Toronto Lynx starters before game (no formal introductions)
Result of the Sunday August 13, 2006 Open Canada Cup quarterfinal game between Hamilton Serbians (amateur) and Toronto Lynx (USL) played at Brian Timmis Stadium in Hamilton at 5:00pm.
Hamilton Serbians (white socks, numbers, and trim, blue shorts, red shirts)
..................1 Nikka Prostran
.............23 Ryan Webster...4 Dragan Cosic...7 Goran Miskovic (cpt)
3 Nikola Miodrag...10 Igor Prostran...14 Aleksandar Kovacevic...5 Dragan Despotovic...19 Aleksandar Cavic
................8 Dragorad Milicevic...17 Simo Stevanovic
Subs:...30 Zoran Krickovic...(also listed...9 Stando Dronjak...24 Scott Turnbull...27 Nikola Cimbur...31 Zoran Tomasevic...2 Nestor Portillo
team officials:...manager Bogi Micevski...coach Nebotsa Zlataric...trainer Zoran Ristic
Toronto Lynx (black socks, shorts, names and numbers, yellow shirts)
.....................1 Richard Goddard
12 Marco Bedenikovich...26 Aaron Steele...3 Rick Titus (cpt)...27 Edgar Bartolomeu
16 Niels Dekker...30 Cam Medwin...21 Osni Neto...9 David DiPlacido
...................2 Damien Pottinger...5 Tony Menezes
Subs:...22 Theo Zagar (gk)...7 Shawn Faria (def)...8 Kevin Jeffrey (fwd)...6 Andres Arango (def)...23 Gordon Chin (mid)...15 Matt Palleschi (fwd)...17 Chris Williams (mid)
team officials:...head coach Duncan Wilde...assistant coach Billy Steele
Game officials:...referee Vito Curalli...referee's assistants Bob Sandhar and Yusri Rudolf...fourth official Afshin Korkorian (all black uniforms)
1st half:...game starts 5:04pm...HS defend east end with a bright sun in the south west (too bad for the HS players) and a wind from the west.
As there is no working scoreboard, all times are converted from my wristwatch.
40 sec...Lynx Bartolomeu 30 yard cross from left is drifted behind net.
3 min...HS goalie charges right to smother through ball on right edge of box ahead of Lynx Medwin.
5 min...Lynx Neto cornerkick from right is over players in box just as the wind picks up.
6 min...HS player's cross from 30 yards on left is caught by goalie.
7 min...Lynx YELLOW card...Bartolomeu for push from behind on HS player at 40 yards.
8 min...HS player's 45 yard freekick is too far wide left for players in box.
9 min...Lynx Neto short cornerkick from right has Lynx Bedenikovich rush in but pushes ball behind end line before taking cross from right.
11 min...Lynx Steele injured in center circle and needs help to get off the field.
11 min...Lynx sub...Faria replaces Steele.
12 min...HS YELLOW card...player for hip check at HS 40 yard line on right side.
13 min...HS defender in box heads away Lynx player's 40 yard freekick from right.
14 min...Lynx Neto 22 yard blast tipped by defender high over net.
15 min...Lynx Neto cornerkick from right has goalie punch ball behind net.
15 min...Lynx Neto cornerkick from right is whistled down for Lynx forward bumping goalie.
16 min...Lynx DiPlacido dribbles into box on left and low cross blocked by sprawling goalie.
17 min...HS YELLOW card...Milecevic for hand ball on header near center line.
19 min...Lynx Neto cornerkick from right has leaping Lynx player pop up header wide left for cornerkick.
20 min...HS Milicevic rush up right and cuts in and his 30 yard roller is well wide right.
21 min...Lynx Menezes gets through ball on left and cross has HS defender beat Lynx Pottinger from getting shot.
22 min...Neto 40 yard shot up middle is well over net.
24 min...HS Igor Prostran given short pass and his sharp 6 yard low shot stopped by excellent foot save by Lynx goalie.
25 min...HS Webster misses bicycle kick when HS Milicevic sends in cornerkick from right.
26 min...HS Milicevic boots 20 yarder well over net.
27 min...Lynx Menezes 40 yard ball upfield but he hurts his leg and play is stopped.
27 min...HS goalie slides forward to beat Lynx Pottinger running for through ball.
28 min...Lynx Neto cornerkick from left has Lynx Faria pop 6 yard header over net.
30 min...Lynx Neto stops ball, cuts shot around defnder on right from 20 yards but it's well over net.
31 min...Lynx goalie catches HS Despotovic cross from 25 yards on left.
32 min...Lynx Bedenikovich cornerkick from right ends up with Lynx Bartolomeu's 20 yard shot being over net.
33 min...HS Cosic 50 yard freekick has goalie leap over HS player to punch ball away.
35 min...Lynx Neto injured on crash at 25 yards in HS end.
37 min...HS player's 25 yard freekick from left end line has HS Webster pop header from 8 yards on right well over net.
41 min...Lynx Pottinger cross from right end line is deflected for cornerkick.
42 min...Lynx Neto cornerkick from right is low and defender blocks shot with foot on right side.
44 min...Lynx Neto sent through ball on left and his cross from left is caught by goalie.
45 min...HS YELLOW card...Cosic for knock on Lynx DiPlacido in center circle.
46 min...Lynx Pottinger misses header crossed in from right.
46 min...half ends 5:50pm.
2nd Half:...starts 6:08pm
halftime subs:...Lynx Williams replaces Neto.
..................Lynx Palleschi replaces Menezes.
.................Lynx Jeffrey replaces Pottinger.
.................Lynx Arango replaces Dekker.
HS Cavic is used now as a defender and HS Miskovic is pushes up to midfield.
46 min...HS Igor Prostran 55 yard cross caught by goalie.
47 min...Lynx YELLOW card...Bedenikovich for sliding tackle on HS Milicevic.
48 min...HS player's 60 yard freekick from center circle is caught by goalie.
49 min...Lynx Palleschi 25 yard shot after cornerkick from left is knocked to him and blasted well over net.
53 min...Lynx Bedenikovic 30 yard freekick is blocked by defender.
53 min...DiPlacido 20 yard freekick from right end line has Lynx Faria header from 15 yard and goalie palms ball behind net.
54 min...Lynx player's cornerkick from left has defender block cross.
55 min...Lynx Jeffrey cornerkick from right has Lynx player deflect ball across box.
57 min...Lynx DiPlacido rolls 20 yard shot through crowd of players wide right.
58 min...Lynx Jeffrey bounces weak 25 yard shot from right that's saved by diving goalie.
59 min...Lynx Titus 30 yard freekick deflects off head in HS wall and pops up for goalie to catch.
61 min...HS Igor Prostran given ball up middle but rolls 25 yarder wide left.
62 min...HS goalie out of box knocks away ball.
62 min...HS Despotovic freekick from near left corner has Lynx defender clear.
63 min...HS Despotovic cornerkick from left is cleared by Lynx defender on right of box.
65 min...HS Despotovic beats Lynx Williams on block attempt but his 20 yard shot is over net.
66 min...Lynx sub...Chin replaces Faria.
67 min...Lynx Jeffrey cornerkick from right is whistled down for pushing in the box.
70 min...Lynx Palleschi shot up middle stopped point blank by HS Cosic, Palleschi turns back for rebound and his 25 yard shot rolls for goalie.
71 min...Lynx DiPlacido cornerkick from right has Lynx player pop up ball, DiPlacido gets another chross from right over players in HS box.
73 min...Lynx DiPlacido can't quite twist Lynx Williams cross from right and is wide left from 3 yards but ball still in play.
74 min...HS Igor Prostran and Lynx Arango jostle on through ball and both players go down.
75 min...HS Despotovic 22 yard freekick from left is well over net.
76 min...HS Despotovic crossing into middle has shot well wide right.
76 min...Lynx Jeffrey blasts 18 yarder that injures HS Cavic who slid to block.
77 min...Lynx Jeffrey cornerkick from right and partial clearance has Lynx Palleschi volley 20 yard shot over net.
79 min...Lynx Williams cornerkick from right has Lynx Chin shot attempt blocked by defender.
81 min...Lynx Matthew Palleschi GOAL...Palleschi gets pass on right and stops and cuts and shoots 12 yarder beyond two skidding defenders and over diving goalie Nikka Prostran into low left corner of net.
83 min...HS Despotovic injured at 25 yard in HS end. Lynx players didn't notice and play on which resulted in hard feelings.
85 min...HS sub...Krickovich replaces Miodrag.
86 min...HS Despotovic 45 yard freekick from left has HS Miskovic head ball wide right from 25 yards.
88 min...HS Webster gets ball on right and 35 yard shot is well high and wide left of net.
92 min...game ends 6:55pm.
Final Score:.......Hamilton Serbians.......0.........Toronto Lynx..........1.......
Attendance was about 400 on this hot, bright sunny afternoon with whoever had to run into the west at a disadvantage. Serbians looked they were allowed to use the stadium but they didn’t have the scoreboard working and the press box was locked. I haven’t been here for a few years but it’s a natural grass field and is located right beside Ivor Wynn Stadium home of the CFL Tiger Cats. The crowd was pro-Serbians or maybe just pro-Hamilton with referee Vito Curalli getting booed for every pro-Lynx call.
The first ten minutes of the game were dominated by the Lynx but as the Serbians held off the onslaught, play evened up. The Lynx made multi subs at halftime with Chris Williams, Matthew Palleschi, Kevin Jeffrey, and Andres Arango replacing Osni Neto, Damien Pottinger, Niels Dekker, and Tony Menezes (injured earlier this year while away at a Canadian national training camp) who was used as a forward with Pottinger in the half they played.
In the second half, the Lynx gradually took control as the Serbians looked like they only had three outfield subs and only made one sub the whole game. For the last ten minutes, the Serbians were out of gas. That seemed to be the difference as the Lynx shooting was inaccurate although they earned most of the corner kicks and enough free kicks. Lynx have had such a hard time this year that when Palleschi scored his goal instead of jumping up and down, he turned to look at the referee’s assistant to make sure there was no phantom offside call.
Richard Goddard earned the shutout for the Lynx without having to make many saves as the Serbians shooting was mostly long range and off target. Their best chance was at 75 minutes when Dragan Despotovic blasted a 22 yard free kick from the left well over the net. His best save was at 24 minutes when Igor Prostran was given a short pass and his sharp 6 yard low shot was stopped on the short side by Goddard’s excellent foot save.
The Hamilton team was unknown to me except for midfielders Igor Prostran who was on the Lynx two ago then was on the CPSL Oakville Blue Devils last year and Nikola Miodrag who started this season with Serbian White Eagles of the CSL.
Lynx coach Duncan Wilde had wished he hadn’t needed to use so many subs in the game (six) as he said his line-up is pretty banged up. He had to sub defender Aaron Steele with newly re-signed Shawn Faria at only 11 minutes. Steele picked up either a stretched or torn quad and will be out either two or six weeks.
Lynx now advance to the Open Canada Cup final four tournament held in London Ontario on the Labour Day weekend. I’ll expect they won’t be forced to play the wildcard game on Friday but have to play one of the semi-final games on Saturday and the Final on Monday, Labour Day. Now only problem is between that they have a USL home game in Toronto against Virginia Beach Mariners. That’s three games in three days if they make the final.
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
Toronto Lynx starters before game (no formal introductions)
Hamilton Serbians starters before game
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