June 24, 2011 CSL--story on Toronto Croatia and Quillan Roberts (from CSL website)
Toronto Croatia will defend their Croatian World Club Championship while the English are here for game with CSL’s Niagara United And ……… it’s magic Friday, June 24, 2011 Toronto Croatia flew to the Adriatic resort city of Split, Croatia on Wednesday to take part in an international Croatian tournament of teams from several countries during the next 10 days and Niagara United of the CSL’s Second Division is preparing to take on a team from England next Tuesday. Niagara United will host Bedlington Terriers FC, a team formed in north-east England in 1949 and now a member of the highly regarded Northern League. The community is situated on the North Sea between the Scottish border 80 miles to the north and English Premier League clubs Newcastle United and Sunderland 10 and 20 miles to the south, respectively. Niagara United will play Bedlington Terriers on Tuesday, June 28 at the Kalar Sports Park in Niagara Falls with a 7 pm kickoff and the English team will also play a game against FC Buffalo the following day. Niagara United is currently top of the CSL Second Division (West) standings, having lost just once in their six games played so far. There is no admission charge for what looks like a highly attractive exhibition match, but Niagara United are encouraging the donation of non-perishable food items for Project Share. The visit of Bedlington FC was the brainchild of Bob Rich Jr., chairman Rich Products Corporation and Bison Baseball Inc. of Buffalo who traced his ancestral roots to Bedlington in England. Rich made enquiries to the English team’s chairman David Holmes offering assistance with the team’s ground improvements -- this developed into a jersey sponsorship and funding for improvement of the playing surface and a new scoreboard. “We are really looking forward to the visit of Bedlington and our match on Tuesday,” said James McGillivray, head coach of Niagara United. “With this being our first season in the Canadian Soccer League, it will be a good test for our team and a once in a while opportunity for the fans to see a highly competitive English side here.” Toronto Croatia won the inaugural Croatian World Club Championship in 2007, a year considered one of the most successful in the club’s 56-year history. The competition attracted Croatian teams from Austria, Germany, Australia, the United States and France. Toronto Croatia went on to win the CSL Championship that year, defeating Serbian White Eagles in the final, and it was a year they lost just one game, a 2-0 defeat to Canadian Lions on October 5. The Croatian World Club Championship is held every four years. The club won the CPSL Championship in 2000 and 2004, but is best remembered for winning the North American championship in 1976 as Toronto Metros-Croatia. The team left Toronto with its full squad on June 22, will play its first game on June 26 against NK Croatia Zurich ( Switzerland), will meet SC Croatia Berlin (Germany) on June 28 and is scheduled to play NK Dinamo (Austria), on June 30. The two group winners will meet in the final on Sunday, July 3. FOOTNOTE: They say goalkeepers are very special people – they must be brave and all that. But there are those who say the real special people in soccer are the goalscorers – fans relate more to the magic of the ball hitting the back of the net than the ball being prevented from hitting the back of the net. Well Isac Cambas, president and owner of SC Toronto in the CSL First Division must be proud of goalkeeper Quillan Roberts who scored the tying goal for Canada’s U-17s in a 2-2 with England in the FIFA U-17 World Cup at Pachuca, Mexico on Wednesday. Roberts, 16, now a TFC Academy goalkeeper following his time with Portugal FC’s youth system (now SC Toronto), took the ball to almost the half-way line while Canada was down 2-1 and time running out and he hoofed the ball towards the England goal. The ball took a bounce over two players and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to finish up in the net. The dramatic late goal kept Canada in contention, making it to the knock-out stages with one game to play in Group C. Cambas must now consider goalkeeper/goalscorer Quillan Roberts very, very, special, special. And magic.
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