July 13, 2019 League 1 Ontario--Masters FA Saints vs Alliance United game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday July 13, 2019 League 1 Ontario game between Masters FA vs Alliance United
played at L'Amoreaux Park in Scarborough at 8:00pm.

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

.........................55 Daniel Gosciniak
4 Anthony Wright...3 Adam Czerkawski...6 Eddy Dabire...2 Atif Muhammad Ali
7 Anwar Al-Sawi...70 Yasin Sahawan...16 Akeem Priestley...9 Stefan Nikolic
............11 Shawn Brown (cpt)...8 Reshaun Walkes

Subs:...1 Spiridon Koskinas (gk)...5 Aziah Reid...10 Basit Madamidola...13 Adam Waithe
...18 Samer Hamade...19 Filip Dumbalovski...20 Francis Ameyaw
team officials:...team head coach Rick Titus...assistant coach Rob Merkle...manager Gerri Groves
...physio Estaban Clavijo

Alliance United FC (orange socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers)

.........................30 Praveen Ahilan
........20 Jacob Maurutto-Robinson...2 Kenny Lioutas...5 David Colelli
4 Nikola Satkic (cpt)...17 Atchuthan Sivananthan...3 Chris Jacovou...7 Nirun Sivananthan...13 Farrell Francis
....................18 Milan Beader...19 Koosha Nazemi

Subs:...1 Chimdubem Onyeka (gk)...6 Max Weinburg...8 Nicholas Osorio...11 Anselmo Kim
...12 Christopher Badibengi
team officials:...team head coach Ilya Orlov...assistant coaches Denys Rylskyi and Julian Carr...therapist Roman Raschuk

Game officials:...referee Alex Themistocleous...referee's assistants Robert Reid and Derrick Farwell
...fourth official George Solomon...(all black uniforms)

First Half:...game starts 8:15pm...MFA defends south end.
3 min...MFA Brown eludes defender on left side of box and midair 6 yard shot is wide left.
4 min...MFA Nikolic run down left side to end line and cross drifts behind net.
5 min...AFC Jacovou high kick going to ball at AFC 35 yard line is opposite direction off charging MFA Muhammad Ali
injurying him and he needs trainer.
........AFC YELLOW card...Jacovou earns it on last play.
8 min...MFA Al-Sawi 45 yard freekick up middle is into two man wall. His rebound from 40 yards on right is low
and wide left.
10 min...AFC Nirun Sivananthan long run down left and low cross into box is cleared.
10 min...AFC player's 55 yard freekick down middle has another AFC player at 20 yards take shot from left that's stopped
by sprawling goalie on left post.
11 min...MFA Priestley 40 yard freekick from right bounces wide left through box unplayed.
14 min...AFC Lioutas makes key midair clearance on edge of box.
15 min...AFC Lioutas mades another key header to clear cross from right into 6 yard box.
16 min...MFA YELLOW card...Wright earns it for sliding tackle on AFC Francis at AFC 40 yard line injurying him
and he needs trainer.
18 min...AFC Stakic cross from 30 yards just misses AFC Jacovou ducking for 8 yard header as he charges into box. The ball
is wide left for goalkick.
23 min...MFA Nikolic has 22 yard shot blocked and cleared by defender.
24 min...AFC Jacovou is given short through ball pass but defender pokes ball away before shot at 18 yards.
25 min...AFC Lioutas 40 yard freekick is into leaping players in box but play is called offside.
27 min..MFA Czerkawski clears ball from AFC Atchuthan Sivananthan giving up throw-in on right.
28 min...AFC long throw-in from right is cleared. AFC Atchuthan Sivananthan skies 28 yarder down middle that goalie catches.
29 min...MFA Nikolic cornerkick from left has goalie make overhead catch on right post.
34 min...AFC Maurutto-Robinson long throw-in from right has leaping defender head ball behind end line.
34 min...AFC Lioutas cornerkick from right has defender at 15 yards head away.
36 min...AFC Beader run on right and cross into box is cleared.
39 min...MFA Brown shot is partially blocked. MFA Priestley shoots 25 yarder off defender and ball deflects high and goalie
catches under bar on left.
40 min...MFA Muhammad Ali clears threat in MFA box.
40 min...MFA Brown rushes into left of box but he's checked off ball.
42 min...MFA Brown run into left side of box but defender checks him off ball.
43 min...MFA Nikolic blasts 30 yarder from right that goalie flies to near post to catch.
45 min...MFA Czerkawski leaves field for treatment of bloody knee.
45 min...MFA Al-Sawi blasts 20 yarder near end line into outside webbing of net.
49 min...half ends 9:04pm.

Second Half:...starts 9:20pm.
46 min...MFA Al-Sawi 22 yard shot from right is stopped by diving goalie. The rebound is cleared.
48 min...AFC Maurutto-Robinson long throw-in from right is cleared from box.
50 min...MFA Priestley run to left end line and goalie palms through box and out on right and defender pushes it out
for cornerkick.
51 min...MFA Nikolic ocrnerkick from right has AFC players start fast break out.
53 min...AFC Jacovou and MFA player are both hurt in collision.
53 min...MFA player's 35 yard shot from left is wide right of net.
56 min...AFC sub...Osorio replaces Jacovou.
.........MFA sub...Dumbalovski replaces Al-Sawi.
57 min...MFA Walkes 40 yard shot from left is caught by goalie.
58 min...MFA player's cross near left end line has two AFC players head away in box.
59 min...AFC Lioutas 55 yard freekick down middle is over to right of box but called offside.
61 min...MFA Reshaun Walkes 30 yard blast from left has goalie push wide right of post.
62 min...AFC Osorio deflects 25 yard ball from right is just wide right of net.
63 min...MFA Walkes wins cornerkick on deflected shot.
64 min...MFA Nikolic low cornerkick from left is jabbed wide left from 10 yards wide right for goalkick.
65 min...MFA Dumbalovski makes big clearance on left post on cross from right.
65 min...AFC Nazemi is centered pass and blasts 25 yarder up middle hitting top of bar.
67 min...AFC Nazemi chips 30 yard shot dwon middle well wide right of net.
67 min...MFA sub...Reid replaces Shawan.
68 min...AFC Nirun Sivananthan cross from left has MFA Wright make big header to stop.
69 min...AFC Osorio blasts 30 yard shot wide left.
69 min...MFA sub...Ameyaw replaces Priestley.
70 min...AFC Lioutas cornerkick from right has AFC Francis head ball downward and bounces to goalie in crowd of players.
71 min...MFA Ameyaw long run up right and wins cornerkick on defender poking ball away.
72 min...MFA Nikolic low cornerkick from left has MFA Czerkawski tip ball back to him and his recross is over players
in box and cleared.
73 min...AFC sub...Kim replaces Atchuthan Sivananthan.
.........MFA sub...Hamade replaces Nikolic.
76 min...AFC Lioutas 40 yard freekick from slight left has two MFA players clear in box.
77 min...AFC sub...Badibengi replaces Beader.
79 min...MFA player makes big header in own box to clear cross into box preventing two AFC players waiting for tap-in.
80 min...AFC Kim rush to left across middle and cuts 25 yard shot well over net.
81 min...AFC Francis is injured at AFC 50 yard line.
83 min...MFA sub...Madamidola replaces Walkes.
84 min...MFA Dumbalovski 55 yard freekick from right is over eveyone and out for goalkick on left.
84 min...AFC goalie beats MFA Ameyaw to through ball pass rolled towards him.
85 min...AFC Kim blasts 18 yarder from left that ogalie bats to left for throw-in on left.
86 min...AFC player's throw-in ends up crossed over MFA box out and out right.
87 min...MFA goalie catches ball from right between crowd of players in box.
88 min...MFA Dumbalovski dribbles into right of box and AFC Nirun Sivananthan clears off him for goalkick
on deflection. Nirun Sivananthan is injured on play.
90 min...MFA player's 40 yard freekick from slight right is cleared away for fast break and gives AFC player a chance
on right of box.
94 min...game ends 10:09pm.

Final Score:....Masters FA Saints......0........Alliance United.........0........

Attendance was about 80 on this hot evening. The game didn't get started until 8:15pm as the
L1O Women's game between De Ro United FC and Darby FC ended later than scheduled. I don't
expect that game lasted longer than usual but it's believable that it started later as a result
of the same thunderstorm I was this afternoon in Vaughan. Evidence was not found on the field
turf but in the real grass near the fence which was covered in water.

Daniel Gosciniak earned the shutout for Masters with a few key saves. He has played six of their
games which is one more than their other two goalies put together. Defenders Anthony Wright,
Adam Czerkawski, Eddy Dabire, and Atif Muhammad Ali limited the AU shots.

Praveen Ahilan earned the shutout for Alliance also with key saves. He has played ten of their
eleven games and has only allowed four goals. Alliance has the best defence in the league.
They've scored 18 which is the lowest of the (current standings) playoff teams but they are rarely
in blowouts. They mostly used a three man defence with Jacob Maurutto-Robinson, Kenny Lioutas
(who also took most of the cornerkicks and freekicks), and David Colelli.

Referee Alex Themistocleous gave out one Yellow card to each team. They were both by the 16 minute
mark so that may have helped keep the game in check. Of course that wasn't enough for coaches
Rick Titus of Masters and Ilya Orlov of Alliance. The fourth official had to keep warning them
both about their complaints to him and the assistant referees.

Best non-scoring chances were at 3 minutes when MFA Shawn Brown eluded a defender on the left side
of the box and his midair 6 yard shot was wide left. 10 minutes had an AU player take a 55 yard
freekick down the middle that a teammate then hit a 20 yard shot from the left that was stopped
by the sprawling goalie. 28 minutes had MFA Reshaun Walkes take a 22 yard shot from the right
that the flying goalie pushed wide left of the post. 43 minutes had MFA Stefan Nicolic blast
a 30 yarder from the right that the goalie flew to the near post to catch. 50 minutes had
MFA Akeem Priestley run to the left end line and the goalie had to palm his cross through the box
and out for a cornerkick. 61 minutes had Walkes take a 30 yard blast from the left that the goalie
pushed wide right of the post. Next minute had AU Nicholas Osorio deflect a 25 yard ball from
the right just wide right of the post. 65 minutes had AU Koosha Nazemi centered a pass and
he blasted a 25 yarder up the middle hitting the top of the bar. 70 minutes had AU Kenny Lioutas
take a cornerkick from the right that AU Farrell Francis headed downward and it bounced to the
goalie in a crowd of players. 85 minutes had AU Anselmo Kim blast an 18 yarder from the left
that the goalie batted away.

I had the same complaint as last week watching Masters with their white numbers on graduated
pink shirts. I tried to memorize them from positioning at the start of the game before it got dark.
I also used MFA head coach Rick Titus commentary “Anwar nice play, Akeem what are you doing?”
to help me figure out who may have taken a shot. This game was on LiveStream being called
by Gavin Day. A tweet exchange between us admitted it was a challenge for both of us. As the
camera was on the other side of the field I may be able to piece the game together when I do
a full write-up (with my CPL and TFC II writing, full game reports will have to wait until
the playoffs start).

Two weeks in a row proves it wasn't a one-off for breast cancer so I better get used to it.
I wrote in last week's review that it reminded me of Sanjaxx Lions 2016 with white numbers
on yellow shirts. And Masters midfielder Stefan Nikolic played on that team. He is the easiest
to identify as he looks like musician Art Garfunkel in 1966.

This was a game between two teams at the top of the table (as opposed to the two I saw earlier
today). Because of the tie they both lost ground.

Masters record is now 6 wins, 2 losses, and 3 ties for 21 points and they are now tied for
fourth with Sigma FC who won today to equal their record.

Alliance record is now 8 wins, 0 losses, and 3 ties for 27 points. That's good for first place
on Saturday night but they could be passed by both Vaughan Azzurri and Oakville Blue Devils
who play softer touch teams tomorrow.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01

Masters FA starters