April 29, 2017 League 1 Ontario--Aurora FC vs Ottawa South United Force) game review (by Rocket Robin)

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April 29, 2017 League 1 Ontario--Aurora FC vs Ottawa South United Force game review (by Rocket Robin)

Result and details of the Saturday April 29, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between
Aurora FC and OSUF (Ottawa South United Force) played at St Maximillion Kolbe
High School in Aurora at 4:00pm.

Aurora FC (yellow socks and numbers, black shorts and shirts)

...................1 Alexander Jakma
18 Calvin Witzell...5 Ukasha Zaighum...4 Gianmariano Della Serra...14 Michael Nitchov
6 Joe Tituana...8 Lucas Doros...10 Matthew Caguana...7 Basel Dashrash
.........11 Dylan Rennie...16 Christopher Jacovou

Subs:...22 Adam Scanlon (gk)...2 Frederick Ameyaw...3 Petros Vasilos...9 Brodie Brown
...13 Christopher Cifuentes...15 Nathlan Phillips...17 Jalen Noronha
team officials:....not listed

Ottawa South United Force (all white, blue numbers)

..................99 Dylan Roisien
5 Rowen Martine-Hoilett...54 Isaac Johnson...4 Justin Earle...23 Walker Smith
...........12 Alex Nzanga...21 George Anthony El-Asmar...10 Marco Natoli
............9 Dario Conte...7 Gabriel Bitar...3 Andres Sanchez Caicedo

*Subs:...6 Osama Alsharif...14 Ibrahim Soukary...19 Jeremy Aweya...24 Kwambena Bempong ...52 Ricky Comba
*(updated May 11th after the team came the next week to Toronto and I was able to sort through
the sub numbers that didn't match).
team officials:...head coach Traian Mateas...team official Raz El Asmar

Game officials:...referee Jose Sanchez-Laros...referee's assistants Kuizan Weekes and Cyrus Eshafi
...fourth official Kim Lee (neon peach shirts, black shorts and socks)

First Half:...game starts 4:00pm. Aurora defend north end on this cold, overcast and windy day. The north wind
was strong and gusty.
30 sec...Aur player on left rolls 20 yard shot wide right.
4 min...Aur Jacovou cross from 22 yards near left end line is caught by goalie.
6 min...OSU Natoli freekick from 25 yards down middle hits head in player wall and bounces wide right of net.
7 min...OSUF Gabriel Bitar GOAL...OSUF Dario Conte cornerkick from right is low
and Bitar one-touch shoots low 10 yarder from right into low left side of net.
9 min...Aur player rolls 28 yarder from left wellwide left of net.
10 min...Aur defender wins freekick holding off two OSU forward after he broke up 2 on 1 rush.
11 min...Aur low cornerkick from left is cleared in box.
12 min...Aur Jacovou slips and shoots 25 yard roller down middle well wide left of net.
14 min...OSU Smith blasts 28 yarder down middle over net.
21 min...OSU Conte cornerkick from right is over players in box and bounces out for throw-in.
22 min...Aur player runs to edge of box to beat OSU Bitar to long pass upfield.
23 min...OSU Natoli cross from 20 yards on far left has defender head ball away in crowd of players.
25 min...Aur Rennie injures OSU Smith at OSU 38 yard line as both kick at ball at same time.
29 min...Aur goalie charges forward to 15 yards to catch cross from right.
30 min...OSU Sanchez Coicedo can't get foot in to get away 7 yard shot.
33 min...Aur Rennie rolls 40 yard ball forward and to left from middle but over end line as no Aur players
ran for it.
37 min...Aur Jacovou 30 yard freekick from left is low and rolls to goalie on left post.
38 min...OSU Natoli dribbles up middle but passes forward and right from 30 yards but with no OSU players
running forward and ball rolls over end line.
41 min...Aur Jacovou can't gewt to ball rolled forward into box with defender well shadowing him.
42 min...Aur Witzell makes key clearance breaking up OSU potential 2 on 1 play at Aur 22 yards.
43 min...Aurora FC Matthew Caguana GOAL...AFC Caguana receives pass threaded
through middle and from 35 yards dribbles forward and chips shot from 28 yards over
two defenders and goalie Dylan Roisien into center of net.
44 min...OSU Sanchez Coicedo cross has Aur Della Serra at 8 yards concede cornerkick.
44 min...OSU Conte cornerkick from left is cleared by defender on near post.
45 min...Aur YELLOW card...Jacovou earns it for kicking out near center line when ball rolled past him.
46 min...half ends 4:46pm.

2nd Half:...starts 5:01pm.
halftime subs:...Aur Ameyaw replaces Doros.
.................Aur Noronha replaces Dashrash.
47 min...OSUF Gabriel Bitar GOAL...OSUF Marco Natoli at 45 yards on left rolls ball
forward and Bitar shoots 25 yard roller into right corner of net past diving goalie
Alexander Jakma.
50 min...Aur player's cross from 25 yards on far left has defender lcear ball from box.
51 min...Aur goalie runs out to 25 yards to clear ball before OSU Natoli can get to it.
52 min...OCU Bitar is pushed over too easily for referee to award him a Penalty kick on run for pass into box.
54 min...OSU sub...Alsharif replaces Nzanga.
55 min...Aur Caguana 30 yard freekick from far left has defender leap to head ball away at 8 yards.
55 min...OCU Bitar on run shoots 25 yarder from left over top right corner of net.
55 min...OSUF Walker Smith on run down left is pulled down inside box.
Referee Jose Sanchez-Laros awards OSUF a Penalty kick.
56 min...OSUF Dario Conte GOAL...Conte blasts Penalty kick about 6 feet high
to left side of net as goalie crumples to right.
59 min...OSU sub...Comba replaces Sanchez Caicedo.
61 min...OSU Conte 45 yard freekick down middle has OSU player one-touch shot but play is called offside in the box.
62 min...Aur Noronha rush up left side a good 40 yards with defenders chasing him but at 20 yard line he pulls up lame.
63 min...Aur sub...Brown replaces injured Noronha.
71 min...OSU Natoli rescues long cross on Aur left end line but is called on foul on defender when he cuts back upfield.
72 min...Aur sub...Cifuentes replaces Caguana.
73 min...OSU sub...Aweya replaces Bitar.
74 min...Aur YELLOW card...Ameyaw earns it for pulling down player at OSU 50 yard line.
75 min...OSU Comba chips 22 yarder from right that goalie stops.
76 min...OSU Aweya blasts 25 yarder from right well over net.
76 min...Aur Jacovou 30 yard freekick from right is chip that charging Aur Della Serra gets to but he's called offside.
77 min...OSU Conte taps pass to OSU Natoli who rolls 20 yarder up middle that goalie smothers.
79 min...OSU Alsharif 35 yard shot from right is low and well wide left.
82 min...OSU sub...Soukary replaces Natoli.
83 min...OSU Alsharif taps pass on run to OSU player and goalie makes point blank save on his shot at 12 yards.
84 min...OSU Conte cornerkick from left is high and blows over box.
87 min...OSU sub...Bempong replaces Conte.
90 min...OSU Bempong on run down left has Aur Zaighum poke ball away for cornerkick.
90 min...OSU El-Asmar cornerkick from left has OSU Comba head 12 yarder that bounces to goalie.
91 min...Aur YELLOW card...Witzell earns it for tripping OSU Smith from behind.
92 min...OSU El-Asmar 40 yard freekick from left is well hight and wide right.
93 min...game ends 5:50pm.

Final Score:...Aurora FC.......1........Ottawa South United Force.......3.......

Attendance was about 50 on this cold afternoon with a strong gusty wind from
the north. Because I drove here, I could go back to my car and switch to my parka
and touque which I hadn't planned to wear until tonight's game between
Masters FA and Woodbridge.

Referee Jose Sanchez-Laros gave out three Yellow cards—all to Aurora players.
Many offsides were called on both teams especially in the first half. Both teams
became spooked by these calls and were each caught with a player passing the
ball forward and teammates holding back from making runs and the ball rolling
out of play. The referee took advantage of the hash marks for throw-ins like saying
"take it at the 40" to stop players from cheating trying to get away with lining
up ten yards downfield before putting the ball back into play.

This is the first League 1 Ontario game played by OSUF who are the only new men's
team added to the league this season. There are 16 teams again this year with
the Ottawa team filling in the spot in the Eastern Conference vacated
by Kingston Clippers, one of the original franchises who did not return to the
league for a fourth season. Too bad as OSUF's closest rivalry by geography would
have been Kingston. Now the Toronto area teams and Ottawa have a five hour
bus trip to play each other. OSUF will be back next week Saturday night to play
Masters FA Saints who schedule their home games for 9:00pm kickoffs!

The quality of OSUF didn't really shine through until the second half with the
wind at their backs. Aurora only won four games out of twenty-two last year,
their first season.

OSUF maxed their subs out at five (league maximum) four of them after they had
the two goal lead giving more players a chance to say they played in the club's
first L1O game and a reward for the long bus ride. Aurora made four subs—two
were needed for injuries in the second half.

This year Aurora moved from Sheppard's Bush to a schoolyard only about
a kilometer north of last year's home. I asked a team official for the reason they
switched homes. He said the facilities weren't satisfactory. Both places had field
turf although the new field is laced with football hash marks. The old place had
dressing rooms which looked like they were just trailers towed in and dropped off.
The public washroom was just another trailer. He said they had no showers.
I'd say both fields had the same capacity with aluminum stands for about 600.
The new place however has their stands running from about the 10 yard line
in the south to the 40 yard line in the north rather than being half on each side
of the 55 yard line.

I switched to the other side of the field from the stands at halftime as I was still
waiting for the Aurora gamesheet and I could see a lot better from the sideline
then the stands which were behind a running track that kept the stands 20 yards
away from the sideline.

The choice of this field is just an interim solution because there are plans for the
club to build their own facility another kilometer north of this field at The Aurora
Family Complex on some currently unused land the official said.   My eyes glazed
over thinking of an 8000 pop-up Canadian Premier League stadium but they are
just looking for a place for their L1O teams and all their youth teams.

Aurora FC will be back here next Saturday for a home game at 7:00pm against
North Toronto Nitros.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
@RocketRobin01

Aurora FC starters