Result of the A-League game of Friday August 8th, 2003 between Toronto Lynx and Vancouver Whitecaps played at Centennial Stadium at 7:30pm.
Toronto Lynx (all white, black names and numbers, yellow trim)
.............................................22 Theo Zagar (cpt)
...............16 Josue Mayard...2 Jan Veenhof...3 Mauricio Vincello
17 Nick Blicharski...8 Brian Ashton...5 Shawn Faria...9 David DiPlacido...14 Tyler Hughes
............................18 Ryan Lucas...6 Nikki Vignjevic
Subs:...00 Brain Rowland (gk)...24 Paul Lewis (def/mid)...25 Jonathan Westmaas (mid)
team officials:...head coach Peter Pinizzotto...assistant coach Alberto Furtado...goalkeeping coach Paolo Silva...medical co-ordinator Dr Robert Gringmuth.
Vancouver Whitecaps (blue socks and shirts, white shorts, names and numbers)
.............................................1 Mike Franks
.................15 Geordie Lyall...23 Jeremie Piette...22 Chris Franks
18 Andrew Veer...12 Oliver Heald...7 Paul Dailly...13 Jeff Skinner
.................14 John Sulentic...19 Carlo Corazzin...26 Jason Jordan
Subs:...29 Alex Marques (gk)...8 Steve Kindel (mid)...9 Alfredo Valente (mid)...11 Tiarnan King (mid)...24 Niall Thompson (fwd)...28 Gordon Chin (mid)
team officials:...head coach Tony Fonseca...assistant coaches Nick Dasovic and Tony Fransisco...goalkeeping Colin Jenks.
Game Officials:...referee Tiger Liu...referee's assistants Mike Lambert and Joe Fletcher...fourth official Justin Tasev
1st Half:...game starts 7:37pm...Lynx defend south end on this hot humid evening, mostly overcast with the sun in the northwest. There was a threat of rain. The field was pretty chewed up.
3 min...VWC player 30 yard quick freekick is well wide left.
4 min...Lynx YELLOW card...Vignjevic for high kick on VWC Jordan at center line sideline.
9 min...VWC Sulentic 30 yard freekick on right, Lynx Ashton kicks low ball away in box.
11 min...Lynx Hughes chips 20 yard cross from left over leaping Lynx forward.
12 min...Lynx DiPlacido bounces 30 yard shot up middle saved by goalie.
12 min...Lynx Faria injured in collision at Lynx 40 yard line with some kind of shoulder problem.
14 min...VWC players in furious in Lynx box action has VWC player cross from right edge of box where another VWC player heads down on left edge for VWC player take shot but sliding Lynx goalie makes point blank shot from 5 yards on left post. Rebound to VWC Corazzin whose 10 yard shot has fallen goalie lift arm and knock forward ball. VWC Jordan steps back from net to try to hook 5 yard ball over goalie but Lynx Vincello with arm up has it hit his hand and he clears it through box to right side without being seen. (details thanks to sportscast replay).
15 min...VWC Sulentic fires 22 yard shot over net but referee awards cornerkick.
19 min...Lynx Vignjevic cross from left blocked in box, Lynx Ashton 22 yard low shot wide right.
24 min...Lynx Lucas pushes VWC Sulentic as referee changes his mind about awarding freekick.
25 min...Lynx Blicharski runs down right and cross into box, VWC defender heads behind line for cornerkick.
26 min...Lynx Vignjevic cornerkick from right is cleared from box, Lynx Blicharski runs around defender on right but passes back to Lynx Vignjevic who has shot blocked.
28 min...Lynx Vincello holds off VWC Corazzin driving him out of box.
31 min...Lynx Lucas gets pass on left 15 yards but turns around and fires well wide left.
32 min...Lynx Hughes on left crosses over box while in clear between him and goalie.
33 min...Lynx Hughes rush on left, passes over to Lynx Ashton up middle who is sandwiched by two defenders but no call when he goes down.
35 min...VWC Veer gets ball centered to him and blasts 35 yard shot well over net.
37 min...Lynx Vignjevic cornerkick from right, Lynx Ashton on right dedge of box, bumped by defender but gets to ball to send ball well over net.
38 min...VWC Piette 60 yard runs up middle but defender checks him off ball at 22 yards.
39 min...Lynx Mayard slides and blocks kick by VWC Franks at 25 yards but freekick is awarded.
40 min...VWC Franks chips 25 yard from left wide left of net.
41 min...VWC Sulentic 30 yard freekick from right blocked by Lynx Hughes.
42 min...VWC Jordan injuured on left just outside box.
43 min...VWC Franks 25 yard freekick from extreme left.
43 min...VWC Dailly 25 yard shot caught by goalie.
45 min...Lynx Faria chips into box, Lynx Lucas flubs one timer from 7 yards and ball trickles to goalie.
45 min...VWC Sulentic freekick from 25 yards on right is passed across to VWC Heald whose low shot up middle has VWC player tip ball but diving goalie makes save on left post.
46 min...Lynx DiPlacido dekes three VWC guys up middle but passes ahead to Lynx Blicharski on edge of box that's whistled offside.
46 min...half ends 8:23pm.
2nd Half:...half starts 8:39pm.
halftime sub...VWC Valente replaces Sulentic.
46 min...VWC Corazzin cross from right, VWC Valente shanks 5 yard shot wide left of net from left.
48 min...Lynx Veenhof checks VWC Jordan inside Lynx box.
48 min...Lynx goalie boots ball but deflects off VWC Corazzin and deflects wide left.
49 min...Lynx Vignjevic cornerkick from right, Lynx Veenhof can't quite turn header from 5 yards.
51 min...VWC Heald 45 yard freekick from left is caught on right side of box by leaping goalie.
57 min...Whitecaps Carlo Corazzin GOAL...Whitecaps Jason Jordan crosses into Lynx box from left and ball is headed upward by leaping defender Mauricio Vincello but Corazzin heads rebound from 15 yards over Lynx goalie Theo Zagar (who is about 5 yards off his line) and into net. Zagar had come out to catch the cross but Vincello unexpectedly leapt to play the ball first.
59 min...Lynx DiPlacido rolls 25 yard shot wide right.
61 min...VWC Corazzin curls 25 yard kick through corwd and caught by goalie.
64 min...Lynx Vignjevic one times high ball well wide right from 30 yards on right.
65 min...Lynx Lucas cross from right corner is behind net.
68 min...Lynx Vignjevic 35 yard cross from right is caught by goalie in box.
69 min...VWC sub...King replaces Veer.
70 min...Lynx sub...Westmaas replaces Faria.
71 min...Lynx Westmaas 15 yard shot is wide left.
73 min...VWC sub...Thompson replaces Jordan.
75 min...VWC King 40 yard cross from right is caught by goalie unchallenged when VWC forward afraid to charge in offside.
77 min...Lynx Hughes 35 yard cross from left drifts well behind net.
82 min...Lynx Vignjevic 35 yard freekick is headed by leaping defender in box wide.
83 min...Lynx Mayard 45 yard shot into box is caught by charging goalie.
83 min...Lynx sub...Lewis replaces Hughes.
83 min...Lynx Lewis rolls 25 yard shot wide left.
85 min...Lynx Mayard cross from 50 yards on right has ball over Lynx Lucas who misses jumping for 5 yard header in box.
88 min...VWC sub...Chin replaces Dailly.
89 min...Lynx Ashton low 35 yard shot through crowd of players is caught by goalie.
90 min...VWC goalie leaps for high bouncer into box.
93 min...game ends 9:27pm.
Final Score:.......Toronto Lynx........0...............Vancouver Whitecaps...........1............
Attendance was announced as 2364 on this hot humid evening. The seats gradually filled in as fans made their way through traffic to get to Etobicoke. Fans were allowed to bring their own garden chairs and set up on the east side hill. The playing field was badly chewed up from overuse.
I realized the Lynx didn't have much of a chance to win this game when I saw they only had three substitutes and only two were outfield players, one never having played for the Lynx before. Striker Sebastian Barclay and defender Adrian Serioux were listed as suspended in the program. The Whitecaps had to do without Nick Dasovic for the same reason. Four other Lynx outfielders are injured.
The Lynx program admitted the team did realize that they had a chance to take over first place in the Voyageurs Cup competition among Canadian teams with the Montreal Impact only tieing the Whitecaps earlier in the week. Still without the substitutes Nikki Vignjevic and Ryan Lucas passed their 'best before' dates by the 60 minute mark. Lucas needed 13 shots to score one goal in the last game so that certainly wasn't going to happen tonight. Newcomers Paul Lewis and Jonathan Westmaas (who, making his debut, impressed the Ultras in his twenty minutes).
Whitecaps goalie Mike Franks earned the shutout without really having much to do. His defenders blocked and prevented a lot of shots and were helped by Lynx forwards making one too many passes around the box. Lynx goalie Theo Zagar didn't get that much action neither except at 14 minutes when while already fallen after making a save the rebound was kicked into his face and in first half injury time when he dived to the left post to grab a shot tipped by a Whitecaps player.
Tonight's theme was "East Meets West" night and the referee was unknown to me Tiger Liu who didn't give the Lynx any favours. The entertainment was in honour of the growing Asian communities in the Greater Toronto area and it actually looked like this promotion made an impact.
Tonight's loss just about gifts the Voyageurs' Cup to the Impact with both teams only having a game against Calgary Storm. I don't know how much effort the Lynx made in trying to get some CPSL players to fill their roster for this one game but I've heard before that the teams are not cooperative. The Whitecaps didn't impress me this year. I've seen better editions of Vancouver franchises that could have won tonight's game 4-0.
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
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