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Result of the Friday September 15, 2006 CSL game between Toronto Croatia and London City played at Memorial Park in Streetsville at 8:15pm.

Toronto Croatia (all blue, white numbers and trim)

............................1 George Azcurra
..............6 Mario Kulis...2 Robert Fran...30 Tom Granic
22 Boris Tomac...8 Hayden Fitzwilliams (cpt)...11 Velemir Crljen...17 Goran Grubesic...16 Halburto Harris
...................10 Leo Laurito...20 Tommy Ples

Sub:...12 Mate Jurkin (gk)...4 Domagoj Sain (def)...5 Antonijo Zupan (mid)...9 Peter Curic (fwd)...21 Rudy Spajic (fwd)
team officials:...head coach Velemir Crljen...assistant coach Milodrag Akmadzic...goalkeeping coach Kruno Culjac...manager Nedo Radman...sports trainer Nino Sonsini...official Vlado Manjerovic

London City (white socks and numbers, black shorts, red shirts)

...........................1 Craig Boytchuk
34 Marco Peeters...66 Louie Fotia...29 Jeff Brown...14 Cody Workman
42 James Twinem...2 Mohcine Talouati...23 Mazdak Sarraf...20 Miguel Knox
....................30 Jeremy Norris...8 Gentjan Dervishi

Subs:...12 Karim Ben Sari (mid)...16 Bernard Al Chaar (mid)...19 Shawn Ord (def)...26 Keith Andrew (def)...32 Jason Boytchuk (mid)
team officials:...head coach Harry Paul Gauss...assistant coach Ihor Boytchuk...phsyio Steve Bozso...assistant coach Julian Carr...assistant manager Ron Cecchin

Game officials:...referee Michael Roecken...referee's assistants Jacques Tjonasan and Yusri Rudolf...fourth official Leif Maitland...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 8:22pm...TC defend south end on this mild night with the game played on a chopped up, soft field...all times are converted from my wrist watch.
5 min...City goalie charge right to knock ball away from TC Ples.
7 min...TC Crljen injured by sliding tackle by City Brown at City 25 yards.
8 min...TC Grubesic 25 yard freekick from left has City player head ball away and TC Fitzwilliams blasts 18 yard rebound well over net.
12 min...TC Kulis cross from 25 yards on right is caught by goalie in crowd of players.
13 min...TC player's 25 yard shot is well over net.
14 min...City YELLOW card...Workman for sliding tackle on TC Kulis at center line sideline.
17 min...TC Kulis cornerkick from left is headed down by City defender. TC player blasts ball across box on shanked kick and TC Kulis shanks well wide right.
18 min...TC Grubesic 40 yard blast well wide left.
19 min...TC Kulis injured again with knock near center line sideline.
21 min...TC Harris 25 yard shot up middle over players in box well wide left.
24 min...TC Tomac low 30 yarder from right is smothered by goalie.
25 min...TC Tomac 25 yard low shot is pushed wide left by diving goalie.
25 min...TC Kulis cornerkick from left has defender head away.
26 min...City goalie bats shot from right is wide right.
27 min...City goalie knocks down cornerkick from right and defender clears.
28 min...City YELLOW card...Talouati for trip on sliding tackle on TC Crljen but Crljen swats him as he falls over.
29 min...City Knox 30 yard shot is deflected wide left for cornerkick.
30 min...City YELLOW card...Sarraf for diving in TC box trying to draw penalty kick.
31 min...TC Fitzwilliams heads 12 yarder up middle to goalie.
32 min...TC Harris pushes ball through to TC Fitzwilliams and 10 yard low shot from left is saved by sprawling goalie.
33 min...City Peeters booot can't turn cross from City Dervishi's freekick from 35 yards on left.
34 min...TC Hayden Fitzwilliams breaks through middle and City goalie Craig Boytchuk dives and pushes 8 yarder wide left. Referee Micheal Roecken calls a Penalty kick for a knock by a defender.
36 min...Croatia Hayden Fitzwilliams GOAL...Fitzwilliams rolls his Penalty kick into right corner of net after it hit a mound in the grass and hops up. Goalie dives to left.
37 min...LC coach orders referee to get ball out of net!
39 min...TC YELLOW card...Fitzwilliams for crash on City Peeters near center line.
40 min...City Dervishi 35 yard freekick blast hits man in 3 player wall.
41 min...TC Fitzwilliams just half step behind rolld cross from right so can't connect for shot in box.
43 min...TC Tomac steals ball on right and 20 yard shot deflected over net for cornerkick.
44 min...TC Crljen cornerkick on right deflects for cornerkick.
44 min...TC Crljen cornerkick into short webbing of net.
45 min...City Fotia 50 yard freekick from center line has City Talouati head 15 yarder with back to net for goalie to catch.
46 min...TC Kulis 30 yard shot from right caught by goalie.
47 min...half ends 9:09pm.

2nd Half:...starts 9:26pm.
halftime sub...City Al Chaar replaces Norris.
46 min...City Dervishi good run up left and cross to City forward is knocked away by defender for cornerkick.
47 min...City Dervishi cornerkick from left is knocked away by defender on left post.
47 min...City Dervishi cornerkick from left has goalie punch ball away.
50 min...City Workman injured by TC Fran while both players were jumping for ball.
50 min...City sub...Ord replaces Workman.
51 min...City Dervishi 28 yard freekick from left has TC Fran head wide left of net.
51 min...City Dervishi from left has defender head ball away.
52 min...TC Tomac 30 yard freekick from left is low and first defender clears ball.
55 min...TC sub...Curic replaces Ples.
57 min...City Dervishi 30 yard shot up middle is wide left.
59 min...TC Grubesic pass to left TC player who centers to TC Curic who's 20 yarder is well high and wide right.
60 min...TC Curic low 25 yard shot is up middle is wide right.
61 min...TC Crljen run on right touches pass to TC Kulis who crosses over players in box.
61 min...TC player cuts in from right and 20 yard shot is palmed over net by goalie.
62 min...City defenders head away cornerkick from left.
65 min...TC YELLOW card...Fitzwilliams for argueing freekick call against him.
67 min...TC Crljen 28 yard freekick up middle is just wide right of post.
68 min...TC sub...Zupan replaces Kulis.
69 min...TC Curic dekes goalie on left and out of space crosses over box and TC Laurito heads 10 yarder that goalie gets back to swat over net.
70 min...TC Tomac runs through three defenders and his 5 yard shot is blocked by goalie.
71 min...City goalie blocks shot from left.
72 min...City sub...Andrew replaces Al Chaar.
73 min...TC Crljen 40 yard freekick has defender block.
74 min...City Dervishi 40 yard freekick from right is pushed forward but cross is blocked.
75 min...TC sub...Sain replaces Grubesic.
78 min...City Dervishi 22 yard freekick from left is bent just wide left of post.
79 min...TC Fitzwilliams rolls 20 yarder saved on left post after TC Zupan on give and go down right.
80 min...TC Tomac 25 yard blast is well over net.
81 min...TC Tomac cross from right after run has TC Curic bicycle kick from 12 yards on left is just wide left.
83 min...TC Harris centers from left end line but no one close to play the ball.
84 min...City goalie falls wide right but falls on ball to stop TC player from making play.
85 min...TC Crljen pushes ball up to TC Tomac on right and cross from right from 20 yards is saved by goalie diving forward.
87 min...TC Dervishi gets to ball on right and rolls cross from 18 yards near endline that's saved by diving goalie.
88 min...TC Curic 35 yard blast deflects off wall.
89 min...TC Crljen cross from left has defenders head ball away.
90 min...TC player's cornerkick from left is short and TC Crljen dribbles in and 15 yard shot is caught by goalie.
91 min...TC YELLOW card...Curic for chipping ball into net after offside whistle.
93 min...TC goalie catch attempt bumped off ball on catch attempt but defender makes clearance.
93 min...game ends 10:14pm.

Final Score:...Toronto Croatia........1...........London City.........0............

Attendance was about 100 on this mild night played on a wet field pretty chewed up; looking like a horse race had been run on it.

George Azcurra earned the shutout for Croatia. He didn’t have too much to do but at 45 minutes when City Louie Fotia sent in a 50 yard freekick from center line that had City Mohcine Talouati head a 15 yarder with his back to the net for Azcurra to catch. In second half injury time, he made catch attempt but was bumped off the ball but a TC defender was able to clear away the danger.

London City goalie Craig Boytchuk had to be sharp to keep the score down with a bunch of diving saves throughout the game. I estimated he had at least three on Hayden Fitzwilliams alone. He was given lots of help on corner kicks and free kicks by his tall defenders who leapt and got to most of the balls sent into the box on dead ball opportunities. Team captain Gentjan Dervishi took almost all the dead ball opportunities for City.

City head coach Harry Paul Gauss was really upset at the referee for most of the game (although so was the Croatia bench) for how rough the game was played with a lot of bumping of players on the small field. I’d say it was a tough game to referee but Roecken gave out a lot of cards for sliding tackles and for foolish plays like kicking the ball away after the whistle had blown or a City player diving in the Croatia box. Something I didn’t understand was after the Penalty shot goal Gauss ordered his goalie not to take the ball out of the net so the game could restart. He said it was the referee’s job. I don’t know if that’s a rule or not…I’ve just never seen it happen before! Finally after a minute or so of time ticking away, a Croatia player trotted down the field into the City net to pick up the ball to resume play. I would have been interested in seeing a longer stare down but I’ve noticed the team that gets scored on always rushes to restart the game so they can build some momentum on the rush.

This was the last CSL team I hadn’t seen this year. I asked City defender Jeff Brown after the game if tonight’s game played out like the usual London games. He said this was a game like the rest of the season---plenty of chances to win but always lose by one or two goals. From what I’ve read, injury woes have troubled the team all year. Yes, he said they had about five or six guys out of the line up through injuries. He said tonight’s game had two guys he’d never seen before. The frequent line-up changes hurt team cohesion.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca


Croatia starters (yikes what blurs. They moved on this dark night)


City starters (taken a minute earlier)


still pregame; showing Croatia's rarely worn all-blue kit

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