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Result and details of the Saturday May 25, 2019 Canadian Premier League game between York 9 FC and Forge FC
played at York Lions Stadium in North York at 4:00pm.
York 9 FC (olive socks, white shorts and shirts, black names and numbers)
......................29 Nathan Ingham
3 Morey Doner...13 Luca Gasparotto...2 Daniel Gogarty...20 Diyaeddine Abzi
......................10 Manuel Aparicio
22 Rodrigo Gattas...18 Ryan Telfer...23 Wataru Murofushi...19 Kyle Porter
......................12 Simon Adjei
Subs:...1 Matt Silva (gk)...5 Justin Springer (def)...11 Emilio Estevez (mid)...14 Emmanuel Zambazis (mid)
17 Cyrus Rollocks (fwd)...77 Steven Furlano (def)...92 Michael Cox (fwd)
team officials:...head coach Jim Brennan
Forge FC (gray socks, shorts, and shirts, white names and numbers)
..............................1 Triston Henry
8 Giuliano Frano...4 Dominci Samuel...21 Bertrand Owundi Eko'o...5 Daniel Krutzen
........................13 Alesander Jonsson Achinioti
19 Tristan Borges...3 Elimane Cisse...10 Kyle Bekker...14 Emery Welshman
........................23 Anthony Novak
Subs:...18 Quillan Roberts (gk)...6 Kwame Awuah (def)...7 David Choiniere (mid)...11 Christopher Nanco (fwd)
16 Klaidi Cela (mid)...17 Kadell Thomas (fwd)...22 Monti Mohsen (def)
team officials:...acting head coach Peter Reynders
Game officials:...referee Yusri Rudolf...referee's assistants Peter Pendli and Sean Hornsby
...fourth official Filip Dujic (black socks and shorts, teal shirts)
First Half:...game starts 4:05pm...York defends north end on this warm and sunny afternoon.
50 sec...York Porter 30 yard shot from right hits defender's foot and rolls to goalie.
1 min...York Doner gets back to break up Forge player's cross into 6 yard box.
1 min...York Porter 25 yard low shot from right bounces wide left of net.
3 min...Forge player's roller from 30 yards is through ball pass up on right and goalie picks up.
4 min...Forge Borges is given chipped pass and 15 yard shot from right is deflected by goalie wide right.
6 min...Forge Krutzen eludes tackle on left sideline and high cross from 25 yards is over box.
8 min...Forge player's cross from 30 yards on right has Forge Novak flick header wide left from 10 yards.
8 min...York goalie smothers 15 yard shot from left from Forge Welshman.
10 min...York Borges 18 yard shot from right is blocked by defender. Forge Cisse is injured at York 50 yard line
earlier in the play and needs the trainer.
12 min...York Murofushi cornerkick from left has York Gasparotto head ball wide right from 10 yards
on right side of box.
14 min...Forge Bekker receives centering pass along 28 yard line from left and blasts shot up middle
that's caught by goalie.
16 min...York Telfer 35 yard freekick from slight right has defender in crowd of players at 10 yards on left
head ball away. Telfer eventually gets back ball slips and gets 10 yard shot stopped.
18 min...Forge Welshman wins cornerkick on deflection by York Doner on end line.
18 min...Forge Bekker cornerkick hits York Aparicio and goes behind end line but York is awarded freekick.
19 min...York Doner cross for York Adjei at 6 yards but Forge Samuel heads away ball before pass is completed.
22 min...Forge Bekker runs across to middle and rolls pass forward and Forge Borges gets foot to at 12 yards
but Forge Welshman can't redirect it so it goes out for a goalkick.
22 min...Forge Welshman wins cornerkick on deflection off a defender.
23 min...Forge Bekker cornerkick from left has goalie punch ball away in crowd of players at 3 yards.
23 min...York Adjei run on right but threads through ball that's cleared.
24 min...York Aparicio 22 yard roller up middle is smothered by goalie.
25 min...York Gattas 22 yard shot on left has leaping goalie push ball wide left of post.
25 min...York Murofushi cornerkick from left has ball dangerously played around in box.
26 min...Forge Jonsson at 10 yards on right sends in ball to Forge Welshman but York Gasparotto slides
to break up shot.
27 min...York Telfer bends cross from 25 yards on right over heads of players in box and wide left.
28 min...York Doner gets back to save ball at 5 yards on Forge Welshman and Bekker play with a 12 yard shot down
the middle. The clearance started a York fast break.
32 min...York Telfer is beaten to through ball pass by goalie flying to head ball away outside the box at 22 yards
on left. York Adjei picks up the rebound and takes 33 yard shot that's stopped by the retreating goalie at 12 yards.
33 min...Forge Cisse runs into York box on give and go but is checked off ball.
36 min...Forge Welshman 22 yard shot up middle delfects off defender wide left for cornerkick.
37 min...Forge Bekker cornerkick from left has goalie punch ball away.
37 min...Forge Krutzen low cross from left is between players and smothered by goalie who's injured on play at 12 yards
and needs trainer.
39 min...York Porter low cross from 15 yards wins cornerkick.
40 min...York Telfer cross from 30 yards on far right has York Gasparotto head 12 yarder up middle that goalie catches.
41 min...York Aparacio pass on right deflects for cornerkick.
41 min...York Telfer cornerkick from right has one York player miss and York Murofushi rolls 12 yarder between players
in box wide left on net.
42 min...York Adjei rolls 25 yard shot up middle wide left.
43 min...York Abzi blasts 18 yarder from top left corner of box just over top left of bar.
44 min...York Telfer 40 yard cross from right is over York Gattas shot gets head to on run but knocks it wide left of net.
46 min...Forge Krutzen cornerkick from left is cleared by defenders and Forge Bekker shoots 22 yarder that
leaping goalie palms over net.
47 min...Forge Bekker cornerkick from left is between players at 15 yards and out box.
47 min...half ends 4:52pm.
Halftime and the rain starts to pour down very hard. I don't know if there was any halftime entertainment planned
but everyone just ran for cover.
Second Half:...starts 5:07pm.
45 min...York Telfer cornerkick from right has Forge Novak head away at 16 yards. York Aparicio blasts 25 yarder
well high and wide right.
47 min...York goalie dives forward to catch cross from left.
48 min...York player's cross from 15 yardss on right has York Gattas pop up header at 8 yards wide left of net.
49 min...Forge sub...Nanco replaces Welshman.
51 min...York Porter low cross from 30 yards on left has York Gattas blast skyball from 20 yards on right high
and wide left of net.
56 min...Forge Bekker sends through ball pass to Forge Nanco and rolls cross from right which sliding York Gogarty
tips away.
57 min...Forge Borges cornerkick from right is high over players in box.
58 min...York sub...Estevez replaces Adjei.
58 min...York Gattas gives pass to York Estevez and his 15 yard shot from right has York goalie fly to push wide right.
60 min...Forge Borges low 22 yard shot between players is smothered by goalie.
61 min...York Telfer cornerkick from right has Forge Krutzen head away in crowd of players.
62 min..York Abzi wins cornerkick on deflection on 15 yard cross from left along line off Forge Frano.
62 min...the game is stopped because of the approaching lightning. 5:24pm.
6:41pm 62 min...game restarts.
62 min...York Murofushi cornerkick from left is headed away but play is whistled down in box anyway.
63 min...York Telfer 45 yard freekick from right has York Gasparotto not quite able to fully turn header leaping in crowd
of players at 7 yards on left.
64 min...Forge Borges 40 yard freekick from right has goalie step in front of players to catch at 10 yards.
64 min...Forge YELLOW card...Novak earns it for not giving York goalie room to kick ball after catching.
65 min...York Aparacio 30 yard cross from right is cleared.
66 min...York YELLOW card...Gattas earns it for hip check on Forge Eko'o at Forge 45 yard line.
68 min...York Abzi short pass from left to York Telfer for shot from 20 yards that goalie flies to save. York Porter
blasts rebound wide right.
68 min...York Telfer cornerkick from right has York Gasparotto chest ball down and has 18 yard shot deflect for cornerkick.
68 min...York Murofushi cornerkick from left has defender head ball away in box.
69 min...Forge Chris Nanco GOAL...Forge Kyle Bekker rushes down right on fast break sends ball over to Nanco who
slides and hits 12 yarder on right into left corner of net with goalie Nathan Ingham stuck in middle.
70 min...Forge sub...Awuah replaces Cisse.
76 min...Forge Borges wins freekick on left edge of box near end line.
77 min...Forge Tristan Borges GOAL...Forge Kyle Bekker rolls ball into box from left end line. Forge Chris Nanco
lets ball roll by him as a decoy and Borges blasts 15 yarder from left into top right corner of net.
79 min...Forge sub...Choiniere replaces Novak.
79 min...York Aparicio bends 28 yard shot from left wide right of net.
80 min...York sub...Cox replaces Murofushi.
............York sub...Rollocks replaces Porter.
81 min...Forge Samuel pushes ball out of bounds to keep York Cox on run up left from getting shot and gives up cornerkick
on left.
81 min...York Telfer cornerkick from left deflects over to right and York Gattas misses midair kick at 5 yards on right post.
83 min...York Doner cross from 25 yards on right is long to York Gattas and his shot is blocked.
84 min...York Abzi chips cross from 25 yards on left is over three York players in box.
84 min...York Rollocks turns and cuts 25 yard shot from slight right over net.
85 min...York Abzi cross from 30 yards on left is wide right.
86 min...York Abzi holds off defender and cross from left is over bar behind net.
87 min...Forge Borges rush to endn line on left and low cross has York Gogarty clear at 8 yards.
87 min...Forge make time wasting cornerkick from left that ends in York being awarded goalkick.
88 min...York Telfer cornerkick from right has York players at 8 yards on left fall back and not be able to fully
connect on header.
90 min...York Telfer 30 yard freekick from right has goalie punch away in crowd of players.
92 min...York Yellow card...Gasparotto earns it for tackle from behind on Forge Nanco at Forge 30 yard line injurying him.
93 min...Forge player's cornerkick from left is wasted with cross behind net.
93 min...game ends 7:12pm.
Final Score:.......York 9 FC.......0.......Forge FC........2........
This was the opening league game for York 9 (the Wednesday game was a Canadian Championship game against PLSQ league
team A.S. Blainville). This was the 'real' home opener with a pregame ceremony with politicians from the nine regions
of York on the field for the coin toss and a pregame appearance by the Highland Creek Pipe Band. There were fireworks
set off outside the stadium after 'O Canada' was sung although much of their effect was lost by the bright sun being
out at that time of the afternoon. The team uses green coloured cornerflags and they were hanging downward as there
was no wind at all. Wow were we going to get a change in the weather within an hour!
Attendance wasn't announced at the game but the league website listed it as 4260. That was pretty good but must
have been tickets sold. Radio and TV stations were warning us for days about a severe thunderstorm that was going
to take place in the afternoon. Because it rained most of the morning and the sun came out before noon, I thought
it had all blown over and didn't even take an umbrella (although I don't know what the stadium policy is). I didn't
see the youth teams except those who were ballkids. The east side section where they were supposed to sit was given
over to travelling Forge fans who were invited as some part of the repayment for allowing York 9 season ticket holders
free admission to the league's first ever game in Hamilton back on April 27.
When Forge scored at 69 minutes I got a sinking feeling. I had a flashback to Toronto Lynx in their PDL days
where they had no scoring power and once they fell behind there was no coming back. York 9's back up goalie
Matt Silva played for that team. Last year Sanjaxx of League 1 Ontario was like that too until they brought
in one player (who joined them after playing in Europe because he had a childhood friend who played with him
growing up in the GTA and now played on Sanjaxx). That player was Dieu Merci Yuma and he scored six goals
in seven games and they missed the playoffs by one game. Sanjaxx doesn't have an L1O team this year so Yuma
has joined Vaughan Azzurri.
York has scored four goals in four games this season which isn't the worst but their proudest game was a 2-2
comeback against Pacific FC when they scored second half goals on a Penalty kick and an own goal to salvage a point.
York brought in forward Michael Cox at 80 minutes for his first action of the season. Last year he split
the season with USL teams Nashville and Saint Louis. He was born in Calgary and played in 2015 right here for
York University where he scored 16 goals in 16 games. Let's see more of him please!
Forge assistant coach Peter Reynders (who was on the bench tonight because head coach Bobby Smyrniotus
is still serving a suspension) said after the game the difference between the two teams is the final touch
and his team could put the ball into the net. York head coach Jim Brennan could only take solace in saying
his team's stats were better.
Rain started pouring down at halftime. The second half was started off in the downpour but lightning was
getting closer until finally referee Yusri Rudolf signalled to suspend the game at 62 minutes until the storm
passed. York 9 had just won a cornerkick and that play was allowed to take place after the long delay.
The game was split in two by a thunderstorm at the 62 minute mark. With the worry about lightning and
a lot of the stands being constructed of aluminum it was important to put safety first. People were
initially told to seek shelter which could be under the stands in the huge hallway/lobby in the permanent
west side stands. Some people just took refuge under canopies. What happened next was a fiasco which
I didn't find out about until later. The security service and Toronto Police ended up telling people the
game was called off and to go home. Not helping in the confusion was the scoreboard changing to a green
screen with the message 'ALL CLEAR'. So does that mean everything is OK? Then when the lightning moved
on the message was changed to a red screen 'ALL CLEAR THE FIELD'. Red usually means danger right? Maybe
that's when security cleared everyone not just out of the stands but out of the stadium?
When the game was restarted almost an hour and twenty minutes later (safety precautions of thirty minutes
after the last bolt of lightning and a 10 minute warm up for the players then 10 minutes before action
restarted) there were only a hundred or so people still around to watch.
Another fiasco happened on the special OneSoccer channel. While it was expected that the national
CBC network would move on to other programming (they used footage of the Rugby 7 tournament in England
during the rain delay until the CPL time slot was over) OneSoccer used a rerun of their pregame show
(nothing wrong with that) then switched to their next game—Cavalry FC vs HFX Wanderers. Not a problem
as their live channel had programmed that. What happened next was they started showing that game then
cut back to the York v Forge game after the restart but after Forge had scored their first goal. Missing
about six minutes of the restarted game and almost all the first half of the Cavalry game including
the first game in that game. Now even that shouldn't be a problem because OneSoccer has been able
to get two feeds of simultaneous games before when two Canadian Championship games were played at the
same time. The message boards went crazy because that choice was taken away from fans when both screen
choices were locked onto the back and forth game switching. Compounding the problem is a full replay
of both games separately was not offered until Monday.
York's record in their four league games falls to 0 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties for 2 points. There was chat while we waited
for the post game press conference to start that York 9 may be officially out of the race by their next game if they don't win.
That is on the road in Halifax on Wednesday night against HFX Wanderers. Wanderers won their home opener against Forge
on May 4 but then were upset by Vaughan Azzurri in their Canadian Championship series but advanced to the next round
on the away goal rule. I consider Vaughan the York 9 farm team (four signings by York) but HFX signed two
Vaughan players--Tomasz Skublak and Matthew Arnone. Marty Thompson the digital content editor for the league said
on one of the OneSoccer panel shows that York won't win a game in the Spring Season. Yeah that will be great for trying
to sell tickets.
Forge FC now has the top scorer in the CPL. Tristen Borges has three goals. They also have two other players tied
for second with Anthony Novak and Kadell Thomas (who didn't get off the bench for this game).
Forge's record in their six games improves to 3 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie for 10 points. They are currently in second place
and trail only Calvary FC who have a 5-0-0 record. They look like they are the only team that can challenge as the other
five teams all have records .500 or less.
For the 'Spring' season which is only ten games, the team in first place 'wins' and is guaranteed a place in the final
at the end of the season in October. The longer Fall season starts in July. Winner of that is the other finalist. If it's
Cavalry again, it will be the club with the second best overall record. Some fans think that's unfair but they never
cancelled the Superbowl and all the billions of dollars it generates the year New England won all their regular season
games. Still unclear though is whether the final series will be one game or a home and away series.
Before the season started, I rated the Ontario teams to finish 1-2 in the standings based on how many League 1 Ontario
players were chosen by teams outside this province. I had Forge ahead of York because of the number of players who had
played together through the Sigma system and some Sigma players returning from pro careers to try this new league.
Also they have an in-house coaching system who coached their players through their development. I didn't appreciate
Calvary FC. I knew Calgary Foothills had won the PDL championship last season but thought they may be like
Thunder Bay Chill and use an almost exclusive American college roster slumming it for the summer until school restarted.
Hey Cavalry! Good for them! Only hope for the other teams is during league play, Calvary has beaten each team
by only one goal.
Turn out in the press box was pretty good with maybe thirty people although some were with the league and the team.
It was certainly an improvement on the six or so non-team/league folks who were at the AS Blainville game on Wednesday.
It will probably not get better as some were there to cover the novelty of the first league home game. Some bolted
early because they wanted to cover or at least watch the Raptors playoff basketball game.
Next York 9 home game is Wednesday June 5 against FC Edmonton in the second qualifying round of the Canadian Championship.
The scoreboard didn't mention that from what I could see. Their next CPL league home game will be Saturday June 15
against Pacific FC with a time change from 1:00pm to Noon so the game can be on the CBC network.
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01
York 9 FC mascot 'Yorky' greeting people before the game.
The Highland Creek Pipe Band marched the track before the game.
Traveling Forge fans occupied the east stand for this game.
Generation IX (the York 9 FC supporters group) light off their flares.
York 9 FC starters
Forge FC starters
York FC Manuel Aparicio (10) and Forge FC Kyle Bekker (10) at coin toss.
Local politicians from the nine regions of York were earlier introduced.
Forge FC Anthony Novak (23) takes opening kickoff.
Forge FC Emery Welshman (14) weaves upfield.
York 9 FC Ryan Telfer (18) chips freekick into Forge FC box.
York 9 FC Simon Adjei (12) and Kyle Porter (19) take second half kickoff.
Did these scoreboard messages confuse fans? The problem was the 'All Clear' sign was flashed during the thunderstorm.
The red sign was flashed after the storm had passed!
York 9 FC Wataru Murofushi (23) takes cornerkick after the long rain delay.
Match Stats (given out at the game) York 9 FC Forge FC 0 Goals 2 20 Total Shots 13 5 Shots on Target 7 11 Shots off Target 1 4 Blocked Shots 5 11 Shots from inside box 9 9 Shots from outside the box 4 4 Headed Shots 1 10 Corners taken 8 10 Fouls conceded 8 17 Open Play crosses 6 0 Offsides 1 69 Duels won 51 54.9% Duels won % 54.1% 383 Total passes 358 75.7% Passing accuracy 72.1% 52.7% Possession 47.3%
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