of the Friday October 7, 2011 CSL game between Mississauga Eagles FC and Toronto Croatia played at Hershey Fields in Mississauga at 8:00pm.

16 min...TC Tonci Pirija GOAL...MEFC players can't clear ball from their own end and Pirija shoots 20 yarder down middle through players into left side of net.

34 min...TC Marin Vucemilovic Grgic GOAL...TC Tihomir Maletic intercepts defender's pass at center line and rushes up right side. He's eventually caught by a defender but rolls pass from 15 yards across the box and Vucemilovic Grgic on left shoots low 15 yarder into right side of net beyond diving goalie Melford James Jr.

54 min...TC Tihomir Maletic GOAL...TC Marin Vucemilovic Grgic on rush on right rolls cross to Maletic who shoots low 10 yarder through the legs of the diving goalie into the center of the net.

85 min...MEFC RED card...Shaun MacDonald earns a direct ejection from referee Justin Tasev for a collision between him and TC Jonatan Bustamante (who'd just come into the game one minute earlier) near the center line. Both players are hurt on the play.

92 min...TC Tihomir Maletic GOAL...Maletic from 40 yards on run on left holds off continuous bumping by MEFC Brandon Wellington and rolls 15 yard shot from left into right corner of net.

Final Score:.........Mississauga Eagles FC..........0.............Toronto Croatia........4..........

Attendance was about 150 on this cool evening. It was already dark before the game kicked off. The crowd was divided about equal in supporters.

I arrived to the usual field and noticed the referees warming up on that field where all the fences and the portable benches had been removed and the turf on the sideline had been rolled up. I thought the game would have to be cancelled but instead everything was set up at Hershey Field #2 which was just the length of the closed field away north from the dressing rooms.

Toronto Croatia dominated the game from the opening kickoff but a key moment in keeping the momentum going was in first half injury time when MEFC Jose Melo took a cornerkick from the right that MEFC Gregoire Akcelrod in the middle of the box jumped in a crowd of players and headed the ball downward from 5 yards to the left post that had TC Tonci Pirija duck to head the ball off the line.

Antonio Ilic earned the shutout for Toronto Croatia but didn't have to make many difficult saves.

Referee Justin Tasev kept the game under control. He gave out four cards to MEFC including the Red and one to Croatia. The Red card and three minutes later a Yellow both given to MEFC were needed to stop a game of hacking from breaking out as the score had gotten out of hand.

Best non-scoring chances were at 1 minute when TC Tihomir Maletic dribbled up the middle until surrounded by defenders and then tapped back for TC Marin Vucemilovic Grgic to kick a 22 yard roller that the diving goalie saved on the left post. 10 minutes had MEFC Jose Melo centered a pass from the right and shoot over the net from 8 yards. 23 minutes had TC Tonci Pirija shoot from 25 yards through a crowd of players that was caught just under the bar. Injury time had that important goal line save that I mentioned. 53 minutes had MEFC Antoine Paul rush back to save a ball on the line that was sent over the sliding goalie at 12 yards—this was undone one minute later by the TC goal. 63 minutes had MEFC Shaun MacDonald shoot a 25 yarder from the right that was just wide of the top left corner of the net after that ball had been worked across to the right side of the box. 67 minutes had TC Hayden Fitzwilliams take a 25 yard shot from the left that the goalie had to fly over to save and a defender cleared an 8 yard rebound. The next minute MEFC responded when Shawn Brown was tapped over a centering pass and a 12 yarder over the net. 78 minutes had Vucemilovic Grgic tapped a short pass to the left and he shot over the net from 15 yards. The next minute Maletic took a 25 yard freekick from wide right that the goalie pushed wide left of the post. 83 minutes and MEFC took a cornerkick from the right that MEFC Martin Artale nodded down from 10 yards on the left which bounced to the goalie. A minute later Vucemilovic Grgic crossed from the left to a TC player who blasted a 20 yarder that the sprawling goalie batted down. During the game Croatia also had two more headed goals called back on offside flags.

There was a bit of confusion about the result of this game with a 4-0 scoreline that I cleared up with the PA announcer for most of the GTA teams who had come here to observe. The 'win' just means that Toronto Croatia earns three points but MEFC only needs to win by ANY score to force a 30 minute mini-game right after the return match next weekend. That actually is a smart marketing strategy. I remember the 2007 Final which was stretched to a two game final. With Toronto Croatia holding a three game lead in the total goal contest attendance plummeted as the result was almost a given.

This was the last CSL game this season to be played at Hershey Fields. If MEFC do advance as the seventh place team to the semi-finals, they will play away to one of the higher ranked teams in what then become one game playoffs the rest of the way.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Result of the Sunday October 9, 2011 CSL game between York Region Shooters and SC Toronto played at St Joan of Arc CHS in Maple at 4:00pm. This was the first of a two game, most points Quarterfinal playoff between the two teams.

4 min...YRS Dino Gardener GOAL...YRS Fitzroy Christey rushed up the left side and eludes the sliding SCT Andrea Lombardo at 25 yards and rolls cross through 6 yard box for Gardener in middle to blast 6 yarder just under bar beyond goalie Scott Cliff.

Final Score:......York Region Shooters..........1..........SC Toronto...........0...........

Attendance was about 100 on this unseasonably warm and sunny afternoon. Support was divided about equal between the two teams.

When the first goal was scored so soon I was thinking we might get a 3-3 game before the first half ended but that turned out to be the only goal of the game. This was a very rough game with referee Manuel Orellano holding off giving out any cards until the 44th minute. A referee assessor (not on official duty) said because he let an early foul go with just a freekick early in the game, the players figured they could do anything up to that seriousness without drawing a card. The animosity carried over as the players left the field at the end of the first half and were walking the narrow corridor behind the stands to the doorway of the school where the change rooms are. The fans ran to the top row of the stands to take a look down at what was going on but it was soon broken up.

Adam Majer earned the shutout for the Shooters making a few key saves although he really didn't have much work to do in the second half when it could be said SCT was pressing. The mature/experienced backline of Desmond Humphrey, Chris Turner, Rick Titus, and Fitzroy Christey kept the ball mostly outside their box.

Best non-scoring chances after the goal started at 10 minutes had SCT Branko Majstorovic cross from 40 yards on the right that had SCT Alexandros Halis flick a 12 yard header up the middle just wide right of the post. 19 minutes had YRS Ryan Dummett cross from the right end line and YRS Kadian Lecky head the ball from 8 yards on the left wide left of the post. At 45 minutes SCT David Guzman was rolled a centering pass and rolled an 18 yard shot that the diving goalie pushed wide left of the post. 59 minutes had SCT Massimo Mirabelli pass to Halis who shot a 15 yarder off the bar and an SCT player kicked in the 6 yard rebound but the offside flag was up. 77 minutes had Mirabelli cross a pass from the left that SCT Dane Roberts headed from 8 yards from the right that the flying goalie punched away and SCT Jarek Whiteman blasted the rebound over the net from 8 yards. Halis was knocked over at 48 minutes and 89 minutes but couldn't draw a Penalty kick.

I didn't notice SC Toronto's head coach Carmine Isacco until the 70 minute mark. From a look at the York University website, the team beat Brock Badgers 5-1 in university play. That game was scheduled for a 3:15pm start so it would have been impossible to get here from St Catharines at anytime in the game. Now if he left before that game was over he could have made it before this game ended. SCT were missing York U players Casey D'mello, Carlos Nogueira, Alan Badat, Adrian Pena, and backup goalie Sotiri Varlokostas. SCT listed only two defenders in their starting lineup but had forward Andrea Lombardo and midfielder Dominic Roberts in the back to keep the formation 4-4-2.

This was the first game of the Quarterfinal. The win is good for three points. SC Toronto must win by any score on Friday to equal that total. That will result in a 30 minute overtime period. Shooters finished eighth in the standings to grab the last playoff spot although they had clinched a spot a month ago and their play in the last month had them tail off a bit. Their last game of the regular season fielding a sub filled team where a win would have jumped them up to sixth place finish and dates with Capital City of Ottawa will soon be forgotten if they can finish off upsetting the regular season champions while they have commitments for school play. The Shooters finished first last year then were upset in the first round by eighth seeded Toronto Croatia.

This should be the last CSL League game at St Joan of Arc this season because if YRS advances to the semi-finals they will play on the road against one of the higher seeds.

The second leg is on Friday night. (York U's schedule next week has them away on Wednesday night at UOIT then home on Saturday afternoon against Windsor, then away on Sunday afternoon against Guelph). This game will be broadcast by Rogers Community channel. None of the games played in the GTA were broadcast this weekend. Rogers had an open spot on Friday night and in fact re-ran the SC Toronto vs Brampton City United game from two weeks ago that was an SCT 5-2 come-from-behind victory. This was a 'good' copy--the first time they didn't cut the broadcast (and repeat showing Saturday night) off at 85 minutes because of technical problems.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Result of the Sunday October 9, 2011 CSL game between Brampton City United and Serbian White Eagles played at Victoria Park in Brampton at 8:00pm.

32 min...BCU RED card...Goalie Roy Blanche given a direct ejection by referee Yusri Rudolph for crashing into SWE Salvin Lammie at 28 yards on the right well outside of the box. Lammie was injured on the play. Blanche was replaced by Kodzo Awitor and outfield player Jose Moreira left the field so the change in net could be made.

41 min...SWE Alex Braletic GOAL...A BCU player cleared the ball back to the goalie and he blasted a ball from 20 yards that deflected off Braletic at 28 yards, over the goalie's head and bounced into the open net. (I asked Alex after the game and he said the ball hit him on the left leg just above the knee).

88 min...SWE Milos Scepanovic GOAL...SWE Sasa Viciknez on left rolls ball into box from 20 yards and Scepanovic charges through crowd of players and kicks in 3 yarder.

Final Score:.......Brampton City United........0...........Serbian White Eagles.....2...........

Attendance was about 300 on this mild night with about 100 Serbian fans in the crowd. Ennio Perrusa made the PA announcements tonight as Pat the regular DJ at this field was celebrating his 25 wedding anniversary. Ennio really is 'the voice of the CSL' as this year he must have announced games for every GTA team except Serbian White Eagles and Mississauga Eagles.

Tonight's game was rough like the playoff game earlier in the day. SWE defender Mirko Medic was injured at 58 minutes and had to be subbed off in a collision with BCU Andy Garcia for which Garcia was shown a Yellow card. Medic was limping after the game with a tension bandage on his knee. I also saw SWE sub Milan Jarosevic limping off the field after the game.

This is not the first time this year that I've seen Roy Blanche ejected from a game. He does come out of his net often to play almost as a sweeper. I can't remember seeing Salvin Lammie of SWE for months. He certainly stirred things up. At 11 minutes BCU Andy Garcia was injured when knocked from behind by Lammie at SWE 40 yards. At 18 minutes SWE Milos Scepanovic rushed on the left and crossed into the box which Blanche palmed away but Lammie charged into the net injurying himself. He had BCU defender Giovanni Annisi draw a Yellow card at 29 minutes for a sliding tackle at 35 yards. He played until 63 minutes when subbed by Sasa Viciknez.

BCU brought in forwards Judah Hernandez and Richard West both at 67 minutes to stir up the offence. West tied for the scoring lead at 17 goals but was injured the last few games. The change seemed to work as they got more second half chances despite playing a man down.

Milos Djurkovic earned the shutout for the White Eagles making a few key saves. BCU Kodzo Awitor made one more mistake besides the clearance goal when at 52 minutes he was called for picking up BCU Cameron Medwin's backpass just inside the box and the referee called a freekick. SWE Milos Scepanovic blasted the tapped back freekick that was blocked by a charging BCU player because the team took too long to get the shot away. 71 minutes had Richard West take an 18 yard shot that was stopped by the sprawling goalie and Kevin Omokhua had a 3 yard rebound but was called offside. One minute later BCU Denny Velastegui crossed from the left had West stop in the middle, spin, and take a 15 yard shot that was stopped by the goalie.

Both teams had trouble with offside calls with the Serbs being bothered the most. In the second half they were stopping before the last defender so they wouldn't get called and lost some good chances for rushes. Scepanovic ended up drawing a Yellow card at 83 minutes after throwing the ball away after being called offside.

Best non-scoring chances were at 9 minutes when SWE Kirie Dimitrov crossed from the left end line had the goalie swat the ball through the box. I think Dimitrov had three offside calls against him in the first 20 minutes. First half injury time had SWE Mirko Medic get a freekick rolled forward for him and he took a 12 yard shot on the right that the goalie caught.

The second leg of this Quarterfinal takes place at Centennial Stadium on Saturday night at 8:00pm. BCU must win by any score to tie the series and result in a 30 minute mini game.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca