August 13, 2023 League1 Ontario...Blue Devils FC vs Vaughan Azzurri game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Sunday August 13, 2023 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between Blue Devils FC
and Vaughan Azzurri played at Sheridan College Stadium in Oakville.

Blue Devils FC (all navy uniforms, white numbers)

.......................1 Erik Hermanns
2 Andra Neptune...4 Patrick Perriel...5 Kevin Sinclair...21 Abraham Jones
17 Noah MacIntyre...11 Gianluca Spadafora...10 Brandon Duarte (cpt)...7 Mathew Santos
................19 James Lima...6 Adam Czerkawski

Subs:...26 Taylor Miskolczi (gk)...12 Samer Hamade...15 Marcus Riviere...16 Joseph Guindy
...18 Ethan Miskolczi...23 Matthew Laic...23 Staeven Pavan...24 Matthew McGrouther
team officials:...team head coach Duncan Wilde...assistant coach Billy Steele and Glenn McNamara
...manager Kim Ashton

Vaughan Azzurri (red shorts, white socks and shirts, navy numbers)

......................1 Christian Calabro
3 Jaytin Pabla...4 Nyal Higgins...5 Raheem Rose (cpt)...2 Daniel Gogarty
16 Jarred Phillips...10 Jeronimo Sabbatasso...8 Christopher Campoli...17 Christian Zeppieri
...............11 Ryan Robinson...14 Sammy Ssebaduka

Subs:...team officials:...team head coach Carmine Isacco...assistant coaches Anthony Vadori, Martina Eleuteri,
and Sergio Da Luca...manager Antonio De Palma...therapist Casey D'Mello

Game officials:...referee Hassane Rifai...referee's assistants Nicholas Thompson and Mariusz Buczkowski
...fourth official John Leuser...(red socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 4:00pm...Blue Devils defends south end on this hot afternoon with a very bright sun (crossfield)
in the west reflecting off the empty seats in the front rows. There was a strong gusty win from the west.
15 sec...BD Duarte is rolled cetnering pass from the left and blasts 25 yarder over bar.
1 min...VA player's low 25 yard cross from right has goalie dive forward to stop at 6 yards in center of box.
2 min...BD Santos cornerkick from right is low and charging BD Perriel has ball hit him in chest on short post and deflect
over end line.
8 min...VA Robinson cross from 22 yards near left end line has defender on near post head away.
9 min...BD Santos shoots 25 yard roller from left that goalie smothers on near post.
10 min...VA Gogarty makes key stop of cross in 6 yard box and then clearance.
11 min...BD Duarte receives pass from center and 25 yard low shot bounces wide left.
13 min...VA Robinson 25 yard freekick from right has BD Czerkawski head away in box for throw-in on right.
15 min...VA Robinson cross from 30 yards on far left has defender boot away.
18 min...BD player's cross from left is over players in box.
20 min...BD Czerkawski receovers deflection and 20 yard chip from slight left is caught by goalie.
21 min...BD Neptune heads ball back to goalie to beat VA Ssebaduka to ball up left.
23 min...A water break is called.
26 min...play resumes.
26 min...VA Sabbatasso 35 yard shot up middle between players is caught by goalie.
27 min...BD Neptune long throw-in from right is over two jumping BD players and bounces to goalie.
30 min...VA Pabla makes sliding stop to prevent run into left side of VA box.
31 min...VA Ssebaduka run on left wing has sliding defender check him off ball and he can't draw freekick on his fall.
31 min...BD Santos can't draw freekick at VA 25 yards in middle on knock over.
32 min...VA Phillips chbip over defenders for VA Sabbatasso to score but is flagged offside.
33 min...BD Spadafora blasts 28 yarder in middle well high and wide left of net.
35 min...VA Campoli can't draw freekick on right side.
35 min...VA Robinson has 230 yard shot up middle blocked.
37 min...VA Rose flattens BD Duarte in collision at VD 40 yard line away from ball. Duarte is injured and awarded freekick.
38 min...VA Ros chips 22 yard cross from right. VA Robinson heads 8 yarder from left into ground and goalie dives down
to get hand to it and keep it away from goal at 5 yards.
40 min...VA Rose threads through ball pass from 65 yards and VA Robinson gets to it on run and 20 yard shot on left has goalie
fly right to get hand ot it and palm over to right for clearance.
41 min...BD Duarte has 25 yard low chip from slight left caught by goalie.
43 min...VA Zeppieri is injured on twist around BD Duarte and awarded freekick at BD 40 yard line.
44 min...BD MacIntyre sind aided cornerkick from left is well over players in box and wins another cornerkick off VA Gogarty
deflection.
45 min...BD Santos cornerkick from right has BD Lima nod 8 yard header in crowd of players on left that goalie catches on near post.
48 min...half ends 4:48pm.

Halftime: Both teams subs warm up.

Second Half:...starts 5:05pm...The weather is unchanged but the sun is now in the north west.
Halftime subs:...BD Hamde replaces Jones.
....................BD Laic replaces MacIntyre.
46 min...VA Phillips low cross from 30 yards on far right on run is through box unplayed and wide left for goalkick.
49 min...BD Santos has ball drop for him and 25 yard shot from left is bent wide right of post.
49 min...BD Perriel retreats to slide and deflect VA Campoli breakaway shot at 18 yards.
51 min...BD Sinclair tips header back to goalie to prevent VA Phillips from making play at 15 yards.
53 min...Vaughan Ryan Robinson GOAL...VA Raheem Rose finishes pass play with poke pass up middle at 15 yards
finding Robinson at 10 yards behind defenders for quick shot banked in off the right post with goalie Erik Hermanns
frozen in the middle.
55 min...VA Sabbatasso retreats to poke ball off player at 20 yards so that goalie can smother.
56 min...BD Santos 40 yard freekick up middle has VA Phillips pop header away at 15 yards on left.
57 min...BD Santos 28 yard freekick from far left has goalie punch ball away and BD Lima has rebound shot blocked at 18 yards.
58 min...VA goalie is out to 15 yards to catch bouncer.
62 min...VA Robinson low cross from right hass BD Perriel concede cornerkick go prevent tap-in by VA player charging
into 6 yard box.
63 min...VA YELLOW card...Rose earns it for bump from behind on BD player racing up right at VA 50 yard line.
64 min...VA Phillips 25 yard cross or shot from 22 yards on right is well wide right of net on flub.
68 min...VA Robinson can't win Penalty kick on bump in BD box getting to long pass into box.
69 min...A water break is called.
71 min...BD sub...Miskolczi replaces Sinclair.
..........BD sub...Riviere replaces Czerkawski.
..........BD sub...McGrouther replaces Lima.
71 min...play resumes.
72 min...BD Duarte is injujred at VA 30 yard line.
72 min...VA defender clear long thow-in from right.
75 min...BD Neptune give and go play has 20 yard shot from slight right bounce wide left of goal.
76 min...BD Santos cornerkick from left has BD McGrouther bounce 8 yard header.
77 min...BD sub...Guindy replaces Santos.
...........BD sub...Lowe replaces Spadafora.
...........VA sub...Bradbury replaces Phillips.
78 min...VA Rose is injured in knee with full blast from BD Guindy at VA 30 yard line.
79 min...Vaughan (BD Ethan Miskolczi own goal) GOAL...VA Ryan Robinson sends low cross from 20 yards along left
end line and retreating Miskolczi knocks ball into own net from 2 yards on left side trying to prevent tap-in from
VA player waiting on the right post.
81 min...BD Duarte 22 yard freekick from left edge of box is just over bar at center of net.
82 min...VA sub...Olatoye replaces Sabbatasso.
82 min...BD Hamade 40 yard cross from right has VA Ssebaduka leap and head ball behind end line to prevent two BD players
getting to it.
83 min...BD YELLOW card...Duarte earns it for complaining about VA being awarded freekick to a VA defender on the left
end line when BD Miskolczi pushed him over on long cornerkick from right.
86 min...VA sub...Pedro replaces Robinson.
87 min...BD Duarte chips 50 yard pass for BD Riviere but bounces over end line on left.
88 min...VA Isacc Bradbury is pushed over on BD right end line as he cuts towards goal. Referee Hassane Rifai awards
VA a Penalty kick.
89 min...Vaughan Christopher Campoli GOAL...Campoli stagger steps his Penalty kick and rolls it down the middle as goalie dives right (in other words, out of the way!).
90 min...BD Neptune long throw-in from left has BD McGrouther quick chip try.
91 min...VA sub...Sciortino replaces Rose.
...........VA sub...Sultani replaces Zeppieri.
...........VA sub...Agunbiade replaes Campoli.
93 min...Blue Devils Marcus Riviere GOAL...BD Andra Neptune crosses from 25 yards on far left and Riviere waiting
on right side heads in 7 yarder past goalie Christian Calabro.
95 min...VA Ssebaduka shields ball over end line preventing BD McGrouther getting to it on right.
96 min...game ends.

Final Score:...Blue Devils FC........1......Vaughan Azzurri.......3.......

Attendance was about 120 on this very hot and sunny day. It was cool enough for the people that were under the shade of the roof of the stands but the first six rows that people avoided had the sun reflect off the aluminum rows and shine into our eyes. There was a bit of cloud cover for some moments of the game.

This was a showdown of the second place (Vaughan) and fourth place (Blue Devils) teams with it easy to believe that these teams will meet at some time in the playoffs.

I felt the first half was fairly even but there must have been some pep talk given at halftime to the Azzurri players and they took over after about 60 minutes. Azzurri players had been able to get key blocks to stop Blue Devils balls from even reaching the goalie. Standout defensive line of Jaytin Pabla, Nyal Higgins, captain Raheem Rose, and Daniel Gogarty held off most of the threats.

Vaughan's Raheem Rose gave two passes to Ryan Robinson that required Blue Devils goalie Erik Hermanns to make two spectacular saves at 38 and 40 minutes or Vaughan would have led at halftime.

Referee Hassane Rifai gave out only one Yellow card to each team with a lot of play-ons and a few freekicks where he walked a player who had been involved in a tackle about 20 yards away from the offense to admonish the guy and not be swarmed by teammates. I enjoy the way he controls his games. He scheduled one water break in each half. Being spoiled like most of us fans sitting in the covered stand, it took until coming down the field to the exits by which time it was already 6:00pm to realize how hot it was down at field level. I had the extra twist of then getting into my black coloured car sizzling in the parking lot.

The Vaughan roster has ex CPL players Daniel Gogarty on defence (with York9 in their early years), forward Ryan Robinson (with HFX Wanderers just before Vaughan's head coach from last year Patrice Gheisar took over the top spot), and forward Christopher Campoli (who was a late cut by different CPL teams three years in a row). Also defender Nyal Higgins was an MLS Toronto FC first round draft choice in 2020. Many players have a strong link to York University and there's an overlap of coaching staff.

I was most impressed by Vaughan player Sammy Ssebaduka who I mapped out as forward but I saw back on his own end line making defensive stops. I thought he had four feet with his dribbling skills retaining possession on the ball and eluding defenders. He's a 2002 and thanks to Googling around at halftime it turns out he's currently attending York University. He's been invited to some Uganda U-20 player camps. I hope Canadian national team head coach John Herdman knows of his existance.

The win moves Vaughan into first place with a record of 14 wins, 2 losses, 3 ties for 45 points with one game to go. 'Second place' on the L1O website is Scrosoppi FC with the same number of points but one more win and two games to play. Somewhere in the league playbook, Scrosoppi should be listed first. I said hello to Scrosoppi head coach John Yacao who was here today and definitely scouting both teams. Top two teams get a bye directly into hosting a semi-final game. Third place Simcoe County Rovers with 40 points and two games to go have an outside chance of catching one or both.

The loss for Blue Devils drops their record to 12 wins, 5 losses, 3 ties for 39 points which puts them currently in fourth place but they could be in trouble as they've finished their twenty game schedule That's what you get with twenty-one teams (thanks to Pickering FC dropping out before the start of this season), there's one team that is 'off' each week. Guelph United and Burlington are both behind them at 36 points with one game to go holding fifth and sixth place. Third and fourth place teams host their quarterfinal games.

Electric City with 34 points and Alliance United with 33 points, both with one game to go, are the only other teams with a playoff chance (must finish top six to qualify).

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

Blue Devils FC starters