April 24, 2011 CSL--Mississauga Eagles Completes Pyramid From Top To Bottom (from CSL website)
MISSISSAUGA EAGLES COMPLETES PYRAMID FROM TOP TO BOTTOM - Press conference reveals a youth club first Sunday, April 24, 2011 It could be described as a routine youth club press conference staged to introduce and explain the addition of a professional team for the Erin Mills young players to aspire to. In fact it was an historic occasion, announcing much-needed link in Canadian soccer that’s been talked about for 50 years and for the first time in Canadian youth club soccer has resulted in a program that begins at age five and is capped off at the top with the professionals. It’s the addition of a professional component to the Erin Mills Soccer Club, a new dimension that, hopefully, if it starts a trend will mean the end of the vanishing act that befalls so many promising players while in their mid-teens. Mississauga Eagles FC is now a division of the Erin Mills Soccer Club, a youth community soccer organization in the heart of Mississauga just west of Toronto. “As far as we can tell, we’re the first in Canada,” president Susan Rossiter told a media and soccer community gathering at the Hershey Centre Sports Zone on April 21. Indeed, Erin Mills is the first youth club dedicated to soccer, to add a professional team and complete the pyramid from top to bottom. “It will be a team all of our players can learn from,” she added. Rossiter said the club considered the step into professional soccer after some years of success on the technical side following the hiring of head technical man Josef Komlodi back in 2002. Komlodi introduced an entirely new approach to training the players “and the program has worked,” she emphasized. Vincent Ursini, chairman of the CSL, the professional league in which the Eagles will play, spoke of the CSL being an ideal level to top off the club pyramid. He said CSL soccer is tough and entertaining. “But we’re still a developmental league, not a destination league and should be looked upon as a league from which players can go even higher,” he said. Komlodi will coach the professional team, assisted by Bogdan Brasoveunu, Paul Dhillon and Alex Szczotka. He spoke of several players who will play in the team, including Thierry Mangwa-Batomen, Andrew Ornoch, Ivan Juric, David Guzman, Joey Melo, Igor Pisanjuk ands David Simpson. Most have played for Erin Mills in the past. New acquisition Mangwa-Batomen, 26, a product of the FC Metz Academy in France, has played professionally in Italy, England and Belgium before arriving in Canada. He was a member of the Milltown FC team last year. Ornoch, a 25 year-old striker is a Canadian international with three caps who has played professionally in Hungary, Denmark and Holland and recently has been of interest toToronto FC. Juric, 24, born in the former Yugoslavia is a central midfielder, while Pisanjuk, is a 21 year old striker, who joined Erin Mills in 2007, is now a member of Canada’s U-23 Olympic team. He has played professionally in Hungary. “Good player development produces players for the national teams and that means the world stage,” said Komlodi while emphasizing how the right player development environment can bring players along. Christian Secker, the Erin Mills’ secretary, spoke of making the right technical decisions and how in the club the administration will follow to make things happen. Making things happen includes the Mississauga Eagles FC home opener against Montreal Impact Academy at the Hershey Centre on Saturday, May 14, but that will be preceded by the first game in professional soccer for Erin Mills, an away encounter at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Sunday, May 8 against TFC Academy. Both games kickoff at 8 pm. The annual Pre-season Press Conference and Lunch of the Canadian Soccer League will be held at the BMO Field on Thursday, May 5 at 12 noon. A complete press kit for the 2011 season will be available, together with accreditation to all CSL games for members of the media. 2011 Canadian Soccer League
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