LFP = City surprises Olympians
by PAUL VANDERHOEVEN
City surprises Olympians
Saturday, 22-Jul-2000 10:10:12
July
22, 2000
City surprises Olympians
By PAUL VANDERHOEVEN -- London Free
Press
London City played giant killer last night in a 2-0 win over the
defending Canadian Professional Soccer League champion Toronto Olympians in a
League Cup match at Cove Road field.
The victory gives City a win and a
tie in League Cup play, which puts the London club in first place on goal
differential.
With regular starters Michael Kubicki, Luan Jonuzi and Rob
Dalla Croce out of the lineup, it looked like things wouldn't go well for
underdog City.
London was also missing Ciarnan McCarthy and they lost
player-coach Jurek Gebczynski to a hamstring injury in the first half. The
Olympians were also missing some of their top players, including Eddy Burdusco,
Ricky Titus and Elvis Thomas.
The Olympians, with only one lose in three
years in the CPSL going into last night's game, beat City 6-1 in regular league
play earlier in the season and City was eager to avoid another pummelling.
"I am just ecstatic because they have just killed us every time they've
played us," City general manager Harry Gauss said. "It's a huge win no doubt
about it."
The Olympians first loss came on July 13 this year when the
Oshawa Flames beat them 3-2.
Before the game, Gauss said in order to
hold their own against the CPSL juggernaut, City would have to closely check the
Olympians, keep steady pressure on them and not give them time to set up their
open passing game. After the game he said sticking to the game plan was key to
the win.
"We didn't throw the game away like we did the last time,"
Gauss said referring to City's 6-1 loss earlier in the year. "There's a rule in
soccer: don't show them the way to the goal. In the last game we didn't just
show them, we helped them. We didn't do that this time. Everything was kept
simple. We waited for our breaks and got them."
City went into the first
half tied 0-0 but Tonino Commisso scored on a curving bullet from 25 yards to
give London 1-0 lead at 53 minutes. The goal was setup on a pass from Kareem
Johnson. Commisso was playing his first game of the season after recurring
problems with concussions.
City went ahead 2-0 when rookie Chris Picanco
of Kitchener scored his first CPSL goal at 73 minutes.
City travels to
Oshawa tomorrow to take on the Flames in more CPSL League Cup action. They
return to Cove Road field Friday to host the Flames at 8:30 p.m. in their final
League Cup match of the season.
City, which has signed an affiliation
agreement with the under-18 York Jets of Toronto for the rest of the 2000
season, reacquired midfielder Cameron Medwin of Toronto and also picked up
another midfielder in Miguel Campos. Campos is a former London Regina Mundi
player and a member of Canada's under-20 team. The third Jets player Gauss said
will have an impact is defender Keon Jordan
Posted on Jul 22 2000 , 07:12 AM
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