October 5, 2013 CSL--Toronto Croatia vs Brampton City United (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday October 5th, 2013 CSL game between Toronto Croatia and Brampton City United played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 7:00pm.

Toronto Croatia (navy socks, white shorts and numbers, red shirts)

.......................12 Fiore Costa
7 Halburto Harris...6 Hrvaje Perkovic...3 Josip Keran (cpt)...15 Ainsley Deer
5 Roberto Galle...19 Petar Mingon...22 Mladen Bajamic...20 David Alva...8 Hayden Fitzwilliams
.....................11 Jarek Whiteman

Subs:...1 Mateo Sutic (gk)...14 Daniel Stoker (--)...18 Boze Poljak (mid)...21 Daniel Niksic (mid)...23 Nikola Brtan (def)
...25 Joseph Filipic (mid)
team officials:...head coach Velimir Crljan...assistant coach Miodrag Akmadzic...manager Ivan Kulis...assistant manager Perica Arapovic...physio Amanda Liddle

Brampton City United (all blue, white numbers)

.....................00 Euloge Awitor Kodzo
5 Quante Abbott-Hill-Smith...3 Mirko Medic (cpt)...24 Mark Jankovic...16 Tarik Robertson
17 Mohamed Diaby...David Velastagui...18 Peter Niles...22 Adrian Tismenar...11 Oscar Cordon
..............7 Milos Scepanovic...19 Olamilekan Jhon Fatoki

Subs:...00 Camilo Benzi (gk)...9 Marcos Nunes (fwd)...10 David Velastagui (mid)...14 Cameron Medwin (def)...20 Johnathan Jebbison (fwd)
...21 Diago Benzi (def)...23 Michael Odhomor (def)
team officials:...manager Michael DiMatteo...assistant coach Juan J Barreto

Game officials:...referee Justin Tasev...referee assistants Scott Milliquet and Alex Themistocleous...fourth officials Blake Williams
...(neon yellow shirt, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 7:04pm...TC defends north end.
6 min...BCU Tismenar 25 yard blast through players rolls wide left of net.
7 min...BCU Daiby cross from 20 yards along end line is behind net.
9 min...BCU Scepanovic suffers head injury near center line.
11 min...TC Alva 40 yard freekick from left has goalie catch wide right of net.
14 min...TC Jarek Whiteman GOAL...Whiteman is fed through ball up left wing at 40 yards and runs to 30 yards and rolls shot through legs of BCU goalie Euloge Awitor Kodzo while he was still standing at 18 yards and ball rolls into right side of net.
16 min...TC Alva 35 yard freekick from left has play whistled down in box.
18 min...TC Fitzwilliams has leg injured at TFC 45 yards.
20 min...BCU Scepanovic cornerkick from right has defender head ball out left side of box.
21 min...BCU YELLOW card...Robertson or Fatoki earns it for pulling down TC Whiteman on run up sideline.
22 min...TC Bajamic 40 yard freekick from right is headed away on edge of box.
25 min...TC Alva cornerkick from right is rolled to TC Bajamic and his 25 yard shot is blocked by defender.
29 min...BCU Robertson cross after run down left and bends 25 yarder that defender clears.
32 min...BCU Robertson 45 yard freekick from left is tapped give and go with BCU Cordon and ball rolls over end line.
33 min...BCU Scepanovic rolls 30 yard through ball pass wide left ahead of two BCU forwards.
34 min...TC goalie beats BCU Diaby to boot away ball just outside left side of box.
36 min...BCU Scepanovic 33 yard freekick from right deflects off head in defender wall and deflects over net.
37 min...BCU Sepanovic cornerkick from left has defenders clear ball from box.
38 min...BCU Abbott-Hill-Smith lobs 30 yard chip from right that BCU Tismenar heads 12 yarder down middle that goalie catches.
39 min...TC Galle 30 yard shot down middle is stopped.
42 min...TC Harris cross from 30 yards on right has TC Deer one-touch 20 yard shot from left wide left of net.
43 min...TC Galle rolls 22 yard shot wide of net.
44 min...TC Whiteman rush for through ball pass and sliding goalie smothers at 15 yards.
46 min...TC Whiteman cross from 22 yards on end line into box but ball cleared.
47 min...half ends 7:51pm.

2nd Half:...starts 8:06pm.
46 min...BCU sub...Medwin replaces Robertson.
48 min...TC Deer 60 yard chip from left bounces to goalie.
50 min...TC goalie boots through ball away from BCU Cordon at 8 yards.
50 min...TC Harris is injured at BCU 40 yard line sideline.
52 min...BCU Scepanovic cornerkick from left is headed up by BCU Diaby on right across box but defender clears at 2 yards by blocking shot.
53 min...TC Galle rush on right and rolls cross from 20 yards that BCU Medic kicks over own end line on right.
54 min...TC player's cornerkick from right has TC Keran chip 12 yarder from left and BCU Cordon chests ball down and clears on right post.
56 min...TC Mingon 35 yard shot down middle is high and wide right.
60 min...TC Harris cross from right from 30 yards has charging TC Fitzwilliams not quite able to twist 12 yard header on target on run in from left.
62 min...BCU Scepanovic 30 yard freekick from left has nearest defender head ball away on left edge of box.
64 min...BCU Scepanovic 30 yard freekick from far right has defender head ball through box.
64 min...BCU player's cross from 25 yards on left has defenders clear from box.
68 min...TC Keran 40 yard freekick from left blast is well high and wide right of net.
70 min...TC Bajamic cornerkick from right is partially cleared and TC Alva's 28 yard shot lob from left has goalie catch on left post.
70 min...BCU Fatoki is hurt on edge of BCU box during last play.
74 min...TC Fitzwilliams rescues ball before left end line and rolls cross from 8 yards that goalie clears.
75 min...TC Jarek Whiteman GOAL...TC Halburto Harris crosses pass from 28 yards on right to Whiteman who gets ball back off defender to get away 18 yard shot from left that banana bends inward from wide right to just inside right post.
82 min...BCU goalie smothers ball on right edge of box to prevent TC Whiteman getting to it.
86 min...BCU Jankovic holds off TC Alva getting to ball but gives up cornerkick.
86 min...TC Alva cornerkick has ball headed through box and far enough away for TC throw-in.
87 min...BCU goalie swats ball behind net on cross from right.
87 min...TC sub...Brtan replaces Galle.
88 min...TC Keran header from 10 yards has BCU goalie swat ball behind own net.
88 min...TC Keran deflects 12 yarder up middle that BCU goalie catches.
91 min...TC sub...Stoker replaces Deer.
91 min...BCU Abbott-Hill-Smith kicks midair 18 yard shot down middle wide left when TC goalie jumping to catch long chip from 40 yards is bumped off ball.
92 min...TC Filipic (?)(when did he come on?) low 28 yard shot up middle is smothered by goalie.
93 min...game ends 8:54pm.

Final Score:......Toronto Croatia..........2................Brampton City United........0.........

Attendance was about 80 on this mild night but cooling quickly after it got dark and a light rain finally started at 70 minutes. This game had been rescheduled from August 11th but it was only decided to use this venue (their regular home) rather than Hershey Fields a few days ago. I looked the field over before the game to see if there was still evidence of the potholes in the artificial turf but it looks fine now. Still I don't see a reason for the repairs to take almost one month to fix except the City of Toronto sent out for tenders.

Toronto Croatia won today while resting forwards Tihomir Maletic and Kresimir Prgomet for a second game in a row. They started last Sunday against York Region Shooters and stayed on the bench for Wednesday's loss against Serbian White Eagles. Tonight they weren't even on the bench.

Fiore Costa earned the shutout for Croatia today. He got the start because 2012 CSL MVP goalie Antonio Ilic drew a three game suspension when he was Red carded in their game against the White Eagles. (Now that's a good reason to rest players). Costa didn't have too much to do but was saved a few times by defenders making a clearances from inside the 6 yard box.

Best non-scoring chances of the game were at 38 minutes when BCU Quante Abbott-Hill-Smith lobbed a 30 yard chip from the right that BCU Adrian Tismenar headed from 12 yards down the middle that the goalie caught. 52 minutes had BCU Milos Scepanovic send in a cornerkick from the left that was headed up by BCU Mohamed Diaby on the right back across the box but a defender cleared at 2 yards after blocking a shot attempt. 88 minutes had TC Josip Keran head the ball from 10 yards that the goalie swatted behind his own net. On the resulting cornerkick Keran deflected a 12 yarder up the middle that the goalie caught. 91 minutes had BCU Abbott-Hill-Smith kick a midair 18 yard shot down the middle wide left after the TC goalie jumping to catch a long chip from 40 yards was bumped off the ball by a BCU player at 10 yards.

Special guest at tonight's game was Ultimate Fighting Championship star Stipe Miocic who is currently ranked #9 in the world in the Heavyweight Division. He is of Croatia-American descent. I'd go with American as I asked his manager about his accent and he is from Ohio. He posed for pictures and signed autographs at halftime. He made an unforgettable visit to the press box in that he leaned on the control panel and paused the scoreboard clock which on this antique meant the clock had to be reset from 0:00 which meant we did without time from 40 minutes to the end of the first half. He will be making an appearance at the Toronto Croatia team's golf tournament tomorrow at Glen Abbey Country Club in Oakville. (Wow that'$ the mo$t famou$ cour$e in Canada although people should plan to take one of the team umbrellas that were on sale at tonight's game).

This was the last regular season game for both teams. Toronto Croatia finish the season with 14 wins, 3 losses and 5 ties for 47 points which moves them for now to 2nd place although York Region Shooters could equal their 47 points and would take over 2nd place on a tiebreaker if they beat 1st place Kingston FC tomorrow. Brampton finishes in 4th place with a record of 13 wins, 8 losses, and 1 tie for 40 points. Their record fizzled in the last month and were almost caught by SC Waterloo who finished strong with 37 points for 5th position. Those two teams will meet in next week's quarterfinals.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Toronto Croatia starters