August 16, 2019 League 1 Ontario--North Mississauga Panthers SC vs Sigma FC (game report by Rocket Robin)

............................

Results and details of the Friday August 16, 2019 League 1 Ontario game between North Mississauga Panthers SC and Sigma FC
played at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga at 7:45pm.

North Mississauga Panthers SC (all red, white numbers)

..................1 Jared Maloney (cpt)
13 Nicola Russo...4 Ivica Sunjka...12 Jamie Scott...2 Abi Madaraka
7 Darren Gertiesingh...8 Adam Boafo...6 Navid Rahman...3 Sundin Esperance
.............11 Adel Rahman...19 Jordan Prescod

Subs:...0 Chester Ashby (gk)...5 Luke Rankin...9 Rahim Thorpe...10 Lee-Victor Massunda
...16 Nick Proctor...20 Moses Toe
team officials:...team head coach Aleks Balta...assistant coaches Justin Silveira and Patrick Guirguis
...therapist Jacky Lam

Sigma FC (all white, blue shoulders and numbers)

....................31 Jack Cristini
.......4 Francis Kwashie...15 Samuel Gardner...5 Oluwageun Oyegunle
19 Shane Ricketts...17 Markell Saddler...20 Christian Samaniego...10 Justin Stoddart (cpt)...7 Tyriq Armstrong
.............23 Elijah Larin...9 Leaford Allen

Subs:...2 Maina Ngobia...6 Johnny Son...14 Ethan Golias...16 Carver Grenon
...18 Sean Merrick...21 Nino Nikolovski...22 Greg Moulopoulos
team officials:...team head coach John Zervos...assistant coach David Igreja and Philip Opassinis
...manager Perry Chajiloannou...therapist Victoria Carlucci

suspended player Cody Green

Game officials:...referee Kim Lee...referee's assistants Mahboob Gukestan and Roshan Mendonca
fourth official Robert Reid...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

First Half:...game starts 7:47pm...NMP defends south end. Although both teams call this ground home, this was
considered a home game for NMP.
2 min...NMP Prescod 20 yard shot from right after charge upfield is well over net.
3 min...NMP Esperance 22 yard freekick from right is over head of NMP Sunjka on left post and out for goalkick.
7 min...Sigma Stoddart from 40 yards rolls ball up left for Sigma Armstrong too far ahead and goalie smothers
at 12 yard line on left.
8 min...Sigma Ricketts run to right end line and rolls 20 yarder into box and goalie dives forward to smother.
Sigma Larin is off the field for a face injury.
11 min...NMP Esperance run to ball on left but Sigma Ricketts gets back to poke ball away.
13 min...Sigma player's throw-in near right corner flag has Sigma Allen elude defenders to turn and pass to Sigma player
who has shot from 10 yards up the middle in crowd of players blocked.
15 min...Sigma Oyegunle pokes ball away from NMP Gertiesingh to prevent 15 yard shot.
16 min...NMP Adel Rahman can't draw Penatly kcik for fall in Sigma box.
18 min...Sigma Armstrong recovers poor freekick by goalie at 30 yards on left and 20 yard shot from left has flying goalie
push wide left of post.
19 min...Sigma Saddler rolls 22 yarder up middle between crowd of players that goalie smothers.
20 min...NMP goalie catches high pop up just inside box ahead of Sigma Armstrong.
22 min...Sigma Ricketts pokes ball away from charging NMP Adel Rahman just outside top left of box.
23 min...NMP Prescod rolls 25 yard shot from left to goalie.
25 min...NMP Scott slides to poke away from Sigma Prescod giving up cornerkick.
26 min...Sigma Stoddart cornerkick from right is whistled down in box.
27 min...NMP Esperance 35 yard freekick from left wins cornerkick on deflection.
28 min...NMP Esperance cornerkick from right has NMP Sunjka leap to pop 8 yarder from left over net.
31 min...Sigma Armstrong pass across to Sigma Allen who runs to left along 20 yard line and pushes pass to Sigma Larin
who shoots 15 yarder that goalie flies to save on left post.
38 min...Sigma Larin is tapped pass at 28 yards and blasts shot well high and wide left of net.
39 min...Sigma goalie is out to 20 yards to just beat NMP forward to ball and clear.
39 min...NMP Esperance 30 yard freekick from left has NMP Gertiesingh cross from 25 yards on left that's cleared
by header on right.
40 min...NMP Gertiesingh cornerkick from left results in shot then cross being blocked.
42 min...NMP Esperance long throw-in from left has defender head away after one bounce on right side of box.
43 min...NMP Esperance cornerkick from right is high and NMP Sunjka leaps for header pushing over defender and play
is whistled down.
44 min...Sigma Ricketts is injured at NMP 45 yard line and needs trainer.
45 min...NMP Esperance cross from left and charging NMP Adel Rahman heads 8 yarder up middle off left post.
46 min...In a flurry of action, NMP ends with NMP Prescod shooting over the net.
47 min...half ends 8:34pm.

Halftime Entertainment: A mini game of NMP boys and girls youth teams takes place across the with of the field.
L1O commissioner Dino Rossi and broadcaster Antonio Totero are here tonight.

Second Half:...start 8:51pm.
45 min...NMP Adel Rahman GOAL...NMP Darren Gertiesingh receives a cross from the left
at 15 yards on the right and taps ball forward to charging Rahman who sidefoots 10 yarder down middle
over sprawling goalie Jack Cristini.
48 min...Sigma YELLOW card...Allen earns it for kicking ball away after whistle at NMP 40 yard line.
52 min...NMP Gertiesingh 30 yard freekick from left has defender clear in crowd of players on left side of 6 yard box.
54 min...Sigma Larin has ball centered with a few misses for him and he blasts 20 yarder down middle well over net.
55 min...Sigma Larin run to left end line and high cross has defender head for cornerkick.
56 min...Sigma Larin cornerkick from right is over players in box.
58 min...NMP Yellow card...Navid Rahman earns it for grabbing Sigma Larin to prevent break in at NMP 50 yard line.
59 min...Sigma sub...Son replaces Saddler.
60 min...Sigma Larin cornerkick from right has ball headed away and Sigma Armstrong blast 28 yarder down middle
well over net.
62 min...NMP Gertiesingh cornerkick from left is out to NMP Adel Rahman who rolls ball across to NMP Esperance
who shoots low 25 yarder that goalie dives to right post to stop.
63 min...NMP sub...Toe replaces Navid Rahman.
64 min...NMP goalie steps left to catch through ball pass ahead of charging player at 10 yards.
I notice that there's a change in direction in the airplanes flying overhead. They are now taking off
over our field rather than landing.
65 min...Sigma Gardner muscles off NMP Gertiesingh preventing his shot down the middle.
66 min...NMP Prescod rolls 15 yarder near left end line through 6 yard box just wide right of post.
69 min...NMP YELLOW card...Toe earns it for pulling down Sigma Stoddart at NMP 30 yard line.
70 min...Sigma Samaniego 35 yard freekick down middle is over players and just wide left of net.
72 min...NMP sub...Massunda replaces Gertiesingh.
73 min...Sigma Samaniego 22 yard freekick from top left has defender in crowd pop header over right end line.
74 min...Sigma player's cornerkick from right has first defender head away from box.
76 min...NMP Adel Rahman 35 yard freekick from far right has defender clear. NMP Massunda chip back into box
is cleared.
77 min...NMP Esperance cornerkick from right is whistled down in box.
77 min...NMP sub...Thorpe replaces Prescod.
.........Sigma sub...Merrick replaces Armstrong.
78 min...NMP Esperance cornerkick has defender in crowd of players head away. Esperance cross has charging NMP Sunjka
head ball forward at 8 yards but is falls in front of net.
79 min...Sigma Gardner long cross from center line has Sigma player get to it on end line but cross is cleared.
81 min...NMP Esperance 30 yard freekick from right has goalie bat ball away on left post. An NMP player heads from left
back into 6 yard box and goalie punches that away.
82 min...A multi player dust up erupts over at the left corner flag.
83 min...Sigma YELLOW card...Gardner earns it for his part in the dust up.
.........NMP YELLOW card...Sunjka earns it for his part in the dust up.
84 min...NMP Esperance low freekick from 25 yard on far left has NMP Thorpe side foot ball at 8 yards but he wins
cornerkick on deflection.
85 min...NMP Esperance cornerkick from left is cleared from box.
86 min...NMP Adel Rahman GOAL...NMP Darren Gertiesingh holds ball on left end line and rolls
pass into box. Rahman charges in to blast 8 yarder into top right corner of net.
87 min...Sigma sub...Moulopoulos replaces Samaniego.
88 min...NMP Thorpe on 2 on 1 rush, with NMP Adel Rahman, overruns ball at 25 yards and no shot is made after the miscue.
90 min...NMP YELLOW card...Russo earns it for wasting time taking throw-in by continuosly wiping the ball on the grass
at the center line.
90 min...NMP Adel Rahman GOAL...NMP Adel Rahman blasts his 25 yard freekick down the middle hitting
a man in the wall. The rebound bounces back to him and he blasts shot down middle between players
and into net halfway up on left side.
91 min...Sigma player chips 25 yarder over net.
95 min...NMP sub...Proctor replaces Adel Rahman.
.........Sigma Nikolvski replaces Allen.
........A YELLOW card looks to be given out to a Sigma player but doesn't show in the league stats.
97 min...Sigma Gardner 65 yardd chip from right is caught by the goalie.
97 min...game ends 9:43pm.

Final Score:...North Mississauga Panthers SC........3...........Sigma FC.........0.......

A mild evening with a breeze that kept the mosquitoes away.

Attendance was an overflow of possibly 400 people filling up all the aluminum bench stands and along
the sideline to the cornerflags. There were a lot of youth players and parents from North Mississauga's
programs turning up. A mini game was held with a mix of NMP girls and boys on each team at halftime.
NMP has a supporters' section which the last time I was here was confined to behind the end line
in the north but tonight they had one section of the stands. [NMP announced the attendance on their
website as 502].

Also taking place was the awarding of a fan financed/inspired trophy—The Credit River Cup. No it's not
another financial institution but the name of a river that cuts through Mississauga. The group who
commissioned it are the Sauga City Collective whose long term goal is to have a CPL team formed
in Mississauga. This competition involves NMP and Sigma and Pro Stars FC (although their L1O team play
in Brampton, their youth teams are in Mississauga). With L1O scheduling, there are only three fixtures
in the competition. Pro Stars had a 1 win, 1 loss record. If Sigma had won tonight by the exact score
of 1-0 it would have created an awkward dilemma of all teams having a 1-1-0 record, and two teams having
scored 3 goals each and would come down to goals against. Also scheduling meant that Sigma didn't
officially have a 'home' game in this tourney while Pro Stars had two except that Sigma and NMP share
the Paramount Fine Food Centre grounds (until last year named the Hershey Centre).

Jared Maloney earned the shutout for NMP with a few key saves.

Referee Kim Lee ended up giving out six Yellow cards but none to until 59 minutes. Most were for
professional fouls of grabbing to stop break outs and a few for time wasting. There seemed to be
a problem with underinflated balls early in the game with at least two ball subs that caught my eye.
Tempers flared at 81 minutes with a dust up in near the cornerflag which looked like it was settled
with a Yellow card to each team.

Hero of the game was NMP Adel Rahman with all three goals tonight. He and his brother Navid both
started the season with Pro Stars and came over together by their choice before the trade deadline.
I've been tracking the brothers for years. They went out to the first CPL Open tryouts in Halifax
and both made the final cut. They played for Pro Stars over the years but both went over to the
Slovakian league to play for second tier KFC Komarno and Achilles '29 of the second tier Dutch league.
Both brothers, born in Germany grew up in Canada, have been called up to the Pakistani national team
but it looks like so far only younger brother Navid has been capped.

The game brought out a whose-who of L1O faces although I didn't see Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie.
L1O commissioner Dino Rossi and Anthony Totero from the CPL offices. The league's #1 photographer
Martin Bazyl who I hadn't seen in quite a few weeks--he answered me after the game that the league
was just using his file shots from their archive (they've done that in previous seasons) but this game
they knew would be a big deal. Yes, the celebration after the game was impressive with the trophy,
Sauga City and NMP supporters groups, banners and flags, and handheld flares lighting up the area around
the players. I'd been worried before the game when I was asking around before the game so I could take
a picture of the trophy before it got dark (it hadn't arrived yet) and team officials from both sides
to my question asking it's whereabouts answered “There is?” that it wasn't as publicized as the groups
social media let on.

I read a tweet the day before from Sigma FC congratulating thirteen of their players for returning
to school at different NCAA and Canadian universities. I asked Sigma FC head coach John Zervos before
the game how many had left already and he answered they were all gone. That's a lot of players to lose.
It's happened in past years. Past history has had Sigma blast off to a 9-0-0 start then fizzle
as the team brings in younger players and by playoff time it's a team of high schoolers. Last season
was their only L1O campaign where that wasn't as profound as they had a lot of overaged players hanging
on to their roster because they knew there'd be the new CPL forming and many players plus then head
coach Bobby Smyrniotis would transfer over to Forge FC. Tonight goalie Jack Cristini was the youngest
player listed as a '2003' which makes him 15 or 16.

Gone back to school from Sigma are Baj Mann, Rahman Bello, Faisal Gahffur, Andres Delascio, Malik Smith,
Noah Hodson, Bilal Mehran, Kyle Bimeik, Brendan Auguste, Johnathan Kisse, Kofi Awauh, Ty Hyde,
and Reggie Laryea. Laryea is attending York University and his brother Richie plays for Toronto FC.

Best non-scoring plays of the game were at 18 minutes when Sigma Tyriq Armstrong recovered a poor
freekick by the NMP goalie at 30 yards on the left and took a 20 yard shot that the flying goalie pushed
wide left of the post. 28 minutes had NMP Sundin Esperance take a cornerkick from the right that
NMP Ivica Sunjka leapt to pop an 8 yarder from the left over the net. 31 minutes had Armstrong pass
across to Sigma Leaford Allen who ran to the left along the 20 yard line then pushed a pass
to Sigma Elijah Larin (yes younger brother of Kyle Larin) who shot a 15 yarder that the goalie flew
to save on the left post. 45 minutes in a flurry of action had Esperance cross from the left
and the charging NMP Adel Rahman headed an 8 yarder up the middle that hit the left post. 54 minutes
had Sigma Larin centered a ball after a few players missed and he blasted a 20 yarder down the middle
well over the net. 62 minutes had NMP Darren Gertiesingh take a cornerkick from the left short
to Adel Rahman who rolled the ball across to Esperance who shot a low 25 yarder through a crowd of players
that the goalie dove to the right post to stop. 65 minutes had the NMP goalie step to the left to catch
a through ball pass ahead of a charing player at 10 yards. Next minute had NMP Jordan Prescod roll
a 15 yarder near the left end line through the 6 yard box just wide right of the post. 70 minutes had
Sigma Christian Samaniego take a 35 yard freekick down the middle over a group of players but just wide
left of the post. 78 minutes had Esperance cross to the charging Sunjka head the ball forward at 8 yards
but fall over in front of the net. 81 minutes had Esperance with a 30 yard freekick from the right
that the Sigma goalie batted away on the left post. An NMP player headed the ball from the left back
into the 6 yard box and the goalie punched that away too. Recovering that ball started the dust up.

The field is on the flight path to nearby Pearson Airport and planes were coming in to land it seemed
like every two minutes. Suddenly at 65 minutes I noticed that every plane was taking off and using
this airspace flying westward—same frequency but by now it was dark.

Tonight's result from the L1O prospective, with this the last weekend of the regular season, means
North Mississauga finishes at 8 wins, 5 losses, 2 ties for 26 points. That puts them all alone
in sixth place and clinches a playoff spot (top eight of sixteen teams qualify).

Sigma's result means their record falls to 8 wins, 4 losses, 3 ties for 27 points. That's good for
a tie for fourth place with Masters FA but Masters will play Saturday against last place OSUF travelling
here from Ottawa.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01

North Mississauga Panthers SC starters