July 17, 2024...League1 Ontario...Sigma FC vs Vaughan Azzurri game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Wednesday July 17, 2024 League1 Ontario Men's Premier game between Sigma FC
and Vaughan Azzurri played at the Zanchin Automotive Soccer Centre* in Vaughan at 8:00pm. This was
considered a League1 Ontario Cup quarterfinal match.

*(the new name of the Ontario Soccer Centre for at least the next ten years after a deal for naming
rights signed back in January). Azzurri's home field is North Maple Regional Park.

Sigma FC (blue socks andd shirts, black shorts, white numbers)

.....................1 Jack Cristini
12 Evan Dick...23 Alex Cordon...4 Simon Guardiero...2 Daniel Stampatori
..........8 Faisal Ghaffur (cpt)...22 Daniel Firek...14 Andres Delascio
.........11 Hoce Massunda...9 Kevaughan Tavernier...17 Kadell Thomas

Subs:;...31 Emmanuel Marmolejo (gk)...3 Leshawn Facey...5 Joshua Miller...6 Zayne Bruno
...7 Amir Shirazi...15 Aziah Reid...19 Lee Victor Massunda...20 Domenico Folino...24 Damion Kaye
team officials:...head coach John Zervos...team managers Justin Stoddart and Corey Marques
...physiotherapist Leo Ilzuka

Vaughan Azzurri (white socks and shirts, red shorts, navy numbers)

.....................1 Baj Maan
23 Kelvin Ramirez...15 Matthew Medeiros...4 Mathieu Laurent...21 Adamo Pantaleo
..........16 Jacob Begley...5 Raheem Rose (cpt)...10 Jeronimo Sabbatasso
..........9 Reshaun Walkes...8 Chris Campoli...11 Ryan Robinson

Subs:...12 Alessio Carbone (gk)...2 Andy Baquero...7 Raouf Mohamed...13 Justin Santos
...22 Omar Marzouk...25 Daniel Longo
game officials:...head coach Carm Isacco...assistant coaches Jeff Valcius and Fabio Campoli
...team manager Mario Fabiano...physiotherapist Casy D'Mello...other official Martine Eleuteri

Game officials:...referee Melvin Christopher...referee's assistants Vasyl Dzikh and Liam Tremblay
...fourth official Nivan Raizada...(red socks and shirts, black shorts)...match commissioner Analia Sordi

First Half:...game starts 8:03pm...Sigma defends north end on this warm evening with the sun setting in the northwest.
2 min...Sigma Tavernier cornekrick from left has VA Begley head away in crowd of players. A Sigma player chips the partial
clearance from left is bounces wide right of net.
8 min...Sigma Hoce Massunda rolls centering pass along 20 yard line from right. Sigma Delascio blasts 20 yarder well over net
and back fence.
10 min...VA Robinson rolls pass forward from slight left to VA Rose but defender cuts in and clears for cornerkick.
11 min...VA Robinson cornerkick from left is headed away. VA player blasts from 20 yards that hits defender at 15 yards and is cleared.
12 min...VA Pantaleo chips pass forward and to center from 28 yards on left. VA Campoli heads 12 yarder from slight left wide left.
15 min...Sigma Stampatori quick throw-in from left has Sigma Thomas chip from near left sideline along 5 yard line but ball
drifts behind net.
16 min...VA goalie is out to 25 yards to clear high bouncer before Sigma Tavernier can get to it down middle.
18 min...Sigma Tavernier long run dribbling up slight left and shoots 7 yarder into outside webbing of net.
22 min...VA YELLOW card...Begley earns it for body check on Sigma Ghaffur from getting to start rush at center line.
24 min...VA Pantaleo cross from left edge of 18 yard box that's just over VA Robinson's head on right post.
25 min...VA Walkes squeezes through sliding defenders but retreating goalie smothers ball at 5 yards.
26 min...VA Robinson high cornerkick from left has VA Walkes on right heads across to center of box and goalie smothers
as VA player falls over him. The Sigma goalie is injured and needs trainer.
30 min...VA Laurent rolls pass forward from 30 yards on right. VA Walkes lets it go through his legs and defender at 15 yards.
VA Robinson has low 12 yard shot saved by sprawling goalie.
33 min...VA Robinson bends 20 yard chip from left wide right of net.
34 min...VA Robinson runs to right end line and shot from 12 yards is caught by goalie on near post.
34 min...Sigma Hoce Massunda 22 yard shot over defenders hits bar. Sigma Walkes header from 8 yards has goalie palm ball up.
Walkes 8 yard header has now sitting goalie reach up and swat ball wide right.
35 min...Sigma Ghaffur cornerkick from right is short and has defender head away 20 yard shot from left.
36 min...Sigma Walkes 22 yard shot on rush on left is caught overhead by goalie.
39 min...VA Sabbatasso bends cross from center to right from 20 yard line but is out for goalkick as no one runs for it.
42 min...Sigma Ghaffur cornerkick from right has Sigma Delascio head in crowd through middle that's deflected wide right
off head of VA Pantaleo dazing him.
43 min...Sigma Ghaffur cornerkick from right has goalie punch ball forward in crowd of players and defender punts upfield.
45 min...VA Robinson can't win cornerkick on run down left when he crosses on end line hits defender but then deflects back
off him and out.
46 min...VA Sabbatasso is checked off ball inside left side of box.
46 min...half ends 8:49pm.

Halftime: All players return to the dressing rooms. No subs are warming up. The Vaughan subs come out at 8:58pm and Sigma subs
are back at 9:03pm.

Second Half:...starts 9:09pm. It's now cooler and the sun has set so there are no shadows now. It's not quite dark yet.
46 min...VA Robinson 40 yard freekick from left sideline is caught by goalie on near post.
47 min...VA Robinson run to right end line and cross has Sigma Cordon pop header away on right side of box.
48 min...Sigma Kadell Thomas GOAL...Sigma Simon Guardiero at 60 yards on left sends low pass forward
through three defenders for charging Thomas who cuts into box and shoots low 15 yard shot that sliding
goalie Baj Maan at 12 yards gets a piece of but ball deflects into right corner of empty net.
50 min...VA Walkes has defender concede cornerkick from 22 yards.
50 min...VA Walkes high cornerkick from right has VA player head ball across box from left. VA Campoli midair 10 yard shot
deflect off defendder for cornerkick on right.
51 min...VA Robinsson short cornerkick from right to VA Sabbatasso who bends in cross and VA player heads ball wide left
from 5 yards.
54 min...Vaughan Reshaun Walkes GOAL...VA Jeronimo Sabbatasso Sola chips high cross forward from
slight left at 30 yards and defender misses chesting it down and Walkes has stepped behind him
and jabs 8 yard shot from right into short side of net between goalie Jack Cristini and near post.
56 min...Sigma defender ducks to head away cross from right at center of box.
60 min...Sigma sub...Emmanuel Marmolejo replaces injured goalie Jack Cristini. At 58 minutes, VA Adamo Pantaleo had sent
in a high cross from the left to a VA player who headed 8 yarder from right Sigma destined for the center of the net with Cristini
guarding the near post flew over to palm away. VA Ryan Robinson blasted a 4 yarder from the left post that a defender slid to stop
and deflect over to the left end line. Cristini needed the trainer for some kind of hand injury.
61 min...VA cornerkick from left is over to right and VA Rose cross from near right end line is caught by goalie.
61 min...Vaughan Ryan Robinson GOAL...Sigma Alex Cordon at 12 yards on left side of box taps ball back
to goalie but VA Chris Campoli steps in between them and blasts 8 yarder that sprawling goalie
Emmanuel Marmolejo stops point blank but ball rolls out for Robinson to shoot low 10 yard shot from
middle past defender Mathieu Laurent into left side of net.
62 min...VA sub...Baquero replaces Robinson.
............VA sub...Marzouk replaces Sabbatasso.
............VA sub...Longo replaces Rose.
63 min...Sigma Dick 40 yard low pass has VA Begley concede cornerkick from 10 yards.
64 min...VA Begley heads away Sigma cornerkick from right in crowd of players.
65 min...Sigma Delascio bends 40 yarder between players from left and goalie catches on bounce.
69 min...VA goalie leaps to catch cross from right at 5 yard line preventing Sigma player from tap-in.
70 min...Sigma Miller replaces Stampatori.
..........Sigma Kaye replaces Hoce Massunda.
72 min...Sigma Tavernier 40 yard freekick from right is headed away on left side of box.
74 min...Sigma Kaye shsort run to center from right andd blasts 30 yarder well over net and back fence.
74 min...VA Marzouk cuts in from left on 1 v 3 and low 25 yard shot is smothered by goalie.
76 min...VA Campoli pass forward up right to VA Walkes who dribbles toward center along 8 yard line pushing over defender
and goalie smothers loose ball.
77 min...VA YELLOW card...Campoli earns it for ankle kick when he and Sigma Guardiero played for ball at VA 40 yard line
and Sigma Guardiero needs trainer.
78 min...VA sub...Mohamed replaces Campoli.
79 min...Sigma Ghaffur 40 yard freekick from left has defenders clear on edge of box.
79 min...Sigma players can't draw Penalty kicks when one then another breaks in to box on VA partial clearance.
81 min...Sigma Ghaffur 20 yard shot on far right is caught by goalie on near post.
81 min...VA Marsouk dribble and low 15 yard shot has goalie slide to punch ball away at 5 yards.
82 min...Sigma sub...Lee Victor Massunda replaces Dick.
...........Sigma sub...Shirazi replaces Thomas.
83 min...VA player's freekick from near left end line has ogalie palm up ball over to right and outside box.
83 min...VA YELLOW card...Laurent earns it for kicking away ball after handball call just outside Sigma box.
85 min...Sigma Tavernier 15 yard shot from left wins cornerkick on deflection.
85 min...Sigma player's cornerkick from left has Sigma player on right head ball forward and wide right.
85 min...Sigma sub...Folino replaces Ghaffur.
...........Sigma sub...Bruno replaces Firek.
86 min...VA Walkes has ball poked away inside Sigma box but towards goalie so VA Baquero gets behind him for low 10 yard shot
that goalie stops then smothers ball preventing tap-in behind him.
88 min...Vaughan Andy Baquero GOAL...Baquero passes forward from 45 yards on left for charging
VA Raouf Mohamed who dribbles to left end line and ignoring teammates who call for him to run
it to the cornerflag, cuts along endline towards goal and sends low pass for Baquero who blasts 8 yarder
up middle past goalie guarding left post and Sigma Alex Cordon into top right side of net.
89 min...VA Mohamed rush up middle and rolls pass to right where VA Marzouk runs forward and rolls centering pass that
Mohamed whiffs on 8 yarder and two other VA players also miss connecting.
90 min...VA sub...Santos replaces Walkes.
91 min...Vaughan Omar Marzouk GOAL...VA Raouf Mohamed runs up right eluding three defenders and sends
low centering pass that Marzouk pounds in 12 yarder up middle into left side of net over flying goalie.
94 min...VA Pataleo 22 yard shot from right is caught by goalie.
95 min...game ends 9:59pm.

Final Score:...Sigma FC......1......Vaughan Azzurri......4.........

Attendance started off slow but peaked at about 90 by halftime. This was officially a home game for Sigma but finding available fields for games that aren't booked at the beginning of the season are notoriously hard to find. This is a great default field for any GTA area team but tonight only problem I had was the 'homer' PA announcer stopped announcing substitutes and goals in the second half.

This was a quarterfinal match in the newly revised L1O Cup which hadn't been awarded since 2018 (Vaughan won that year) as the league eventually expanded to 22 teams and there was barely enough time to play a regular season and squeeze in playoffs too. This Cup schedule seems disjointed though as Simcoe County Rovers clinched a semi-final berth back on May 28 while on the same night Sigma was having their Round of 16 match thunderstormed out and eventually played June 12.

The scoreline is deceiving as it was a one goal game until 88 minutes. When I saw the lineups I was surprised that Vaughan had only six players on their bench (five outfield players). I know teams are playing regular season games on the weekends and Sigma had played Friday night while Vaughan had played Sunday afternoon so with the short bench and Sigma scoring first with a full nine player bench I set the discrepancy between the regular season standings aside—Vaughan pulled into first place with their Sunday win and Sigma is struggling in eleventh place. Vaughan triple subbed at 62 minutes with Baquero and Marzouk among the fresh legs and brought in Mohamed at 78 minutes and there's the linescore for the Azzurri pulling away at the end.

Hey Baj Maan in goal for Vaughan (the league app has him as their regular starter since June). I remember him from Sigma FC in the pre CPL days backing up Triston Henry. Both moved on to Forge FC. The most recent team I remember Maan on was Simcoe County Rovers

Referee Melvin Christopher gave out only three Yellow cards in the game (all to Vaughan players) with just one for timewasting. The first half was played quite cleanly with hardly a peep from the parents/friends in the crowd. Only one Yellow in that half. Play got a little more intense in the second half but no fighting nor cheap shots.

I'm not going to say just as well that Sigma didn't progress but they have probably less than a month before some of their best players head back to NCAA schools and if the Cup final is played the week after the regular season ends (ie September) (like the English FA Cup calendar), Sigma would be having to bring up some of their high- schoolers to fill a few roster spots. Also that week they may have to play a second tier 'Championship Division' team (the second place finisher) for survival in the Premier Division if they can't pull up from their current eleventh spot. Assuming Hamilton United looks doomed to finish twelfth and automatic relegation.

At exactly the same time as tonight's game, another Quartefinal took place with Blue Devils FC as the 'home' team played Burlington SC in Burlington's home stadium (like I said fields are hard to find on short notice) and Blue Devils spotted Burlington the first goal then scored the rest to win 3-1 (almost the same script as here in Vaughan).

So the semi-finals will be Blue Devils playing Simcoe County Rovers with Vaughan Azzurri waiting for the winner of North Toronto vs Masters FA (which finally has a quarter-final date of Wednesday July 31 at 8:30pm at Downsview Park).

Rocket Robin
robin.glover.1958@gmail.com
X @RocketRobin01

Sigma FC starters