July 15, 2017 League 1 Ontario--Sigma FC vs Ottawa South United Force (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday July 15, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between
Sigma FC and Ottawa South United Force played at Hershey Centre Field at 4:00pm.

Sigma FC (blue socks and shirts, black shorts, white numbers)

.................1 Triston Henry
4 Jelani Smith...6 Faisal Ghaffur...14 Domiinic Samuel...5 Kyle Walton
2 Johnny Grant...8 Guliano Frano (cpt)...23 Daniel Jodah...7 Kadell Thomas
............22 Molham Babouli...9 Alex Halis

Subs:...31 Kyle Bimek (gk)...3 Jerome Smith...10 Justin Stoddart...15 Tremaine Nelson
...11 Marcel Zajac...20 Manvir Brar...21 Noah Mehta
team offcials:...head coach Bobby Smyrniotis...other team officials John Zervos,
Mike M. Matic, Joe Hanley, Ken Peter

Ottawa South United Force (all white, blue numbers)

..................1 Thomas Hatch
53 Cedrick Jeanty...23 Julian White...5 Rowan Martino-Hoilett...3 Andres Sanchez-Caicedo
20 Myles Cornwall...8 Stefan Andjelc...14 Ibrahim Soukary...7 Gabriel Bitar
..........21 George-Anthony El-Asmar (cpt)...12 Abdulrahman Akinwande

Subs:...99 Cameron Cappelli (gk)...54 Daniel Saladini...15 Muicahit Elevli...11 Ali Ercan
...24 Kwabena Bempong...52 Ricky Comba
team officials:...team head coach Traian Mateas...assistant coach Raz El-Asmar
...manager Darren Levere

Game officials:...referee Jason Vaillancourt...referee's assistants John Morgan Pitzucki and Joey Filipic
...fourth official Sean Simpson...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 4:01pm...Sigma defends east end on this hot and humid but partly cloudy afternoon.
4 min...OSUF Cornwall cross from 25 yards on right is cleared. Cornwall gets to rebound adn low 22 yard shot
up middle is rolled wide right of net.
7 min...Sigma Frano rolls pass forward and left to Sigma Thomas and he charges up left and crosses
through 6 yard box and retreating defender concedes cornerkick.
7 min...Sigma player's cornerkick from left is cleared on right side of box when recrossed from right.
9 min...OSUF goalie beats Sigma Babouli to through ball pass and deives on it at 15 yards up middle.
10 min...Sigma Faisal Ghaffur GOAL...Sigma player takes 30 yard freekick from right forward to Sigma Molham Babouli
and he rolls ball into 6 yard box past goalie Thomas Hatch who dove forward. Ghaffur is about the third guy to have
a chance to pound ball from 2 yards between bunch of defenders on goal line.
14 min...OSUF Soukary ends OSUF pressure that included offside flag with 12 yard blast in crowd is well over net.
15 min...Sigma Thomas rush on left and gets 20 yard rolled shot from left just wide right of post.
16 min...OSUF Abdulraham Akinwande GOAL...OSUF Myles Cornwall long run on right and cross through 6 yard box
that goalie Triston Henry dives forward on right side of net to get hand to but Akinwande pounds in 6 yard rebound
down middle into open net.
18 min...OSUF Sanchez Caicedo is injured in collision with Sigma Babouli at OSUF 40 yard line.
20 min...Sigma player gets away 30 yard shot wde left of net.
22 min...Sigma Babouli runs across field from 25 yard line on left to center and rolls pass over to Sigma Jodah who
crosses low and goalie dives forward to catch.
23 min...OSUF Cornwall 28 yard roller through crowd of players is picked up by goalie.
24 min...Sigma Halis on left has 10 yard shot blocked by defender.
Sigma players are then caught twice of offsides.
27 min...Sigma Molham Babouli GOAL...Sigma Kadell Thomas holds off defender at 25 yards on left to get cross
to Babouli who steps to right from middle and blasts 18 yarder into right side of net just inside post about 5 feet high.
28 min...Sigma Halis gets around defender near left end line and cross into 6 yard box has another defender chest ball
down and clear.
29 min...Sigma Babouli is rolled pass and his 25 yard blast from slight left is well over net.
33 min...Sgma Frano gets follow up shot from 30 yards up middle that's caught by goalie.
35 min...Sigma Jodah is fed through ball pass up right and has low 25 yard shot has sprawling goalie save at 15 yards
then he turns to smother ball that gets behind him.
37 min...Sigma Thomas gets through ball pass up left and has sliding defender, OSUF White, blocks 8 yard shot and his shot
deflects off Thomas for goalkick.
38 min...OSUF sub...Comba replaces Soukary.
39 min...Sigma Jodah is rolled through ball pass just to left of goal and he runs forward and fires 70 yard shot into
webbing of net.
40 min...OSUF Bitar 30 yard freekick from left is straight into player wall.
41 min...OSUF Cornwall low cross from right cornerflag has retreating defender blast ball behind end line for cornerkick.
41 min...OSUF El-Asmar cornerkick from right has defeneder in crowd of players head away.
43 min...OSUF YELLOW card...Comba earns t for pullng on Sigma Babouli at OSUF 25 yard line on right.
44 min...Sigma Babouli 30 yard freekick from far right is over players to Sigma Thomas on left and he taps ball back
to Sigma Walton and his shot from 25 yards is blocked.
46 min...Sigma Ghaffur taps pass and runs forward and teammate chips pass forward and Ghaffur pops 8 yard header
from left over net.
47 min...Sigma Walton bends 30 yarder from left around players and goalie dives to catch iin center of net.
47 min...half ends 4:48pm.

2nd Half:...starts 5:03pm...there's now a bright sun in the south west.
45 min...Sigma Jelani Smith long pass upfield from 65 yards is just a step ahead of Sigma Grant at 20 yards
and goalie picks up.
50 min...OSUF Andjelic turns and 25 yards shot is well high and wide left of net.
The players then get into a dust up with about six players from each side.
51 min...Sigma YELLOW card...Halis earns it for his role in dust up.
.......OSUF YELLOW card...El-Asmar earns it for his role in dust up.
51 min...Sigma Grant chips cross from 25 yards on right. Sigma Thomas chests down ball and his 15 yard shot from left
has goalie push ball wide left from post at 5 yards.
52 min...Sigma Thomas cornerkick from left is cleared from box.
52 min...Sigma Thomas 30 yard bouncing shot from left that goalie sprawls to save.
53 min...Sigma Walton 30 yard low freekick from right is blocked in player wall.
55 min...Sigma Halis 25 yard shot between crowd of players is over net.
56 min...OSUF Bitar steals ball off Sigma Grant and runs up left from 45 yard line but Sigma Grant catches him
and forces him to push over end line from 12 yards.
57 min...Sigma Jodah on right rolls 25 yard cross along 6 yard line.
57 min...Sigma sub...Stoddart replaces Jodah.
59 min...Sigma Babouli rolls 30 yard freekick from left towards goalie and sliding Sigma Ghaffur at 8 yards and goalie
smothers and both players are injured in collision.
61 min...Sigma Frano 35 yard cross from left has two Sigma players miss heading at 8 yards on right post.
62 min...Sigma Jelani Smith key clearance off OSUF player's leg at 10 yards wins Sigma throw-in and breaks up play
down middle.
65 min...Sigma Babouli holds off defenders on run at 45 yards and chips pass to Sigma Grant on right and rolls
centering pass that Sigma Stoddart centering pass and Stoddart has his shot blocked.
66 min...OSUF sub...Saladini replaces Akinwande.
67 min...OSUF Btar run to 28 yards in middle cutting from left and shot is well over net.
70 min...OSUF El-Asmar follow up shot after treammate's is blocked from 25 yards is low and goalie dives to save.
71 min...OSUF sub...Bempong replaces Andjelic.
73 min...Sigma sub...Brar replaces Walton.
.......Sigma sub...Jerome Smith replaces Ghaffur.
.......OSUF sub...Elevli replaces El-Asmar.
74 min...OSUF goalie is out to 25 yards to boot away ball before Sigma Babouli can get to it.
77 min...Sigma Justin Stoddart GOAL...Sigma Jerome Smith pass from 60 yards through players to charging Stoddart
who redirects ball from 20 yards behind sprawling goalie at 15 yards and ball bounces into open net.
80 min...Sigma Thomas long run down left to almost cornerflag and low cross bounces to goalie on left post.
81 min...Sigma Babouli rushes in from 30 yards with defender he'd stolen it from and pushes it over endline.
82 min...Sigma sub...Mehta replaces Thomas.
83 min...Sigma Samuel 40 yard cross from left is over head of leaping Sigma Babouli at 10 yards on right.
84 min...OSUF sub...Ercan replaces Bitar.
88 min...Sigma Babouli does quick throw-in off defender's back and he continues run down right. "Now I've seen
everything" were among the comments I heard from fans watching closely.
89 mn...Sigma sub...Nelson replaces Halis.
90 min...Sigma Samuel run to cornerflag and wins cornerkick.
91 min...Sigma player's cornerkick is short on left but cleared before it can be sent into box.
91 min...Sigma Giuliano Frano GOAL...Sigma Molham Babouli fakes freekick and steps around ball and Frano
blasts 30 yard freekick up the middle into top right corner of net. Wow!
92 min...Sigma Grant cross from 22 yards on right end line has retreating defender knock out for cornerkick.
93 min...Sigma Stoddart is tapped a cornerkick from the right and cross has defender head away on right post.
94 min...Sigma Mehta runs between players up middle to get to ball and his shot from 22 yards is well over net.
95 min...game ends 5:53pm.

Final Score:....Sigma FC......4........Ottawa South United Force...1..

Attendance was about 150 on this hot and humid late afternoon.

Kadell Thomas look great for Sigma leading rushes up the wing.  Johnny Grant 
was as effective on the other wing. Defenders Jelani Smith, Faisal Ghaffur, 
Dominic Samuel, and Kyle Walton were a curtain around the box keeping OSUF 
chances mostly from distance. Frano's freekick goal at the end was what 
Sebastian Giovinco would do for Toronto FC. The goalie was frozen to his spot.

Sigma was never comfortable until 77 minutes when they finally had a two goal 
cushion. Although they were limiting OSUF chances, if one of the few shots 
went in it was suddenly a tie game.

Referee Jason Vaillancourt gave out only three Yellow cards that I counted. 
(two to OSUF). He gave out one to Sigma Alex Halis and 
OSUF George-Anthony El-Asmar at 50 minutes when a shot by OSUF Stevan Andjelic 
that sailed over the net from 25 yards suddenly started a dust up. It ended 
up with about six players from each team pushing against each other. 
When Valencourt asked if those two wanted a second one it sure calmed down 
fast and there was no further trouble.

I spoke with Sigma team official John Zervos about recruiting Mo Babouli. 
It was similar to last year having Leaford Allen play with them and finish 
as their leading scorer then move on to Swedish Second Division side 
Tenhults IF on March 11, 2017. Allen at least had been seen by Sigma when 
they took him on one of their overseas tours. Zervos agreed that Babouli 
is here to showcase his talents for the new Canadian Premier League.

I notice that MLS Toronto FC signed a player from Liechtenstein to play 
on defence as of course there's no CANADIAN player who can fill that role 
on short notice. Wow am I ever waiting for that new league to start!

I told Zervos about the 11-1 game I'd seen earlier in the day. Vaughan has 
a few older players similar in experience to Sigma.

He agreed that he will be glad when these older players move on to the new 
league as it will give their younger players a chance to move up the chain. 
That will make the smaller clubs more competative as it will be back 
to teenagers playing teenagers.

I think this is the year that Sigma can go all in to try to win the league 
(L1O) as it will mean a berth in the Canadian Championship for the 
Voyageurs Cup. They have gone undefeated for a long stretch last year 
(nine games) but then a lot of their best players went back to NCAA schools 
and they finished the season with high-schoolers and their record faded. 
This year their more mature players will be able to stick with the team 
until the end of the season and should be starting in the Spring of 2018 
when the first rounds of the Canadian Championships start. The new league 
wouldn't be starting until the summer. Future years they will have to fight 
the new league in the early rounds and probably their best five to eight 
players may be divvied up between the new teams.

I hadn't been to Hershey Centre this season but it looks unchanged from 
last year. North Mississauga Panthers also use this as a home ground and 
are playing tonight but the game was pushed back to 8:30pm and by now I'd 
seen two games so had reached my limit. The field is still on a flight path 
to a Pearson Airport runway but after a few planes fly overhead every 
third minute we learn to ignore it.

Sigma's record improves to 10 wins, 0 losses, 2 ties for 32 points and they 
are first in the Western Conference. They are the only undefeated team 
in league play left this season.  

OSUF's record falls to 4 wins, 6 losses, 1 tie, for 13 points and they are 
in sixth place in the eight team East. In a planned quirk in the schedule, 
they are staying in the GTA and will play Windsor TFC tomorrow afternoon 
at Vaughan Grove (home of Woodbridge Strikers). Their head coach 
Traian Mateas said their all star (the L1O All Star game against the Quebec 
league is in town on Wednesday) has already left for school—that would 
be defender Justin Earle.

Windsor is in the GTA right now and at the same time were playing Aurora FC 
and won 6-1 that I read. Too bad this league doesn't have a hotel sponsor 
but this is the only game this season that I see this happening. Windsor 
is five hours south west of Toronto and Ottawa is five hours north east 
of here so why not meet halfway in between?

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter RocketRobin01

Sigma FC starters