July 9, 2023 League1 Ontario...Sigma FC vs Alliance United game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Sunday July 9, 2023 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between Sigma FC
and Alliance United FC played at York Lions Stadium in North York at 7:30pm.

Alliance United (white socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers)

...........................1 Praveen Ahilan
...........3 Matthew Monteiro...20 Jacob Maurutto-Robinson...7 Nirun Sivananthan
17 Athenu Sivananthan...16 Shon Siegalwachs...4 Nikola Stakic (cpt)...6 Nicholas Osorio
.............9 Amir Shirazi...10 Dusan Kovacevic...19 Russell Stewart

Subs:...30 Cristian Lisi (gk)...2 Jacob Price...11 Zak Drake...12 Christian Keshishian
...14 Prince David Amanda...15 Kingsley Belele...18 Toby Richardson...22 Jeloni Murray-Powell
team officials:...manager Eric Silvestri...assistanat coaches Cormace Rea and Eric Nelson
...therapists Daniel Dalla Rosa and Michael Silvestri

Suspended: Ilya Olrov (team official), Samuel Gardner (player)

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

...........................1 Rimi Olatunji
...........5 Evan Dick...16 Luka Milidragovic...4 Oyeguni Oluwageun
14 Yousef Helmy...24 Daniel Firek...6 Daninel Stampatori...17 Ryan Kheedo
...............9 Miles Green...11 Hilli Goldhar (cpt)...20 Nino Nikolovski

Subs:...31 Ayan Jiwani (gk)...2 Simon Guardiero...7 Hoce Massunda...12 Kamran Tejumola
...15 Marques Mateo...18 Matthew Paiva...22 Imani Abiud...23 Kadell Thomas
game officials:...manager Justin Stoddart...assistant coaches Dominic Rajna and Philip Opassinis
...therapist Leo Iizuka

Suspended: John Zervos (team official)

Game officials:...referee Hassane Rifai...referee's assistants Joey Filipic and Amanda Kwan
...fourth official Roain Satarzadeh...(red socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 4:32pm...Alliance defends south end.
4 min...AU Nirun Sevananthan intercepts pass and runs up left wing and low cross from 18 yard line has AU Kovacevic stop
it but defender clears.
5 min...AU Kovacevic rush up even with right side of box but play whistled down for his pushing defender.
7 min...AU Maurutto-Robinson pops up long chip from 50 yards with header at 12 yards that goalie catches.
9 min...Sigma Dick bounces low cross in from 25 yards on right just a step ahead of charging Sigma Goldhar at 6 yards on right post
and goalie catches.
12 min...Sigma player's cross sent from 30 yards on left just wide right and over end line in front of charging player.
14 min...AU Maurutto-Robinson long throw-in to 6 yrd box from left is cleared.
15 min...AU Atchu Sivananthan 18 yard shot from left is saved in center of net by diving goalie.
16 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from right wins cornerkick on deflection on left.
17 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from left has defender head ball for cornerkick so flying AU Monteiro can't connect.
18 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from left has defender head ball down on near post and another player clears.
19 min...Sigma Helmy long chipped pass to Sigma Green but AU Nirun Sivananthan gets to bouncer first and concedes throw-in.
20 min...AU goalie is out to top right cornerr of box to beat Sigma Nikolovski to bounced through ball pass.
23 min...AU Nirun Sivananthan and AU Stewart long run up left anad rolls centering pass that AU Shirazi can't jam into net
but wins cornerkick.
23 min...AU player's long throw-in from right has defender pop header from right over own net however Sigma freekick called.
24 min...A waterbreak is called.
25 min...play resumes.
26 min...Alliance Atchu Sivananthan GOAL...AU player runs up left and low centering cross to AU Dusan Kovacevic
who is knocked over at 15 yards but Sivananthan follows in for 10 yard low shot into open net with goalie Rimi Olatunji
was marooned trying to pick up the ball on the play that knocked Kovacevic over.
28 min...Sigma Kheedo cornerkick is caught overhead by goalie.
32 min...Sigma Kheedo on run on left runs ball over end line.
32 min...AU Stakic can't win Penalty kick on fall in Sigma box.
33 min...AU Maurutto-Robinson makes key header to clear Sigma Goldhar cross from right into box.
33 min...Sigma Firek 33 yard chip from left is wide right.
37 min...Sigma Kheedo cross from 30 yards on left is just a half step from leaping Sigma Goldhar at 7 yards on right post.
38 min...Sigma Goldhar is injured at AU 40 yard line. AU Shirazi leaves the field for treatment of a bloody knee before play resumes.
43 min...AU Kovacevic is given pass on interception and his low 15 yard shot up middle is saved by diving goalie on left post.
43 min...AU Shirazi cross from left end line is over box.
46 min...Sigma Kheedo races in and beats goalie on edge of box and heads wide right of net.
...........Sigma YELLOW card...Kheedo earns it for either goalie contact or mouthing off on (offside?) call.
47 min...half ends 5:19pm.

Halftime: Both teams subs warm up on the field. For some reason that was all the Sigma subs but only two AU players.

Second Half:...starts 5:36pm.
45 min...AU Atchu Sivananthan run on left on 1 v 4 when on edge of box and wins cornerkick.
46 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from left has Sigma Nikolovski pops up header in crowd of players and goalie makes catch
on way down.
47 min...Sigma Goldhar slips on run into AU box on left who is second Sigma players on run to fall over.
48 min...Sigma Kheedo cuts in from left along 22 yard line and low 22 yard shot bounces to goalie.
48 min...AU Kovacevic can't win Penalty kick on run into left side of box.
50 min...AU Stewart is given pass up left and taps centering pass to goalie as he ran out of room to end line.
52 min...AU Osorio has to leave the game temporarily with a bloody shirt and comes back out wearing #13.
52 min...Sigma Goldhar chips has Sigma Green jump header at 7 yards that goalie palms wide right.
53 min...Sigma Firek blasts partially cleared corner at 20 yards well over net.
54 min...Sigma Goldhar high cross has goalie catch.
55 min...Sigma Dick slides and almost gives up an own goal to break up play.
56 min...AU sub...Belele replaces Shirazi.
56 min...AU Stakic low cornerkick on left has defender clear. AU player chips from 40 yards that's caught by goalie.
57 min...Sigma sub...Tejumola replaces Milidragovic.
...........Sigma sub...Thomas replaces Nikolovski who immediately gets an ice pack on his ankle.
58 min...Sigma Kheedo cross from 25 yards along 10 yard line has leaping defender head away.
59 min...Sigma Thomas low cross from 30 yards is wide right.
61 min...AU Maurutto-Robinson long throw-in from right corner flag has AU Monteiro flick header across to left but shot is blocked.
65 min...Sigma player's blast at 12 yards is blocked by defender. The ball spins to Sigma player on sideline.
66 min...Sigma player can't get to through ball pass along left and ball rolls out for goalkick.
67 min...AU YELLOW card...Siegalwachs earns it for foul in own end.
67 min...A water break is called.
69 min...AU sub...Keshishian replaces Atchu Sivananthan.
............AU sub...Drake replaces Stewart.
69 min...play resumes.
70 min...AU Belele shoots centnered pass from right that's wide left and high on post.
70 min...AU Belele has shot on right tipped for cornerkick.
71 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from right has AU Monteiro head 8 yarder in crowd of players over net.
71 min...Sigma sub...Abiud replaces Firek.
73 min...AU Drake cross from 25 yards from right has diving defender head away at 10 yards.
75 min...AU Osorio is injured at AU 35 yard line and needs trainer.
76 min...AU sub...Murray-Powell replaces Osorio.
77 min...Sigma Abiud low cross from left has AU player whiff on clearance attempt but ball is unplayed out the right side of box.
81 min...Sigma Goldhar freekick from 25 yards on far right has nearest defender clear.
81 min...Sigma Tejumola blasts partial clearance from 22 yards low and wide left.
83 min...Sigma Abiud low cross from left near end line has defender clear from box.
84 min...Sigma Abiud cross from left cornerkick has Sigma Green step behind charge on left post and goalie catches.
85 min...Sigma sub...Nikolic replaces Stampatori.
85 min...Sigma Green cross from left end line hits back of bar for goalkick.
86 min...Sigma goalie clears ball a step ahead of charging AU player.
86 min...Sigma Nikolic leaps on AU Monteiro's back at 6 yards to win a header but play is whistled down.
87 min...AU sub...David Amanda replaces Kovacevic.
88 min...AU Drake cross over box and AU players are kept away from getting ball back into box.
88 min...Sigma Oluwageun 40 yard blast from left has defender shank clearance bouncing ball back to goalie.
90 min...AU player's 45 yard freekick from left is cleared.
93 min...Alliance Christian Keshishian GOAL...AU Kingsley Belele at center line on right taps centering pass
to AU Prince David Amanda who runs towards goalie on right. He centers pass to AU Nikola Stakic who has to stop
at 20 yards against a defender. Stakic rolls pass to left for Keshishian to blasts low 18 yarder into right corner of net
out of reach of diving goalie.
94 min...Sigma Nikolic has shot tip for cornerkick on left.
94 min...Sigma Kheedo cornerkick from right is caught by goalie unchallenged.
95 min...Alliance player wins a Penalty kick from referee Hassane Rifai when he is tripped in the Sigma box at the 3 yard
line on the right side.
96 min...Alliance Nikola Stakic GOAL...Stakic blasts a Penalty kick low down the middle as the goalie dives left.
96 min...game ends without a restart.

Final Score:...Sigma FC.......0......Alliance United.......3........

Attendance increased to about 100 by halftime. This game was played at York Lions Stadium before the CPL match between York United FC and Forge FC which started one hour this game finished. This is the second L1O/CPL doubleheader held at this stadium this season.

The angle for this game was that Alliance has become the 'drop down' team for York United for an agreement signed a few months ago between all CPL teams. Sigma it could be said has always had that relationship with Forge but usually the other way around. The Sigma 2018 team provided about 1/4 of the players and management for Forge in the inaugral CPL season of 2019. Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis formed Sigma Academy years before there was even a play for a Canadian national league.

This game was close right until the end when Alliance pulled away with two added time goals. A few plays where a player was just a step behind a perfect pass for a tap-in on each team.

Referee Hassain Rifai usually gives out few Yellow cards and in this one he gave out three which was a lot from him. I was surprised by the PK call at the end as he had ignored both teams' attempts to draw a few in this game and what seemed like shouts of “Hand ball” for every ball that hit a player above their knees. Lots of 'play on signals' from him which really insured that first goal as the player following up had an open net...a quick whistle results in penalty kick arguments. He scheduled a water break in each half and it was hot and humid out here.

Both team's head coaches were serving suspensions so were not on their benches so that meant John Zervos of Sigma and Ilya Orlov.

Praveen Ahilan earned the shutout for Alliance making it five shutouts in nine games for him. He was supported by a strong back three of Matthew Monteiro, Jacob Maurutto-Robinson and Nirun Sivananthan (brother of Atchu). Sam Gardner was listed as suspended on today's game sheet or he would have been on that backline. Now it made sense why Nirun was playing so far back and not making as many runs up the wing as usual.

This counted as a home game for Sigma. They are no strangers to home games not scheduled for Paramount Fine Food Centres in Mississauga. They will end up with four games played at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton mostly paired up with CPL/L1O doubleheaders with Forge FC.

The win improves Alliance United's record to 8 wins, 2 losses, 3 ties for 27 points move up to fifth in the standings. They started the day in ninth in a very crowded race for the six playoff spots. They also clinch a spot in the Top 12 Premier Division for 2024 with their now 60.75 points in a weighted table of 2022 and 2023 results that they now can't drop to thirteenth.

Sigma's record falls to 7 wins, 4 losses, 3 ties for 24 points. They are in tenth place in the 2023 standings. More important for the 2024 Top 12 they are exactly 9 points ahead of the thirteenth place team and they usually have late season problems as many of their players leave to return to NCAA schools causing them to finish the season with high schoolers. That current thirteenth place team is Hamilton United.

Sigma and Hamilton have development deals with Forge FC. I asked Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis at the press conference after the CPL game finished about the importance of this Top 12 split. He answered that the club's vision is just to have the players move on to higher leagues. A place in the Top 12 helps with giving the players better competition but it doesn't change their mandate.

Rocket Robin
robin.glover.1958@gmail.com
twitter @RocketRobin01

Alliance United starters