May 15, 2016 League 1 Ontario--TFC Academy vs Windsor Stars (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the League 1 Ontario game between TFC Academy and Windsor Stars played Sunday May 15, 2016 at The KIA Training Centre in Downsview at 3:00pm.

Toronto FC Academy (all black, silver numbers, red socks and trim)

................1 Brogan Engbers
14 Rocco Romeo...8 Dante Campbell (cpt)...21 Marko Maletic...2 Riley Ferrazzo
10 Joshua Moreira...19 Afram Gorgees...6 Kota Sakurai...15 Marko Mandekic
............7 Ethan Bekford...18 Armando Caracciolo

Subs:...12 Gianluca Catalano (gk)...4 Malik Smith...5 Klaidi Cela...11 Olakuni Dada-Luke
...13 Noble Okello Ayo...17 Zakaria Abdi...20 Steffen Yeates
team officials:...team head coach Stuart Neely...manager Mairin Scannell...assistant coach Danny Dichio
...goalkeeping coach Luciano Lombardi...medical Samra Habtom...equipment manager Marc Cruz

Windsor Stars (black socks, white shorts and numbers, light blue shirts)

................1 Kyle Vizirakis (cpt)
.......4 Noah Pio...2 Jamar Kelly...5 Marco Bernabo
16 Stefan Milidrag...8 Ciprian Codea...6 Stefan Zastavnikovic...17 Bradley Dos Santos
.......7 xxxxxxxxxxx**...3 Dredon Kelly...9 Luke Husbands

Subs:...0 Michele Catani (gk)...12 Kyle Ruggaber...21 Martin Nyul...18 tyler MacFarlane...24 Brendan Teeling
team officials:...team head coaches Davie Rimbort and Steve Hart...assistant coach Demetri Vacratsis

**When I was given a copy of the game sheets I immediately shoved them in my track bag so they wouldn't blow away. I found out later that about half the Stars players weren't wearing the numbers as listed. Reviewing the League 1 website, they did not have every player listed. The game sheets listed #11 as Jumbo Iyowuna as a starter but I didn't expect that he played. #7 was actually listed in the game program but not on the game sheets. That player is Erik Cirovski.

Game officials:...referee Fabrizio Stasolla...assistant referees Scott Bowman and Jay Thomas
...fourth official Zac Taylor...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st half:...game starts 3:03pm...TFCA defends south end on this very cold day with strong gusts of wind from the west.
2 min...TFCA goalie beats WS Dredon Kelly to long bouncing pass into box.
5 min...WS Codea cross from 15 yards on left and cross into wind drops down for WS player to head ball back to right but ball is cleared.
8 min...WS Pio 65 yard chip bounces to goalie.
9 min...TFCA Beckford cross from 12 yards near right end line has TFCA Caracciolo whiff on shot inside box.
10 min...TFCA Mandekic blasts 12 yarder from left that goalie flies right to clear ball for cornerkick.
10 min...TFCA player's cornerkick from right barely reaches box into the wind and defender clears.
13 min...TFCA Mandekic shoots partial clearance from 10 yards that goalie catches.
14 min...TFCA Kota Sakurai GOAL...TFCA Joshua Moreira from 15 yards on right rolls pass across box along 8 yard line and Sakurai even with left post shoots low shot to left side of goal.
15 min...TFCA goalie dives on ball. WS Cirovski had pushed ball too far forward.
17 min...TFCA Mandekic 25 yard freekick from right is bounced wide left.
19 min...TFCA Armando Caracciolo takes shot from 17 yards that hits arm of defender just inside box at 13 yards and referee Fabrizio Stasolla awards TFCA a Penalty kick.
20 min...TFCA Dante Campbell rolls Penalty kick to left corner and goalie Kyle Vizirakis dives and pushes ball wide left of post.
21 min...TFCA Maletic is injured on tackle at TFCA 25 yard line.
It starts snowing again!
23 min...WS Zastavnikovic turns header wide left from 8 yards on cross from right.
25 min...WS YELLOW card...someone earns it for tackle on TFCA Campbell injurying him at WS 35 yard line.
26 min...TFCA Moreira wins cornerkick on left on deflection.
27 min...TFCA Moreira cornerkick on left is cleared by defender.
29 min...WS Cirovski chases bouncer to roll 15 yarder from right that goalie smothers at 5 yards.
31 min...WS Dos Santos is injured at WS 30 yard sideline.
32 min...WS Cirovski rush down right and runs along 20 yard line but is checked off ball before he can get away shot.
36 min...TFCA YELLOW card...Romeo earns it for holding back WS Dredon Kelly at center line.
36 min...Stars Stefan Milidrag GOAL...Stars Luke Husbands hits bar on 30 yard freekick from left over arms of goalie Brogan Engbers and ball deflects downward for for Milidrag to pound in ball down middle from 8 yards to left side of net.
38 min...TFCA Sakurai rolls 22 yard freekick from right across center and TFCA Mandekic shoots 18 yarder wide left.
40 min...TFCA goalie beats WS Milidrag to through ball at 18 yards to boot ball away.
43 min...WS Zastavnikovic 25 yard freekick from left has defender in wall of players head away.
44 min...WS Husbands 12 yard shot up middle has goalie leap to make catch in center of box.
46 min...TFCA Ferrazzo rolls cross near left endline and goalie picks ball up to end pressure.
47 min...half ends 3:50pm.

2nd Half:...starts 4:09pm.
halftime subs:...WS sub...Nyul replaces Dredon Kelly.
.................TFCA sub...Catalano replaces Engbers in goal.
46 min...TFCA Marko Mandekic GOAL...TFCA Afram Gorgees short throw-in from right side has TFCA Joshua Moreira cross from 15 yards near right end line and Mandekic running forward towards right post skips up to flick shot from 2 yards into left corner of net.
48 min...TFCA Beckford slides forward and tips low cross from left over net from 5 yards.
49 min...TFCA YELLOW card...Maletic earns it at TFCA 45 yard line for holding.
50 min...TFCA Beckford short run and 20 yard blast from left is well over net.
52 min...WS YELLOW card...Pio earns it for tripping.
53 min...WS Cirovski blasts 20 yarder from left on run and goalie sprawls to save and ball deflects away out of box with WS player just missing connecting.
54 min...TFCA Moreira blasts 22 yarder from extreme right into webbing of net.
55 min...WS sub...Teeling replaces Zastavnikovic.
57 min...TFCA goalie clears off WS Cirovski and goalie leaps to catch at 7 yards.
60 min...TFCA Mandekic 40 yard freekick up middle and bounces to goalie to catch.
61 min...WS Milidrag is injured.
.........WS sub...Ruggaber replaces injured Milidrag.
62 min...TFCA Madekic 25 yard shot from left has goalie leap to catch.
65 min...TFCA sub...Dada-Luke replaces Moreira.
70 min...TFCA sub...Yeates replaces Sakurai.
71 min...WS Zastavnikovic tips ball on cross forward from 18 yards that goalie catches.
72 min...TFCA YELLOW card...Beckford earns it for tripping near WS 50 yard line.
75 min...TFCA RED card...Ethan Beckford draws his second Yellow card within 3 minutes this time for argueing with the referee for not making a call when he was tripped up away from the ball at the Stars 25 yard line.
77 min...WS Dos Santos cornerkick from left has WS Cirovski flick ball over players in box from left.
78 min...WS Codea cornerkick from right on third attempt has goalie catch but play is whistled down in box.
80 min...WS Codea 35 yard freekick down middle has goalie catch on bounce before WS Nyul can play at 15 yards.
81 min...TFCA sub...Cela replaces Caracciolo.
84 min...WS Dos Santos chip from 30 yards on left has ball tip off WS Cirovski and goalie grabs at 6 yards.
87 min...WS sub...MacFarlane replaces Dos Santos.
87 min...WS Cirovski cornerkick from right has TFCA Cela leap to head ball away.
88 min...TFCA YELLOW card...goalie Catalano for time wasting taking freekick.
89 min...WS YELLOW card...Ruggaber earns it for tackle.
90 min...TFCA players take time wasting cornerkick then throw-in near end line.
93 min...WS Bernabo 30 yard chip from left has WS Cirovski not able to control at 7 yards and deflects over end line.
95 min...TFCA goalie catches sky ball on cross from left and shanked pop up kick.
95 min...WS Codea cornerkick from right has goalie catch and survive bump from WS goalie.
95 min...game ends 4:59pm.

Final Score:...TFC Academy........2.....Windsor Stars......1......

Attendance was about 20 on this surprisingly cold (for mid-May) and windy day. I experienced bright sun, almost darkness, rain, snow, and hail within minutes on my drive over here. The facilities are at the Downsview Airport where there's usually a wind anyway but today it was just brutal. Goal kicks would bend eastward and out of bounds for both teams. There was no tent canvas installed today because of fears that it would blow away. Even the table used to store the player board for the fourth official was anchored down with weights. There was no sound system set up today so no national anthems and the players did not line up before the game so I don't have my usual pre game pictures. The only place worse was in the stands where the spectators had to watch facing the gusty wind and staring into the bright sun between storms.

I put my copy of the game sheets in my bag as soon as I got them so I wouldn't risk having them blow across the field and found out later that the Stars roster didn't completely match the numbers they were wearing.

Referee Fabrizio Stasolla gave out quite a few Yellow cards in a game that got rough in places. There were a lot of offside calls and balls being put out of bounds because of the winds.

There was some confusion on the Windsor goal. It was explained to me later that the ball had already gone into the net from Stefan Milidrag's shot but came out so fast that it was pounded in again from 3 yards by another player in celebration but the referee's assistant raised his flag to signal the goal and run up to the center line as is the custom but he suddenly dropped his flag as he turned. The TFCA bench figured it was a flag for offside because this second player was all alone. It was Jay Thomas who had injured twisted his leg in pain. He continued until the half ended and was away for the first nine minutes of the second with fourth official Zac Taylor taking his place on the line but returned as the fourth with a bad limp the rest of the game.

At halftime both teams had their subs return with their starters to the locker room rather than practice on the field in the cold. TFCA switched goalie at halftime bring in Gianluca Catalano for Brogen Engbers as Engbers had hurt his wrist. 70 minutes had goal scorer Kota Sakurai came off after reopening a cut on his knee from earlier in the game.

Best non-scoring chances of the game were at 10 minutes when TFCA Marko Mandekic blasted a 12 yarder from the left that the goalie flew to his right to clear. 44 minutes had Stars Luke Husbands take a 12 yard shot up the middle that had goalie Engbers leap backwards to make a catch in the center just under the bar. 95 minutes had Stars Ciprian Codea take a cornerkick from the right that goalie Catalano caught then hang on to when bumped by the Stars goalie who was up crowding the box on this last play of the game.

TFCA head coach Stuart Neely answered me that 15 year old Shaan Hundal who I'd seen play for their USL team and would be a natural for TFCA (they use their under 17 team for League 1 Ontario) had traveled with the USL squad this weekend to Charleston. He said 'some' of today's players may be in the TFC PDL league team on Tuesday afternoon playing the 2015 PDL champions K-W United. I asked him if the team would have practiced in weather like today's game if it had just been a practice day and he said 'yes'...maybe that's why they played so well in the conditions today. Danny Dichio was here today as an assistant coach. He was honoured at the MLS team's game last night against Vancouver which had cold and windy conditions down by the lake but today's game was worse weather wise.

In last week's game here, so I heard, there was a lightning delay—5 minutes of storm then the customary 45 minute wait once the last bolt was seen until the game would be restarted.

TFCA evens their record to one win, one loss this season. Last season they started off slow but finished with a nine game winning streak as other teams lost players to university teams after August. A better early season may see them threaten for the title. Stars record drops to one win, one loss, one tie. Both teams are in the Western Conference.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Toronto FC Academy starters