April 20, 2024...League1 Ontario Cup First round game...The Borough FC vs Pickering FC game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Results and details of the Saturday April 20, 2024 MLS League1 Ontario game between The Borough FC and Pickering FC played at L'Amoreaux Park in Scarborough at 7:00pm. This was a first round match in the newly reinstated League1 Ontario Cup.

The Borough FC (all black uniforms, white numbers)

..................................1 Ayan Jiwani
3 Ayaan Nadeem...8 Wahiz Rahimi (cpt)...13 Michael Mouratidis...4 Julian Di Lucio...16 Kamran Tavalla
7 Alex Maadanian...15 Avery Grange...5 Pratik Tamhankar...12 Ancelmo Pascoal
..................................9 Edwin Mugadza

Ssubs:...22 Andreas Richardson (gk)...2 Matt Huang (WB...10 Victor Munoz (CM)...11 Aryana Tolouei (WB)
...14 Jovan Nairne (CB)...17 Korede Kadiri (CM)...18 Marlon Ssingh (CB)...19 Seleh Dennis (ST)
...23 Sidney Francis (WB)
team officials:...head coach Andrew Ornach...team managers Daniel Mendez and Martinho Dumesvski
...other official Michael Valenti

Pickering FC (white socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers)

........................1 Josh Naraine
23 Romaine Watkis...3 Jaheed Loblack...18 Noah Carew...17 Caleb Chartres
9 John Moncada...8 Brandon Chicoy...6 Ayomide Abidemi...7 Isaiah Wisdom
...........14 Deandre Watkis...16 Rivaldo Bucaj

Subs:...0 Matt Mattila (gk)...2 Kalyb Wharton (def)...4 Barrington Smith (fwd)...10 Logan Forster (mid)
11 Anthony Barrese (mid)...15 Keane Donnelly (def)...19 Ahmad Wehbe (def)...20 Brandon Chicoy Daban (def)
...21 Peter Ubreye (fwd)
team officials:...head coach Adrian Field...assistant coacb Eric Polo Soldevila...physio Micahel Novielli

Game officials:...referee Roshan Mendonca...assistant referees Michael Konstantopouloss and Martin Harrison
...fourth official Liam Tremblay...match commissioner Nick Lappano

First Half:...game starts 7:00pm on this cold evening with a strong wind from the west. Since there was only
a table top clock and I was standing behind it, I used my wristwatch to keep time.
2 min...PFC Bucaj 25 yard low shot from left is wide right.
8 min...TB Pascoal 30 yard low shot is between players up middle is bounced to goalie.
9 min...TB Pascoal 22 yard shot is wide left.
11 min...TB Grange intercepots centering pass and short pass to left has TB Mugadza shoots 20 yarder wide left.
13 min...PFC Deandre Watkis and PFC Bucaj work in a play up the middle but has TB defender block 20 yard shot.
15 min...PFC Chicoy blasts 28 yard freekick up middle that goalie palms over bar.
16 min...PFC Bucaj cornerkick from right is headed down on left side of box but defender clears before shot.
18 min...TB Tavalla run on left to near end line but 22 yard cross is behind net.
19 min...TB goalie has to jostle PFC Romaine Watkis to get away clearance on edge of box.
23 min...TB Mouratidis blast deflects high off PFC Romaine Watkis wide left for cornerkick.
24 min...TB players short cornerkick is worked out and PFC Moncada pops away header to clear.
25 min...PFC Moncada races but loses to ball but goalie dives on it. Moncada falls over him. The goalie gets up
to start a fast breakout.
28 min...TV Nadeem heads 20 yarder back to goalie to prevent PFC Deandre Watkis from getting to it.
29 min...TB YELLOW card...Goalie Jiwani earns it for knocking over PFC Moncada outside the box.
30 min...PFC Deandre Watkis freekick from 25 yards low and PFC Moncada shot deflects shot up into crowd of players.
PFC Romaine Watkis kicks in 5 yarder but is ruled offside.
31 min...PFC Deandre Watkis draws freekick at 16 yard line near right sideline.
32 min...PFC player freekick from 25 yards has leaping TB Di Lucia head away in crowd of players at 8 yards.
PFC Romaine Watkis is injured on play and needs trainer.
35 min...TB Maadanian low cross from right is along 10 yard line has defender clear.
37 min...TB Tavalla 40 yard freekick from left is caught by leaping goalie behind crowd of players at 6 yards.
41 min...PFC Bucaj freekick from 25 yards hass goalie palm header over box.
42 min...PFC Bucaj high cornerkick from right is cleared from box.
43 min...the sun comes ouit for the first time in the north west.
44 min...TB player's pass to cahrging TB Maadanian is too far forward and is over right end line.
45 min...PFC Chicoy 45 yard freekick up middle has PFC player pop up 10 yarder on right over charging goalie and all is wide
right of post.
45 min...PFC Abidemi 30 yard low shot up middle has goalie make catch.
46 min...TB Mouratidis is injured in collision with PFC Romaine Watkis jumping for header near left sideline.
47 min...PFC goalie picks up roller on near post that had been rolled on a freekick from the left from 40 yards.
47 min...half ends 7:47pm.

Halftime: There's a group of the youth teams of the 'Dutch Connections' clubs practising. For L1O play, the team
is using the name 'The Borough FC'.

Second Half:...starts 8:03pm.
halftime sub:...PFC Naraine replaces Bucaj.
47 min...PFC Naraine high cornerkick is popped up on header by a PFC player on right but ball is cleared.
49 min...PFC Romaine Watkis long throw-in from right has defender head ball through left side of box from right side of box.
49 min...TB Mugadza on 2 on 1 rush ignores TB Pascoal and takes 18 yard shot forward and wide right.
50 min...PFC Chartres run forward on left and fires 30 yarder well over net.
52 min...Borough Pratik Tamhankar GOAL...TB Alex Maadanian crosses high from right along 10 yard line.
TB Edwin Mugadza chests ball down in box and taps to Tamhankar who shoots 8 yarder that flying goalie
Josh Naraine gets hand to but can only push ball into the top left corner of net.
55 min...TB YELLOW card...Nadeem earns it for knock down at TB 40 yard line.
57 min...TB Pascoal cross from 28 yards on left has goalie step in front of charging TB Maadanian at 7 yards on right post.
58 min...PFC YELLOW card...Wisdom earns it for tripping a TB player at TB 20 yard line on far right.
60 min...PFC sub...Daban replaces Chicoy.
61 min...TB goalie is out to 30 yards to dribble ball away from PFC Wisdom.
62 min...PFC goalie picks up bouncer at 12 yards ahead of charging TB Mugadza.
64 min...TB player makes dangerout clearance across field and PFC Wisdom cross tips off sliding defender and PFC player
gets flying header from 6 yards over own net. PFC Wisdom and a defender are both injured.
67 min...Borough Ancelmo Pascoal GOAL...Michael Mouratidis takes freekick from 33 yards on slight left that has
TB Victor Munoz keep in play near the right end line and he crosses over to the left post. Pascoal stops it
and takes low 8 yard shot to the right corner of the net.
68 min...TB sub...Dennis replaces Mugadza.
69 min...TB YELLOW card...Dennis earns it for tackle that injured PFC player.
70 min...PFC sub...Ubreyo replaces Deandre Watkis.
72 min...PFC YELLOW card...Romaine Watkis earns it for tackle at PFC 25 yard line on right injurying TB Rahimi.
76 min...PFC players clear 25 yard freekick from right.
77 min...Pickering Isaiah Wisdom GOAL..Wisdom rushes up the left side and takes low 20 yard shot that goalie
Ayan Jiwani slide to make point blank save at 15 yards. Wisdom gets rebound and lifts 20 yarder over fallen goalie
and between retreating defenders into right side of net.
77 min...TB sub...Huang replaces Grange.
79 min...PFC sub...Wehbe replaces Loblack.
...........PFC sub...Forster replaces Daban. Daban only lasted 17 minutes.
80 min...TB Pascoal gets between defenders waiting for bounce and gets away shot.
81 min...PFC Romaine Watkis is injured on tackle early in play on right that has PFC Wisdom cut in from left and take 7 yard
shot wide right.
84 min...PFC Forster cross from right is over players and PFC Wisdom at 15 yards on left is shot well over net.
85 min...TB YELLOW card...Dennis earns it for tackle at center line.
86 min...PFC player's cornerkick from right bends behind net and hits bar.
86 min...TB Maadanian 20 yard shot from right near end line is well over net.
87 min...TB Pascoal is injured at TB 45 yard line and needs trainer.
89 min...TB defenders head ball out of box in three player play.
91 min...TB sub...Kadiri replaces Pascoal. Pascoal had been playing on with an injury.
92 min...PFC Romaine Watkis can't quite turn diving header on post after receiving high cornerkick from left.
93 min...TB Mouratidis makes goal line clearance.
94 min...TB goalie dives to knock down and has time to crawl to smother at 8 yards.
95 min...PFC sub...Smith replaces Wehbe. Wehbe only lasted 16 minutes.
95 min...PFC player pops header on left forward and wide left of TB net.
96 min...TB Nadeem is injured near TB left cornerflag.
97 min...game ends 8:55pm.

Final Score:......The Borough FC.......2.......Pickering FC.......1......
The Borough moves on to play Premier Division team Guelph United next round.

Attendance was about 300 (my estimate) with fans first filling the stands and late arrivals lining the east side fencing behind them. There were also those who climbed to the last row of the baseball/softball stand, turned and leaned on the railing and watched from there. Borough head coach Andrew Ornach said the club had given out 500 free passes for this game. I'd say the cold and extremely windy weather plus forecasts all weekend calling for rain cut down on the turnout with that keeping families with very young children coming out tonight. Still this must rank as the among the largest attendance I've ever seen at this facilities drifting back to my memories of the L1O Master's FA team's 2019 championship season.

The game was played at L'Amoreaux Park in Scarborough because Birchmount Stadium was not available. Birchmount will be Borough's home.

The excitement was intense. Some of The Borough's fans chanted “Let's go Scarborough” at times during the game and the place came unglued after each of their goals.

This was history for the years to come. There's probably 750,000 people who claim they were at the first Blue Jays game whereas at the time, four guys from my high school skipped out to actually go to that first game then got in trouble...something between detention and execution by school authorities.

Referee Roshan Mendonca gave out six Yellow cards that I counted, four to Borough players. This was the first L1O game ever for The Borough and the first for Pickering FC in two years as they stepped out of the league last season to financially reorganize. For this reason some of the play could be judged as a bit sloppy. When league play starts next weekend, Pickering will play in the Championship Division (the ten team second tier) and The Borough will be in the newly created 24 team (divided into three eight team geographical conferences) 'League2 Central Conference' playing against mostly the reserve teams of the higher division teams. The goal is eventual promotion to the Premier Division but many League2 teams will be topped out at Championship because no team can have their reserve team playing in their own division. This rule may allow The Borough to enter the L2 season ending playoff battle against the other L2 conference winners without finishing first.

There's still no app available yet. There was no paper copies of tonight's lineups so I got to spy on what the L1O game co-ordinator was using (a beta version of the app) and write down player names from his phone. The Borough first sent in just the first names of their players which is great if you're watching a game in Brazil and Pickering was pressing really close the mandate to supply names 20 minutes before kickoff but full names with numbers for both teams were eventually provided. The L1O website for now is updated the day after the game (until they get the instantly updating web- friendly version of the app).

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

My post game interview with Pickering FC head coach Adrian Field (4 minutes, 48 seconds)
Your thoughts on tonight's game?
Please explain why Pickering was missing from the league last season?
What is the goal for your team?
Where are your players coming from ?
Do your goals include pushing players into scholarships?
Where will you playing your home games this season?
Good luck!

My post game interview with The Borough FC head coach Andrew Ornoch (9 minutes, 59 seconds)
Your thoughts on tonight's game?
How good was it to see the large turnout?
Your home games will be at Birchmount Stadium?
Have some of your kids that have won tourneys as 'Dutch Connections' push their way into this team?
Are your goals to push players into scholarships or European tryouts?
(it's Dutch Connections co-founder Jorg van Nieuwenhuyzen who walks by at this time)
What are the goals of The Borough in this league starting at League2 ?
What about having to play Guelph United in the next Cup round?
Your chances of making the promotion playoffs even if you don't finish first?
Did you ever think in your days at Mississauga Eagles (CPSL) and Vaughan Azzurri (L1O) and your time in Europe,
did you ever think you'd own a team?


The Borough FC starters


Pickering FC starters


Borough Edwin Mugaddza (9) takes opening kickoff.


Pickering Brandon Chicoy (8) takes freekick.


Action in Pickering corner.


A Borough defender works way out of own end.


Pickering Deandre Watkis (14) takes second half kickoff.


Borough Michael Mouratidis cuts to middle.


The crowd and players meet after the final whistle.

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