August 24, 2024 League1 Ontario North Toronto vs Vaughan Azzurri game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday August 24, 2024 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between North Toronto
and Vaughan Azzurri played at Downsview Park in North York at 7:30pm.

North Toronto (white socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers, green shoulders)

...........................1 Michael Bittner McPherson
11 Jaylen Drummond...4 Brandon Barone...5 Matthew Chandler...2 Alexandru Danciuc
7 Luca Di Marco...22 Andrew James...13 Tadija Vukas (cpt)...3 Sam Rankin
..................9 Zakaria Abdi...8 Matthew Perovic

Subs:...12 Alex Lin (gk)...6 Diego Menendez...10 Teo Ingram...14 Manvir Athwal
...15 Bennett Lichti...16 Leo Shrimpton...17 Benjamin Dunn...18 Thomas Murzaku...20 Sufyan Fraj
Team officials:...head coach Marko Milanovic...assistant coaches Filip Prostran and Kevin Lemonnier
...team manager Daniela Barillari...goalkeeper coach Rashih Pala...athletic trainer Cassandra Booton

Vaughan Azzurri (all navy uniforms, white numbers, red trim)

....................1 Alessio Carbone
19 Gabriel Boakye...6 Andron Kagramayan...4 Mathieu Laurent...16 Jacob Begley
11 Ryan Robinson...2 Andy Baquero...8 Chris Campoli (cpt)...5 Raheem Rose
................9 Reshaun Walkes...7 Raouf Mohamed

Subs:...12 Baj Maan (gk)...13 Justin Santos...14 Faris Ibraheem...17 Trevor Carabin
...18 Michael Campoli...20 Mateo Caride...22 Nathan Baker...23 Kelvin Ramirez...25 Adriano Iannello
team officials:...head coach Carm Isacco...assistant coach Fabio Campoli and Jeff Valcius
...goalkeeper coach Domenic Tucci...physiotherapist Casey D'Mello...other Martine Eleuteri

Game officials:...referee Philip Benevides...referee's assistants Najeeb Almasri and Philip MacLeod
...fourth official Arando Pereira...(red socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 7:27pm...North Toronto defends north end on this cloudy and warm evening.
1 min...VA Walkes can't draw Penalty kick on right side off box.
3 min...VA Rose dribbles along left end line but cross is out of bounds.
4 min...VA Mohamed is injured just outside top right of box.
6 min...VA Mohamed rolls ball over right end line as he tries to deke defender.
7 min...Vaughan Andy Baquero GOAL...VA Reshaun Walkes steals ball on right side of NT box and taps centering pass.
A VA player has a 10 yard shot stopped by a sliding defender. Baquero gets to the rebound to the left and shoots
low 8 yarder over fallen goalie Michael Bittner McPherson.
10 min...VA Campoli sends crossfield pass to right to find VA Robinson at 35 yards. He pushes too far forward and defender clears.
11 min...Vaughan Ryan Robinson GOAL...Robinson shoots low 15 yard shot from right to left corner of net.
12 min...VA Mohamed taps pass to VA Campoli who has defender block 18 yard shot on left.
14 min...NT Barone low cross from 30 yards on left has NA Abdi first-touch too far forward and goalie picks up ball.
16 min...VA Campoli high cornerkick from left is cleared out right side.
17 min...VA Boakye 40 yarder is high and wide left of net from right side.
17 min...Vaughan Ryan Robinson GOAL...VA Raheem Rose chips cross from 25 yards on left that Robinson heads 10 yarder
from slight right over sprawling goalie into center of net.
18 min...NA Abdi chips 30 yarder that's caught by goalie.
20 min...Vaughan Reshaun Walkes GOAL...VA Andy Baquero takes freekick from right that's sent over by chip to 20 yards
in middle. Walkes makes midair volley and blasts 20 yarder just under bar in center of net. (I've found my candidate
for 'Goal of the Year').
21 min...Vaughan Ryan Robinson GOAL...Robinson races in from 50 yards on break and goalie makes point blank save
on his 18 yard shot. Robinson recovers ball first, steps around fallen goalie at 12 yards and rolls ball into empty net.
22 min...VA Laurent makes midair clearance of cross from left into box.
25 min...NA sub...Lichti replaces Danciuc.
...........NA sub...Murzaku replaces James.
27 min...NT Di Marco chips ball from 60 yards on right and goalie at 22 yards heads ball away on left preventing NA player
getting to it.
28 min...NT Drummond chips 35 yard cross from right. VA Boakye pops header from left behind end line.
28 min...NT player's cornerkick from left has NT Vukas and VA Laurent crash together at VA 15 yard line clearing ball.
30 min...NT players have three chances in VA box but defenders stop each one.
32 min...NT Murzaku chipss 20 yarder that goalie catches on bounce as NT player can't get to header over his his.
33 min...VA Walkes is injured at VA 35 yard sideline.
...........NT YELLOW card...Rankin earns it for knocking Walkes over.
40 min...VA Baquero low 30 yarder between players has goalie push wide right.
41 min...VA Campoli cornerkick fromk right has VA player deflect wide right.
42 min...VA Walkes is checked off ball at top right of NT box.
42 min...VA Campoli chips 25 yarder down middle over net.
43 min...NT Murzaku intercepts clearance and low 25 yard shot has goalie sprawl to save and defender clears rebound.
45 min...half ends 8:12pm with no time added.

Halftime: VA players stay on bench with some of the starters and the subs warming up. None of the North Toronto players
stayed on the field.

Second Half:...starts 8:27pm.
Halftime subs:...NT Shrimpton replaces Rankin.
....................NT Menendez replaces Perovic.
46 min...NT Shrimpton turns and blasts 22 yard shot down middle that's stopped in box.
46 min...NT YELLOW card...Abdi earns it for kicking at goalie in VA box.
49 min...VA goaie smothers NT through ball at 15 yards.
49 min...VA Campoli dribbles up middle andd 30 yard shot has goalie palm over bar.
50 min...VA Campoli cornerkick from right is cleared from box without a VA shot.
53 min...NT goalie beats VA Rose to ball to smother at top left corner of 18 yard box.
54 min...NT Drummond cuts in from right but 18 yard shot from right is well over net.
55 min...VA Baquero on give and go up right and he rolls ball into box but defender clears away.
55 min...VA Walkes cross from 20 yards on left is caught by goalie.
56 min...VA player's shot is blocked at 12 yards.
57 min...VA sub...Iannello replaces Baquero.
............VA sub...Ibraheem replaces Mohamed.
............VA sub...Dunn replaces Robinson.
58 min...VA Laurent makes key header at VA 15 yard line to break up play.
60 min...NT Di Marco run to right end line and high cross bends behind net.
62 min...VA Campoli is given pass at 30 yards and low 20 yard shot is pushed wide left.
63 min...VA player's cornerkick from left is out to VA Kagramayan who chips 25 yarder from slight let that goalie catches
in crowd of players wide right of net.
64 min...VA Walkes is tapped pass and 25 yarder from slight left is high wide right.
65 min...VA Laurent heads ball away on NT player's cornerkick from right.
66 min...VA Walkess long run up left but is checked off ball on near edge of box.
67 min...NT YELLOW card...Vukas earns it on delayed call for shirt grab as VA players break out.
68 min...VA Kagramayan 30 yard freekick from slight left is well over net.
69 min...NT sub...Ingram replaces Chandler.
...........NT sub...Athwal replaces Di Marco.
...........NT sub...Dunn replaces Abdi.
73 min...VA goalie at 25 yards to try to check NT Ingram who chips 33 yarder up middle missing open net.
74 min...VA sub...Ramirez replaces Boakye.
.............VA sub...Michael Campoli replaces Chris Campoli.
76 min...NT YELLOW card...Manvir Athwal draws it for injurying VA Faris Ibraheem running into left side of NT box.
Referee Philip Benevides also awards Vaughan a Penalty kick.
77 min...Vaughan Reshaun Walkes GOAL...Walkes stutter steps his run up for Penalty kick and blasts shot into top
right corner of net as goalie dives low to right.
79 min...NT Drummond chips 35 yard freekick from slight left over players in box and wide right for goalkick.
80 min...NT goalie beats VA Iannelo to through ball pass at 15 yards on left side of box.
81 min...NT Menendez low cross from 20 yards is cleared.
82 min...Vaughan Reshaun Walkes GOAL...VA Raheem Rose has shot stopped by goalie at 15 yards but Walkes recovers
ball and chips 20 yarder over retreating goalie into open net.
83 min...VA goalie charges for into crowd of players to grab ball.
84 min...Vaughan Reshaun Walkes GOAL...Walkes steals ball off defender at 20 yards on right and takes low 12 yard
shot into short corner of net past sliding goalie.
86 min...NT Drummond freekick from top left of box has defenders clear out right side of box on two headers.
87 min...NT YELLOW card...Shrimpton earns it for simulation on right side of VA box trying to draw a Penalty kick.
89:56 min...game ends 9:12pm.

Final Score:....North Toronto.......0........Vaughan Azzurri........8........

Attendance was about 80 people on this warm night.

Reshaun Walkes scores four goals tonight with Ryan Robinson counting three. Both Walkes and Robinson were starters but Robinson was subbed out as part of a three in—three out swap at 57 minutes or who knows how many he might have gotten.

I wasn't expecting a scoreline like tonight. North Toronto had only allowed 31 league goals in 20 league games coming into this fixture. Vaughan takes over the league lead tonight with 55 goals passing Scrosoppi FC who only scored two tonight (although Scrosoppi has two games in hand).

Vaughan started today two points ahead of Scrosoppi 43 vs 41 but the Scrosoppi road game in Barrie against Simcoe County Rovers started at 6:00pm (90 minutes before ours) and on the L1 Canada app, which uses a live tracker, they took over first place by scoring both their goals in a 2-0 win by the 30 minute mark so they took over as league leaders until this game reached its 7 minute mark. Scrosoppi has two games in hand and three games to play by Labour Day...next Monday although I expect their schedule will be extended. Scrosoppi has home games scheduled against Alliance United this Wednesday and Saturday against ProStars FC. Last Sunday night's away game against Burlington SC was postponed with all the rain in the area. Vaughan has only Blue Devils FC to play on the road in Oakville next Sunday to finish their season.

Vaughan also will play Tuesday night in the one game semi-final of the reinstated L1 Cup. Their opponents are ......North Toronto and the venue will be the same one as tonight! It must be tricky to play with a big lead so soon when you know you're playing the same team within days. Vaughan emptied their bench starting at 57 minutes while North Toronto started with a double swap at 25 minutes to shake things up.

Good disipline except at 33 minutes when NT Sam Rankin smashed into Reshaun Walkes and the second minute of the second half when NT Zakaria Abdi kicked the VA goalie Alessio Carbone. Both plays earned North Toronto Yellow cards, Eventually they racked up five (to none for Vaughan) with the last being to Thomas Murzaku for a fall in the VA box at 87 minutes trying to draw a Penalty kick.

Best North Toronto chance was at 73 minutes when VA goalie Alession Carbone was out to the 25 yard line playing as a sweeper and he cleared up the middle to Teo Ingram at 33 yards. Ingram easily chipped the goalie from there but missed the open net.

Only benefit for Tuesday night is the scoreboard is reset as 0-0 and the winner of that game goes to the L1 Cup Final on Saturday September 7th against the winner of Wednesday night's semi-final between Blue Devils FC hosting Simcoe County Rovers at Burlington's home ground....tough to rent stadiums on short notice.

It was the first time that I'd seen North Toronto's head coach Marko Milanovic since it was announced he'd be the first head coach of the AFC Toronto team in the new Northern Super League (Canada's professional soccer league for women starting play in 2025). The new team has some members of its ownership group closely linked with the North Toronto organization.

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

North Toronto starters