From Canada Kicks

Signs of Life
Lynx wake up from early season slumber.
by David Bailey, Staff Writer
July 03, 1999 07:51 AM
As a mid-season rebuilding program finally starts to pay off, a rejuvenated Toronto Lynx (3w, 9l) with two wins in their last three games, entertained the 1997 A-League champion Milwaukee Rampage (7w, 4l) in front of an announced crowd of 2,012 at Toronto's Varsity Stadium.

The match got off to a hot start as the Lynx shocked the Rampage with a goal in only the 3rd minute of play. Rudy Doliscat carried the ball up through midfield before feeding a pass to Lloyd Barker on the left wing. Francisco Dos Santos got onto the end of Barker's inch perfect cross and sent his diving header past a helpless Dan Green in the Milwaukee goal.

Head Coach / General Manager Peter Pinizzotto has been thrilled with the play of Brazilian Dos Santos.  "He's a very intelligent player.  He knows where to be and strikes the ball low.  At times he's a little bit selfish but strikers have to be selfish to score goals and he's scored his fourth (in seven games).  He's a great player". 

Toronto came close to doubling the score when attempts on goal by Lloyd Barker and Brian Ashton forced Green to come up with two huge saves.

In the 15th minute, former North York Rocket Omar Dolambo came close to tieing the match when he got on the end of a long cross.  His volley just missed the far corner of the goal as Jim Larkin looked on helplessly.

One minute later, Ricardo Munguia headed a rocket towards the Rampage goal.  Again Dan Green came up very big parrying the shot up and off the cross bar.

The last 30 minutes of the first half were relatively uneventful. Pinizzotto was disappointed not to have gone to the break with more than a 1 goal lead saying "It probably should have been 3 nothing but (Dan Green) made some nice saves".

The second half began as quickly as the first.  In the third minute, Nikki Vignjevic fed to Dos Santos who wasted a golden opportunity by firing well wide of the goal.

One minute later, Dos Santos would come close again when he blasted a 25 yarder off the bar.

In the 17th minute, Brian Ashton played a wall pass with Dos Santos but his hard shot was well saved by Green despite being deflected by defender Ricardo Iribarren.

The Lynx were eventually able to score again in the 25th minute when Dos Santos fed a perfect pass to Vignjevic who broke in alone on Green.  He placed his shot perfectly giving the Rampage goalkeeper no chance on the play.

Pinizzotto commented, "(Dos Santos) made a nice play, stole the ball even though he was hurting, made a nice run and fed a perfect through ball to Nikki who made a great finish.  Two great players."

With 15 games remaining in the season, the Lynx will be hard pressed to qualify for post season play but Pinizzotto remains optimistic as the team sets out on a two game road trip to Connecticut and Boston, both clubs ahead of the Lynx in the Eastern Conference standings.  "The first place team in the two divisons plus the best six make the playoffs so we think we still have a great chance.  These two games coming up are very, very important.  If we can come up with a couple of wins on the road, we'll be right there after a terrible start".

Notes:  Coach of Canada Holger Osieck performed the ceremonial kick-off prior to the match ..... Milwaukee has three Canadians on their roster - Carmine Isacco, Dino Lopez and Omar Dolambo ..... the coach of the Milwaukee Rampage is former Toronto Blizzard Carlos Cordoba .....  previously, Cordoba had been the inaugural coach of the Miami Fusion of MLS ..... Milwaukee striker Dan Stebbins played for Cordoba in Miami while defender Ricardo Iribarren bumped Mark Watson from the roster of the Columbus Crew ..... Nikola Vignjevic was recently honoured as A-League player of the week after his hat-trick and assist vs. Lehigh Valley Steam on June 22nd ..... the two shots of the crossbar could be expensive misses for the Lynx as a third goal would have meant one bonus point in the standings.

"Back to Lynx menu">

.

.