July 6, 2019 League 1 Ontario--Masters FA Saints vs North Mississauga Panthers SC game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday July 6, 2019 League 1 Ontario game between Masters FA and North Mississauga Panthers SC
played at L'Amoreaux Park in Scarborough at 8:00pm.

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

.......................1 Spiridon Koskinas
4 Anthony Wright...6 Eddy Dabire...3 Adam Czerkawski...5 Marc Jankovic
2 Atif Muhammad Ali...14 Triston Frankson...9 Stefan Nikolic...8 Reshaun Walkes
..............20 Francis Ameyaw...18 Shaquille Agard

Subs:...55 Daniel Gosciniak (gk)...7 Anwar Al-Sawi...10 Basit Madamidola...15 Yasin Shawan
...16 Akeem Priestley...19 Filip Dumbalovski...70 Aziah Reid
team officials:...team head coach Rick Titus...manager Hubert Groves...assistant manager Devon Porter

North Mississauga Panthers (all red, white numbers)

..................1 Jared Maloney
12 Jamie Scott...2 Saleman Salim...5 Luke Rankin...6 Christopher Simm
11 Ali El Zeir...20 Moses Toe...10 Lee-Victor Massunda...8 Adam Boafo...3 Sundin Esperance
..................15 Luca Pacheco

Subs:...0 Chester Ashby (gk)...4 Abdi Salim...7 Darren Gertiesingh...9 Nick Proctor
...13 Nicola Russo...14 Abi Madaraka...19 Jordan Prescod
team officials:...team head coach Alks Balta...assistant coaches Justin Silveira and Patrick Guirguis
...therapist Stefan Feszczak

Game officials:...referee Kevin McEleney...refreree's assistants Kevin Kim and Marko Grbusic
...fourth official Liam Tremblay...(all black uniforms)

First Half:...game starts 8:16pm...Masters defend north end with the setting sun the north west. It's still hot and humid
but not like Aurora where I was a few hours earlier.
1 min...Masters Ameyaw run into right side of NMP box is whistled back for push over of defender.
4 min...Masters Frankson cross from right near end line is caught by goalie.
6 min...NMP Esperance cornerkick from right has NMP Rankin near left post head wide left from 8 yards.
7 min...NMP goalie slides to grab ball off Masters Agard who'd dribbled between players.
9 min...NMP Esperance cross from 22 yards on far right has goalie miss and ball lands for NMP El Zeir on right who
shoots 10 yarder wide left.
11 min...Masters Walkes cross from 30 yards on left is just a step ahead of charging Masters Ameyaw at 12 yards.
12 min...NMP Esperance 35 yard freekick from left has defender head ball out right side of box.
13 min...Masters Wright 50 yard freekick from right is cleared on edge of box.
14 min...NMP Pacheco 25 yard freekick from left is caught by goalie on right side of net.
15 min...Masters Adam Czerkawski GOAL...Czerkawski is tapped back a pass and blasts 35 yarder
from slight left that goalie Jared Maloney can't handle in center of net about head high
and ball deflects through his hands into net.
18 min...NMP player's high cross from left is through box and NMP Toe shoots 15 yard shot from right is wide right.
19 min...Masters Ameyaw run down right and low cross is cleared by sliding defender in 6 yard box.
24 min...Masters goalie charges to right to beat NMP Pacheco to high bouncer.
24 min...A water break is called.
26 min...Masters Wright is rolled pass along 20 yard line from right and blasts shot well over net.
28 min...NMP Esperance 30 yard freekick from left has defender head away on right of side net.
29 min...Masters Czerkawski blasts 40 yarder from left wide left.
the clock is not working for the second time.
31 min...NMP Pacheco hooks shot over goalie at 12 yards and retreating defender heads ball away.
32 min...Masters Agard is tapped back pass by Masters Ameyaw after long run and Agard finds open spot and blasts 25 yarder
wide left on bender.
35 min...NMP Ali El Zeir GOAL...NMP Luca Pacheco backheels a pass from 20 yards in middle on 1 on 2
rush over to left for open El Zeir who charges in and takes 10 yard shot from the far left into
top right corner of net over goalie Spiridon Koskinas.
37 min...Masters Wright 28 yard cross from right drifts behind net.
37 min...Masters Walkes run on left and blasts low 20 yarder that sliding defrrender gets piece of and defender retreats
to clear at 3 yards.
41 min...Masters goalie catches NMP Esperance low cross from left end line on bounce.
43 min...NMP Esperance 40 yard freekick from slight left is caught in wind and goalie and defender crash together but ball
goes for goalkick.
47 min...Masters sub...Shawan replaces Jankovic.
48 min...Masters Agard pass forward to Masters Ameyaw who passes across box and Masters Walkes spins kick from left
that's well wide right from 10 yards.
49 min...half ends 9:05pm. It's now very windy in gusts and the sun is down.

Second Half:...starts 9:21pm.
halftime subs:...NMP Abdi Salim replaces Toe.
48 min...Masters Frankson cross from 20 yards near end line is into outside webbing of net.
48 min...Masters Muhammad Ali 40 yard freekick from left is cleared in box.
50 min...NMP Esperance 40 yard freekick from left is low and NMP Pacheco lunges for it at 12 yards on left
and pushes ball wide left.
51 min...NMP Pacheco cuts along 25 yard line from right and rolls shot down middle and wide right of post.
54 min...NMP Esperance 40 yard freekick from slight left is just a step ahead of charging NMP Rankin
and NMP Saleman Salim on right post and ball goes out for goalkick.
56 min...NMP Saleman Salim blasts 7 yard shot off own bar on clearance attempt on Masters cross from right.
57 min...NMP Saleman Salim heads ball away on Masters cross from right.
59 min...NMP sub...Proctor replaces El Zeir.
59 min...Masters Shaquille Agard GOAL...Masters Reshaun Walkes receives long cross from right
and crosses from 25 yards from left that Agard flies forward to head in 6 yarder.
60 min...Masters sub...Priestley replaces Ameyaw.
61 min...Masters YELLOW card...Walkes earns it for tackle on NMP Scott at NMP 30 yard line.
63 min...NMP Esperance 30 yard freekick is rolled under jumping three man wall and goalie dives to right post
to smother.
65 min...NMP Esperance 55 yard freekick from right is caught by goalie on right side of net in front of players
charging in.
68 min...Masters YELLOW card...Frankson earns it at NMP 45 yard line for a foul or swearing at the whistle for a freekick.
69 min...A water break is called although it's not really hot anymore.
75 min...Masters Muhammad Ali throw-in from left is cleared from NMP box.
77 min...NMP sub...Prescod replaces Simm.
78 min...Masters goalie 60 yard freekick down middle has Masters Czerkawksi gets to header but goalie catches.
79 min...Masters sub...Al-Sawi replaces Frankson.
82 min...Masters YELLOW card...Agard earns it for pulling down NMP Scott on run to Masters 45 yard line on right.
82 min...NMP Esperance 50 yard freekick from right has goalie step forward and punch ball away in crowd of players.
The goalie was injured on the play.
83 min...NMP sub...Gertiesingh replaces Scott.
84 min...NMP Esperance 55 yard freekick from left has Masters Dabire head away right of box.
85 min...Masters Wright taps pass to Masters Al-Sawi who can't win Penalty kick.
86 min...Masters Walkes cornerkick from right has goalie punch over box on right post for throw-in.
87 min...Masters Al-Sawi 35 yard shot from left is chip forward wide left of net.
88 min...Masters Anthony Wright GOAL...Masters Shaquille Agard blasts 20 yard shot from slight
right that flying goalie saves at 8 yards batting rebound forward. Wright flies forward
and 11 yard header is into open left side of net.
89 min...NMP YELLOW card...Gertiesingh earns it for tackle on Masters Muhammad Ali.
90 min...NMP Boafo is injured at edge of own box.
91 min...NMP Esperance cornerkick from left wins another cornerkick on left.
92 min...NMP Esperance cornerkick from left is knocked around and over end line on left for goalkick.
94 min...game ends 10:10pm.

Final Score:....Masters FA Saints..........3........North Mississauga Panthers........1......

Attendance eventually reached about 100. The weather was still hot and the sun was still out
but it was cooler than it was this afternoon in Aurora. Quite a strong wind kicked in from
the east later in the game and hung up a lot of balls.

Referee Kevin McEleney scheduled water breaks in each half. This was much appreciated in the first half
but by the second half it was dark and a lot cooler so really unnecessary. (I don't know if that
really is a rule about 'each' half having a water break or 'none' at all or if it varies by league).

McEleney gave out four Yellow cards (three to Masters) and all saved until the second half.
Neither head coach liked his officiating but both Masters Rick Titus and NMP Aleks Balta had some
strange mind games agreeing with each other. “That shouldn't have been a freekick”, “Yes, I agree
with you”, was some of their banter used both ways.

Masters had some different players then when I've seen them earlier this season but head coach
Rick Titus must have the largest Rolodex in the league so he can easily replenish his roster.
The league website isn't as helpful as last year so players who change teams have their stats reset
as '0' and disappear from their former team.

Defender Marc Jankovic played only his second game this season for MFA and first in six weeks.
He was a starter but had to be subbed out in first half added time for a leg injury. He is a 1980
so may qualify this season as the league's oldest player.

Best non scoring chances were at 9 minutes when NMP Sundin Esperance crossed from 22 yards on the
far right had the goalie miss the ball and it landed for NMP Ali El Zeir on right who shot
a 10 yarder wide left of the post. 31 minutes had NMP Luca Pacheco hook a shot over the goalie
at 12 yards and a retreating defender headed the ball away. 37 minutes had Masters Reshaun Walkes
run on the left and blast a low 20 yarder that a sliding defender got a piece of and another
defender retreated to clear at 3 yards. 43 minutes had Esperance take a 40 yard freekick from
the slight left that got caught in the wind and the goalie and a defender crashed together knocking
each other over but the ball bounced for a goalkick. 56 minutes had NMP Saleman Salim blast
a 7 yard shot off his own bar on a clearance attempt of a Masters cross from the right. 63 minutes
had Esperance take a 30 yard freekick that rolled under the jumping three man wall and the goalie
dove to the right post to smother.

Worst problem for me is that Masters have new uniforms. Instead of their white numbers on black
jerseys they now have white numbers on a graduating shade of pink. Perfect would have been to have
black numbers on pink. It was bad in daylight but once it got dark it was about impossible without
binoculars so I missed a lot of details. I can't go all by haircuts and shoe colours alone.
My private hell would be for them to play against 2016 Sanjaxx with their white numbers on yellow
with my pre-operation cataracts last year and that would be my TV broadcast announcing debut.

My second game today where I had timing problems. The team had a scoreboard timer cart that they
pulled in on wheels. I wasn't the only one who wondered why the 'added time' was announced before
the clock had even reached 45 and 90 minutes. It was someone stopping the clock when the water
breaks were called.

This was the last game of the day. The win improved Masters' record to 6 wins, 2 losses,
and 2 ties and 20 points. They are fourth in the sixteen team league. North Mississauga's
record slips to 4 wins, 4 losses, 2 ties for 14 points. They are tied for seventh place with
Darby FC who have one game in hand and will play tomorrow. Only the top eight teams qualify
for the playoffs.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01

Masters FA starters