.............
.............
Result of the Friday September 28, 2007 CSL game between Toronto Croatia and London City played at The Hershey Centre in Mississauga at 8:30pm.
Toronto Croatia (blue socks, white shorts and numbers, red shirts)
..............................21 Roy Blanche
...............6 Mario Kulis...4 Domagoj Sain...3 Ante Brkic
16 Halburto Harris...23 Boris Tomac...11 Mario Pupic...19 Robert Grnja...8 Hayden Fitzwilliams
........................7 Tomislav Ples...9 Tihomir Maletic
Subs:...12 Marko Zuljak (gk)...2 Robert Fran (def)...5 Jonatan Bustamante (mid)...15 Mario Belio...22 Hugo Herrera...30 Tomy Granic
team officials:...assistant coach Tomy Granic...manger Vlado Majerovic...trainer Milan Krijan
London City (white socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers)
.............................00 Tommy Bianchi
37Alex Ponce (cpt)...34 Marco Peeters...35 Bobby Fashbaugh...40 Travis Gordon
19 Eugene Nelson...16 Tshaka Anderson...5 Dennis Peeters...28 Douglas Salgado
.......................3 Fedja Dimitnov...27 Garlon Hazel
Subs:...18 Donald Francis (fwd)...24 Joey Johnson (def/mid)...29 Jeff Brown (def)...36 Alex Garces (def)...39 Dumtau Ionita (mid)...42 Scott Clark (mid)...Sean Gauss (fwd)
team officials:...head coach Jeff Brown...assistant coach Sean Gauss and Ryan Gauss...manager Jody Graham...trainer Jill Gordon
Game officials:...referee A Kravets...referee's assistants B Savulescu and Peter DeLuca...fourth official Augaccia Carro
1st Half:...game starts 8:49pm...TC defend south goal on this cool and windy night...as there's no scoreboard at this park all times are converted from my wristwatch.
2 min...TC Ples run on right and he rolls cross and TC Maletic chips 7 yarder caught by goalie.
4 min...TC Pupic 22 yard freekick from left hit head in wall and cleared.
6 min...TC Harris crosses ball from right through City box but it's unplayed.
7 min...TC Pupic 30 yard freekick from left is whistled down in box.
8 min...TC Harris rush down right and cross along end line that charging TC Maletic slides to but can't knock in from 1 yard.
9 min...TC Tomac is touched pass and he blasts 22 yarder just high and wide right.
10 min...TC Tomac 22 yard shot from right deflects off defender and rolls to goalie.
12 min...TC Fitzwilliams cross from left 20 yards and drifts well behind net.
14 min...Croatia Boris Tomac GOAL...Tomac touches ball while on right to TC Mario Pupic who pushes ball back to him when he cuts across to center and Tomac shoots 8 yarder under diving goalie Tommy Bianchi in center of net.
16 min...TC Maletic 22 yard freekick up middle touched over to TC Tomac who rolls low 20 yard shot that diving goalie stops.
19 min...City goalie dives to edge of box to beat through-ball.
20 min...TC goalie catches 40 yard shot from right.
21 min...TC Ples given ball on right and 15 yard low shot stopped by goalie.
21 min...TC Ples given ball at 15 yards on left and goalie makes point blank save and defender saves on line.
22 min...Croatia Hayden Fitzwilliams GOAL...Fitzwilliams given pass from center and his 12 yard low shot from left is under goalie to right side of net.
26 min...Croatia Tomislav Ples GOAL...TC Hayden Fitzwilliams rush on left wing and rolls cross to TC Halburto Harris on right wing who rushes to end line and his low cross finds charging Ples who knocks ball into short right corner of net from 3 yards.
28 min...City YELLOW card...Marco Peeters for tackle on TC Grnja at LC 45 yards.
29 min...TC Grnja 22 yard shot up middle over players wide left.
30 min...TC Maletic low 28 yard shot up middle bounces to goalie.
32 min...TC Pupic stops ball, turns and cuts 22 yard shot over net.
33 min...TC Pupic cornerkick from left is cleared.
35 min...Croatia Tomislav Ples GOAL...Ples gets cross from left and his 6 yard shot is under goalie. The ball slips loose and Ples taps it in from 3 yards into open net.
38 min...Croatia Tihomir Maletic GOAL...Maletic gets ball on right and holds off defender. He rounds goalie and holds…holds…holds ball until at 6 yards running along edge of box and boots ball into left corner of net around goalie and three defenders.
41 min...Croatia Mario Pupic GOAL...Pupic is tapped freekick at 22 yards on left to avoid City defenders wall and he blasts shot into top right corner of net.
42 min...TC Tomac centered ball on rush and 15 yard blast tipped over net on sliding save by goalie.
43 min...TC player chips ball over net from 18 yards.
45 min...TC Pupic cornerkick from left bounces through everyone in box.
45 min...half ends 9:34pm.
2nd Half:...starts 9:51pm.
halftime subs:...TC Bustamante replaces Fitzwilliams.
......................TC Zuljak replaces Blanche in goal.
...................City Francis replaces Nelson.
....................City Johnson replaces Salgado.
46 min...TC Tomac 35 yard freekick from left is bent wide left.
48 min...TC Pupic 30 yard shot up middle through crowd of players wide right of net.
50 min...TC Harris cross from left headed up on popper and cleared from 6 yards.
51 min...TC Tomac cross from right 25 yards drifts well over net.
52 min...TC Grnja blasts 25 yard shot up middle and diving goalie pushes ball wide left of net.
53 min...City goalie dives to block TC Pupic 12 yard shot from wide left of net.
55 min...TC Ples dekes through City box and 10 yard shot is blocked by goalie.
57 min...TC sub...Fran replaces Sain.
58 min...City YELLOW card...Dennis Peeters for kick on TC Kulis missing ball. Kulis was injured on play at TC 30 yard line.
62 min...TC sub...Belio replaces Grnja.
63 min...Croatia Boris Tomac GOAL...Tomac given short pass on run up middle and his 12 yard shot is into top middle of net.
65 min...TC Pupic cornerkick from left has TC Bustamante head ball down at 22 yards but ball is cleared.
66 min...TC Fran blasts 30 yarder low that's stopped by goalie.
67 min...TC YELLOW card...Maletic for knock on City Anderson in center circle.
68 min...TC defender gets back to poke ball from City Marco Peeters before he can take 12 yard shot.
69 min...TC Ples has ball skip over his foot on cross from right.
70 min...TC Harris rush on left and low 20 yard shot hits right post.
71 min...TC Harris cuts 20 yard shot from left that's well high and wide right of net.
73 min...City YELLOW card...Ponce for tackle from behind.
74 min...Croatia Tomislav Ples GOAL...TC Boris Tomac gets pass on right and rolls pass to Ples who blasts 12 yard shot into middle of net over sprawling goalie.
76 min...City sub...Garces replaces Fashbaugh.
77 min...City RED card...Alex Ponce is given his second Yellow card. Boris Tomac was badly hurt on a tackle from behind at City’s 30 yard line on the right. The fans were expecting City’s Dennis Peeters to be punished as I thought he was the one who made the tackle. Maybe Ponce said something to the referee or the pushing match between the two teams after the tackle. Tomac didn’t return to the game but Croatia didn’t bother making a substitute so the teams just played ten on ten.
81 min...TC Ples has goalie beat him to dive on loose ball in box.
81 min...TC Harris blasts 22 yarder from left over net and back fence too.
86 min...City Anderson blasts 30 yard freekick from far right that has charging City Marco Peeters not able to change direction of ball on 8 yard header from left of net.
89 min...TC Bustamante 40 yard roller from right that rolls into outside webbing of net.
90 min...TC Belio 25 yard shot from left has flying goalie stop ball on left post.
91 min...game ends 10:37pm.
Final Score:………Toronto Croatia…….8……………London City………..0……….
Attendance was about 80 on this cool evening with a quite a strong breeze blowing.
Roy Blanche and Marko Zuljak shared the shutout for Croatia. Blanche had a few 40 yard shots to catch and some rushes to clear through balls. Zuljak came in the second half and had no saves to make. At 68 minutes, a defender even got back to poke the ball away from City Marco Peeters at 12 yards before he could get away a shot. Tommy Bianchi had a tough night but the score would have been doubled if he hadn’t made some spectacular saves. The first half was like one long hockey power play with all the action in the City half of the field. The second half was a bit more even in midfield play but that was possibly because the City played more close checking and drew many yellow cards and free kicks against them for their rough play.
Tommy Ples doesn’t often get to be a starter but made the most of this opportunity with three goals tonight. Halburto Harris was allowed to play right wing tonight rather than strictly defence and he was given the freedom to make longer runs up the wing. He sent in some great crosses as did Hayden Fitzwilliams (who only played the first half) on the other wing. In the second half he got away some shots but they were off target including one late in the game over the net and the back fence.
City looked brutal in this game. Their last few games they’ve been losing by some lopsided games so I wanted to see what was wrong in person. They did bring at least three subs so it wasn’t that they got tired out. I thought they would have only six players during warm up but more players turned up with the referee’s generous interpretation of game time delaying it by 15 minutes. It’s a two hour drive from London. This cut into their preparation and isn’t good when they are the last place team already.
Toronto Croatia made up ground on Serbian White Eagles who were losing to Trois-Rivieres Attak 4-2 on a game that started half hour earlier at nearby Centennial Stadium. It makes their next game on Tuesday even more important as they play the White Eagles and could pass them in the standings.
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
Toronto Croatia starters
London City starters
Tomislav Ples and Tihomir Maletic ready to start the game.
City ready to set up a freekick.
.
.