October 7, 2021 League1 Ontario Men's Premier--Sigma FC vs North Mississauga SC game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Thursday October 7, 2021 League1 Ontario game between Sigma FC and North Mississauga SC
played at Paramount Fine Foods Centre Field #2 in Mississauga at 9:00pm.

Sigma FC (blue socks and shirts, black shorts, white numbers)

....................1 Christopher Kalonga
16 Kenny Lioutas...10 Noah Mehta...5 Kyle Walton (cpt)...15 Aaron D'Souza
..........12 Daniel Stampatori...3 Nicholas Correa...14 Yousef Helmy
...........7 Marcus Caldeira...9 Jason Squeo...11 Sebastian Castello

Subs:...31 Jack Cristini (gk)...2 Samuel Valentine...4 Jacob Cordon Cruz...8 Manvir Brar
...18 Shane Ricketts...19 Aiden Avalos...20 Abdul Mannah Edusei...21 Joshua Miller
team officials:...team head coach John Zervos...assistant coach David Igreja...therapist Liam MacPherson

North Mississauga SC (all red uniforms, white numbers)

....................1 Tristan Martino
2 Damian Koscielniak...18 Tristan Watson...5 Treymayne Julien...4 David Mutembezi
7 Sean Merrick...24 Christopher Simm...16 Deshawn Palmer-Agyemang...11 Lee-Victor Massunda
...............23 Daniel Oginni...14 Rowan Starr

Subs:...3 Bradley Ogbevuon...8 Khubaib Mahboubullah...10 Hayden Clarke...13 Jordale Byers
...19 Adnane Elidrissi...21 Davier Walcott
team officials:...team head coach Julian Carr...assistant coaches Cormac Cleary, Emelio Caligdong, and Ramon Fedee
...therapist Kyle Chung and Mubashir Naeem

Game officials:...referee Filip Dujic...referee's assistants Melvin Christopher and Nivin Raizada
...fourth official Adam Chorazyczewski...(all black uniforms)

First Half:...game starts 9:06pm. Sigma defends north end on this mild evening.
1 min...Sigma D'Souza low ross through box from left is unplayed and out right side.
4 min...NM player's 30 yard freekick up middle is tapped around and wassted.
5 min...Sigma player rushes up right wing but pushes ball over end line.
7 min...N Miss David Mutembezi GOAL...NM Sean Merrick takes a cornerkick from the left over players on the near post
and goalie Christopher Kalonga bobbles and drops the ball on the line all alone on the right and Mutembezi steps forward
and taps in a 1 yarder to the center of net.
9 min...Sigma Castello 30 yard freekick from far left is through players on right post and out for goalkick.
14 min...NM Starr is tipped pass and blasts 25 yarder from slight left that sprawling goalie stops and smothers rebound.
15 min...NM Koscielniak cross from right is stopped and cleared in box by defender.
16 min...NM Massunda cuts in towards middle from left and 30 yarder is well wide right.
18 min...Sigma Castello cross from left has defender head away on jump in front of Sigma player at 10 yards.
19 min...NM Simm 12 yard shot is blocked by defender's body with NM players applying pressure.
22 min...Sigma YELLOW card...Correa earns it for tackle at Sigma 35 yard line.
23 min...NM Merrick chips 35 yard freekick down middle to charging players on left end line but flies over end line.
24 min...NM Koscielniak makes key leaping header at 8 yards to clear cross from right.
26 min...NM Merrick low 18 yard shot from left end line has goalie dive to stop.
27 min...Sigma Jason Squeo GOAL...Squeo shoots 12 yard rebound up middle between players into net.
30 min...NM goalie catches 35 yard freekick from right is between crowd of players.
31 min...NM Watson blasts 25 yarder high and well wide rigtht after NM throw-in from left was crossed over to him.
33 min...Sigma Mehta blasts 30 yarder high and wide left.
34 min...Sigma Castello 33 yard shot from left has charging Sigma Squeo tips ball with foot at 5 yards but goalie catches it anyway.
35 min...Sigma Castello high cross from 25 yards on left. Sigma Caldeira on right heads 15 yarder that goalie catches on near post.
39 min...Sigma Castello 30 yard freekick from left has charging Sigma Walton on right end line head it wide right.
42 min...NM Koscielniak dekes beetween four guys up middle and goalie slides forward at 15 yards to smother.
43 min...Sigma Castello 22 yard shot on run tips off head of defender for cornerkick.
43 min...Sigma players run out short cornerkick from right and Sigma Castello shoots 15 yarder on far right wide left.
44 min...MN Starr 33 yard freekick from left is roller and is smothered by goalie.
45 min...game ends 9:51pm.

Halftime: The players stay out at their benches at halftime because the dressing rooms are the length of Field #1 to get their.

Second Half:...starts 10:02pm.
Halftime sub:...Sigma Brar replaces Helmy.
47 min...Sigma Caldeira blasts 20 yarder from right that goalie parries wide left over Sigma players at 8 yards.
48 min...NM Koscielniak is injured near NM left end line.
51 min...NM sub...Walcott replaces injured Koscielniak.
54 min...NM player blasts 20 yard shot from right and NM Starr 6 yard sidewinder kick bounces into ground and goalie catches.
55 min...Sigma Caldeira gets bounced pass at 12 yards and blasts one-touch shot wide left.
57 min...NM sub...Byers replaces Starr.
.........NM sub...Ricketts replaces Caldeira.
60 min...Sigma (N Miss own goal) GOAL...Sigma Sebastian Castello cuts in from left and low 15 yard shot has diving goalie
Tristan Martino gets a piece of but Sigma Shane Ricketts blasts in for insurance but a goal had already been signalled.
It was ruled that the goalie had fumbled the ball back into his own net.
65 min...NM sub...Elidrissi replaces Oginni.
..........Sigma sub...Edusei replaces Squeo.
66 min...NM goalie catches bouncer just ahead of Sigma players at 15 yards.
68 min...Sigma Castello 30 yard shot from left is caught by goalie on top left corner of net.
72 min...A retreating NM player clears shot from Sigma Edusei on edge of box down middle.
73 min...NM sub...Mahboubullah replaces Palmer-Agyemang.
...........NM sub...Clarke replaces Simm.
75 min...Sigma Noah Mehta GOAL...Mehta blasts 18 yarder on sharp angle from left into top right corner of net.
76 min...Sigma sub...Avalos replaces Castello.
77 min...NM YELLOW card...Watson earns it for knock on charging Sigma players at NM 45 yard line.
78 min...NM Byers charging and falls forward at 6 yards thrying to get to low cross from left.
79 min...NM defenders in box clear cross from left.
80 min...Sigma Walton low 28 yard freekick from far right has goalie stop at 3 yards.
81 min...Sigma YELLOW card...D'Souza earns it for kicking ball after whistle was blown for his offside.
82 min...Sigma sub...Cruz replaces Stampatori.
84 min...NM Clarke 35 yard low shot up middle is caught by goalie on bounce.
85 min...NM Merrick 35 yard freekick from right is cleared.
86 min...Sigma Mehta cornerkick from right is cleared in crowd of players in box.
88 min...NM players 35 yard cross from right is between players and wide left for goalkick.
89 min...NM Elidrissi 35 yard freekick from left has leaping Sigma Walton clear.
89 min...Sigma Ricketts and Edusei two man break away is called offside on goal.
90 min...Sigma Abdul Mannah Edusei GOAL...Edusei rushes in from left and 15 yard shot is into right side of net.
91 min...Sigma Edusei is centered pass and 12 yard shot is caught by goalie.
92 min...game ends 10:49pm.

Final Score:...Sigma FC......4.........North Mississauga SC.......1........

Attendance was about 60 on this unseasonable warm evening. Come on it's 9:00pm on a work/school night...
who was expecting hundreds? There were times in the game when a mist was rising from the field turf.
I wore my CSA Canada toque tonight expecting colder weather but was glad as it cut down on the mosquitoes
bites from the nearby woods. No balls were lost into them during the game but NM head coach Julian Carr
said two were lost there in their warm up.

This game was a regular season game but also counted as the decider in the Credit River Cup, a supporter
group's tournament awarded to the best L1O team in Mississauga. Both team's home grounds are here
at the fields of Paramount. The 2019 edition included ProStars FC but when the L1O schedule came out
this year with teams grouped into four conferences in four quadrants to cut down on travel during these
pandemic times, ProStars wasn't in the quadrant of the other participants. A reason was floated that
ProStars was actually in Brampton so they weren't playing. With the league reshuffling to only 15 teams,
a two conference table was set up and ProStars were placed in the West only a week before the regular
season started so there are games between all three teams but the decision had already been made.
The pandemic also, for this one year, has 1812 FC Barrie playing in Brampton for their inaugural year
but they are in the 'East'.

This was a L1O regular season game counting in the standings. This might have been tough if the game had
ended 2-1 for North Mississauga, as there were no provisions for the game officials to stay beyond
the 90 minutes. Also a Sigma official confirmed that the lights are shut off some time after 11:00pm.
(I was at a game in Streetsville, also in Mississauga, for a previous league I covered years ago
and the lights automatically cut off while the game was still in progress). A sigh of relief must have gone
out by the organizers once Sigma scored their second goal as scoring tiebreakers could be used like
'away goals doubled' rules etc to decide on a winner within 90 minutes.

The game was held on Soccer Field #2 which was a the length of a soccer field (#1) away from the dressing rooms.
The reason is that #1 is being prepared to install its dome for the winter and there were the tenting material
and segment bars too near the sidelines which would make any further play unsafe so there was some community
group just holding a practice.

It appeared that not everyone on the field was aware of the Credit River Cup. This is only the second time
it's been competed for because there was no soccer played in the region in 2020. One reason that this game
was played on a Thursday night which is usually a practice night so I was told is that many players on Sigma
will be in a tournament this Thanksgiving weekend. Ho hum, another competition! Even some players
on North Mississauga didn't know because two years can be a generation in soccer turnover.

Forge FC defender Dominic Samuel made an appearance on the other side of the schoolyard fencing behind the Sigma
bench to talk to his old coaches. This was a good time to undo my windbreaker to reveal my 'Island Games 2020
Champions' t-shirt. It certainly makes the Sigma staff happier than the beginning of the season wearing all
my York United swag. I could also brag that I helped finance tonight's trophy as well as the Voyageurs Cup back
in 2002 which Forge has made it to the semi-finals of this year's edition. Underneath that for warmth I was
wearing a long sleeve Canadian national team t-shirt as the men's national team was away in Mexico playing
a World Cup qualifier. I didn't look at my phone so I wouldn't be distracted but that game ended 1-1 with
locally raised guy Jonathan Osorio scoring the tying goal for Canada.

Photographer Martin Bazyl came later to this game to take some pictures of the action and the trophy presentation.
This is his city was a reason he made an appearance. If he can get these into a paper or online it will help
the tourney's awareness in the coming years.

For the L1O regular season, Sigma's record improves to 4 wins, 2 losses, 3 ties for 15 points. That keeps them
in fourth place in the eight team West Conference. The top two teams make the crossover playoffs against the East.
The three teams ahead of them have between 20 and 21 points with them playing this weekend so post season
qualification look bleak. North Mississauga's record falls to 1 win, 8 losses, 1 tie for 4 points and remain
in seventh place in the West.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
Twitter @RocketRobin01

Sigma FC starters