Nuke Soccer

By Rocket Robin Soccer In Toronto

CSL Championship Result
Saturday October 24th, 2009

Final Score
Trois-Rivieres Attak 0, Serbian White Eagles 0
Trois-Rivieres Attak wins 3-2 on Penalty Kicks

Venue
BMO Field, Toronto

Kickoff
5:00 pm

Highlights
52 min … Attak RED card
Mike Vitulano (last man back) earns a direct ejection for pulling down SWE Shane Lammie as he stepped around him at 15 yards just inside Attak box. Referee Bedki Charchafian also awarded SWE a Penalty kick.

54 min … SWE Sasa Viciknez blasts Penalty kick high and wide left of net.

End of 90 minutes
no score

End of two 15 minutes of Silver goal overtime
no score

Penalty Kicks
goalies Attak Andrei Bedescu, SWE Dan Pelc

#1
SWE GOAL … Marc Jankovic shot low to left side with goalie diving right
Attak GOAL … Guillaume Heroux shot to right side corner about three yards above ground

#2
SWE miss … Mirko Medic has ball deflect off goalie and right goalpost
Attak miss … James Louis-Jeune hits bar on blast and ball tips back onto field

#3
SWE miss … Nikola Budalic hits right post with goalie diving left
Attak GOAL … Serge Dinkota shoots to right side of net with goalie crumpling in center of net

#4
SWE GOAL … Jonathan Hurtis rolls ball to left side of net with goalie staying in center of net
Attak miss … Chris-Michel Rumuni rolls shot wide right of net

#5
SWE miss … Dragorad Milicevic shot has goalie duck but gets his hand raised to stop ball above where he falls to block shot
Attak GOAL…Felix Cardin shoots ball about 3 yards hit over diving goalie

Notes
Attendance was given to me by CSL Commissionaire Cary Kaplan as 1100 sold on this cold, overcast late afternoon with a strong wind from the west. The crowd looked like no more like 500 with fans seated in the east stands. I asked Kaplan how many tickets had been sold more than two weeks ago — 100. When the game was to be played at Lamport Stadium tickets were priced at $12 with children at $8. New pricing for this venue was $20 with children free. Children’s tickets already purchased were refunded he said.

This game was quite exciting for a scoreless game. White Eagles had an advantage but much of that could be explained that Attak had to play from 52 minutes with a man down. The White Eagles defenders of Uros Stamatovic, Mirko Medic, Marc Jankovic, and Dragorad Milicevic were taller and stronger than what the Attak could throw against them.

White Eagles forwards were continuously called for offsides. Nikola Budalic and Sasa Viciknez started the first half with support from winger Jonathan Hurtis. Viciknez was joined by second half substitute Shane Lammie who played until the 112 minute mark. Lammie always looked dangerous with a few times where he popped headers to himself to get past defenders. Hurtis had the closest chance of scoring during the game when at 98 minutes his 22 yard blast from the left hit the left goalpost and deflected over the end line for a goal kick.

Player and Team Awards were given out before the game:

Player Awards
Rookie of the Year and Top Goal Scorer – Reda Agourram of the Attak
(he was a starter in this game and played until 116 minutes)

Coach of the Year – Philippe Eullaffroy of the Attak
Defender of the Year – Mirko Medic of Serbian White Eagles
Goalkeeper of the Year – Dan Pelc of Serbian White Eagles

Fair Play and Respect Award – TFC Academy
(accepted by their head coach Jason Bent and player Matt Stinson)

Referee of the Year – Justin Tasev
(the fourth official in today’s game)

Most Valuable Player – Sasa Viciknez of Serbian White Eagles

Team Awards
The National Division trophy – to first place Trois-Rivieres Attak
The International Division trophy – to first place Serbian White Eagles
Harry Paul Gauss Award – to St Catharines Wolves official Armand Di Fruscio

After the game the CSL Championship trophy was presented to Trois-Rivieres Attak. They had about 50 fans in the crowd who stayed behind to see the ceremony. Player chants of “We won the Cup” changed to “We Want the Cup” after delays to wait until the Rogers broadcasters were ready to start. This has been quite a good two week period for this organization as their parent team Montreal Impact won the USL Division 1 championship Final series last week over Vancouver Whitecaps.

I went to forty-five CSL games this year but the way my schedule worked I only saw the Attak four times but the White Eagles thirteen times. I finally got to walk onto the turf at BMO Field. It didn’t feel much different than newly renovated Esther Shiner Stadium and Centennial Stadium. On my way out on television Toronto FC was losing 1-0 against New York Red Bulls in MLS action. They might be able to start installing the natural grass field earlier than they thought as that result won’t get them in the playoffs.