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. |
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