July 13, 2013 CSL--Toronto Croatia vs Astros Vasas FC (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday July 13, 2013 CSL game between Toronto Croatia and Astros Vasas played at Lamport Stadium at 8:00pm.

Toronto Croatia (blue socks, white shorts and numbers, red numbers)

.....................12 Antonio Ilic
7 Halburto Harris...4 Sven Arapovic...3 Josip Keran...15 Ainsley Deer
21 Daniel Niksic...19 Petar Mingon...18 Boze Poljak...22 Mladan Bajamic
.............9 Kresimir Prgomet...10 Tihomir Maletic (cpt)

Subs:...17 Mateo Sutic (gk)...5 Roberto Galle (mid)...6 Hrvoje Perkovic (--)...8 Hayden Fitzwilliams (mid)...20 David Alba (mid)
...23 Nikola Brtan (def)...25 Joseph Filipic (mid)
team officials:...head coach Miodrag Akmadzic...manager Ivan Kulis...assistant manager Perica Arapovic...physio Amanda Liddle

Astros Vasas FC (red socks, black shorts and shirts, gold numbers, white shoulders)

.....................12 Laszlo Barna
2 Dominik Kaali...6 Jevon Vanderreyden...14 Kurt Damian Ramsey (cpt)...3 Vincenzo Sasso
11 Sandor Varga...18 Karoly Czak...17 Conrad Kouame-Assane...5 Jose Laudelino Goncalves De Sousa
...............20 Tristan Watson...10 Joey Melo

Subs:...1 Antal-Andras Toth (gk)...7 Robin Sibalin (mid)...9 Horbat Adalbert (fwd)...13 Antoine Paul (def)...15 Zoltan Szekely (def)
...19 Erick Gulyas (fwd)...21 Davide James (fwd)
team officials:...head coach Laszlo Kiss...assistant coach Gerardo Lezcano...trainer Robert Maria

Game officials:...referee Armando Pereira...referee's assistants Gianni Fachinni and Jessica Patton...fourth official Blake Williams ...(neon yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 8:02pm...TC defends north end on this hot and humid evening.
3 min...AV Watson rush on break but is caught by defender before getting away shot.
3 min...AV player's cornerkick from left is headed across box and cleared.
5 min...AV Melo 35 yard freekick is low and down middle and stopped on edge of box.
6 min...TC Mingon 40 yard shot down middle is over player wide right of net.
7 min...TC Harris rush on right wing but his cross from 25 yards on extreme right drifts behind net.
9 min...AV Melo 25 yard freekick from left is cleared. AV Kaali blasts 35 yarder down middle that deflects off defender and bounces for goalie to catch.
14 min...TC Prgomet fed through ball up middle and rolls 18 yard shot just wide right of post.
17 min...Astros Joey Melo rolls ball from middle at 25 yards to Astros Tristan Watson and TC Halburto Harris knocks him over at 15 yards and both fall over. Referee Armando Pereira signals for a Penalty kick.
17 min...Astros Tristan Watson GOAL...Watson rolls Penalty kick to left corner of net as goalie Antonio Ilic slumps in middle.
19 min...AV 11 cross from 25 yards on right is behind charging AV Watson at 12 yards and defender clears.
21 min...TC Maletic rolls 28 yard freekick forward down left and TC Bajamic in clear blasts 15 yard shot from left well over net.
26 min...Astros Karoly Czak GOAL...Astros Kurt Ramsey takes freekick from 35 yards that finds Tristan Watson on left at 10 yards and he runs to end line and cuts in along line and rolls ball into 6 yard box for sliding Czak to kick 4 yarder down middle into roof of net.
28 min...TC Prgomet can't win freekick at AV 22 yards when he'd knocked in to.
28 min...AV YELLOW card...Melo earns it for not giving 10 yards on TC freekick at AV 53 yards.
32 min...TC Maletic rush on right and rolls centering pass to TC Poljak who blasts 20 yarder up middle and hits scoreboard above and behind the net.
33 min...AV YELLOW card...Czak earns it for complaining about AV Ramsey being called for a scissor tackle foul.
34 min...TC Poljak 22 yard freekick from right deflects off head in wall for cornerkick.
34 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right is headed wide left from 5 yards for goalkick.
38 min...AV Melo 35 yard freekick is well over net.
38 min...Astros Tristan Watson GOAL...TC goalie Antonio Ilic rolls goalkick forward to TC Josip Keran and Watson steals ball off him at 25 yards, run in and roll 12 yard shot past sprawling goalie.
39 min...TC Maletic fed breakaway at 15 yards and 7 yard shot is low and stopped point blank by sliding goalie.
41 min...AV De Sousa 35 yard shot from left is caught by goalie wide left of post.
42 min...AV Ramsey heads ball back to goalie from 35 yards just reaching him before a TC player reached it on edge of box.
44 min...TC Prgomet on right near end line taps pass back to TC Mingon who blasts 12 yard shot that goalie pushes wide right of net.
45 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right wins another cornerkick after ball is knocked around in box.
45 min...TC Tihomir Maletic cornerkick from right has play called down for Astros hand ball in box with a TC player wating for a tap-in on the left post.
46 min...Sven Arapovic GOAL...Arapovic rolls Penalty kick to right corner of net too far over for diving goalie Laszlo Barna.
47 min...half ends 8:49pm.

2nd Half:...starts 9:03pm.
halftime sub:...TC Galle replaces someone.
46 min...AV Kaali 58 yard freekick from right has TC player head ball away in font of AV Watson at 12 yards on left.
48 min...AV Ramsey checks TC Maletic off ball at 8 yards on left and clears.
48 min...AV YELLOW card...Watson for check on TC Poljak near center line.
49 min...TC YELLOW card...Bajamic earns it for tackle near center line.
50 min...TC goalie catches ball just under bar.
51 min...AV goalie smothers through ball ahead of TC Galle on left side of box.
53 min...TC Maletic 50 yard freekick from right is caught by goalie.
53 min...TC Prgomet taps pass in box and TC Bajamic slides and shoots 8 yarder over net.
56 min...TC sub...Alva replaces Bajamic.
.........AV sub...Szekely replaces De Sousa.
56 min...TC Poljak blasts 40 yard freekick from right that's cleared.
57 min...TC Harris cross from 30 yards catches TC Prgomet offside at 3 yards making header.
58 min...TC Galle first touch is too hard at 20 yards on left and ball rolls over endline.
59 min...TC Roberto Galle GOAL...TC Halburto Harris short pass from right at 25 yards back to TC Petar Mingon has him cross to Galle on left and he blasts 8 yard midair shot into short left corner of net over flying goalie.
62 min...AV Kouame-Assane is injured near center line.
64 min...AV sub...Adalbert replaces injured Kouame-Assane.
68 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right has ball eventually cleared.
69 min...Astros RED card...Tristan Watson earns his second Yellow card for tackle on TC Sven Arapovic at Astros 50 yard line. (his first Yellow was at 48 minutes).
70 min...AV goalie catches TC Alva 65 yard freekick from left.
72 min...TC Maletic 35 yard freekick from right has AV Ramsey head away as AV goalie punches ball in crowd of players at 5 yards. AV goalie is injured longer than AV Ramsey who walked out of box then collapsed.
74 min...AV sub...James replaces Varga.
75 min...TC Prgomet blasts 25 yard shot on rush wide right.
76 min...TC sub...Perkovic replaces Poljak.
77 min...TC Prgomet shot as knocked down and TC Galle blasts loose ball from 12 yards on left wide right of open corner.
78 min...TC Mingon tapped ball back and 25 yard shot is deflected over net.
79 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right wins cornerkick on left. AV James was injured on the play.
80 min...TC Alva cornerkick from left has TC player popup header out left side for AV throw-in.
82 min...TC Galle cuts along 25 yards on run to center from left and he shoots wide right.
83 min...AV goalie made point blank save off TC Prgomet who'd rushed forward to 6 yards.
84 min...TC Roberto Galle GOAL...TC Kresimir Prgomet shoots from 12 yards that goalie stopped at 4 yards and Galle boots in 7 yarder on sharp angle from left to far corner of right of goal.
85 min...TC Mingon 12 yard blast on right that's saved by AV Ramsey.
87 min...TC Galle wins cornerkick on deflection off AV Vanderreyden.
87 min...TC Alva cornerkick from left has ball eventually cleared.
88 min...TC Galle heads 10 yarder from left after TC Harris from 20 yards on right has goalie fly to right side to catch.
90 min...AV James wastes time near TC cornerflag as lone man on run.
91 min...TC Harris rolls pass to TC Mingon who crosses from 15 yards on right end line behind net.
92 min...AV YELLOW card...someone earns this near center line for knock on TC Maletic.
92 min...TC Maletic 55 yard freekick down middle has ball knocked for cornerkick.
93 min...TC Alva cornerkick has goalie punch ball at 5 yards off TC player to deflect for goalkick.
94.30 min...game ends 9:52pm.

Final Score:.....Toronto Croatia........3............Astros Vasas FC...........3...............

Attendance was about 100 on this originally scheduled to be played tomorrow night at Centennial Stadium but rescheduled for tonight because of the flood damage to that facility.

This is a surprising result for a number of reasons. Astros and only scored 5 goals in 10 games until tonight while Croatia had only allowed 6 goals in 8 goals up to this match. On the other side, Astros had let in 20 goals while Croatia had scored 19.

Croatia pressed the entire second half and almost pulled out the win after coming back from three goals down. Astros were holding on with players down with injuries or exhaustion near the end. Roberto Galle was a key substitition for Croatia at halftime running up the wing and scoring twice and almost scoring a winner two minutes from time. He was a member of the TFC Academy as recently as last season and played in the MLS Toronto FC friendly game against Liverpool.

Referee Armando Pereira gave out six cards in total that I noticed--five to the Astros but two of them were for disipline reasons. Not giving 10 yards on a free kick from the center line and complaining about a freekick awarded when you weren't even the player who made the tackle that caused the referee to make the call is just dumb. (pulling your jersey off celebrating a goal I think is the dumbest--but that didn't happen tonight). Triston Watson's first Yellow was for almost the exact same play and position as the second that got him ejected.

Best non-scoring chances were at 14 minutes when TC Kresimir Prgomet was fed a through ball up the middle and rolled an 18 yard shot just wide right of the post. 39 minutes had TC Tihomir Maletic fed a breakaway at 15 yards and his low 7 yard shot was stopped point blank by the sliding goalie. 44 minutes had Prgomet on right near end line tap a pass back to TC Petar Mingon who blasted a 12 yard shot that the goalie pushed wide right of the post. 53 minutes had Prgomet tap a pass in the box and TC Mladen Bajamic slid and shot an 8 yarder over the net. 88 minutes had TC Robert Galle head a 10 yarder from the left that the goalie flew to the right side of the net to catch.

Astros achieve two positive results in a row for the first time in a few seasons. Their play has improved with the in-season additions of Joey Melo and Tristan Watson finally giving them some offensive punch. Croatia stays undefeated so far this year.

Croatia's record goes to 6 wins, 0 losses, and 3 ties. Astros record is now 2 wins, 7 losses, and 2 ties. From league updates for a game in Windsor that had a one hour head start, we heard that Kingston (the first place team) was held to a tie by Windsor so maintain a one point lead on Croatia but has played two more games.

Croatia was going to play Serbian White Eagles on Friday night (one of the few attendance draws for each team) at Centennial Stadium (counting as a home team for the White Eagles) but the stadium may not reopen for four weeks or longer. The Astros game would have been a home game for Croatia at Centennial on Sunday.

Lamport Stadium is in downtown Toronto. I haven't been here since last year. SC Toronto played in the CSL until this season and called this stadium home. TFC Academy who were also in the CSL moved away the year before when their facilty was built at Downsview Park. I almost always come here by public transit and was thinking this week that was smart because of the Indy car race across the tracks at the Exhibition Grounds that contain BMO Field but either there was enough places to park on the grounds or the race was over for the day as the parking lots near the stadium were about empty.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Toronto Croatia starters