October 2, 2016 League 1 Ontario--Toronto FC Academy vs North Mississauga Panthers (by Rocket Robin)

................... .......

Result and details of the Sunday October 2, 2016 Toronto FC Academy vs North Mississauga Panthers League 1 Ontario game played at KIA Training Centre in Downsview at 3:00pm.

Toronto FC Academy (all red, white numbers)

....................1 Brogan Engbers
7 Steven Furlano (cpt)...5 Klaidi Cela...25 Marko Maletic...13 Jacob Maurutto-Robinson
21 Matthew Srbely...8 Nicholas Osorio...15 Cyrus Rollocks...17 Dante Campbell
............11 Richie Ennin...24 Reshon Phillip

Subs:...12 Sunny Dhaliwal (gk)...4 Malik Smith...6 Kota Sakurai...10 Glenn Muenkat
...18 Armando Caracciolo...20 Marko Mandekic
team officials:...team head coach Stuart Neely...assistant coach Phil Boerger...therapist Samra Habtom
...equipment manager Mark Cruz

North Mississauga Panthers (all black, red numbers, white shoulders)

.....................1 Daniel Gosciniak
6 Laith Adi...5 Kevin Dhillon...13 Antoine Paul...23 Gabe Gala
2 Shawn Brown...17 Johnson Amoo...11 David Alva...3 Jordan Montoya
..........7 Jose De Sousa...10 Jose Melo

Subs:...12 Tristan Gayle (gk)...22 Nordo Gooden...8 Jason Gonscalves...9 Bradley Fenton
team officials:...team head coach Rick Titus...assistant coach Chris Hogg

Game officials:...referee Vladimir Makarov...referee's assistants Kevin C. Reid and Brad Doubough
...fourth official Joe D'Onofrio...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 3:01pm...TFCA defends north end on this mostly cloudy and damp afternoon.
1 min...NMP Amoo runs down middle but retreating defender prevents short on edge of box.
2 min...TFCA Osorio cornerkick from left is low and nearest defender clears.
4 min...NMP goalie comes forward to smother deflected block before TFCA Srbely can get to ball at 15 yards.
7 min...TFC Cela makes big block of NMP player's shot in box.
8 min...NMP Montoya gets away shot from 12 yards on left but sliding defender saves.
10 min...NMP Melo on long run pushes ball behind end line before crossing from the right.
11 min...NMP De Sousa hurt in TFCA box. NMP player's cross from right has NMP player on left head ball down across box but no one is there to make play. De Sousa needs trainer.
13 min...TFC Srbely low 30 yard shot through players has goalie dive and push ball wide left of post.
15 min...TFCA Rollocks is surrounded in NMP box and can't get away shot.
16 min...NMP Alva 22 yard freekick from far left has defender head away.
17 min...NMP Melo feeds through ball pass from 40 yards and NMP De Sousa shoots 22 yarder well over net.
18 min...TFCA Ennin rush up middle and pass over to left and TFC Rollocks shoots 20 yarder that goalie sprawls to save. An NMP defender clears in front of sliding TFC Osorio looking for 12 yard tap-in.
20 min...NMP Brown long run on right and cuts ball back for NMP De Sousa who has 12 yard shot blocked by defender.
22 min...TFC Ennin blasts partial clearance from 25 yards well wide right of net.
23 min...TFC Ennin flicks high ball to himself at 10 yards in NMP box but loses balance and gets away weak shot that bounces to goalie on right post.
24 min...TFCA Phillip is offside on shot from left on through ball pass.
25 min...NMP Montoya gets pass at 7 yards on left and low shot is into left webbing of net.
26 min...TFC Srbely 40 yard high cross from right has goalie catch and survive crash with TFC Ennin at 10 yards.
28 min...TFC Phllip has 7 yard shot blocked by defender recovering deflected ball.
29 min...TFC Osorio cornerkick from left has TFCA Phillip leap and flicks header wide right from 6 yards.
31 min...NMP YELLOW card...Gala earns it for sliding tackle on TFC Osorio at NMP 30 yard sideline.
32 min...TFC Srbely 35 yard freekick from right is knocked down in box. TFC Rollocks turns around for clear short at 10 yards wide that's sent left of post.
34 min...TFC Osorio cornerkick from right is cleared from box.
36 min...NMP De Sousa pushes pass forward from center line and NMP Melo one-touches low shot up middle from 30 yards that sprawling goalie stops at 15 yards.
38 min...NMP Montoya rush on left centers ball and NMP De Sousa shoots low 12 yard shot in crowd through players and goalie dives to stop on right post.
39 min...NMP goalie flies to right post to catch NMP defenders shanked clearance of TFCA shot from 20 yards.
40 min...TFC Phillip gets centered pass and has 10 yard shot tipped wide right by defender.
41 min...TFC Osorio cornerkick from right flagged down as it bends over end line before dropping into play.
44 min...TFC Srbely 30 yard freekick from left has TFC Ennin duck and flick header but ball is cleared. TFC Kladi blasts 25 yard partial clearance well over net.
47 min...TFC Furlano rolls ball back from 15 yards on right end line. TFC Ennin dribbles towards middle and has 8 yard saved at 2 yards on right post by goalie and sliding defender. TFCA Osorio gets loose ball from 7 yards and shoots wide right of post.
47 min...half ends 3:48pm.

2nd Half:...starts 4:04pm.
halftime subs:...TFCA Sakurai replaces Campbell.
.................TFCA Smith replaces Maletic.
.................NMP Gonscalves replaces Gala.
49 min...NMP Brown long run up right and pushes ball over end line in battle with two defenders.
50 min...TFC Sakurai chips 40 yarder from left has NMP goalie and TFC Osorio crash together and neither gets ball and ball bounce over right end line.
52 min...TFC Cela 35 yard freekick up middle is well over net.
54 min...NMP Melo 30 yard freekick from slight left hits head in player wall and pops up and hits top of bar. TFCA Cela heads away rebound.
57 min...NMP Montoya run on left and 25 yard low shot has goalie sprawl and save on left post.
59 min...NMP De Sousa hooks ball past defender but pushes ball too far forward at 25 yards and ball cleared.
60 min...NMP Melo rolls pass up right wing to NMP De Sousa who rushes forward and 25 yard low shot is saved.
61 min...NMP Melo 25 yard shot from left is over net.
61 min...TFCA sub...Muenkat replaces Srbely.
.........TFCA sub...Mandekic replaces Osorio.
.........TFCA sub...Caracciolo replaces Rollocks.
.........NMP sub...Fenton replaces De Sousa.
62 min...TFCA Reshon Phillip GOAL...Phillip receives pass from TFCA Steven Furlano from right and chips 20 yard shot over goalie Daniel Gosciniak and into left corner of net.
64 min...NMP Melo cornerkick from right has NMP player from 8 yards and NMP Brown low 1 yard shot wide of post on right kicks hig ball wide left.
65 min...NMP sub...Gooden replaces Montoya.
66 min...TFCA goalie is out to 15 yards to grab ball before NMP Brown can get to it.
67 min...TFCA Furlano cornerkick from right is short with TFCA Mandekic and wasted without getting into box.
69 min...TFCA Muenkat 20 yard shot from far right is over net.
71 min...NMP Melo 35 yard freekick down middle has multi player crash in box and ball is cleared. TFC Furlano is injured and needs trainer.
74 min...TFCA Muenkat rolls pass from far right to TFCA Phillip closer to middle and he taps to TFCA Caracciolo for 10 yard shot that diving goalie saves.
75 min...NMP Fenton has short blocked as he slides to connect.
76 min...TFCA Sakurai can't win Penalty kick on run up middle when bumped over in box.
77 min...TFCA Phillip flicks a backheeler over a defender to himself and takes a 10 yard chip of the goalie that has NMP Dhillon clear at 1 yard.
78 min...NMP YELLOW card...Melo earns it for argueing the freekick call that NMP had just been awarded!
79 min...NMP Melo 35 yard freekick has TFC Furlano leap to head ball away in crowd of players at 8 yards.
81 min...TFCA Armando Caracciolo GOAL...TFCA Reshon Phillip is given ball but partially overruns it at 22 yards and taps ball over to left for open and charging Caracciolo who shoots 15 yarder banking it in off right post.
84 min...TFC Phillip runs to left end line and crosses over box.
87 min...TFCA Muenkat takes 28 yard freekick from left and TFCA Ennin is pulled down in the box. Referee Valdimir Makarov awards TFCA a Penalty kick.
88 min...TFCA Reshon Phillip blasts Penalty kick well high and wide left of net.
89 min...TFCA Muenkat run on right and rolls 20 yard shot just wide left of post.
90 min...TFCA YELLOW card...Maurutto-Robinson earns it for bump on NMP Melo on edge of TFCA box.
91 min...NMP Alva 20 yard freekick from right has charging NMP Gooden just miss connecting on 6 yard header.
92 min...TFCA Mandekic blasts low 15 yarder on run on left wide right of net.
93 min...TFCA Phillip blasts 25 yarder that spins off defender wide right for cornerkick.
94 min...TFCA Phillip rolls 15 yard shot along end line that goalie smothers.
95 min...TFCA Ennin rolls 15 yard cross from left that defender clears.
95 min...game ends 4:54pm.

Final Score:.......Toronto FC Academy........2........North Mississauga Panthers.......0 .........

Attendance was about 40 on this mostly cloudy and damp afternoon. It did not rain at all while the game was on (we got blasted at the Woodbridge vs Aurora game that evening).

Referee Vladimir Makarov had a rough day. He gave out three Yellow cards (two to NMP) but he was subject of constant criticism by both teams coaches in particular for a few late calls. It's not good when TFCA Stuart Neely and NMP Rick Titus are both arguing and then agree with each other out loud that the referee is not doing a good job. It is a tough job as players are constantly yelling out "hand ball" for any time the ball is above the knees and "offside" for any pass longer than 20 yards. Titus actually stopped his players from complaining so as to avoid any Yellow cards for dissent.

Brogan Engbers earned the shutout for TFCA with a few key saves.

Best non-scoring chances of the game were at 18 minutes when TFCA Richie Ennin rushed up the middle and passed over to his left and TFCA Cyrus Rollocks shot a 20 yarder that the goalie sprawled to save. A defender cleared in front of the sliding TFCA Nicholas Osorio looking for a 12 yard tap-in. 32 minutes had TFCA Matthew Srbely took a 35 yard freekick from the right that was knocked down in the box and Rollocks turned around for a clear shot at 10 yards but fired wide left of the post. 39 minutes had the NMP goalie fly to the right post to catch a defender's shanked clearance of a TFCA player's shot from 20 yards. Injury time had TFCA Steven Furlano roll a ball back after a run to the right end line 15 yards from post and Ennin dribbled in from the right to the center and had his 8 yard shot past a sliding defender and saved at 2 yards by the goalie on the right post. TFCA Osorio shot the rebound from 7 yards just wide right of the post. 54 minutes had NMP Jose Melo take a 30 yard freekick from slightly to the left hit a head in the player wall and pop up and hit the top of the bar. TFCA Klaidi Cela headed away the rebound. 74 minutes had TFCA Glenn Muenkat roll a pass from the far right near the end line into the box for Reshon Phillip who tapped a pass closer to the middle for TFCA Armando Caracciolo to take a 10 yard shot the diving goalie stopped. Three minutes later Phillip flicked a backheeler over a defender to himself and took a 10 yard chip of the goalie that had NMP Kevin Dhillon clear at 1 yard.

TFCA had one of their strongest lineups of the season. Since their USL team Toronto FC II did not make the playoffs again this year, there was no need to fill the TFC II bench with maybe five players from their Academy team to sit around hoping for a few minutes of game time in this week's conference quarterfinals, they could be starters today.

NMP were short on the bench with what turned out to be only four subs. That was the same number for the game I attended later that night for both teams. Team officials made a mistake in not listing a possible player who it turned out had worked all morning in Ajax (about 40 km away) and supposedly drove here but arrived 20 minutes after the game started and wasn't allowed to play (I didn't hear his name). One of their officials said they'd allowed other teams to write in players three times this season (I don't know if that's true). I'd say it was an oversight as they'd written in Andres Duenas as a starter, found out that he wasn't going to be here, and moved up sub Johnson Amoo as a starter. They started eight 'old' guys (meaning not U-23s) which is allowable short term for this league.

I hadn't checked my e-mail today so I didn't realize that TFCA had five of today's starters and one from the bench named to Canada's U-18 Men's team that will travel to El Salvador for two exhibition games. Goalie Brogan Engbers and Klaidi Cela, Jacob Maurutto-Robinson, Dante Campbell, and Marko Maletic along with substitute Glenn Muenkat were in today's game. Fullback Riley Ferrazzo wasn't in the lineup and forward Shaan Hundal who played the season with their USL team Toronto FC II are also on the national team.

Both teams finished their seasons today.

TFCA finishes with a record of 12 wins, 8 losses, 2 ties for 38 points. That means a tie for third place in the eight team Western Conference. They scored 70 goals which is tied for the league lead with Eastern champs Vaughan Azzurri (who won 6-0 today in a game that finished one hour earlier so that missed PK by Phillip means the two teams tie in team scoring).

NMP finish the season at 11 wins, 6 losses, 5 ties for 38 points and a tie for third place with TFCA! Both teams finished 6 points behind FC London and Sigma FC who would play each other later in the afternoon. Both those teams tied with 44 points but FCL won the conference with a 5-0 victory.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Toronto FC Academy starters