June 16, 2019 League 1 Ontario--Toronto Skillz FC vs Ottawa South United Force game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Sunday June 16, 2019 League 1 Ontario game between Toronto Skillz and Ottawa South United Force
played at Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough at 2:00pm.

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

.............................1 Stefan Dusciuc
22 Estevan Carles...12 Danial Khalili...8 Tim Mahabir (cpt)...16 Anorch Jeyathilaka
9 Kareem Marzouk...24 Felix Ngha...21 Milan Drapic...25 Anfal Ekhlas
.............11 Michael Jahshan...7 Raham Seqiq

Subs:...0 Darren Boahene (gk)...5 Zef Kraja...19 Kaylon Carimbocas...31 Tajmir Ashraq
...34 Zamir Mohammad
team officials:...manager Wais Azizi...assistant coach Jake Doodnath...therapist Monique Wojcik

Ottawa South United Force (all white, black numbers)

...................1 Horace Patient Sobze Zemo
12 Adam Rombough...5 Ali Jabara (cpt)...7 Nevello Yoseke (cpt)...22 Tony Mikhael...23 Nicolas Diberardino
21 Aidan Tuck...15 Ryan Massoud...11 Abdulrahaman Akinwande...2 Julian Terris
....................16 Eric Watson

Subs:...6 Sami El Said...8 Barou Jr Mbuyamba...10 James Laughton...14 Chris Yoo
...18 Hansly Malonga...24 Ian Kerr
team officials:...team head coach Peter Mapendere...assistant coach Jay Bhindi

Game officials:...referee Bradley Doubrough...referee's assistants Braeden Krampert and Souhail Abdala
...fourth oficial Alessandro Sourkov...(watermelon shirts, black short and socks)

First Half:...game starts 1:59pm...TS defends south end.
1 min...TS Seqiq cornekrick from left short and worked out cross into box is flagged offside.
4 min...OSUF Yoseke pass forward on right to OSUF Rombough and low 20 yard shot is caught by goalie.
9 min...OSUF Rombough on right passes forward to OSUF player who crosses into the 6 yard box over the head
of OSUF Watson. OSUF Akinwande on left side runs to recover but can't get away recross into box.
10 min...OSUF Diberardino is injured at TS 37 yard line and needs the TS trainer and OSUF Yoseke to help him
limp of field.
12 min...OSUF Tuck restarts game with 40 yard freekick from slight left with goalie stepping forward to catch
ball overhead.
13 min...OSUF sub...Kerr replaces injured Diberardino.
17 min...TS Seqiq run down left but cross from just left of box is blocked by defender.
18 min...TS Ekhlas recovers loose ball and rolls 25 yard shot down middle wide left of net. TS Jahshan was injured
earlier in the play.
21 min...TS goalie runs to left side of box when TS Khalili whiffs on clearance and slides to smother ball
at 12 yards before OSUF Watson can get to it.
23 min...TS Khalili heads ball back to TS goalie to beat OSUF Watson to ball after OSUF goalie's punt upfield.
25 min...TS Jahshan breaks between defenders up left and 15 yarder is into outside webbing of net.
26 min...OSUF Akinwande breaks in on left but overruns ball at 20 yard line.
28 min...TS Seqiq rush down left and low cross along 6 yard line has OSUF Jabara.
31 min...OSUF goalie rushe to edge of box on left to beat TS Seqiq to ball.
35 min...OSUF Tuck 37 yard freekick down middle has OSUF Carles pop 10 yard header on right over net.
38 min...TS Ngha is injurewd at TS 50 yard line and needs trainer.
40 min...TS Ngha is checked off ball on TS 20 yard line but another defender clears ball in box.
40 min...TS Seqiq and TS Jahshan can't get away shot on 2 v 5 rush to edge of OSUF box.
44 min...TS Jahshan cornerkick from left with TS Ekhlas cross into box has goalie leap in crowd to punch away.
TS Seqiq blasts 25 yarder through players that goalie catches.
44 min...OSUF goalie slides to right to smother ball in crowd of players.
45 min...OSUF Massoud runs up left cutting to middle but his 25 yard shot is well over net.
47 min...half ends 2:46pm.

Second Half:...starts 3:00pm.
48 min...TS defender heads away OSUF player's short cross into box.
51 min...TS Jahshan and TS Marzouk on give and go after steal off OSUF defender at 25 yards. Jahshan finishes with
clear 12 yard shot down middle that he sends well over net.
52 min...OSUF Akinwande cross from right end line has defender leap to head away.
56 min...OSUF Massoud has 15 yard shot blocked by defender after long dribbling run down the middle.
57 min...OSUF sub...El Said replaces Watson.
59 min...TS Carles is injured in collision with defender at OSUF 24 yard line wins freekick.
61 min...TS player's 25 yard freekick into player wall hits head in player wall. OSUF Jabara goes down injured
as the ball is popped up.
62 min...TS sub...Ashraq replaces Marzouk.
64 min...TS Ekhlas receives pass on slight left and blasts 22 yarder over flying goalie and off bar. TS Seqiq
is called offside trying to play rebound.
65 min...OSUF Tuck holds his face as he's injured chasing TS Ngha at TS 30 yard yard line. The play restarts then
Tuck needs trainer for foot injury.
68 min...OSUF Massoud runs down left and rolls cross to OSUF El Said but is stopped.
69 min...OSUF Massoud run down left cuts to middle and 1 on 4 rolls 15 yarder wide right.
70 min...OSUF El Said 33 yard low shot from right is wide left of net.
71 min...OSUF sub...Laughton replaces Terris.
73 min...OSUF Tuck 35 yard freekick from slight left has TS defender get head to it but flick backwards. OSUF Mikhael
at 7 yards on right heads pop up over the net.
75 min...OSUF Massoud rolls ball too far ahead and over end line.
75 min...TS YELLOW card...Seqiq earns it for knock down at TS 48 yard line.
76 min...OSUF Tuck 50 yard freekick from slight left has OSUF player in crowd of players deflect ball off him
for goalkick on deflection.
76 min...TS sub...Mohammad replaces Seqiq.
.........OSUF sub...Yoo replaces Tuck.
79 min...OSUF sub...Malonga replaces Akinwande.
80 min...OSUF Rombough cross from 30 yards on right after run has OSUF El Said one-touch midair kick over net
from 10 yards.
81 min...OSUF Yoseke chips 30 yard freekick from right has OSUF El Said head ball at 6 yards into ground and bounce
wide left. An OSUF player then heads it back into 6 yard box but ball was already over the end line.
82 min...TS Ashraq run up right and rolls cross off backheel of charging TS Mohammad ending threat.
83 min...OSUF Laughton gets to loose ball and skies 25 yard shot down middle well over net.
83 min...TS Seqiq, after multi pass play, has 15 yard shot caught by goalie.
84 min...OSUF Yoseke rolls ball forward on left too far forward for OSUF Massoud and over end line.
85 min...OSUF Massoud high cross from left end line has defender head away in 6 yard box.
85 min...OSUF Massoud rush down left and falls over taking shot at 20 yards off defender who blocks it.
87 min...T Skillz Danial Khaliji GOAL...TS Anfal Ekhlas rolls out short cornerkick from right
upfield for TS Tajmir Ashraq who sends high cross from 20 yard line on right side over heads
of crowd in middle of box. Khaliji all alone on left side of box heads 12 yarder over flying
goalie Horace Patient Sobze Zemo into top right corner of net.
89 min...TS players waste time on short cornerkick on left until they're finally called offside.
90 min...OSUF goalie catches 40 yard popped up shot down middle.
93 min...game ends 3:48pm.
.......TS YELLOW card...Ekhlas earns it for his part in the post game dust up.

Final Score:....Toronto Skillz FC .......1........Ottawa South United Force........0......

Attendance was about 30 on this mild but overcast afternoon.

This was a battle of two struggling teams. Both teams seemed to be playing not to lose.
Sure there were plenty of breakouts and rushes between the 30 yard lines but they were
often 3 on 6 or 2 on 5. Neither team was really willing to commit to sending multi players
upfield until the last 20 minutes when the teams opened up more.

Stefan Dusciuc earned the shutout for Skillz with some important saves. This was his second
shutout in a row and he has a stingy 1.60 GAA in five games.

Horace Patient Sobze Zemo played goal for OSUF. It was the second time I've seen him this year.
Unlike that game against powerhouse Sigma FC on June 1 when it was a shooting gallery and
he held them to only a 1-0 win, today he didn't have much to do. With small crowds like today
it is easy to hear him command his players to different positions.

Referee Bradley Doubrough gave out only one Yellow card while the game was on with TS Raham Seqiq
at 75 minutes for knocking down a player near the center line. He was subbed one minute later.
After the game was a dustup between the two teams. Doubrough gave out a card to TS Anfal Ekhlas
for his part. More serious are the accusations by an OSUF player that a TS player use
the 'n-word' against him. The TS manager said that word was never used as he separated
his players back to the dressing room. The player did counter with “You're shxt”.
All I heard before that last exchange was the TS goalie earlier taunting the OSUF players
by waving at them and calling out “Bye Bye”. There had been no pushing or hard checking
at all until the game was over.

OSUF had some kind of signal or callout that got them to press but Skillz seemed to be able
to escape with other players recovering to help out an offer escape routes out of their own end.
Skillz kept trying short cornerkicks to limited success until the goal at the end so I guess
that made it all worth it!

Best non-scoring chances (OK in this game there weren't a lot) were at 25 minutes when
TS Danial Khalili whiffed on a clearance in the box and the TS goalie ran to slide and smother
the ball at 12 yards before OSUF Eric Watson could get to it. 44 minutes had TS Michael Jahshan
take a cornerkick from the left that TS Anfal Ekhlas crossed into the box and the goalie leapt
in a crowd of players to punch the ball away. TS Raham Seqiq recovered and blasted a 25 yarder
through those players and the goalie caught it. Same minute the OSUF goalie slid into a crowd
of players to smother another ball. 51 minutes had TS Jahshan and Kareem Marzouk work in a give
and go after stealing a ball from a defender at 25 yards and Jahshan finished with a clear 12 yard
shot up the middle well over the net. 64 minutes had TS Ekhlas receive a pass on the slight
left and blast a 22 yarder over the flying goalie and off the bar. TS Seqiq recovers
the rebound but is called offside. 80 minute had OSUF Adam Rombough cross from 30 yards
on the right after a run and OSUF Sami El Said takes one-touch midair kick from 10 yards
over the net. Next minute OSUF Nevello Yoseke chipped a 30 yard freekick from the right
that OSUF El Said at 6 yards headed downward into the ground and the ball bounced wide left.

I knew both teams were struggling but they weren't losing by blowouts like previous years.
The problem seems to be their inability to score. Skillz scored only their third goal this
year (their win last weekend was also 1-0 against Unionville Milliken SC).

OSUF have it even worse scoring only one goal in seven games and that was in their opening
game of the season. That scorer was Barou Jr. Mbuyamba who except for one trip to the GTA
to play Sigma FC the league site reveals he only plays home games. The gamesheet revealed
that 12 of the 17 players they brought today were born 2000 or younger.

This is the second win in a row for Toronto Skillz after losing their first five to start
the season. They move up to twelfth place in the sixteen team league. Top eight make
the playoffs.

OSUF lose their seventh game in seven games. They remain in sixteenth place. As I was
driving away I asked the bus driver of Leduc half coach (not the Carleton Raven full size
coach) how long it took to drive to Toronto today. “Four hours” was his answer. There was
also a convoy of parents in SUVs. Losing so late will be their worse trip home of the season.

I had an interview with Skillz assistant coach Jake Doodnath. Interesting that he's looking
to have his team manned by their own academy players. Also he answered me in an interview
that the team is putting more emphasis on players staying with the team with the prospect
of the new CPL league with less on players bolting off to post secondary schools. Today
they had three academy players including a 2002 and 2003 player. They only had four
on their bench for today's game as two more academy players were injured at yesterday's
practice. Doodnath said they will be fielding a L1O reserve team for the second half
of the season for their 16 to 19 year old players.

I've now talked to a manager of all sixteen teams. Thanks to all the team officials.
I ask before the game that win or lose I'd like to talk to them after the game--win or lose
and was never turned down. I also seem to be a good luck charm to most teams as they win
and the conversation goes much better! That's taken me seven weeks. I've seen 15 L1O
regular season games so far this season. I don't expect to come close to previous years
with a shorter season and no Cup competition and my attending York 9 FC CPL
and TFC II USL games.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01

My interview with Toronto Skillz assistant coach Jake Doodnath...4 min 25 sec

Thoughts on today's game? Why things are going better than at the beginning of the year?
Your academy system?

Toronto Skillz starters