Soccer In Toronto 09.09.09

By Rocket Robin Soccer In Toronto

CSL Result
Wednesday September 9th, 2009

Final Score
Toronto Croatia 0, North York Astros 0

Venue
Centennial Stadium, Etobicoke

Kickoff
7:00 pm

Notes
Attendance was about 125 on this mild evening. The game was moved from Sunday because Toronto Croatia rescheduled a rained out game earlier in the year to last Friday night so bumped this game to tonight. The early start was because an Ontario Soccer League game that was scheduled for 9:00 pm. The rush hour was still going on and it took much longer to get here than I thought.

Marko Culjak earned the shutout for Croatia making a few key saves. The toughest was at 30 minutes when Astros Nick Miodrag rushed on the right and cut towards the goal and blasted a 10 yarder that Culjak pushed high and wide left of the net. He had nothing to do after 77 minutes as the game was played in the Astros end.

Euloge Awitor earned the shutout for the Astros. He had to be alert throughout the game. His biggest moment was at 85 minutes when he made a save at 7 yards and was injured on the play then had the ball kicked at him from 20 yards when he was down and it hit him and finally the play was whistled down. Play didn’t resume until the 92 minute mark. This was the biggest reason why there was 7 minutes of injury time and the game ended at 100 minutes. At 94 minutes a Croatian player took a 25 yard cross from the left and Awitor slid out to make the save before another player could make a play and his slide injured teammate Diego Benzi. Play continued though and the ball was crossed from 10 yards by Croatia’s Halberto Harris and the goalie stopped it. At 95 minutes, Harris took a 12 yard shot down the middle that hit the bar and Tonci Piriaja then took a 15 yard shot from the right that was just over the bar. Midfielder Johnny Bustamante had quite a few chances throughout the game.

Astros had brought only two spare outfield players plus an extra goalie and appeared to be hanging on for the last 23 minutes of the game. They were a surprise especially in the half as they had just as many chances as Croatia. Forwards Zakariae Mahradu and Nick Miodrag along with freekick taker Diego Maradona had numerous chances but they were saved by the goalie or defenders or were off target.

Referee Justin Tasev had a very quiet game to officiate and I didn’t notice a card until 67 minutes.

North York Astros earn a valuable point in this clash with the first place team in the league. Astros stay in 9th place but move closer to the final playoff spot. Depending how the St Catharines Wolves vs Serbian White Eagles game went tonight, the White Eagles take over first place if they won tonight.