Sun August 14, 2016 League 1 Ontario--Vaughan Azzurri vs Toronto FC Academy (from League 1 Ontario website)

Vaughan And TFCA Share Points In 1-1 Draw
08/14/2016, 10:30pm EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

In a game that had everything, Vaughan Azzurri and Toronto FC Academy shared 
the points after a 1-1 draw at McNaughton Turf on Sunday afternoon.

"I don't think we played well at all," said Toronto FC head coach, Stuart Neely. 

"I think we were the creator of our own demise today."

"I know it ended 1-1 but I think we should have been at least better prepared 
psychologically to come into this game. I think a lot of players just beat 
themselves before they even got here." 

Joseph Di Chiara (35') scored midway through the first half for the hosts, 
but then was dismissed (61') just over the hour mark for a second caution.

"Motivation and having some sort of purpose to everything we do [was key]," 
said Vaughan Azzurri head coach, Carmine Isacco. "We created three, 
four or five chances in the first half where the game should have been done, 
but the quality in the finish, quality in the final third was lacking."

"We were one nil up when we should have been two or three. Then we had 
a selfish action by one of our players to get a second yellow, and then 
we were in a game."

Toronto FC Academy's Marko Mandekic (45') equalized with a sumptuous left 
footed curling free kick just before the half-time interval, but the 
Junior Reds could not make the man advantage count. Finally, 
defender Rocco Romeo was dismissed (83') late in the match to level 
the numbers again.

"We did well with ten men," said Isacco. "I thought we created some 
great opportunities with ten men. We should have finished the game 
off early, but this team has good players - first and foremost 
- but mentally they are fragile and we didn't work on that fragility 
enough. They are a good team." 

"They're doing well for development. It's not about results for them, 
it's about developing professional players."

"If you look at it, there is the prototype for a few professional 
players on that team. You can see there is some professional potential 
there, and they have to be in an atmosphere where they have 
to compete - compete to win - and that was a part of it too. They had 
chances to win also. TFC is a professional organization, doing what 
they are there to do."

Both coaches identified strong performances from individuals, 
but lamented the overall team play. 

"For us I think [Daniel] Gogarty in the back was solid," said Isacco. 
"His quiet leadership was very good. When Ryan Telfer came into the 
midfield, he really made a difference. [Mario] Kovacevic was Kovacevic, 
fantastic holding the ball up and getting others involved, but 
we should have been better in the final third. The rest of it, 
to be honest, was underwhelming."

"Brogan [Engbers] did a good job for us, but I would say the 
centreback Malik Smith," said Neely. "He has been looking for 
a good game for a while, and I think that was one of his better 
performances today."

"He was strong physically. He was edgy. Between him and Brogan 
I thought we certainly needed both of them today."

With the draw, Vaughan Azzurri holds a slim two point advantage 
at the top of the east division table over Woodbridge Strikers.

Toronto FC Academy extend their unbeaten streak to seven matches 
with the draw, and are fifth in the west division. Neely said his 
team needs to keep their focus on the task at hand now. 

"I think we have to continue to play good football," he said. 
"I don't think we can allow ourselves to get into a scenario 
where we stop playing, stop learning, stop being efficient and 
effective with the ball, and stop working at being 
defensively sound." 

"Our main focus is to push players into TFC II and we've done 
that with about eight or nine players now that were in League1 
and are now in TFC II," he concluded. 

"We're hoping two or three more will get a look before the end 
of the year. That is our major priority. Certainly getting 
results with good performances is second, and obviously getting 
the three points and victory is a third priority. It's all about 
development and games like this against Carmine and his crew 
are important matches for us."  

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