July 25, 2015 League 1 Ontario--Sigma FC vs Toronto FC Academy (from League 1 Ontario)
Sigma FC 3 - Toronto FC Academy 1 . Sun Jul 26 Written By: Staff, League1 Goals from Kwame Awuah (70'), Richmond Laryea (45 + 2') and Marcel Zajac (17') guided Sigma to a convincing 3-1 win over Toronto FC Academy in men's matchweek 13 action at the Hershey Centre. Martin Davis (90 + 2') got the only goal for the Junior Reds. "Our biggest challenges for this match were unlocking a compact defence and the physical size difference," said TFCA head coach, Stuart Neely. "Combined with a sub par passing game, life was difficult on the day." Sigma opened the scoring within the first twenty minutes, courtesy of Marcel Zajac, and Neely felt the young TFCA charges offered a good response. "When an opponent scores a goal you need to fend off the next few minutes and maintain control, which we did," said Neely. "However, we conceded a second goal on the stroke of halftime." With a good sense of the TFCA strengths and weaknesses following a thrilling mid-May constest at Kia Training Grounds, Sigma's technical staff prepared a successful game plan for the rematch. "We used our first meeting with TFC early in the season as a guiding point towards this game," confirmed assistant coach, John Zervos. "They are always at their best when playing Sigma and we had to prepare our team for that as the optics of the league table could have had our guys get comfortable." "We have worked very hard on preparing the team each week for our opponents by focusing on our strengths, and making sure to respect our opponents, as they all come with dangerous aspects to their game. Once again our keys were to control tempo and manage the game, and we did a very good job at it for the majority of the match." Neely identified Alex Halis as the biggest threat for the TFCA defence, and praised the work of his captain Steven Furlano, and player Leonard Sohn. Zervos picked both an attacker and a defender from Sigma's ranks as worthy of the MVP designation. "Two players that were exceptional on the day on separate sides of the ball were, Richmond Laryea and Dominic Samuel," said Zervos. "Laryea once again showed his class in this league by being a dominant force on the ball in attack and in regaining possession high up the field in the press." "Samuel was a rock in our center of defence, keeping TFC and their players far from opportunities to our goal. He organized the back line and didn't lose any one v one battles. He made clean tackles and was very sharp to get out of tight areas." With the win, Sigma remains in third place, tied on points (27 points) with second place Vaughan Azzurri, but behind on goal difference (+22 to Vaughan's +27). TFCA is in ninth position, with ten points from 12 matches. The Junior Reds have a short break in their match calendar for matchweek 14. "It is a well earned week off for the players," said Neely. "Being considerably younger, the fatigue factor is higher, and so a mini-break is essential." Sigma plays ANB Futbol in matchweek 14, maintaining home pitch advantage at the Hershey Centre on Saturday August 1, 4 p.m. kickoff. Toronto FC Academy returns in matchweek 15, hosting Kingston Clippers at Kia Training Grounds on Sunday August 9, 2:45 p.m.
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