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Details of the CSL game of Friday May 16th, 2008 between the Toronto FC Academy and Toronto Croatia played at Lamport Stadium in Toronto at 8:00pm.
TFC Academy (all red, white numbers and one white stripe on right side of chest)
..........................50 Jarret Humphreys
46 Donavan Wilson...35 Shawn Kodejs...47 Daniel Tannous...43 Domenic Roberts
37 Jeremy Halliday...38 Erick Olazabal (cpt)...39 Adrian Pena...31 Ashtone Morgan...27 Keon Spence
......................41 Junior Ellis
Subs:...29 Eros Olazabal...32 Jarret Hamilton...36 Latwayne Anderson...40 Daniel DiBiagio...44 Jean-Louis Peruza...49 Viktor Anastasov...51 Lucas Birnstingl
team officials:...head coach Jason Bent...assistant coach Stuart Neely...manager Nick Dasovic...trainer Sebastian Builiago
Toronto Croatia (all blue, white numbers and trim)
........................1 Marko Culjak
2 Kevin Correa...6 Mario Kulis (cpt)...4 Domagoj Sain...3 Sven Arapovic
22 Boris Tomac...7 Jonathan Bustamante...8 Hayden Fitzwilliams...11 Mario Josip Pupic
.................10 Tihomir Maletic...9 Hugo Herrera
Subs:...5 Nikica Pavic...13 Daniel Grbac...14 Slavko Zelenika...15 Kruno Andric...19 Mario Beljo
team officials:...team manager Tom Granic...assistant coaches Vele Curljen and Pino Jazbec
Game officials:...referee Isaac Raymond...referee's assistants Johnny Faccieni and Jeff Fearacci...fourth official Alexis Vaughan...(neon green shirts, black shorts and socks)
1st Half:...game starts 8:11pm...TFCA defend north end...As there is no working scoreboard, all times are converted from my wristwatch.
2 min...TFCA Erick Olazabal 40 yard freekick from right has TC Pupic head ball away before it gets to box.
3 min...TC Pupic cornerkick from right has TC Herrera tap ball back to him. Pupic crosses into box and Herrera is injured on left side of box.
5 min...TC goalie steps forward to stop bouncing through ball.
6 min…TFC Academy Adrian Pena GOAL…TFCA Domenic Roberts 40 yard freekick from left is blocked by TC goalie Marko Culjak but he gave up a big rebound. TFCA Shawn Kodejs taps ball past defenders across box and Pena taps ball into net from 3 yards.
9 min...TFCA Pena flick header from 7 yards on cross is wide left.
9 min...TC Fitzwilliam on break on left has 12 yard shot stopped by sliding goalie on left post.
10 min...TFCA Halliday 35 yard freekick from right is caught by goalie.
13 min...TC Herrera injured at TFCA 30 yard line.
14 min...TC Tomac 30 yard freekick blast is high and wide left and deflects over fence onto King Street.
18 min...TFCA Pena gets to low cross from right and blasts 10 yard shot off cross bar.
20 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right has leaping TC forward head ball wide left from 6 yards.
22 min...TC Bustamante on give and go up the middle is through TFCA defence and heads ball from 8 yards to goalie.
24 min...TC Fitzwilliam beats defender along end line but rolls cross that goalie stops on left post.
25 min...TFCA Pena takes ball up middle with arm and play is whistled down.
27 min...TC goalie blocks cross to left inside box.
30 min...TC Sain injured in crash with TFCA Tannous on run into TC box involving goalie. Sain was injured at the 22 yard line.
32 min...TFCA Pena 12 yard shot deflects off defender for cornerkick.
33 min...TFCA Halliday cornerkick from right is over players in box.
35 min...TC Tomac 25 yard roller through crowd of players is wide left of net.
36 min...TFCA YELLOW card...Roberts for check on sideline.
37 min...TC Maletic 40 yard freekick from right sideline set up for TC Pupic's 15 yard shot that's blocked be defender at 4 yards.
37 min...TC YELLOW card...Kulis for grabbing TFCA Ellis at TC 30 yards breaking in.
38 min...TFCA Ellis 40 yard freekick over crowd of players and caught by goalie.
39 min...TC Pupic 30 yard shot up middle deflects off defender for cornerkick.
39 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right has TC Herrera kick in 6 yarder through crowd of players and into net. For some reason the goal didn't count.
40 min...TC defender breaks up TFCA pass across TC box.
42 min...TFCA YELLOW card...Erick Olazabal (?) for push at center line.
43 min...TC Kulis 55 yard freekick from left has goalie fumble ball but grab ball off feet of TC player in box.
44 min...TC goalie dives on ball as defender shields ball from TFCA player.
47 min...TFCA goalie catches low 25 yard shot from right.
47 min...TC Fitzwilliam rush on left rolls ball across box but defender and goalie cover up.
47 min...half ends 8:58pm.
2nd Half:...starts 9:16pm...it looks dark on the field. The spotlights aren't really bright enough.
46 min...TFCA Morgan rush on left and shot from 20yards and he gets rebound and his 15 yard shot is saved too.
47 min...TFCA YELLOW card...Morgan for check near sideline.
49 min...TC Herrera 22 yard shot is caught by goalie. TC Herrera is injured on play when play moves on.
50 min...TC sub...Beljo replaces injured Herrera.
54 min...TFCA Wilson injured at TC 45 yard line.
55 min...TFCA sub...somebody (?) replaces Spence.
57 min...TC Tomac cross through box from 15 yards on right but no TC players are there to make play.
59 min...TC sub...Zelenika replaces Correa.
60 min...TC Pupic injured when he's clipped running into TFCA box.
61 min...TC Maletic 18 yard freekick from right is sailed high and wide left over net with TC Tomac acting as a decoy.
63 min...TFCA Erick Olazabal 40 yard freekick from right is high and has goalie catch in crowd of players.
64 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right has defender head ball through box.
66 min...TFCA goalie dives right to get hand to ball.
69 min...TFCA sub...Anastasov replaces Pena.
69 min...TFCA Roberts or Erick Olazabal 25 yard freekick is tapped over and shot is blocked on edge of box.
70 min...TC Kulis 55 yard freekick from right is caught by goalie.
71 min...TFCA sub...Hamilton replaces Erick Olazabal. TFCA Roberts is now the captain.
72 min...TFCA Roberts 55 yard freekick blast is well wide right too far for charging TFCA forward.
78 min...TC goalie beats TFCA Ellis to through ball on edge of box.
80 min...TFCA sub...Eros Olazabal replaces Ellis.
80 min...TFCA goalie steps forward to clear ball before TC Fitzwilliam can get to break up middle.
81 min...TC YELLOW card...Bustamante for tackle.
82 min...TFCA Hamilton and TFCA Eros Olazabal crash together trying to make kick after long run and leap over sprawling TC goalie.
83 min...TC YELLOW card...Arapovic for check injurying TFCA Roberts at center line.
84 min...TFCA sub...DiBiagio replaces injured Roberts.
86 min...TC Pupic 25 yard freekick from right has TC player not quite able to turn header from 3 yards.
87 min...TFCA sub...Anderson replaces someone.
89 min...TC goalie charges out to stop TFCA Eros Olazabal on breakaway.
90 min...TC player's cornerkick from left has defender clear.
90 min...TC Sain injured at TC 40 yard line.
94 min...TC Pupic 35 yard freekick up middle is blocked in wall of players.
96 min...game ends 10:07pm.
Final Score:…….TFC Academy……..1…………Toronto Croatia……….0……….
Attendance was about 500 people on this cool night with about two thirds TFC fans---a mixture of friends and family and some of the TFC pro-team fans perhaps practicing for tomorrow’s game against Columbus.
Isaac Raymond was the referee and he gave out a few cards in either a rough game with sloppy checks or the turf increasing injuries because both sides needed their trainers frequently in this game.
This result came as a surprise to me. I didn’t expect the teenage players to win this game—not that they weren’t skilled but TFC just hired a head coach for them—Jason Bent—just a week earlier and I heard the team had only been together for ten days and had played no CSL exhibition games. Toronto Croatia had been training for the last two months.
Toronto Croatia was the CSL Playoff Champions last year. I didn’t see defensive stalwarts Halburto Harris and Robert Fran on the team like last year so I don’t know if they will have the league’s best defensive record again.
Jarret Humphreys earned the shutout for TFC. He had to sharp on some saves and crosses but the Croatian shooting wasn’t very accurate. Adrian Pena almost had a second goal at 18 minutes when got to a low cross from the right and blasted a 10 yard shot off the crossbar. Croatia goalie Marko Culjak had to make some good saves too like coming to the edge of the box or actually outside to break up through balls. About 10 minutes from the end of the game TFCA’s Jarret Hamilton and Eros Olazabal (both second half subs) ran to the edge of the Croatia box and leapfrogged the sliding goalie outside the box and both bumped into each other and neither got away a shot.
I was sure Hugo Herrera had scored the equalizer at 39 minutes when he kicked in a 6 yarder through a crowd of players in the box after receiving a cornerkick from Tihomir Maletic but the play was waved off.
Lamport Stadium just had Field Turf installed after years of having artificial turf vintage 1970s that had been threadbare for the last decade. There are no football lines on the field. The scoreboard doesn’t work and there were about 25% of the stadium lights not working so the field was much darker than it should have been. I had to use binoculars to see who had just made a play. A few balls ended up over the fence into the traffic on King Street
This stadium is the home for the new TFC Academy team and is about a 15 minute walk from BMO Field. It will also be the home of Portugal FC which is closer to the Portuguese neighbourhood of the city. With its double-sided stands it will also be the neutral grounds for the two league games between Toronto Croatia and Serbian White Eagles later this summer.
I saw TFC main team players Jim Brennan and Greg Sutton come down to the front row before the game to wish head coach Jason Bent good luck before the game.
Astros announcer Ennio Perruzza was the announcer for this game and made most of the calls from the stands. I recognized many officials from the other Toronto area teams here tonight scouting for future games. Next TFC Academy game is next Friday, May 26th against St Catharines Wolves.
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
TFC Academy starters
Toronto Croatia starters
TFC Academy bench...head coach Jason Bent is on the right and Nick Dasovic is beside him.
Croatia set up freekick from in close.
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