| The Toronto Lynx opened their
fifth A-League season against Northern Conference rival Montreal Impact in
front of a loud and lively Varsity Stadium crowd of 3,284. The
fans went home happy as rookie striker Kristian Grzetic scored the games only goal in the 62nd
minute to give Toronto the 1-0 victory.
The game started acrimoniously but the acrimony was
not between the two clubs but pitted the Impact against referee Zoran
Kristo who handed out four yellow cards in ten minutes to the
visitors. At least two of the cautions were debatable at
best.
The first half was low key as neither club was able to
mount any sort of sustained offence although Sunny Nwachvkwu of the Impact
did hit the crossbar in the 22nd minute.
The last five minutes of the half saw the action pick
up with Grzetic testing former Lynx keeper Jim Larkin with a low, hard 20
yard shot to the near post in the 40th minute. It was Grzetic again
causing the excitement three minutes later when after a long, carving run
through the Montreal defence, the Lynx striker was tripped up on the edge
of the box. There was no call on the play.
The Impact's Niall
Thompson had the best chance of the half in the 45th when, after Lynx
defender Mauricio Vincello tripped over the ball, the former Canadian
international found himself face to face with Lynx keeper Theo
Zagar. Thompson attempted to dribble past the keeper but Zagar was
equal to the task and pulled the ball off the Montreal striker's
foot.
Toronto stepped up the attack in the second half and
the effort finally paid dividends in the 62nd minute when Canadian
international Robbie Aristodemo sent a superb cross into the path of
Grzetic who fired a five-yard shot past a helpless Larkin.
Montreal came close to tying the match ten minutes
later as French import Gregory Campi sent a cross to the far post but
Nwachvkwu's header bounced off the post.
The Lynx came close to getting their insurance marker
in the 80th minute when Grzetic was deemed by the officials to have
successfully beaten Montreal's offside trap. It was a dubious
decision to say the least as the Toronto striker was clearly behind the
last Impact defender when the ball was played forward but the Lynx's new
Croatian import was able only to roll the ball off the post.
Montreal's next game is in Pittsburgh next Friday as
they face the Riverhounds while the Lynx's next home game is Sunday, May
27th against the Rochester Raging Rhinos. Kick-off is 6pm. The
match can be seen on CTVSportsnet at 8pm with Gerry Dobson and Dick Howard
calling the action while Alf De Blasis and Ray Williams handle the
sidelines.
Notes: After missing the play-offs
in 2000, the Impact re-tooled their playing roster bringing in Carl
Fletcher (Hampton Roads Mariners), Gregory Campi (Fidelis Andria - Italy
Serie "C") plus Milan Kojic and Lloyd Barker (Toronto Lynx) but they now
have a record of 0 wins - 3 losses, certainly not what was expected .....
the Toronto Ultras were out in full force and full voice successfully
silencing the annoying canned music with
their own musical numbers including "We all cheer for a yellow soccer
team" sung to the melody of The Beatles "Yellow Submarine"..... pre-game
festivities included an exciting Soccer Legends Scrimmage in honour of the
100th anniversary of the OSA and the 25th anniversary of the NASL
championship by Toronto Metros-Croatia. The Metros-Croatia '76 side
featured such luminaries as Bruno Pilas, Bob Iarusci and Carmine
Marcantonio while their opposition, an NSL oldtimers squad, featured Lalo
Maradono, Carlos Salguero and Orville Reynolds, publisher of Futbal.
Diego's younger brother, who spent two seasons with Toronto Italia, scored
twice to lead the NSL'ers to a 4-2 victory.
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