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Result and details of the Sunday August 13, 2017 League 1 Ontario game
between Toronto Skillz and Windsor TFC Stars played at Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough at 4:00pm.

Toronto Skillz (navy socks and shirts, red shorts and sleeves, white numbers)

.........................0 Lucas Birnstingl
23 Thanujan Jeyathilaka...12 Nicholas Goddard (cpt)...9 Alejandro Rivas...3 Ahash Parthipan
8 Ameer Dharshi...11 Anorch Jeyathilaka...5 Frantz Bill...6 Leslie Fitzpatrick
.............7 Anhr El-Eidani...18 Neil Brown

Subs:...1 Achuthan Shanmugaratham (gk)...2 Justin Alvarez...13 Mateusz Skorski...14 Jeremy Nand
...15 Mitchell Wong...16 Nithan Ramanathan...22 Kamara Joseph
team officials:...team head coaches Jake Doodnath and Leslie Fitzpatrick...assistant coach Isiaka Onibudo
...manager Douglas Angelo...therapists Brian Mak and Deidra Erd

Windsor TFC Stars (red socks and shorts, white shirts, black numbers)

........................30 Kyle Vizrakis
8 Kevin Delgado...4 Melvin Amaya...12 Jamar Kelly...13 Chris Delgado
11 Shihab Al-Khulaidy...9 Stephen Ademolu (cpt)...10 Michael Pio...7 Jordan Lidia
.....................24 Brian Santos

Subs:...none!
team officials:...team head coach Zibby Piatkiewicz

Game officials:...referee Lukasz Kolwalski...referee's assistants Nicolas Piperno and John O'Hara
...fourth official Scott Bowman...(watermelo shirts, black shirts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 4:00pm...TS defends north end on this hot and humid breeze from west.
1 min...W Ademolu blasts 20 yarder from right over net.
2 min...W Amaya head ball behind own end line.
2 min...TS Fitzpatrick cornerkick from left has defender clear.
3 min...TS Fitzpatrick 20 yard chip cross from left is caught by goalie.
5 min...W Pio 25 yard freekick from left bends for goalie to catch near left side of net.
8 min...W Pio run down left after short cornerkick and rolls 10 yarder across box that defender clears.
11 min...WS Pio 25 yard shot down middle is well high and left.
12 min...TS Fitzpatrick through ball chip to TS Brown at 30 yards. Defender retreats and checks him
from behind. Another defender clears off Brown and deflection and ball just misses top right corner of net.
13 min...W Delgado 40 yard freekick from left is cleared in box.
16 min...TS El-Edani on first-touch pushes ball too far ahead and from 30 yards and goalie beats him
to pick up ball.
17 min...W Pio holds off defender at 22 yards and shoots through crowd of players and has goalie save
at 2 yards.
19 min...W YELLOW card...Amaya earns it for pushing over TS El-Eidani on left edge of box.
20 min...TS Fitzpatrick 22 yard freekick from left has defender head away at 8 yards.
24 min...Skillz Frantz Bill GOAL...A Windsor defender's clearance in the box is off Bill at 15 yards and
the ball deflects into the left side of the net beyond the diving goalie Kyle Vizirakis.
26 min...W Delgado cornerkick from right is knocked around. W Santos shoots 6 yarder on left that goalie
blocks on left post.
28 min...TS Fitzpatrick steals ball on right end line and cross from 20 yards has TS El-Eidani head 12 yard
bouncer from left wide right of post.
29 min...W Al-Khulaidy cornerkick from right is headed away in box.
30 min...TS Brown low cross from 25 yards on right is just step ahead of TS Fitzpatrick at 7 yards.
31 min...TS El-Eidanii follow up 15 yard blast is off defender.
32 min...TS Fitzpatrick 30 yard freekick from left has TS Brown pop header from 10 yards wide right.
34 min...TS Fitzpatrick 40 yard freekick from right has defender clear midair in box.
36 min...W YELLOW card...Ademolu earns it for argueing even though he'd just won freekick.
37 min...W Pio freekick from 30 yards on right is just wide left of post.
38 min...TS Bill 30 yard cross from left has goalie catch on bounce in front of charging TS player.
39 min...TS Fitzpatrick long run up left and cross from 20 yards has defender stop and clear.
40 min...W Lidia run to open ball on left and sends cross forward and center and charging W Ademolu
gets away rushed 18 yard shot in middle just wide right of post.
41 min...TS YELLOW card...El-Eidani earns it for holding at center line.
43 min...W Delgado cross from 25 yards on far left is cleared along 6 yard box out right side.
44 min...TS sub...Joseph replaces El-Eidani.
46 min...half ends 4:46pm.

2nd Half:...starts 5:02pm. The weather is unchanged.
halftime subs:...TS Nand replaces Bill.
................TS Alvarez replaces Jeyathilaka.
47 min...W Pio cross 30 yards on right has TS Goddard chests ball back to goalie.
48 min...W Ademolu outmuscles defender and goalie on right near end line and taps ball to middle of box
but there's no W player there to play it.
51 min...TS YELLOW card...Rivas earns it for tripping W Pio injurying him at TS 30 yard line.
51 min...W Ademolu 35 yard freekick down middle has offside flag raised at 10 yards.
54 min...TS Fitzpatrick cornerkick from left is short with TS Parthipan and after more dribbling TS Alvarez
rolls 25 yard cross from left and defender clears.
54 min...TS Brown gets through ball pass on left and rolls ball through box and two TS players miss connecting
at 8 yards.
55 min...TS Brown receives cross from right and heads 10 yarder high and wide right.
57 min...TS Fitzpatrick eludes defender on right to get 22 yard shot just over net.
58 min...W Santos 33 yard shot from left is between players and wide left.
59 min...W player is injured jumping for header on W endge of box and wins freekick.
61 min...TS sub...Ramanathan replaces Dharshi.
61 min...W Lidia 25 yard shot from left is caught by goalie.
62 min...W goalie rush out to 30 yards to beat TS Joseph to through ball.
63 min...W Pio on 1 on 3 bashes way past one defender at 25 yards and can't win Penalty kick
at 15 yards when squeezed and is knocked over.
65 min...W Lidia 28 yard shot on left is stopped by goalie.
67 min...TS Fitzpatrick rolls pass to TS Brown who gets around defender and 15 yard shot has
diving goalie push ball wide riight of net.
68 min...TS player's cornerkick from right is cleared on left side of box.
70 min...TS Nand is injured near sideline.
........W YELLOW card...Delgado earned it for pushing him over at TS 30 yard line.
.......TS YELLOW card...Nand earns it on same play.
72 min...W Ademolu pass to W Lidia and his 18 yard shot is rolled just wide left of post.
72 min...W Pio 28 yard freekick from right has defender head away and start fast break.
73 min...W Pio checked off 1 on 4 on edge of TS box.
73 min...TS Goddard is injured at TS 20 yard line on right and needs trainer.
76 min...Skillz Neil Brown GOAL...TS Leslie Fitzpatrick rolls pass from 45 yards to Brown breaking in alone
from 30 yards and he rolls 15 yarder from left into right corner of net.
77 min...W Lidia rolls centering pass from 20 yards on left and W Pio shoots 10 yarder over bar.
78 min...TS Alvarez on run down left and rolls 12 yard shot that goalie slides to stop. Defender makes clearance.
79 min...TS sub...Wong replaces Goddard.
80 min...TS Wong run down left and 22 yard shot is well over net.
81 min...W YELLOW card...goalie Vizirakis earns it for pulling shirt of TS player just outside W box who'd deked
him on right sideline.
83 min...TS Fitzpatrick freekick from right edge of box has goalie punch ball forward and TS Jeyathilaka
shoot 28 yard low and up middle that defender tips wide left at 2 yards on post.
84 min...TS Fitzpatrick cornerkick from left has ball cleared from box.
86 min...TS Jeyathilaka centers ball to TS Alvarez who shoots into crowd.
88 min...W Santos gets pass from 30 yards on left and quick 12 yard shot up middle has goalie palm over bar.
89 min...TS YELLOW card...Fitzgerald earns it for complaing about freekick call.
89 min...W goalie gets to bouncer before TS player and clears.
90 min...W Santos shoots 15 yarder high across box from right well wide left and defenders clear.
90 min...TS Wong on break on left rolls 18 yarder past goalie and wide right a step ahead of charging TS Joseph
on right post.
92 min...Skillz Kamara Joseph GOAL...TS Neil Brown passes through ball for Joseph in middle and from 20 yards
he chips goalie standing at 10 yards and ball bounces into net.
93 min...Windsor RED card...Goalie Kyle Vizirakis earns his second Yellow of the game for complaining about the
goal being allowed (and not being called offside).
95 min...game ends before play resumes. Vizirakis must have been told he couldn't just sit on the Windsor bench
so walked across the field to the dressing room. He didn't bother to give his gloves to another W player to play
as goalie.

Final Score:....Toronto Skillz......3.....Windsor TFC Stars.....0.....

Attendance was about 35 plus about 20 ball kids on this still hot 
and humid late afternoon.

I don't know if the league will admit Windsor finished with 
nine men. Wait you say?   Robin, you only listed one RED card! 
Yes because they only started with ten men! How? They carpooled 
to Toronto again (I asked a group of players after the game) 
five hours to get here with no bench and not enough starters. 
The thing is they had enough chances to beat the last place team 
in the league until fatigue from this hot day, smart subbing, 
and the Skillz ability to finally time their runs effectively 
to win the ref's assistant's approval on offside calls leading 
to a few breakaways in the second half.

Stars stayed under the canopy of their player's bench between 
halfs I suppose to conserve energy. I've seen Stars four times 
this year and there were a lot of unfamiliar faces. Going through 
the L1O roster for the team, it appears there were five of the 
ten playing in their first game for them today. One guy looked 
like he was more the team bouncer than a player.

Referee Lukasz Kolwalski gave out a total of eight cards, four 
to each team. Both teams were caught often on offside plays. 
There were no water breaks called which further wilted the Stars.

The first goal looked like it would stand. Strange is that it was 
the second time in the game a defender's clearance attempt almost 
resulted in a goal. At 12 minutes TS Leslie Fitzpatrick gave 
a through ball chip to TS Neil Brown at 30 yards. A defender 
retreated and checked him from behind. Another defender cleared 
the ball off Brown at about 18 yards and the ball ricocheted 
backward and just missed the top right corner of the Windsor net.

Windsor players had a few chances in the second half but were 
sometimes faced with 1 v 3 or 1 v 4 plays. A minute after the 
second goal, WS Jordan Lidia rolled a centering pass from 20 yards 
on the left and WS Michael Pio shot a 10 yarder over the bar. 
Pio had shout for a Penalty kick on a 1 v 3 rush up the middle 
at 63 minutes when he bashed by one defender at 25 yards and 
then was squeezed between two more at 15 yards who jostled 
him over.

Lucas Birnstigl earned the shutout for Skillz with a few key saves.

When the game ended I went on the field and congratulated Skillz 
co-head coach Leslie 'Tiger' Fitzpatrick for his team's first 
win of the season after twelve straight defeats. The former 
Trinidad & Tobago international is now 38 and played the whole 
game to ensure the victory. He was setting up teammates all 
afternoon and it finally paid off in their second goal. I said 
"...you play who they put in front of you (ten guys)". He agreed 
and said they've been struggling all season. Now I don't have 
to worry about Thursday's game when they have a rescheduled game 
against ProStars FC who are now the only team that have not won 
a game all season. Skillz could be on a win streak after that game!

I asked a Skillz official about suspended players Andre Simmond
and Adam Waithe who were both Red carded within three minutes
for head butting in a game last month that got out of hand
against Oakville.  She said Simmond was still serving his
suspension and Waithe has disappeared.  "Disappeared" as in
went back to school?  Nope they've lost contact with him.  

I waited for Stars captain Stephen Ademolu to leave the dressing 
room and asked talked to him about why the shortage of players 
today. There have been other times they've been short on subs 
this year but never not having enough starters. He said they've 
had three players leave the team now that NCAA and Canadian 
schools have started their preparation for the school season. 
Their youth academy (which every L1O team uses to fill rosters) 
is involved in the Ontario Cup so they weren't available either.  
I said this reminded me of the bad old days in the CPSL when they 
came short and L1O at least schedules reasonably timed afternoon 
games for them. I reminded him of one late night CPSL game when
a player after a game start delay "Can we just get on with this? 
I have to teach school tomorrow!".

This is the first time this year I've been to Birchmount Stadium. 
I have seen a Skillz home game but was held at a different park. 
I asked a stadium official if the scoreboard didn't work for 
just today. He said it hasn't worked all season and blamed 
it partly on the construction they are doing out in the parking 
lot. It was quite an obstacle course to get here. The last 
block of Birchmount Ave is also undergoing construction with 
the road ripped up. Needless to say all times are converted 
from my wristwatch.  I expect they just started after the 
Robbie Tournament ended last month.  

Toronto Skillz record improves to 1 win, 12 losses, and 0 ties 
for three points. That's still well down in eighth place 
(last) in the Eastern Conference.

Windsor falls to 5 wins, 6 losses, and 4 ties for 19 points. 
That's good for fifth place in the West.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter RocketRobin01

Toronto Skillz starters

Windsor TFC Stars starters (yes, only ten of them).

Skillz Anhr El-Eidani (7) takes opening kickoff.

Windsor Chhris Delgado (13) freekick into Skillz box.

Windsor defender heads away TS Leslie Fitzpatrick (6) cross into box.

Windsor Michael Pio (10) freekick into box.

Windsor Stephen Ademolu (9) takes second half kickoff after Skillz make double subs.

Windsor Stephen Ademolu (9) freekick into Skillz box.

Windsor Michael Pio (10) takes freekick.

back to 2017 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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