April 30, 2016 League 1 Ontario--Vaughan Azzurri vs North Toronto Nitros (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the League 1 Ontario game between Vaughan Azzurri
and North Toronto Nitros played Saturday April 30, 2016 at MacNaughton Turf in Vaughan at 3:00pm.

Vaughan Azzurri (white socks and shirts, red shorts, black numbers)

...............1 Andrew D'Souza
21 Devante Walker...8 Nyal Higgins...2 Munir Saleh...6 Matthew Strangis
9 Jarek Whiteman...10 Brandon Mills...7 Jonathan Lao...11 Jashua Mills...3 Joseph Amato (cpt)
.................15 Jason Mills

Subs:...12 Jared Brown (gk)...13 Maurizio Ragone...16 Malcolm Loukides...17 Matthew Trasente...18 Thomas Bielanski
...19 Adam Lo Franco...27 Mario Kovacevic
team officials:...head coach Carmine Isacco...other officials:...Patrice Gheisar, Luca Forno, Wayne Mills, and Tony DePalma
therapist Estevan Clavijo

North Toronto Nitros (green socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers)

................1 Mark Rogal
17 Miles Abreo...5 David Colelli...10 Niba MacDonald...6 Jayden Doyle
13 Nikolay Savaliev...16 Carl De Abreao (cpt)...9 Abdellah Elchanti...18 Al-Hamdan...11 Russell Rodrigues
.................7 Felix Ngah

Subs:....12 Stefan Dusciuc (gk)...18 Faizal Al-Hamdan...15 Matthew Roseland...2 Daniel Clark...8 Harry Michelis
...21 Lucas Afework
team officials:...head coach Hermann Kingue...other officials Ilya Orlov and Nico Goddard

Game officials:...referee Fabrizio Stasolla...referee's assistants Ben Jacobs and Jose Sanchez-Lario
...fourth official Adam Devenyi...(teal shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 3:03pm...VA defends south end on this midle afternoon with a bright sun in the west. The scoreboard is not working so all times are converted from my wristwatch.
1 min...VA Lao cornerkick from left has VA Higgins pop up header in crowd of players at 3 yards but goalie turns back and catches it.
7 min...NTN Savaliev 40 yard freekick from right has VA Lao head ball awayon edge of box. NTN Savaliev recross is also headed away by another player.
12 min...VA Lao 30 yard freekick from left has goalie raise arms to catch.
14 min...VA Lao cornerkick from left has goalie bat down and pick up ball 6 yard box.
15 min...NTN Elchanti 30 yard freekick from left is caught by goalie.
18 min...NTN Savaliev 35 yard freekick from right has defender head ball away on edge of box.
19 min...NTN Savaliev 30 yard freekick from right has goalie get arm to it and steer ball wide left for cornerkick.
20 min...NTN Elchanti cornerkick from left has defenders clear ball out right side of box.
23 min...VA Jason Mills rush to right end line and sharp angle shot from 12 yards is smothered by goalie on right post.
24 min...VA Brandon Mills GOAL...VA Jonathan Lao gives Mills a short pass and
he blasts a 25 yard shot from the right that goalie Mark Rogal gets a hand to but is just under the bar in the center of the net.
31 min...VA Walker run up right and rolls centering pass but VA Saleh twisting around defender tips ball over endline.
33 min...VA Jason Millsis fed through ball pass at 25 yards on right and rolls 15 yard shot off outside right side webbing of net.
33 min...NTN player's cross from 25 yards on left has defender head ball away at 10 yards.
35 min...VA Lao 30 yard freekick up middle is battled down and picked up on right post by goalie.
37 min...NTN Elchanti cornerkick from left is whistled down in box.
38 min...VA Jashua Mills is given chipped pass at 15 yards in middle between two defenders but defender clears ball before he can contol to shoot at 10 yards.
39 min...NTN player blasts 30 yard shot from left is wide right of net.
41 min...NTN YELLOW card...MacDonald earns it for pulling down player at NTN 30 yard line.
41 min...VA Jashua Mills 35 yard freekick from right is well over net.
43 min...VA Walker is given pass up right between defenders and 18 yard shot is stopped by sprawling goalie at 5 yards. VA Brandon Mills follow up with 18 yard blast is well over net.
46 min...VA YELLOW card...Whiteman earns it for tackle at NTN 40 yard line.
46 min...half ends 3:49pm.

2nd Half:...starts 4:04pm...there's now a stronger wind from the east.
48 min...NTN Savaliev rushes down left sideline and crosses over goalie and VA Amato on right heads ball away. NTN Al-Haaamdan blasts 18 yard shot from right that goalie catches.
50 min...VA goalie beats NTN Savaliev to bouncer to grab at 15 yards.
51 min...VA Saleh chips 20 yarder from left over goalie and into net but play is called offside.
52 min...NTN sub...Michelis replaces Ngah.
.........NTN sub...Sousa replaces Al-Hamdan.
56 min...NTN Sousa has defenders make multi-stops to block his shot attempt on edge of box.
57 min...NTN Savaliev is given backheel pass down left and his cross is over goalie and bounces off bar. The defenders are able to clear rebound.
58 min...NTN Savaliev cross from 25 yards on far left has defenders clear on right.
59 min...NTN Sousa has VA Higgins tip his 15 yard shot wide right of net.
61 min...VA sub...Kovacevic replaces Brandon Mills.
62 min...NTN MacDonald rush down middle and blasts 28 yard shot just wide left of post past flying goalie.
63 min...NTN Jayden Doyle wins Penalty kick when he's bumped over by a defender inside the left side of box.
64 min...NTN Abdellah Elchanti blasts low Penalty kick down middle that sprawling goalie Andrew D'Souza blocks.
65 min...VA Jashua Mills rush down left has low 20 yards shot that sliding goalie deflects wide left for cornerkick.
66 min...VA Jarek Whiteman GOAL...VA Jonathan Lao takes cornerkick from left that Whiteman flicks his foot to while turned around at 6 yards stepping away from goal and the ball tips into the short side of net.
66 min...VA sub...Loukides replaces Jason Mills.
68 min...NTN Anthony Sousa GOAL...NTN forwards and VA defenders head ball back and forth multiple times
in the VA box and Sousa finishes with 6 yard header down the middle into the right side of net.
69 min...NTN Elchanti shoots 15 yard partial clearance off right post then ball cleared.
70 min...NTN Doyle curls 20 yard cross from far left is behind net.
71 min...VA sub...Bielanski replaces Saleh.
73 min...NTN Savaliev cross from 20 yards along left end line pops up off defender and goalie catches near left post.
75 min...VA sub...Lo Franco replaces Jashua Mills.
76 min...NTN Sousa wins cornerkick after getting through two blocked shots.
77 min...NTN Savaliev cornerkick from right has goalie palm ball through box.
78 min...NTN Doyle cornerkick from left is chip that defenders clears.
78 min...NTN Sousa is fed short through ball on left and low 10 yard shot ahs sliding goalie push wide left of post.
79 min...NTN player's cornerkick from left has defender head ball away and another NTN player blasts 25 yarder well over net.
80 min...VA sub...Ragone replaces Lao.
.........NTN sub...Roseland replaces Savaliev.
82 min...NTN Elchanti 22 yard freekick from right has defender tip ball wide right for cornerkick.
84 min...NTN MacDonald is injured at NTN 30yard line in collision with VA Kovacevic.
89 min...NTN Roseland bends ball through 6 yard box from right is just steps ahead of two charging NTN players near right post.
90 min...NTN Rodrigues rush on left and low cross to 20 yards in middle where NTN MacDonald has shot blocked.
90 min...NTN goalie freekick from 55 yards on right is cleared by defenders on edge of box.
91 min...NTN YELLOW card...Micheelis earns it for pushing over VA Brandon Mills at VA 45 yard line.
.........VA YELLOW card...Ragone earns it for complaining about incident.
92 min...NTN Doyle 55 yard freekick from left is caught by goalie just behind players in box.
94 min...VA Brandon Mills tees up touch pass for VA Lo Franco to chip goalie from 40 yards but shot is wide right.
94 min...NTN Roseland 20 yard blast up middle for deflection off defender wide left for cornerkick.
.........NTN MacDonald cramps up in VA box.
95 min...NTN Sousa after receiving short cornerkick has 22 yard shot from left blocked.
95 min...game ends 4:54pm.

Final Score:...Vaughan Azzurri........2......North Toronto Nitros.......1.....

Attendance was about 100 with split fan support on this mild afternoon with a bright sun in the west.

Referee Fabrizio Stasolla gave out four Yellow cards, two to each team in a game that wasn't too rough.

Vaughan started off dominating the game playing much of the first half in the Nitros end. The second half had Nitros playing much better and they had a chance of tying the game a few times near the end. On the scoring sheet they could have tied on their Penalty kick chance but the shot was saved and within two minutes Azzurri had driven downfield and increased their lead to two goals. Nitros got one back soon after but couldn't catch up.

Best non-scoring chances were at 43 minutes when VA Devante Walker was given a pass up the right between defenders and his 18 yard shot was stopped by the sprawling goalie at 5 yards. VA Brandon Mills followed up with an 18 yard rebound blast well over the net. 48 minutes had NTN Nikolay Savaliev rush down the left sideline and cross over the goalie and defender Joseph Amato headed away. NTN Faizal Al-Hamdan blasted this clearance from 18 yards from the right that the goalie caught. 57 minutes had Savaliev given a back heel pass down the left and his cross from 20 yards was over the goalie and banked off the bar and the defenders were able to clear out the right side. 62 minutes had NTN Niba MacDonald rush down the middle and blast a 28 yard shot past the sprawling goalie just wide left of the post. A minute after the Sousa goal NTN Abdellah Elchanti recovered a partial clearance and shot a 15 yarder off the right post which the defenders were then able to clear. 78 minutes had Sousa fed a short through ball pass on the left and his low 10 yard shot had the sliding goalie push wide left of the post. 89 minutes had NTN Matthew Roseland bend a ball through the 6 yard box from the right just steps ahead of two charging NTN players closing on the right post.

This was the first League 1 Ontario game for North Toronto Nitros who have a strong affiliation with the University of Toronto. I counted five players from today's roster who were with the 2015 U of T team. Their home games will be played at Varsity Stadium on the school's campus in downtown Toronto.

Vaughan Azzurri are well known as a home for players attending York University on Toronto's northern city limits. Today's lineup had five players from the 2015 school roster which is the defending Canadian University champions. York also were the CIS champs in 2014. I expect there will be more York players on the roster throughout this season.

New players include the Mills brothers—Brandon, Jason, and Jashua. They all played for League 1 Ontario side ANB Futbol last season. I asked Brandon after the game why they came as a package to Azzurri and he answered that although they don't go to York U they wanted to come the team with the best chance of winning. Wow, they just make the team stronger! Their father Wayne has followed them over and is listed as one of the team officials.

I asked League 1 chair Dino Rossi after the game why ANB Futbol didn't return to the men's team after a two year run, nor the women's side after the league's initial season and he said it was their team officials' decision that they wanted to concentrate on their core values but it doesn't mean they'll never return. I suggested if the league gets to 30 teams with pro/rel they can operate at division 2 level on their budget.

Vaughan moves into a tie with Durham United FA for first place in the Eastern Conference after one game. Hmm, they are geographically 'west' of Yonge Street in Toronto so I'll have to move my boundaries slightly to more of a zig zag and Sanjaxx Lions of the 'West' are east of Yonge Street.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Vaughan Azzurri starters