August 13, 2017 League 1 Ontario--Toronto FC III vs North Toronto Nitros (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Sunday August 13, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between
Toronto FC III and North Toronto Nitros played at KIA Training Centre in Downsview at 1:00pm.

Toronto FC III (white socks and shirts, blue shorts, red numbers)

....................1 Gianluca Catalano
23 Riley Ferrazzo...15 Steven Furlano (cpt)...5 Rocco Romeo...2 Andrew Dias
9 Cyrus Rollocks...13 Luca Petrasso...19 Noble Okello...20 Daniel Da Silva...6 Jordan Faria
..................10 Steffan Yeates

Subs:...12 Sebastien Sgarbossa (gk)...3 Afram Gorgees...6 Jacob Maurutto-Robinson...11 Armando Caracciolo
...14 Zakaria Abdi...18 Nicholas Osorio...22 Christopher Castillo
team officials:...team head coach Danny Dichio...manager Seth Greenan...equipment manager Kevin Murphy
...therpist Samra Habtom

North Toronto Nitros (red shirts and shirts, black shorts, white numbers)

......................1 Mark Rogal
17 Mules Abreo...37 Jason Akoa...5 David Colelli...2 Devon Bowyer
11 Russell Rodrigues...13 Nikolay Saveliev...8 Kevin Da Silva...15 Christian Westlaken
...............10 Niklas Bauer...14 Callum Fleming

Subs:...12 Quinn Stahner (gk)...29 Josh Bowyer...7 Felix Ngha...19 Anthony Sousa
...21 Lucas Afework
team officials:...head coach Hermann Kingue...other team officials Ilya Orlov, Gary Fleming, John Banchi,
and Shawn Sawyers

Game officials:...referee Filip Dujic...referee's assistants Bradley Doubrough and Cyrus Eshafi
...fourth official John Vlahos...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...games starts 1:00pm...TFC defends north end on this hot and sunny day with a breeze from the west.
1 min...NTN defender ducks to head ball away on cross that was sent into box.
6 min...TFC Petrasso 30 yard freekick from right has goalie swat ball forward to left in crowd of players.
7 min...TFC Daniel Da Silva GOAL...TFC Riley Ferrazzo runs down right side and sends low cross from 22 yards near
end line. A defender tries to head it and stops ball at 5 yards. Da Silva doesn't wait and boots 6 yarder into net
between that fallen defender and goalie Mark Rogal who hesitated from picking up the ball.
11 min...NTN player's cross from 22 yards on left has NTN Da Silva pop 10 yard header down middle just over net.
12 min...TFC Rollocks run on right and runs out of room and taps 10 yarder along end line that goalie picks up on post.
18 min...NTN Saveliev 30 yard freekick from right has ogalie charge into crowd of players and swat away. NTN players can't win Penalty kick on two player sliding tackle at 8 yards.
19 min...NTN Fleming 33 yard freekick from left has defender head ball away in box.
20 min...TFC Furlano 30 yard freekick on left is tap to TFC Faria and he shoots 30 yarder well over net.
21 min...NTN Saveliev cornerkick from right is just over players in box.
22 min...NTN Fleming 28 yard freekick near left end line has goalie swat ball away.
23 min...NTN Da Silva can't turn cross from right sliding at 10 yards on left.
24 min...TFC Da Silva rolls pass forward to TFC Faria on deflecton up middle and hs 18 yard shot is palmed over goalie
by sliding goalie.
25 min...TFC Petrasso cornerkick from right is through 6 yard box unplayed and defender heads ball behind end line on left.
26 min...TFC Furlano cornerkick from left has ogalie swat ball away on left post in crowd of players.
26 min...a water break is called.
28 min...play resumes.
29 min...TFC Faria cornerkick from left is rolled to 20 yard line in middle and defender gets there first to clear.
31 min...TFC Furlano cornerkick from left has goalie punch away in crowd of players on left. TFC Da Silva blasts partial
clearance well over net from 25 yards.
33 min...TFC Petrasso long pass up right and TFC Faria takes 15 yard shot from sharp right across box and ball is cleared.
34 min...TFC goalie runs out to 30 yards on right to clear ball.
37 min...NTN Bauer dekes goalie and has TFC Romeo slide to block shot at 6 yards.
38 min...NTN can't win Penalty kcik and red card call.
40 min...TFC Petrasso fakes freekick at 30 yards down middle and TFC Furlano follow through is stopped.
41 min...NTN YELLOW card...Devon Bowyer earns it as TFC Ferrazzo was kicked at 30 yard line in TFC end.
43 min...NTN Saveliev 33 yard freekick from right is sent over net.
44 min...NTN Saveliev 33 yard freekick from right has defender pop up header and they clear from box.
46 min...TFC Petrasso on give and go up middle has defender hook ball away at 15 yards.
47 min...TFC Petraaso cornerkick from right is cleared on right side.
47 min...half ends 1:47pm.

2nd Half:...starts 2:02pm...It's still hot, humid, and sunny wth a breeze from the west.
45 min...TFC Rollocks receives cross from right that deflects off players to him and 10 yard shot up middle has sprawling
goalie push ball right.
46 min...NTN Rodrigues run on right and low cross from 25 yards is stopped.
48 min...TFC Daniel Da Silva GOAL...TFC Cyrus Rollocks gets pass at center line on left and charges down wing. He sends
low cross along 15 yard line and Da Silva shoots 12 yarder forward into right side of net past flying goalie.
49 min...NTN Rodrigues low 18 yard shot down middle has goalie save on left post.
51 min...NTN Rodrigues run on right to near end line and high cross drifts behind end line.
53 min...NTN Niklas Bauer GOAL...NTN Jason Akoa chips pass from 60 yards on right downfield forward to Bauer and he runs
down wing and 18 yard shot is deflected by sliding goalie Gianluca Catalano at 6 yards and ball pops over him and into
left corner of net.
55 min...TFC sub...Gorgees replaces Dias.
56 min...NTN Niklas Bauer GOAL...NTN Callum Fleming at 60 yards sends pass forward on right to Bauer who ran to 25 yards
and crossed to left where NTN Russell Rodrigues got it at 15 yards on far left. He crosses back to middle of box and Bauer
heads 8 yarder down middle just under bar.
58 min...TFC Rollocks run down right and shoots 12 yarder on tight angle wide left and ball is cleared.
60 min...NTN Akoa heads ball away across from 30 yards on right and TFC Yeates recovers at 22 yards and lofts ball
that's cleared.
61 min...NTN Niklas Bauer was tripped on sliding tackle in TFC left side of box by TFC Afram Gorgees. Referee Filip Dujic calls
for a Penalty kick.
62 min...NTN Niklas Bauer GOAL...Bauer blasts Penalty kick low to right corner of net as goalie dives left.
66 min...TFC YELLOW card...Furlano earns it for pulling down NTN player rushing on left at 50 yard line.
66 min...TFC Petrasso continues run on right and wins cornerkick.
66 min...NTN goalie catches rechip after cornerkick from right is stopped.
67 min...TFC Faria run down left and crosses through box. TFC player takes 15 yard bounces that's caught by goalie.
69 min...water break called.
.........TFC sub...Caracciolo replaces Petrasso.
.........NTN sub...Sousa replaces Rodrigues.
.........TFC sub...Osorio replaces Okello.
71 min...TFC Da Silva 8 yard shot on right is wide right.
73 min...NTN player shoots 25 yarder that lands on top of net.
77 min...TFC sub...Maurutto-Robinson replaces Yeates.
77 min...TFC Da Silva 25 yard shot has defender concede cornerkick on left with clearance.
78 min...TFC Furlano cornerkick from left is over leaping TFC player in box.
78 min...NTN sub...Afework replacces Fleming.
79 min...NTN Bauer is called on offensive foul on defender rushing into TFC box.
79 min...TFC Faria low 33 yard freekick from right is cleared by defender on right edge of box.
81 min...TFC Osorio taps midair 8 yarder and is called offside on cross from right.
82 min...NTN Bauer low 30 yard shot from left bounces wide left.
84 min...NTN Josh Bowyer replaces Bauer.
85 min...NTN goalie out to 30 yards on left to beat TFC Rollocks to clear ball.
86 min...TFC sub...Abdi replaces Romeo.
87 min...TFC Rollocks on scramble shoots 7 yarder on spin from left into outside left webbing of net.
91 min...TFC Caracciolo rolls 12 yard cross from 12 yards that defender clears at 6 yards.
92 min...NTN goale catches cross from riight in crowd of players.
92 min...TFC Furlano blasts 40 yarder from right is through crowd of players and goalie catches.
95 min...TFC Furlano 30 yard freekick down middle has TFC player head but ball stopped.
96 min...game ends 2:53pm.

Final Score:...Toronto FC III....2...North Toronto Nitros....3..

Attendance was about 50 on this hot and humid, sunny afternoon.  
I hadn't been to KIA Training Centre for just over two months 
but today had the least wind of any game here over the years 
I can remember.

Referee Filip Dujic gave out three Yellow cards (two to Nitros). 
He also called for a water break in each half.

Niklas Bauer scored all three goals for Nitros. He had a chance 
at 37 minutes when he deked the goalie in the box and had his 
shot blocked by sliding defender Rocco Romeo at 6 yards. 
He wouldn't be denied in a ten minute flurry when he scored 
his goals even drawing the foul to set up his Penalty kick. 
A L1O official mentioned that he played for ANB Futbol and 
Aurora FC in previous seasons. I looked through some of my 
old reports. Yeah 2014 he was on ANB, the same team as the 
Mills brothers (now with Vaughan) and Adonijah Reid (drafted 
by MLS FC Dallas and now loaned to USL Ottawa Fury). Reid scored 
his first goal on the weekend against first place Charlotte 
Independence but with all those tweets, you'd think his old 
team would mention Bauer today too.

Nitros have an association with the University of Toronto. 
Today they had seven players on today's roster that were 
on the 2016 varsity team. (I haven't seen a list posted on the 
U of T website yet for who's on the 2017 team). One consequence 
is like last year, now that the school year is starting, 
Nitros will have to move out of the Varsity Stadium 
in downtown Toronto. Next week's home game was originally 
scheduled for Downsview Park (the field is only about 300 
yards from here) but will now be at Esther Shiner Stadium 
in North York.

This is the time of year in past seasons when TFC moves 
up in the standings as other teams lose players going away 
to NCAA and Canadian universities. This season TFC has been 
effected by roster shifts. Midfielder Dante Campbell has 
signed a contract to move up to TFC II for their USL roster. 
Defender Julian Dunn- Johnson had moved up a few months 
earlier and hasn't given up his TFC II starters spot. 
Midfielder Kota Sakurai has left the team to attend Dartmouth 
College in New Hampshire. Also many of L1O top tier teams 
have stacked their rosters with non-school age vets to showcase 
their skills for the new Canadian Premier League. Canadian 
National team coach Octavio Zambrano was at the League Cup 
final last week and tweeted his compliments of that game for 
scouting by the new league. It looks like TFC won't be playing 
against Sigma FC high-schoolers late in the season.

Both teams started this game ten points out of first place 
although TFC had a record six points better than the Nitros 
but are in the tougher Western conference.

TFC's record falls to 9 wins, 3 losses, 2 ties for 29 points 
and stay in third place, 10 points behind co-leaders 
Sigma FC and Oakville Blue Devils in the West.

Nitros record improves to 8 wins, 5 losses, 2 ties 
for 26 points and hop over Durham United into third place 
and are now 7 points behind Woodbridge Strikers.

While it would have been nice to talk to the players today 
I had just enough time I thought to drive cross town to get 
to Scarborough and watch Toronto Skillz and Windsor TFC Stars.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter RocketRobin01

TFC III starters