September 23, 2018 League 1 Ontario--Toronto Skillz vs FC London game review (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday September 23, 2018 League 1 Ontario game between Toronto Skillz Academy and FC London
played at Birchmount Stadium in 5:00pm.

Toronto Skillz Academy (red socks and shirts, black shorts, white shoulders and numbers)

..............................1 Peter Katsaras
22 Paymena Mohammadzadeh...24 Tim Mahabir...12 Manssur Mobarak...19 Mohamad Abdallah
34 Trevor Hill...10 Wadohi Fadul...21 Felix Mau Ngha...7 Michael Jashan
.............17 Kareem Marzouk...25 Vithunan Sivakumar

Subs:...Subs:...0 Francis Okotete (gk)...5 Zamir Mohammad...9 Danial Khalili...16 Rinat Kassimgereyev
...30 Mackenzy Kropa
team officials:...manager Wais Azizi...assistant coaches Ian Cummins and Jake Doodnath...therapist Monique Wojcik

suspended list:...Anfal Ekhlas (player)

FC London (white socks and shirts, red shorts, black numbers)

..............................1 Anthony Sokalski (cpt)
20 Chad Gopaul...21 Marko Maletic...3 Aaron Schneebeli...2 Max Marsh
10 James Pucci...5 Parker Seymour...11 Michael Bitel...7 Ethan Gopaul...8 Mohammad Reza Nafar
..........................23 Connor Wilson

Subs:...22 Bishop Kaiser (gk)...6 Sean Fawsitt...12 Connor Millar...14 Taylor Harris
...15 Randy Ribeiro...18 Michael Sneddon...19 Benjamin Vyfschaft
team officials:...team head coach Michael Marcoccia...assistant coach Eduard Schmidt and Phillip Millar
...therapists Laura Snoek and Michael Robinson

Game officials:...referee Alexis Vaughan...referee's assistants Kim Lee and Anthony Dimambro
...fourth official Daniel Boduryan...(all black uniforms)

First Half:...game starts 5:00pm...TS defenders north end on this warm late afternoon with a bright sun in the northwest.
The south net needs patching during the warmups.
2 min...TS YELLOW card...Abdallah earns it for grabbing FCL player on rush up right.
3 min...FCL Pucci 25 yard freekick from right hits outside of right post.
4 min...FCL Nafar dekes through three players but is checked off ball in TS box.
5 min...TS Mua Ngha is hurt at TS 50 yard line and needs trainer.
9 min...T Skills Wadohi Fadul GOAL...TS Trevor Hill receives quickly taken freekick at 25 yards on right and he crosses
over to left which is a step ahead of charging Fadul and retreating defender at 10 yards in middle. TS Tim Mahabir
recovers ball near left end line on bounce and passes back to TS Michael Jashan who shoots 20 yarder from left that
goalie Anthony Sokalski stops on near post. Fadul blasts 8 yard rebound into top right corner of open net.
13 min...T Skillz Wadohi Fadul GOAL...Fadul long run down field from TS 45 yard line from right and he cuts towards
center and at 37 yard line rolls pass to left. TS Michael Jashan runs down left cutting to middle and takes low 20 yard
shot that goalie sprawls on left near post to save. Fadul charges forward to blast 6 yard rebound down middle into
roof of net.
16 min...FCL James Pucci GOAL...Pucci intercepts defensive pass at 25 yards and steps up middle to shoot low 20 yarder
into right side of net past diving goalie Peter Katsaras.
18 min...FCL Nafar pushes ball too far forward at 25 yards and all the way over end line.
18 min...TS Marzouk and FCL goalie bump together at 25 yards and FCL are given a freekick.
20 min...TS Marzouk is injured at FCL 45 yard line.
21 min...TS sub...Kassimgereyev replaces injured Marzouk.
24 min...FCL Nafar 35 yard freekick from slight left has goalie move left to push ball away.
25 min...FCL players work out short cornerkick from left all the way over to right around outside but never get it into box.
26 min...FCL Pucci is injured on trip at TS 40 yard line.
.........TS YELLOW card...Mobarak earns it for last play (although I thought it was Mahabir).
30 min...TS Hill 25 yard roller from right has goalie stop on short side after Hill had shaken off FCL Marsh to get away shot.
32 min...TS Fadul has big sliding block to stop FCL Chad Gopaul 15 yard shot near end line on right.
33 min...TS Fadul rolls 25 yard shot on left well wide right.
35 min...TS Sivakumar on multi-pass play up left wing but is checked off ball at 20 yards.
37 min...FCL James Pucci GOAL...Pucci recives cross from right side of box from FCL Chad Gopaul 25 yards away
and blasts 12 yarder up middle to top right of net just under bar and over goalie.
41 min...TS YELLOW card...Mua Ngha earns it for pull down tackle at TS 47 yard line.
42 min...TS Mohammadzadeh gets poke on FCL Wilson giving up cornerkick at 12 yards in middle.
42 min...FCL Fadul cornerkick from right has goalie punch ball through box out right.
46 min...FCL Ethan Gopaul long run down right but makes centering cross has defenders clear.
46 min...half ends 5:46pm.

Only the TS subs stay out at halftime to warm up.

Second Half:...starts 6:02pm.
47 min...FCL Ethan Gopaul run down left but pushes ball over end line trying to beat defender.
52 min...TS Kassimgereyev is passed ball that had been intercepted and blasts 25 yarder dodwn middle that goalie dives
to right to bat ball away.
52 min...FCL YELLOW card...Pucci earns it for bumping goalie who'd just caught defender's header back to him.
53 min...TS sub...Mohammad replaces Hill.
54 min...FCL Connor Wilson GOAL...FCL James Pucci chips ball from 60 yards down middle and ball bounces at 20 yards
and over goalie standing just inside box. Wilson charges by him and has 5 yard tap-in into open net.
57 min...FCL Pucci rolls 45 yarder up middle that's too far for FCL players and goalie picks it up.
59 min...FCL Nafar is injured at TS 30 yard line and needs trainer.
62 min...TS sub...Kropa replaces Mua Ngha.
63 min...FCL Wilson cross from right to FCL Ethan Gopaul and he blasts 15 yarder well over net from left.
64 min...FCL Ethan Gopaul GOAL...FCL Chad Gopaul wins duel with TS Mohamed Abdallah at 20 yard right sideline and cuts
towards goal. He taps ball to FCL Connor Wilson who runs along 15 yard line to middle and passes to Ethan Gopaul
who's open on left and he shoots 12 yarder from left low to left side of net.
67 min...FCL Seymour runs to right end line and crosses over TS box and FCL Pucci at 8 yards on left heads ball wide right
of post on bounce.
68 min...FCL Nafar 25 yard shot down middle is wide left.
70 min...TS Mohammadzadeh gets to cross from right and shoots 20 yarder that goalie grabs just under bar on bounce in front
of TS player waiting to tap-in.
71 min...FCL Parker Seymour GOAL...FCL Chad Gopaul at 25 yard line on right sideline cuts towards middle and rolls
pass over to FCL Mohammad Reza Nafar on 25 yard line in middle. He rolls ball forward and left to charging
FCL Ethan Gopaul at 15 yard line who cuts low cross along 3 yard line and with goalie guarding near post on line,
Seymour has 3 yard tap-in to middle of empty net.
73 min...FCL Wilson pushes ball wide left of open net.
73 min...FCL sub...Fawsitt replaces Marsh.
75 min...FCL Wilson is injured on tackle at TS 45 yard line.
76 min...FCL sub...Vyfschaft replaces injured Wilson.
76 min...TS Jashan 35 yard freekick from right is low and closest defender clears.
79 min...FCL Maletic cross from 65 yards has goalie catch in fronto of FCL Vyfschaft at 15 yards.
80 min...FCL Fawsitt rusn up right but pushes ball too far and goalie grabs.
81 min...FCL sub...Millar replaces Pucci.
81 min...TS Mohammadzadeh 40 yard freekick on right has TS Mahabir head 12 yarder that goalie catches under bar.
82 min...FCL Mohammad Reza Nafar runs into TS box but at 10 yards on left side of box his arm is grabbed
by TS Zamir Mohammad and pulled down. Referee Alexis Vaughan awards FCL a Penalty kick.
83 min...FCL Mohammad Reza Nafar GOAL...Nafar rolls Penalty kick just inside left post beyond diving goalie
who guessed correctly.
84 min...FCL sub...Sneddon replaces Chad Gopaul.
.........FCL sub...Harris replaces Bitel.
87 min...FCL Seymour run down left and cross from 15 yards near to FCL Vyfschaft but goalie catches before ball
gets to him near end line.
90 min...TS Fadul blasts 30 yarder down middle wide right of net.
93 min...game ends 6:50pm.

Final Score:.....Toronto Skillz.......2........FC London...........6........

Attendance was about 40 on this mild late afternoon with about half being travelling fans.

After the first four goals it looked like only player's wearing #10 could score. That first FCL goal
by James Pucci was extremely important so soon after they'd fallen behind 2-0 deficit. After the goal
instead of accepting the expected back patting of his teammates, he followed the ball into the net,
picked it up and ran it back to the center line. Wow; it's only the 16 minute mark. Intercepting the ball
deep in the Skillz end must have brought up all that team's defensive insecurities. They drew four Yellow
cards in mostly panicky pull-downs including the Penalty kick call. I figured today was the sixth time
I've watched Skillz goalie Peter Katsaras this season but the first time that he looked
'Giovinco-esq'--meaning short—he was victim of that on the FCL insurance goal.

Best non-scoring chances were at 3 minutes when FCL Pucci took a 25 yard freekick from the right that
hit the outside of the near post. 52 minutes had TS Rinat Kassimgereyev blast a 25 yarder down the middle
that the goalie dove to the right to bat away. 63 minutes had FCL Connor Wilson cross from the right
to Ethan Gopaul and he blasted a 15 yarder well over the net from the right—now that play was repeated
less than a minute later with the same players and they scored! 67 minutes had FCL Parker Seymour run
to the right end line and crossed over the box and Pucci at 8 yards on the left headed wide right of the
post on a bounce. 70 minutes had TS Payman Mohammadzadeh get to a cross from the right and shot
a 20 yarder that the goalie grabbed just under the bar on the bounce just in front of a TS player waiting
for a tap-in.

This game turned out to be the most important one so far this season. I wouldn't have predicted that
a few weeks ago. By FC London winning this game today they pass Sigma FC in the standings and finish
first in the (once again) single table league. Sigma had taken over first place in Week 12 after not playing
the first two weeks of the season and gradually catching the other teams one by one. TFC III who were
early leader passed Sigma again when they started playing two games a week to finish their schedule early.
Sigma faltered with two ties in their last two games and that opened the door for FC London to take the title.
I said to FCL head coach Michael Marcoccia after the game that it's too bad the league doesn't give out
a Shield or Plate for finishing first.

The L1O champions are decided this year by a playoff of the top eight teams*. The teams are broken up into
two groups of four and each team plays the others in their group once. Winners of each group play in the
final at the Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan on Saturday October 20. I told Marcoccia that he now had
an advantage because as the first place team he had three home games in his group. Today I found the
schedule is posted on the league web site as but I see that first and second ceded teams have two home
games/one road game and third and fourth teams have one home game/two road games. That appears to be
a modification to the format I heard a few months ago.

*TFC III officially finished fourth but they declined to participate in the playoffs because they've joined
the USSDA league and are sometimes playing two games a weekend in places like Ohio.

I admit I was a bit slow to catch on to the FCL greatness. They only lost twice in league play and pulled
into first place on the last game of the season. I attended their first game at the end of April against
TFC III with a 1-1 tie at the BMO Training Ground with the dome still up because of the cold weather outside.
Then June I saw them lose to Sigma twice, 3-0 in league play and 8-0 in their L1O Cup Quarterfinal.
Finally in August I saw them beat Masters FA and today I saw this dominating performance—well after
the 30 minute mark! I also told FCL defender Aaron Schneebeli I'd seen him on the hastily assembled
(let's call them pre-pre-season) L1O 'All Stars' get beaten 6-1 by the USL Ottawa Fury who were just
finishing their pre-season.

Final standings are clear as this was the last game of the regular season.

FC London finish the season with a record of 12 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties for 35 points with a GF/GA
of +30. Yes and First place!

Toronto Skillz finish the season with a record of 4 wins, 10 losses, and 2 ties for 14 points with
a GF/GA of -25. That's all alone in twelfth place in the seventeen team league. They were improving
near the end of the season being undefeated in their last four games until today. Last season their
record was 4 wins, 18 losses, 0 ties in the old format 22 game season. All non-playoff teams have
finished their season—six games less than last year.

Hey this was my 50th Men's League One Ontario game so far this year! Plus the Women's L1O Cup Final.
Well now---let the playoffs begin!

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01

Toronto Skillz starters