Soccer In Toronto 06.14.09

By Rocket Robin Soccer In Toronto

CSL Result
Sunday June 14th, 2009

Final Score
Italia Shooters 1, Brampton Lions 0

Venue
Victoria Park, Brampton

Kickoff
3:00 pm

Highlights
67 min … Shooters Aundrae Rollins GOAL
Shooters Vince Forestieri 220 yard freekick from right is low and Lions goalie Kevin Doyle stops on dive to left but Rollins pokes in rebound from 4 yards to left side of net over fallen goalie.

85 min … Lions RED card
Andrew DaSilva earned it for fighting with Shooters Carlos Rojas.

85 min … Shooters RED card
Carlos Rojas earned it for fighting with Andrew DaSilva.

Notes
Attendance was about 300 on this warm afternoon with sun and clouds alternating until the second half when it was all clouds. Lions kept the kids and parents in the stands after two Dixie teams played before this game by having them play a mini game at halftime. This game was filmed for later broadcast by Rogers Community channel at 7:00pm on Monday. I don’t expect any viewers except those in the Brampton area will be able to see this game.

Referee Manuel Orellano called a lot of free kicks and took a lot of verbal abuse from the players without giving out cards until the fight at 85 minutes.

Both teams had many chances to score a few times in this game.

I found the home of a few players as I hadn’t seen Brampton Lions so far this season. The 2008 CSL Rookie of the Year Adrian Pena now plays for them. He won the award while he played with the TFC Academy for three quarters of the year until he was suspended. I spoke to David Guzman after the game. He played for Toronto FC in their first year and last year played for the Chicago Premier PDL team (who were in town to play the Toronto Lynx a few hours later). He must have been the fastest player on the pitch. The 2008 league Top Scorer and Most Valuable player Daniel Nascimento is back as a striker.

Camilo Benzi earned the shutout for the Shooters. He was sharp but the defenders of Aundrae Rollins (who started in the back), Daryl Gomez, Gaston Orique, and Fitzroy Christie played well to cut down on the Lions chances.

A new DJ team replaced the couple who did it the last few years. This new group had to play music every time the ball went out of bounds. They played a mix of songs at halftime. “Bollywood”, “Italian”, “Portuguese”, “Latin (music)”, then for Greece he played the Grease (movie) medley. They were cut off by Rogers before the end of halftime so they could film an interview. I missed the Warner Brothers sound effects of the old DJs. My advice: Don’t play “We Are The Champions” when the home team loses!

PDL Result
Saturday June 14th, 2009

Final Score
Chicago Fire Premier 2, Toronto Lynx 0

Venue
Centennial Stadium, Etobicoke

Kickoff
7:00 pm

Highlights
8 min … Fire Barry Rice GOAL
Rice takes a 20 yard freekick from the left on a low shot into far right corner of net beyond the diving goalie Nils Binstock.

45 min (1st Half) … Fire Andre Akpan GOAL
A Fire player on rush on left passes to middle from 15 yards and Akpan roofs ball to top of net on left side from 3 yards with a Lynx defender charging back a step too late.

Notes
Attendance was only about 50 people on this overcast evening with the threat of rain. The crowd rivals some of the poor drawing CSL teams. Centennial Stadium now has field turf laid but the benches in the stands have been torn out and people can sit on the newly repaved and painted concrete stands/steps. Lynx have cut their expenses by not printing a game program for the first time I can remember.

The Fire’s second goal just before halftime was a game killer for the Lynx. A comeback seemed remote although the team came out to dominate the opening 15 minutes after the break. Toronto has only scored three goals in their six games this year and record falls to 1 win, 4 losses and 1 tie. Chances of repeating a playoff position in 2009 are becoming more remote. Their eleven goals against isn’t too bad but they can only play for a scoreless tie if they can’t put the ball in the net.

Jordan Webb had some good dribbling runs as a forward but neither he nor Daniel Revivo could put the ball in the net. MacKenzie Wilde was brought in as a third forward at the half but he couldn’t score either. The Lynx best chance cam at 74 minutes when Fabrizio Savarino blasted a 25 yard shot that deflected off a defender and hit the bar but then was cleared by another defender. An earlier near miss came at 41 minutes when Sergio DeLuca got to a blocked ball and his 12 yard blast from the right had the goalie make a point blank save at 5 yards. Jimmy Maurer earned the shutout for the Fire. Defender Matthew Smith was a returning player on the Lynx whom I missed out mentioning on my last game report of the changes to the team.

Referee Justin Tasev (who had the same position in the CSL Toronto Croatia vs. Serbian White Eagles game the day before) had a pretty easy evening just giving out one Yellow card to the Fire’s Chris Cutshaw at 79 minutes for chipping the goalie and scoring an offside goal from 20 yards charging in from a freekick and ignoring the whistle.

Chicago Fire Premier are affiliated with the MLS team. They are comparable with the TFC Academy in the CSL League although they have older players up to age 23. David Guzman who I saw earlier today play for Brampton Lions of the CSL earlier today played for the Fire Premier team in 2008. Today’s team brought an overflow bench of besides the seven players listed as subs to draw on, they had another bench full of players which the referee ordered moved back onto the track to avoid confusion with the listed players. The Premier team had played to a 1-1 draw just the day before in London Ontario giving up the tying goal on a 90th minute penalty kick.

The next Lynx game is against Kalamazoo Outrage on Wednesday night at 7:00pm at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. No breaks there as Kalamazoo is the division leaders with a record of 5 wins, 1 loss, and 3 ties.