CSL 2012--Week 17, includes TFC Academy game

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Friday August 24, 2012 CSL game between
Mississauga Eagles FC vs TFC Academy played at Hershey
Fields in Mississauga at 8:00pm.

Final Score:....Mississauga Eagles FC.....0......
TFC Academy.....0......

Attendance was about 125 on this warm evening with the
temperature falling as the sun set.

A scoreless tie was a fair result as both teams had about
an equal amount of chances although the TFCA tries
were harder to stop.

Quillan Roberts earned the shutout for TFCA. He appears
to have found a way to keep busy now that the MLS
team has signed Freddy Hall as a backup and as he's
only 17 there's nothing wrong with putting him
on their CSL team. In 2011 he played for their CSL
Reserves League team (a division below this team).
Nicholas Lindsay, the other MLS team signing has
been playing the last few months for tonight's team
while recovering from an injury.

Daniel Botlik earned the shutout for the Eagles with
a few more spectacular saves to earn his team a draw.
Eagles best player was their captain Jose 'Joey' Melo
(played for MLS Toronto FC in 2007) who was their one
true forward and often held the ball up for charging
wingers and took quite a few dead ball kicks.

Referee Archie Korbiel had an easy game to call with
only one Yellow card on each side that I counted.
He ignored a few Penalty kick requests that had
players going down too easy although a lot of freekick
calls were made.

Best scoring chances were at 11 minutes when MEFC
Bohdan Sulypka made a low centering pass from
28 yards on the extreme left that had MEFC Darragh
Roe take a low shot from the left that was smothered
by the diving goalie at 5 yards. 21 minutes had an
MEFC player take a long throw-in from the right and
MEFC Joey Melo leap and make a 12 yard header down
the middle that the leaping goalie palmed over the bar.
49 minutes had TFCA Mario Orestano take a 25 yard shot
down the middle through a crowd of players and the goalie
palmed the ball over the net. 63 minutes had TFCA
Mario Kovacevic race to a punt downfield and his
12 yard first touch shot has the goalie push the ball
wide right on a flying dive. The resulting cornerkick
from TFCA Tyler Pasher had Orestano nod a header from
8 yards on the left wide left. 66 minutes had MEFC
Melo take a low pass from 25 yards on the right that
had MEFC David James stop and turn and shoot a 15 yard
roller from the left that the sprawling goalie stopped.
70 minutes had the MEFC goalie out of the box and playing
off a charging TFCA Adrian Avila and they avoided a
collision but it was close to being a handball call
on the goalie. 87 minutes had the MEFC goalie dive
back and grab the ball as TFCA Nicholas Lindsay ran
past him when sent a long ball into the box.
Both players were injured on the play. TFCA employed
the long ball a few times near the end of the game
having forwards charge through the upfield hoping
to get by the MEFC defenders.

Pregame and halftime shows had entertainment provided
by 'The Eagles Dance Team' a group of nine women
who did dance routines like cheerleaders (but not
during the game). The music was a bit arbitrary
with it being cut off halfway through a song.
Dark olive coloured costumes were also unusual but
they'd provide good camouflage if needed.

The tie improves TFCA record to 9-3-3 which would put
them alone in 3rd place pending the outcome of the
SC Toronto vs York Region Shooters game being played
in Toronto at the same time. Shooters were tied with
TFCA before the games began but had played two more
games. The CSL Reserves League TFCA team were playing
at the same time a home game at Downsview Park against
SC Waterloo B team (which is an unusual scheduling
glitch as it ruled out their bringing up any of their
players for the subs bench).

Mississauga improves to 7th with a 7-6-3 record, one
point better than Montreal Impact Academy although now
they've played two more games than that team.

This game was being filmed by Rogers TV Community Channel
for broadcast in the Mississauga area on Saturday night
while Toronto will see the SC Toronto vs York Region
match shown on Sunday night. Now it is possible that
Toronto will eventually see it as we recently saw the
Mississauga vs Serbian White Eagles 6-4 shootout from
three weeks earlier just last week as no game was broadcast
from Downsview Park for a TFC Academy match which was
on the schedule.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Sunday August 26, 2012 CSL game between
Toronto Croatia and London City played at Centennial
Stadium in Etobicoke at 8:00pm.

27 min...City RED card...Zvonko Bakula is shown a
direct Red card by referee Arthur Kobeil for pushing
TC Petar Mingon over from behind at the TC 45 yard
line. Mingon rolled over and over like a log for
about four revolutions but was able to return to
the game a few minutes later.

58 min...TC Angelo Srzentic GOAL...TC Josip Keran
chips a pass from 60 yards on the left over to Srzentic
at 40 yards on the right and he runs down the wing
and blasts a 25 yard shot over goalie Vladimir Markotic
at 5 yards and the ball dips under the bar.

73 min...TC Tihomir Maletic GOAL...TC Halburto Harris
rushes on right and sends low cross from 20 yards
near end line to Maletic who shoot in 5 yarder over
sprawling goalie to center of net.

82 min...TC Boris Tomac GOAL...TC Marin Vucemilovic Grgic
rushes on the left well ahead of trailing teammates
up middle but instead of passing back rolls cross from
15 yards on left to center and charging Tomac splits
defenders before getting to ball to shoot in 7 yarder.

Final Score:.....Toronto Croatia......3......
LOndon City.......0.......

Attendance was about 150 on this warm night. The home team
had ball boys and girls from the Mississauga Croatia soccer
team which meant the balls were put back into play quicker
and ensured a fan base of parents and families.

The Red card was senseless as the Croatian player was at his
own 45 yard line and chasing a ball headed for the sidelines.
The card to Zvonko Bakula denied London their captain and
a defender. It did take Croatia a very long time to
exploit their man advantage as they were constantly being
flagged offside especially veteran Hayden Fitzwilliams.

Arthur Korbiel also refereed the Friday game I saw but
was listed as Archie. It is the same guy.

Antonio Ilic earned the shutout for Toronto Croatia.
He didn't have a lot of work to do but made some key saves.

London brought only four subs for tonight's game and they
all eventually saw action.

Fans didn't like the offside calls nor the London roster
in general. A quick internet search revealed at least
six playing tonight were Serbian so the emotions were
almost as high as a game against the White Eagles.

Centennial Stadium still has the south end pole of lights
(at about the 10 yard line) not working so that leaves a
dark end. It's unlikely this will be repaired by the
end of the season.

This was the 34th CSL game I've attended this season and
the first time I've seen London City in 2012 in the post Gauss
family ownership era. I've seen many of these players before
as Michael Marcoccia and Younan Samra played for them last
year and Vladimir Markotic, Rade Novkovic, Nenad Nikolic,
Nikola Stanojevic, and Nenad Begovic all played for the
Brantford Galaxy in 2011 (not part of the Galaxy team roster
that imploded last month). With another team in the league
this year, each playing four less games this season, my
own commitments to Toronto FC, Toronto Lynx, and Toronto
Lady Lynx, this will probably be the only time I see them
this year.

Tonight, Toronto Croatia's snazzy new kits were unveiled
provided by Lika Sports. Same colours except the socks are
now black rather than blue. I would have liked numbers
on their shorts as it helped make the London players easier
to identify.

Best non-scoring chances were at 19 minutes when TC Marin
Vucemilovic Grgic made a low pass from the left finding
TC Angelo Srzentic at 12 yards on the right and he shot
wide left. 32 minutes had Grgic pass forward up right
for Srzentic who rushed in and who's cross from 20 yards
deflected off a defender at 7 yards and off the right
goalpost before being cleared. 71 minutes had LC Gent
Miftari blast a 22 yarder down the middle that was stopped
by the flying goalie.

Tonight's win moves Croatia back into 1st place by one point
with a 10-1-5 record over SC Toronto who lost their game
on Friday night.

London is in a three way tie for 10th place with tonight's
loss after winning a home game on Friday night. Their
record is 5-7-6.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca