June 3, 2006 CSL story on Caribbean Selects (by Rocket Robin)
The Saturday June 3rd, 2006 CSL game between Caribbean Selects and Serbian White Eagles scheduled for Lamport Stadium in Toronto at 7:00pm was cancelled by referee Isaac Raymond (he was also the referee for the USL Montreal Impact vs. Miami FC game the Sunday before) for a waterlogged field. This was expected as it had been raining hard all day and the field was flooded (Astroturf with a concrete base).
A Selects official recognized me and thanked me for coming and went back to the dressing room and brought out Coach Corcel Blair to talk about the team. I had asked for a program which had a list of tonight’s roster of both teams and pictures of the Selects roster. I didn’t recognize too very many players with CPSL experience but Blair filled me in on who the players were.
The Caribbean Selects are a blend of three teams, Toronto Santos, Caribbean Stars and the Brampton Dynamic Kickers. Toronto Santos has a link with the team Santos of Jamaica.
Kareem Reynolds (midfielder) and Quincy Cooper (defender) had played for Metro Lions last year. Steven Craig (striker) had played for Laval. Dixon Modeste (goalie) was on the roster of USL Rochester Raging Rhinos. Maxim Dorneval (midfield/striker) played last year for the CPSL cup champions Oakville Blue Devils. Mohammed Kanu (midfielder) and Osman Samaru (midfielder/striker, only age 17) just finished winning the Toronto high school championship with George Harvey SS and next is their school playing in the Ontario provincial championship.
Also listed were John Lewis (defender), Paul Okumu (defender/midfielder), Mensah Kojo (midfielder/defender), Kevon Chambers (defender), Dustin Chung (defender), Ajani Stapleton (not listed tonight), Kamai Mude (midfielder) and Fuad Mude (midfielder), Simon Mais (midfielder), Jahmo Welch (midfielder), and Douglas Seretti (midfielder/striker).
Blair says he expects the team to be stronger in the middle of the season and will be the surprise of the league. The team expects that U-23 Jamaican international and Harborview player Richard West will play with them.
Tonight’s cancellation probably helps the team in that the gate would have been impacted by few fans showing up because of the strong rain. A gate with White Eagle fans showing up could have added thousands. The delay gives the Selects more time to practice and avoids the undefeated White Eagles for now. Putting this game off until maybe August will allow the team to hold it at their real home Birchmount Stadium that is currently undergoing renovations. Since they have to play some home games until then, they are scheduled to wander between Lamport Stadium, Esther Shiner Stadium, and Centennial Stadium.
This was the only game in town tonight so it wasn’t as bad as finding last Sunday’s Toronto Supra Portuguese called off for field conditions and being marooned downtown because I’d come by transit with not enough time to take in another game. This night I could walk to Joe Mercury’s Bar and play trivia with my friends. With the final music Playback question being “In this song a woman reads a newspaper story of an actor who had died when he was drinking”: with of answers: Torn, Brick, Tom’s Diner, One Headlight, or Building A Mystery. I saved our bar by getting us the right answer “Tom’s Diner” and getting us into 8th place in all North America out of over 1800 bars. But that’s the other half of my web page…
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
.
.