September 9, 2018 League 1 Ontario--Sanjaxx Lions vs Masters FA game review (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Sunday September 9, 2018 League 1 Ontario game between Sanjaxx Lions and Masters FA Saints
played at Monarch Park Stadium in Toronto at 2:00pm.

Sanjaxx Lions (yellow socks and shirts, navy shorts and numbers)

.........................31 Rodolfo Aguiar
13 Nicholas Charles...23 Drai Gordon...17 Kemar Rowe (cpt)...14 Atif Hammud Ali
2 Saul Campos...5 Demario Phillips...12 Stefan Nikolic...7 Kimoni Bailey...8 Kariym Constance
.....................16 Dieu Merci Yuma

Subs:...1 Tayjon Campbell (gk)...3 Thomas Ang...9 Ehsan Hirji...10 Christian Alves
...11 Nathaniel Rodney-Scarlett...15 Tajani Fairclough...20 Christian Ciccarelli...22 Nicholas Bruce
team officials:...team head coach Laza Lowe...assistant coaches Devon Porter, Ramon McIntosh,
and Remberto Luna...manager Nicoletta Bonafede

Masters FA Saints (white socks and shorts and numbers, black shirts)

........................1 Spiridon Koskinos
3 Tristan Gayle...16 Randy Durand Miss Miyenga...6 Eddie Dabire...13 Antoine Paul (cpt)
10 Evan James...11 Jaden Woods...20 Maleik DeFreitas...9 Joshua Lee
...............7 Shawn Brown...90 Josue Jaramilio

Subs:...00 Justin Barnett (gk)...2 Nolan Kakuta...5 Bryson Brown...8 Nathan Ferguson
...12 Kevante Walters...4 Daniel Avila...14 Sam Northcott
team officials:...Rick Titus...assistant coach Pernell Mason and Rob Meikle...manager Junior Groves

Game officials:...referee Kevin McEleney...referee's assistants Phil Benevides and Mario Simon
...fourth officials George Soloman...(watermelon shirts, black short sna socks)

First Half:...game starts 2:02pm...Sanjaxx defends west end on this cool, overcast afternoon with
a strong wind from the east.
2 min...MFA Maleik De Freitas takes 35 yard freekick down middle that has goalie Rodolfo Aguiar bat down near
left post. He steps out to gather in rebound at 5 yards on left and crashes with MFA Antoine Paul injury
them both. Referee Kevin McEleney awards MFA a Penalty kick.
4 min...MFA Maleik De Freitas GOAL...De Freitas blasts his Penalty kick high to left corner of net past goalie who
crumpled to right.
6 min...MFA Miss Miyenga is injured in collision at MFA 35 yard line.
8 min...MFA James cornerkick from right has MFA Lee in crowd of players head 15 yarder that ogalie catches on bounce.
10 min...Sanjaxx YELLOW card...Campos earned it for flipping MFA Woods on center line injurying him.
11 min...Masters Dabire 55 yard freekick bounces to goalie.
13 min...Sanjaxx Nikolic 30 yard shot from right is well wide left of goal.
14 min...MFA Jaramilio short forward pass from 25 yards is too far from MFA DeFreitas and Sanjaxx goalie smothers wide
left of net.
15 min...MFA Paul cuts low 30 yard shot from left that goalie catches.
17 min...MFA James cornerkick from right has MFA Dabire head over bar from 6 yards on near post.
18 min...MFA Lee is given through ball but sliding goalie out to 15 yards to block his shot.
21 min...MFA Jaramilio chips 50 yard freekick that has defender clear on edge of box.
23 min...Sanjaxx Kimoni Bailey GOAL...Bailey steals ball off falling MFA Jaden Woods at 45 yards. He runs forward
and passes to Sanjaxx Dieu Merci Yuma at 20 yards on left and they continue their run upfield. Yuma passes over
to Bailey for 12 yard shot on right sent to short side of open net as goalie Spiridon Koskinas was guarding
the left post expecting a shot from Bailey.
26 min...Sanjaxx goalie is injured away from play.
28 min...Sanjaxx Bailey long run up left and low cross has MFA Dabire concede cornerkick.
28 min...Sanjaxx players work out short cornerkick from left. Sanjaxx Gordon can't connect on scissor kick.
29 min...Sanjaxx players backheeler later is rolled across box is unplayed.
31 min...MFA DeFreitas 40 yard freekick from left has MFA Paul head 10 yarder from right that fallen goalie saves
on right post.
32 min...Sanjaxx goalie out to 25 yards to beat MFA Lee and heads away.
33 min...MFA DeFreitas rush down left after receiving pass and shoots 15 yarder well off target.
34 min...Sanjaxx Yuma shoots low 20 yarder down middle is just wide left of post after receiving low cross from left.
36 min...MFA Jaramilio cornerkick from right is low and into outside mesh of net.
38 min...Sanjaxx Campos 25 yard chip from right is caught by goalie a few steps ahead of two Sanjaxx player charging forward.
40 min...MFA Woods is injured at MFA 45 yard line.
42 min...MFA sub...Walters replaces injured Woods.
43 min...MFA Brown 30 yard blast down middle has ball hit bar top left corner and stay in play where it's cleared.
43 min...Sanjaxx Phillips high cornerkick from left has Sanjaxx Yma head ball down at 12 yards but defender clears.
46 min...Sanjaxx flicks 10 yard heaer up middle wide right after receving cross from left.
47 min...MFA Lee low 40 yard blast etween players up middle is smothered by goalie on bounce.
47 min...half ends 2:49pm.

Second Half:...starts 3:06pm.
47 min...Sanjaxx Nikolic run down left but pushed over by MFA Gayle and ball rolls for goalkick.
49 min...MFA Brown rush up left and cuts towards middle near end nline and 10 yard line hits bar behind net.
50 min...MFA sub...Ferguson replaces Jaramilio.
51 min...Sanjaxx Bailey cornerkick from right has MFA Ferguson at 5 yards on right side of net head ball across box
and Sanjaxx Miss Miyenga heads 8 yarder over net.
54 min...Sanjaxx sub...Alves replaces Campos.
56 min...Sanjaxx player's 45 yard wind-aided freekick from right is well wide left of net.
57 min...Sanjaxx Alves 35 yard shot from slight left is well wide right.
58 min...MFA DeFreitas 50 yard freekick has MFA Paul and Sanjaxx goalie collide wide left of net and whistle is blown.
58 min...Sanjaxx Nikolic long run to rescue ball and cuts around defender and cross from 15 yards is over players in box.
61 min...MFA DeFreitas gets to popped up ball and shoots 18 yarder while even with left post wide left of post.
64 min...There's lots of back and forth midfield action for the last three minutes.
.........MFA Ferguson is injured at Sanjaxx 35 yard line.
65 min...Sanjaxx Alves is tapped quick freekick in middle and his 35 yard shot is wide right.
66 min...MFA goalie runs to near left edge of box to smother through ball bouncer and Sanjaxx tumbles over him.
67 min...Sanjaxx Dieu Merci Yuma GOAL...Sanjaxx Christian Alves strips ball from MFA Randy Durand Miss Miyenga
at 45 yards in middle and chips pass downfield for Yuma who's suddently in alone down middle and from 30yards runs
forward to 15 yards and chips sliding goalie at 12 yrds into center of empty net.
68 min...Sanjaxx YELLOW card...Phillips earns it for sweeping leg tackle on MFA Woods at Sanjaxx 50 yard line.
69 min...MFA Paul takes long throw-in from left that has MFA James chest ball down but defenders clear.
71 min...MFA Brown long run down left and low cross to MFA Walters on right and his 15 yard shot from right is palmed
wide right by diving goalie.
72 min...MFA James cornerkick from right is over players in box and cleared.
73 min...Sanjaxx sub...Hirji replaces Constance.
74 min...MFA Walters is injured at center line but it takes awhile to notice him.
76 min...Sanjaxx Bailey low cross from left and Sanjaxx Yuma in middle of box gets leg into stop it but pops up for hand ball.
78 min...MFA goalie gets ball on bounce before Sanjaxx Bailey and defender get to it. Bailey is injured on play.
78 min...MFA sub...Kakuta replaces Miss Miyenga.
79 min...Sanjaxx Bailey cornerkick from left has MFA Dabire head away. Sanjaxx player on follow up shoots wide right on shot
from 25 yards on left.
80 min...MFA Brown bicycle on right endline upon receiving short throw-in.
81 min...Sanjaxx Bailey 25 yard low blast from left is saved by sprawling goalie who has time to crawl and pick up.
81 min...MFA Paul long throw-in from left has MFA DeFreitas pop header from 5 yards wide left.
82 min...MFA Kakuta recovers Sanjaxx popped up header and he sidefoots 10 yard blast well over net.
85 min...MFA DeFreitas chips 55 yard up middle is wide left for MFA Paul but he can't keep ball in play.
87 min...Sanjaxx Ali ends Sanjaxx pressure with 28 yard cross/shot from left that's wide right of net.
88 min...Sanjaxx Bailey 25 yard freekick from right has goalie catch on near post ahead of charging player.
88 min...Sanjaxx Charles whiffs on clearance in Sanjaxx box but distracts MFA player enough that ball is cleared.
89 min...MFA goalie whifs clearance kick skying ball but Sanjaxx Yuma can't get clear shot.
91 min...Sanjaxx Phillips and Sanjaxx Ali work out short cornerkick from left to waste time.
92 min...Sanjaxx Bailey 25 yard low shot from left is wide left of net.
93 min...MFA DeFreitas 40 yard freekick on left has defender clear. MFA DeFreitas gets ball back and
skies 30 yarder that goalie catches.
93 min...game ends 3:54pm.

Final Score:....Sanjaxx Lions......2.......Masters FA Saints......1.......

Attendance was about 45 on this cool and windy day. It's hard to believe last weekend during the bye week I was
on a beach catching the air show and complaining it was too humid. The strong wind was coming from the east
and it was a huge advantage to Sanjaxx once they had the lead in the second half and Master's punts upfield
hung up in the wind and dropped.

The crowd included at least half Masters' fans as nearby Scarborough is their home ground.

Something I noticed about Monarch Park that I hadn't noticed before is that the football lines only go up to
the 50 yard line so the goals were set 5 yards back in the endzone so there'd be a 110 yard playing field.
There were end lines a different colour than the football lines to reflect that.

Masters had a chance to turn the game back in their favour at 43 minutes while the wind was still at their
backs when MFA Shawn Brown's 30 yard blast down the middle hit the bar.

I hadn't noticed that Monarch Park had football lines that have the center line at 50 yards so for soccer each
goals is mounted five yards further back to make the 110 yards standard of other fields. Don't worry there's
proper soccer lines visible too.

Great comeback victory by Sanjaxx after falling behind so early. This was also a great recovery game after
their 10-0 loss against Oakville last time out. That was an anomaly as they have a very respective goals against
even including that blowout of 23 goals against in 14 games. It's the 12 goals scored in all that time that
has limited their positioning in the standings.

Dieu Merci Yuma has arrived since the last Sanjaxx game I've attended. He has scored four goals in the five
games he's played since the end of July. He is a 22 year old Canadian (although born in DR Congo) who was
playing earlier this year for CS Sedan Ardennes of the French Championnat National 2 league (fourth tier club
football) (Thanks Wikipedia). In that league he scored five goals in only seven appearances.

The goaltending tandem of Rodolfo Aguiar of Tayjon Campbell have mostly split the games this season so that
wasn't surprising. Aguiar was in net for the Oakville game so I great shot of confidence that he got
the next start.

Special mention should also be given to the Sanjaxx defenders Nicholas Charles, Drai Gordon, captain
Kemar Rowe, and Atif Hammud Ali who all played the full 90 minutes.

For Master's I was surprised that Jose De Sousa and Jose Melo were not in the lineup. De Sousa has 10
of their 24 league goals and Melo who has 2 but takes the majority of the freekicks and corners. They are
now today playing for Woodbridge Strikers (who surprisingly lost to last place ProStars FC). There's been
some player movement before the league trade deadline. After the game MFA assistant coach Pernell Mason
answered me that there really is a trade deadline and it's not my suggestion of the players say
“Abandoned ship! I want to join a playoff team.”

Both teams needed to win to keep their slim playoff chances alive. The loss by Alliance United on Saturday
afternoon against top team Sigma FC kept AU at 18 points and opened the door for about four teams
to close the gap.

The win improves the record of Sanjaxx to 5 wins, 7 losses, 2 ties for 17 points and tenth place with
two games to go. Only one point behind! They are now the team most likely to grab that last playoff spot
if Alliance slips up again. And, oh boy! The last weekend of the season has a showdown of Sanjaxx
and Alliance.

The loss for Masters brings their record down to 2 wins, 5 losses, 7 ties for 13 points for a two way share
of twelfth place with North Mississauga with 2 games to go. That's ten successful games without a win.
It's hard to believe the team started off with two ties then two wins.

This game was LiveStreamed. I was giving the commentator some pregame facts (he'd well researched the
standings etc). I noticed my story of the USL game between TFC II vs Ottawa Fury had just been published
on Waking The Red. I told him about Adonijah Reid's history in L1O (youngest scorer at the time and his
record was broken last month) and his older brother Aziel Reid is on the Masters roster (not today).

Now one hour to drive along the streetcar tracks to get to Birchmount Stadium to see Toronto Skillz
vs Aurora...two other struggling teams.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter RocketRobin01

Sanjaxx Lions starters