Result of the Sunday September 19th, 2004 special exhibition game between the CPSL Metro Lions and Portmore United (from Jamaica) in the first annual Arnold Milan International Soccer Cup played at Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough at 4:00pm.
Metro Lions (navy socks, red shorts and shirts, white numbers)
.........................25 Gregory Drakes
............14 Kevin Ricketts...23 Joselindo Sousa...4 Marco Jankovic
9 Darryl Gomez...7 Caswain Mason...10 Milos Scepanovic...13 Kareem Reynolds...5 Gregory Messam (cpt)
....................20 Maxim Dorneval...11 Gabriel Salustius
Subs:...1 Anandeep Saini (gk)...00 Courtney Campbell (gk)...3 Owen Mitchell (def)...18 Billy Ninopoulos (def)...2 Omar Samuels (mid)...6 Ainsley Romany (mid)...
10 Hayden Fitzwilliams (mid)...12 Mishel Levkov (mid)...17 Kosta Stojkovic (mid)...16 Florin Stirbulescu (mid)...19 Craig Patton (fwd)...15 xxxxxxxxxx
team officials:...head coach Goran Miscevic...technician director Blagoja Bratic...equipment manager Ken Mollineau...team doctor Andrew Sulkowski...team therapist Kelly Chabassol
Portmore United (white socks and shirts, blue shorts and numbers, red collars)
..........................1 Shawn Sawyers
............15 Adrien Mitchell...22 Anthony Modeste (cpt)...6 Seldon Battiste
16 Nicholas Dodd...14 xxxxxxxxxx...4 Lean Willams...5 Mario Swaby...20 Ryan Powell
...................9 Anthony Bennett...21 Dave Clarke
Subs:...--Jacomeno Barrett (gk)...8 Nicholas Noyan (def)...23 Demar Stewart (def)...7 Jason Morrison (mid)...12 Ryan Maxwell (mid)...18 Kemeel Wolfe (mid)...27 Creig Morrison (mid)...11 Denzil Watson (fwd)...26 Bryan Bayliss (fwd)...27 Frank Morrison
team officials:...technical director/coach Horace Reid...assistant coach Linval Dixon...general manager Clive Marshal...team doctor Onell McKay
Game officials:...referee Joe Fletcher...referee's assistants John Oliva and Hugh Elliott...fourth official Tamara Reitsma...(all black uniforms)...match observer Walter Kirchner
1st Half:...game starts 4:53pm...Lions defend north end.
4 min...PU player given through ball on right and he boots 15 yard shot wide left.
6 min...PU goalie races left to catch ball in box ahead of ML Salustius.
7 min...ML Salustius sends bouncer into box too far for charging ML Dorneval.
10 min...ML sub...Fitzwilliams replaces Scepanovic. (both players wore #10)
11 min...PU Bennett cornerkick from right is headed away by leaping defender.
12 min...PU #14 deflection off defender bounces wide left for goialie to dive on and prevent cornerkick call.
13 min...PU player rusn to through ball and cross from right is cleared by defender.
14 min...ML Mason 37 yard freekick is well wide left.
17 min...PU player's through ball has ML goalie miss wide right on dive and PU player cross ball through box.
18 min...ML Dorneval 20 yard shot blasted over net as he cuts in shot.
19 min...PU Bennett 30 yard shot from left is wide right.
20 min...ML Sousa gets foot to ball to block PU Bennett low 15 yard shot from rush on left.
21 min...PU Dodd 30 yard shot just wide left of post.
24 min...ML Gomez cornerkick from right has ML Reynolds head ball down but PU defender clears.
26 min...PU YELLOW card...Battiste for pulling down ML Salustius on left side.
28 min...ML Gomez cornerkick is short to ML Mason crosses into box has goalie swat ball through box.
29 min...PU defender has to rush back to break up possible 2 on 1.
30 min...ML sub...Saini replaces Drakes in goal.
31 min...ML Gomez 25 yard shot from right has flying goalie push ball wide of left post.
32 min...ML defenders block two shots then goalie crumples to save 10 yard knocked shot.
34 min...ML Fitzwilliams cornerkick from right has goalie punch ball forward out of box.
34 min...ML Gomez eludes defender, ML Fitzwilliams given through ball on right and crosses over player in box.
36 min...PU Powell rush on left and rolls cross through box.
37 min...PU Dodd 30 yard shot from right through crowd has goalie block and gather ball.
38 min...ML sub...Romany replaces Messam.
40 min...PU Dodd 30 yard shot from left is high wide right of top corner of net.
41 min...PU Swaby rush down left and ML Sousa stops cross.
42 min...PU Battiste cornerkick from left is over all players in box for goal kick.
43 min...PU Dodd cornerkick from right has ball cleared from box.
44 min...ML Mason 35 yard cross from right has goalie leap and catch ball wide left of net.
45 min...PU Clarke stops at 25 yards and blasts low shot up middle for diving goalie to block then recover rebound unthreatened.
47 min...half ends 5:40pm.
2nd Half:...starts 6:08pm.
47 min...ML Salustius given good through ball on left and quick chip from 20 yards has goalie leap to pop up ball and stop.
49 min...ML Fitzwilliams rush on left into box has goalie slide to block 7 yard point blank shot.
52 min...PU Dodd can't quite keep through ball in bounds on wide right.
53 min...ML Salustius and ML Dorneval both on right on 2 on 1 has goalie charge out to catch short cross.
53 min...ML Sousa good block to prevent shot by PU player in box.
54 min...PU Bennett 15 yard shot on wide left is well wide left.
56 min...Lions Caswain Mason GOAL...Lions Ainsley Romany on rush on left has 30 yard cross that charging Mason dives forward and connects on 10 yard header from right that's into left side of net beyond goalie Shawn Sawyers.
57 min...PU Bennett 30 yard shot in crowd well over net.
58 min...PU Clarke injured at ML 35 yard line.
59 min...PU sub...Maxwell replaces Clarke.
.............PU sub...Watson replaces someone.
59 min...ML Dorneval rush down left and goalie charges out to prevent through ball.
60 min...PU Watson on 3 on 2 rush blasts 25 yarder well off target.
62 min...PU sub...Morrison replaces Powell.
64 min...PU sub...someone replaces Dodd.
..............ML sub...Campbell reaplaces Saini.
65 min...Lions Marko Jankovic grabs hold of Portmore player inside Lions box to left side of net and prevents him turning around. Referee Joe Fletcher signals for a Penalty kick.
66 min...United captain Anthony Modeste blasts his Penalty kick that skies wide right of top corner of net as goalie Courtney Campbell leaps that direction.
67 min...PU player has 7 yard shot from left blocked.
68 min...ML Ricketts pulls down PU player at 30 yards on right.
69 min...PU Modeste 30 yard freekick is just wide right of post.
70 min...ML YELLOW card...Salustius for tackle in PU end.
71 min...PU Bennett 22 yard freekick from right is bent to left. Leaping goalie grabs in crowd of players.
72 min...PU Mitchell long throw-in from right headed into box but cleared.
73 min...PU player's cornerkick from left has PU Bennett on left spin and send 10 yard shot over net.
74 min...PU player's 25 yard shot is over crowd of players and net.
75 min...PU players gets through ball into box and no offside call and goalie slaps ball away when he gets to it.
77 min...PU Modeste rush on right and low cross in and ML Ricketts prevents ball getting through.
78 min...PU Watson gets foot to ball crossed from left but pokes ball from 8 yards wide left.
79 min...PU Morrison eludes defender but soft shot from 18 yards is blocked by diving goalie.
79 min...ML sub...Janjicek replaces Gomez.
.............PU sub...Wolfe replaces #14.
80 min...ML Salustius on left has chip across PU box blocked.
81 min...PU player's 18 yard shot from left is tipped wide right.
83 min...ML Romany on rush on left rolls ball into box as he falls but misses ML Salustius.
85 min...ML sub...#15 replaces ML Salustius.
85 min...PU Watson gets to through ball on right end line but blasts cross over players in box.
87 min...ML Jankovic heads away cross from left into box, defender blasts it off forward for cornerkick.
88 min...PU Mitchell 75 yard freekick from right is headed away on edge of box.
89 min...ML Fitzwilliams 35 yard freekick from left is curled well wide right.
90 min...ML goalie catches bouncer in box chipped into box from left in front of two players.
92 min...PU players have about four shots blocked by keep recovering ball.
93 min...PU goalie knocks over ML Dorneval while both run along line just outside box.
93 min...game ends 6:56pm.
Final Score:...........Metro Lions...........1.............Portmore United............0............
Attendance was huge on this warm sunny late afternoon. Every seat would have been filled on both sides of the stadium if people had actually squashed into them but many of the late arrivals stayed on the track in the endzones. The game was an hour late in starting with all the entertainment, introductions and speeches given. Actually a good thing as it allowed all the crowd to get inside the stadium safely. Congradulatory letters were read from Canadian prime minister Paul Martin and Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty. FIFA exec Dick Howard also said a few words. (that was his voice--ad libbed he told me--doing the South American style "goaaaaallllllll" calls during last night's A-League Finals broadcast).
Portmore got an early chance at the 4 minute mark but the player booted a 15 yard shot wide left. This set the tone for the United team the rest of the evening. Many of their shots were off target or mistimed. Lions defence was steady and they were under pressure from the time after they scored their goal when the United team stepped it up a notch. Lions goalies Gregory Drakes, Anandeep Saini and Courtney Campbell share the shutout and all made a few good saves. Drakes started and was replaced at 30 minutes. Saini was replaced at 64 minutes by Campbell who was immediately under pressure to stop the penalty kick 2 minutes later.
Lions forward Gabriel Salustius looked the best player at forward setting up good passes although well covered himself. Gregory Messam was made the honoury captain for today's game. He was a former Jamaican national team player. Ainsley Romany had been in the same position just a few minutes before the Lions goal but kicked it too hard and the ball sailed well wide of the net. He took something off his next kick and Caswain Mason was able to get to it.
The game was originally delayed from last Sunday because of Hurricane Ivan. Air Jamaica flew in the visiting team earlier this week. The game was turned into a fundraiser for hurricane relief.
This was the first Arnold Milan International Soccer Cup. He is the owner of the Metro Lions and this is to become an annual event with an international team being brought in each year. Seeing the overflow crowd at today's match, this looks like an instant success. Milan came over to me and asked what I thought of his team's performance. (I hadn't been sure until today which guy was actually Arnold Milan). Well they were hanging on at the end but they did look good I said. Also I mentioned if the team could have 10% of this crowd come back to their CPSL games during the week, they'd be a huge success. Milan said he was advised not to play Portmore because his team would get beaten 11-0. The Lions did work the ball out of their own end and didn't resort to the long ball more than a few times.
Lions were billed as the 2003 Canada Cup Finalist. Portmore United were billed as the 2003 Jamaican champions. This team was formerly named Hazard United and I had seen them beat the APSL Toronto Blizzard in 1994 1-0 when the Blizzard had a player red carded in the first half.
The crowd was very pro Jamaican but they liked good soccer so good moves by the Lions and their goal drew cheers.
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
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