October 7, 2011 CSL Best/Worst of 2011 Awards personal choices by Rocket Robin The Voyageurs message board had a 'Best of/Worst of' survey back in 2010 but nothing has been posted this year. I thought I'd just cut and paste last year's questions and update my answers comparing them to last year. (note the season was not over at the time I answered.) I attended 55 games so far and saw every team at least 4 times so let's go: 2011 SEASON MVP—Tihomir Maletic Toronto Croatia only lost three games in the regular season. The team didn't do as well when he didn't play. Also scored 17 goals. (last year--Milos Scepanovic Serbian White Eagles) BEST GOALKEEPER—Toronto Croatia pairing of Antonio Ilic and Sandi Matika allowing only 21 goals in 26 games. (last year--Milos Kocic Serbian White Eagles (best defence in the league) on the MLS Toronto FC roster where he wastes away catching balls in the pre game warm ups). BEST DEFENDER—Toronto Croatia's back line but Halburto Harris because he also adds an offensive direction with long runs and crosses from the wing. (last year--Mirko Medic Serbian White Eagles (was called up for the Toronto FC vs Bolton England game) very steady defence for that whole team). BEST MIDFIELDER—Milos Scepanovic Serbian White Eagles for his speed and crosses into the box and freekicks and cornerkicks while playing on the wing. (last year--Hayden Fitzwilliams Toronto Croatia puts the ball into the box for teammates). BEST FORWARD—Stefan Vukovic TFC Academy wins scoring title. (last year--Tihomir Maletic Toronto Croatia (tough call because of their long slump but he is the league leading scorer). ROOKIE OF THE YEAR—Stefan Vukovic TFC Academy, runner up Alexandrow Halis SC Toronto who started as a second half sub for first half of the season. (last year--Nicholas Lindsay TFC Academy now moved up to the Toronto FC roster). BEST YOUNG PLAYER—Stefan Vukovic TFC Academy first year into the First Division and wins the scoring title. (last year Milos Scepanovic Serbian White Eagles) BEST COACH—Carmine Isacco of SC Toronto gets them into first place with combination of York University and TFC Academy overage players among others. (last year--Rafael Carbahal Milltown FC starting the team from scratch). WORST COACH—Gerardo Lezcano, Gabriel Lezcano and Gerardo Lezcano Sr for coaching Astros to a winless record from the beginning of the year. (last year--Goran Rapaic of Brampton Lions...no wins in first 7 games...then he was fired and Amando Costa brought back and they only missed the playoffs by one game). BEST CLUB—SC Toronto finish first—although playoff wins not guaranteed because many players play University soccer whose season is now underway. (last year--York Region Shooters 1st place team...top 4 all year long). WORST CLUB—North York Astros not much worse than other years but there's got to be a special place for a team that hasn't won all year. (last year--St Catharines Wolves last this year). BEST UP COMING CLUB—Capital City FC starting from nothing to finishing a strong third. (last year--Milltown FC starting from nothing to almost winning the regular season title). WORST GOING CLUB—North York Astros hit new low by not winning a game in 2011. (last year--St Catharines Wolves they slipping further back each year. defence is OK but they can't score goals. only 17 in 23 games). BEST CLUB DIRECTOR—Neil Mahotra and Shaun Harris of Capital City FC started the team from scratch less than 12 months ago and finished off strong inaugural season in third place). (last year--Dino Rossi Jr of Milltown FC started the team from scratch less than 12 months ago). WORST CLUB DIRECTOR—We now have to add all the GTA teams to Montreal (and now Ottawa) for scheduling two game road trips in one and a half days. TFC Academy continued to bounce between stadiums but that should end next season with the opening of their state of the art training facility at Downsview Park. (last year--shared--between Montreal Impact Academy for cheapness--forcing the team to travel to Ontario and play two games in 24 hours. (GTA clubs offered them Friday and Sunday games but they wanted to play Fri-Sat or Sat-Sun. #1 reason they didn't make the playoffs. --TFC Academy for driving the games out of BMO Field where even if they could hold on to 2% of the MLS crowd, they would have had better atmosphere then having them play up the street one hour after the main game. Also no promotion or outdated info like continuing to list in the TFC program that they would be playing at BMO months after they were put out). BEST REFEREE—nothing wrong with last year's choice again. Yusri Rudolph also given the tough games like Serbian vs Croatians this year. (last year--David Barrie saw him referee USL game Montreal vs Baltimore then found out he became a National referee. he often gets the tough games but keeps them in control. WORST REFEREE— (Wasn't at this game but) Angelo Gertsakis the referee in Windsor who called the game after 39 minutes because of lightning against Serbian White Eagles causing the entire game to be replayed—CSL games are official after 45 minutes. I could be wrong as to how bad the storm was but would another 6 minutes have made that much difference? (last year--don't really know). BEST SUPPORTERS—no group this year (I can only comment on GTA games I attended. There's been a noticeable drop off in attendance this year. The weather and rescheduling didn't help. (last year--Hamilton (only went to one of their games) problems with the GTA teams, some draw big crowds but only some of the time). WORST SUPPORTERS—North York Astros just not enough of them. (last year--Astros, Shooters, TFC Academy where were they? Astros--years of bad results. Shooters--surprise one of the best teams for winning results. TFC Academy--being pushed between different GTA stadiums is part of the reason. BEST GAME—Sun July 31st—Brampton vs Serbian White Eagles SWE play last 76 minutes with ten men and score last two goals in 3-3 tie. Sun Aug 14th—Brampton hangs on to beat Capital City 4-3. (last year--Fri Sep 3rd Brampton beat York Region 3-2 with the Lions having a player Red carded in the first half and being down 2-0 already, clawing back to score three second half goals to win. Runner ups or last minute thrills--York Region tie Milltown 1-1 on 93rd minute goal. North York tie York Region 1-1 on a 92nd minute goal. Both goals started on goalie's freekick or punts downfield). WORST GAME—games where one team doesn't bring enough substitutes. Sunday September 25th—Brampton vs Windsor--Windsor Stars only brought 11 players. Wednesday October 5th—Brampton vs York Region—York just finished a Reserves game minutes earlier and sent that team home, then had to play a First Division game for much of the second half short when a player was injured. Saturday September 10th—York Region vs Montreal Impact Academy—MIA played the night before and had two men Red carded and one a Yellow which pushed his total over the limit and he missed the game leaving their bench really short. (last year--the games that weren't played at Centennial Stadium. Sun May 16th Toronto Croatia vs London City (hmm was never rescheduled) field unplayable because of a track meet that dug up part of the sideline...then Fri May 21st Serbian WE vs St Catharines--the field is still not ready! Plywood had been layed over the holes. Other observations: The league ran into rescheduling problems even worse than last year. They've got off lightly in that one team still had three games to play but because they and the teams they were scheduled to play didn't make the playoffs, those games can be made up as the best eight are starting their quarterfinals. My suggestion is to have more games at the beginning of the year and leave some open dates for rescheduling. Rocket Robin robing@eol.ca
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