Soccer In Toronto 09.05.10

By Rocket Robin Soccer In Toronto

CSL Result
Sunday September 5, 2010

Final Score
York Region Shooters 1 North York Astros 1

Venue
St Joan of Arc Catholic High School, Maple

Kickoff
6:00 pm

Highlights
66 min … Shooters Jason DeThomasis GOAL
YRS Darryl Gomez rolls pass from left from 45 yards to DeThomasis at 35 yards who runs up middle to 25 yards and rolls ball past sliding goalie Kingsley Alarcon at 20 yards into center of open net.

86 min … Shooters RED card
Ryan Dummett earned the immediate ejection from referee Manuel Orellano for pulling on Astros Julio Alegre at 25 yards preventing a breakaway.

92 min … Astros Nikola Miodrag GOAL
Astros goalie stops a chip shot and punts the ball downfield. Astros Roozbeh Houdaji recovers it and rolls ball down at 22 yards on left past defender and Miodrag gets 10 yard shot from sharp angle from the left on goalie Camilo Benzi who is only able to palm the ball into the top right corner of the net as he flies over to try to stop the shot.

Notes
Attendance was about 60 people on this warm early evening but the temperature dropping as the game went on.

The Shooters dominated the first half of this game and more accurate kicking could have seen them run away with this game. The second half had chances for each team. Best near scoring chances that weren’t ended because of bad shots or mistimed passes offsides were at 25 minutes when Shooters Jason DeThomasis bent a 25 yard shot from the left that the flying goalie pushed wide right of the post and at 54 minutes when Astros Erik Grigore in middle cut around a defender and his 12 yard shot was caught by the flying goalie just under the bar.

Astros had lost ten games in a row until Friday night when they upset the first place team Serbian White Eagles 1-0 on an own goal that held up until the end and rain can be a great equalizer. I hadn’t seen them play for five weeks but they were getting progressively worse as the weeks went by until they lost a few games by 5-0 and 7-0 scorelines. New coach Gerardo Lezcano said after the game it was his eleventh game in charge tonight. He has tried some new formations and found something successful today. He did admit that White Eagles had possession on Friday but Astros were fortunate for the own goal to win the game. He answered that goalie Kingsley Alarcon had tried out for the team two months ago and played for the reserves to get started. Four points on the weekend but I think it’s too late for a playoff run.

Shooters had a chance to pass the White Eagles tonight when that team was held to a tie earlier in the afternoon. The tie keeps the Shooters in second place. The tie earlier in the day between TFC Academy and Milltown FC kept both those teams from moving up the standings too. The last-kick-of-the-match shot for goal was similar to a situation a few months ago I reminded assistant coach Tony DeThomasis when the Shooters pulled off a tie against Milltown FC well into injury time.

CSL Result
Sunday September 5, 2010

Final Score
Brampton Lions 0 Serbian White Eagles 0

Venue
Victoria Park, Brampton

Kickoff
3:00 pm

Notes
Attendance was about 225 on this warm day. The crowd was about 50/50 support for each team. The sky had a bright sun from the west but would only be out for a few minutes and then be behind clouds. There was also a strong wind from the west which gave the Lions an advantage in the first half but dropped in intensity for much of the second half. Last weekend these teams played to a 1-1 tie in a White Eagles home match.

Milos Djurkovic earned the shutout for the White Eagles. The team’s first string goalie Milos Kocic was away on the road trip for the MLS team Toronto FC to Dallas and Chicago. Djurkovic was the goalie the White Eagles took to Montreal when they beat the Impact Academy a few weeks ago. He had to be sharp on a few chances.

Roy Blanche earned the shutout for the Lions. He had to be outstanding to keep the White Eagles off the score board. He would agressively come out of the box to prevent through balls and relied a few times on defenders covering for him when he wasn’t able to clear.

There were good chances throughout the game. After the first ten minutes of the Lions getting all the chances, SWE Milos Scepanovic took a 35 yard freekick from the right that had the goalie jump to palm over the top right corner of the net.

At 13 minutes Lions Blazej Skoczylas crossed from the left near the end line from 20 yards and Lions Judah Hernandez kicked a 10 yarder that the goalie blocked on the right side.

At 34 minutes Stefan Vukovic beat the charging goalie and his 20 yard shot from the left was wide left of the net.

At 42 minutes Hernandez stopped his run on a play where he would have been offside but Skoczylas charged in for a 28 yard shot on the right but the goalie slid out of his box to block the shot.

At 44 minutes SWE Shawn Brown sidekicked a 20 yard shot that was saved by the diving goalie at 5 yards.

The second half brought an SWE flurry. At 49 minutes, Scepanovic took a cornerkick from the right that had SWE Nikola Milosevic head a 10 yarder that hit the left post and the goalie grabbed the ball preventing a rebound. The same minute Brown froze the goalie out of his box on the left but he crossed over the box from 20 yards. Two minutes later SWE Kirie Dimitrov took a 22 yard freeekick from the left that the goalie caught and hung onto when he was bumped.

At 56 minutes Lions Skoczylas rushed to the left and the goalie slid out to 20 yards to poke away the ball.

At 76 minutes Lions Andy Garcia took a cornerkick from the right that had Lions captain Andrew da Silva charge in to flick the ball from 5 yards on the right but the goalie caught the ball on the right post.

At 78 minutes SWE captain Sasa Viciknez took a quick 25 yard freekick from the right before the Lions wall was set up and it was just over the bar near the top right corner.

This afternoon result leaves the White Eagles in first place but their last four results have been tie, tie, loss, tie and they may be passed in tonight’s game by York Region Shooters. Their timing was just off for the game. Players Shawn Brown, Sasa Viciknez, Milos Scepanovic and even defenders like Milos Vucinic who crossed over the box a few times were all guilty of shots wide of net or passes to no one.

Lions are now undefeated in eight games. I don’t know if it was such a good thing for the PA announcer to say that before the game and between the halfs as it might inspire the other team but it didn’t seem to have an effect. The Lions have climbed into a playoff team but one thing that might limit them is the PA announcer said they only have one more home game (out of their last five games) and that is a makeup game from two weeks ago for a game postponed for a wet field against York Region Shooters.