September 5, 2024...Men's L1 Cup: Six cup-wiinning players six years ago (from League1 Ontario website)

5 September 2024
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Men’s L1 Cup: Six cup-winning players from six years ago

Several players who featured for 2018 Men’s L1 Cup champions Vaughan Azzurri in that title-winning season have since played in the professional game.

Vaughan Azzurri are the reigning champions of the Men’s L1 Cup having been the last club to win the competition in 2018.

The Azzurri take on Simcoe County Rovers this Saturday to decide the latest champions after the cup returned for the 2024 season. While Vaughan are serial winners at the Pro-Am level, Simcoe will be looking to add to their 2024 Men’s Premier Division title with their second trophy in just three seasons since they were founded.

Given that it’s been six years since the Men’s L1 Cup was last won, we’ve looked at six players who featured for Vaughan during their cup-winning campaign to see where they’ve gone since.

Alistair Johnston
Johnston’s rise to stardom was a quick one, as less than three years on from playing for Vaughan in their cup-winning campaign, he made his Canada Men’s National Team debut. He has since starred for Nashville and CF Montréal in MLS, won the domestic treble with Celtic in Scotland, and played for Canada in the FIFA World Cup.

Ryan Raposo
Raposo came on as a substitute in the last Men’s L1 Cup Final, and in 2020 he signed for Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS SuperDraft. He has since gone on to make more than 100 appearances for the British Columbia club and is also a two-time Canadian Championship winner.

Dayonn Harris
Like Johnston and Raposo, Harris was also picked in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft and packed his bags for Real Salt Lake. He played for Real Monarchs in the USL Championship before making the switch to Tampa Bay Rowdies where he played more than 70 matches, and he is now on the books at New Mexico United.

Matthew Arnone
A starting defender in the final, Arnone went on to play for three different teams in the Canadian Premier League. He was named Player of the Year at HFX Wanderers in 2019, and has featured 40 times in total across the country’s top flight, including spells in York and Ottawa.

Justin Springer
Alongside Arnone in defence during the final was Springer, who went on to run out for York United (then York9) in 2019. He later returned to League1 Ontario as a coach, and was part of the coaching staff that helped Guelph United win the Men’s Premier Division in 2021. He continues to guide the club in 2024.

Tomasz Skublak
Skublak signed for HFX Wanderers ahead of the 2019 CPL season and played 21 times in the country’s top flight. He has since made even more of a name for himself in League1 Ontario, scoring 23 goals in 15 games last season and leading Scrosoppi to the 2024 Men’s Premier Division title.

In addition…
Vaughan’s 2018 L1 Cup campaign also featured the likes of Jace Kotsopoulos, Jason Mills, and Daniel Gogarty, who all went on to become Men’s Premier Division winners. Winning coach, Patrice Gheisar, now in charge of HFX Wanderers in the Canadian Premier League.

Where will the players from this year’s eventual champions end up? Make sure to head to Zanchin Automotive Soccer Centre this Friday to see some of them in action.

Published On: 5 September 2024
League1 Ontario staff

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