July 2, 2022 League1 Ontario--Sigma FC vs Burlington SC game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Sigma FC vs Burlington SC played at Paramount Fine Foods Centre fields in Mississauga at 1:00pm.

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

....................31 Eduard Amrbus
22 Daniel Stampatori...2 Malcolm Duncan...4 Oluwageun Oyegunle...15 Aaron D'Souza
...........8 Andres Delascio...14 Yousef Helmy...18 Robbie Cleary
...........11 Hilli Goldhar...9 Marcus Caldeira...10 Noah Mehta (cpt)

Subs:...1 Amar Dhindsa (gk)...3 Kamran Tejumola...5 Kyle Walton...7 Kai Garvey
...12 Nino Nikolovski...19 Jason Squeo...24 Domenico Folino
team officials:...team head coach John Zervos...assistant coach David Igreja...therapist Liam MacPherson

Burlington SC (blue socks, shorts, and numbers, yellow shirts)

....................31 Oliver Steinke
2 Matthew Mills...25 William Ratelband...5 Juan Jaramillo...14 Joseph Willingham-Murphey
10 Kevin Espiro...3 Nicolas Noblecilla...11 Braden Culver...12 Youssef Zaghloul
...............9 Yordan Stoyanov...20 Augustus Oku

Subs:...1 Brandon Kerr (gk)...4 Jason Simrak...8 Lucas Raposo...13 Marc Iantomasi
...17 Matthew Demichele...19 Octavian Ciotirca...21 Stefan Milidrag...23 Jack Malleret
33 Jacob Bagoso
team officials:...team head coach and therapist Mark Worton...assistant coaches Alban Lika, Mike Neptune, and Neil Wilson

Game officials:...referee Anthony Dimambro...referee's assistants Marko Grubisic and Ahmend Fahmy
...fourth official John Leuser...(red socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 1:00pm...Sigma defends south end on this hot afternoon with a bright sun in the south
and a strong gusty wind from the north west.
3 min...Sigma Stampatori shot on right end line from 10 yards is blocked. Sigma Caldeira gets the rebound from 12 yards
on the right and sends shot low that goalie smothers on near post.
5 min...Sigma Goldhar rush on right and rolls centering pass and Sigma Caldeira rolls 15 yard shot wide left of post.
7 min...Burl Zaghloul bends 30 yard shot from left that's caught by goalie.
8 min...Sigma YELLOW card...Delascio earns it for pulling down Burl Espiro at center line.
10 min...Sigma Helmy 30 yard freekick has goalie catch a step ahead of Sigma player charging in for header at 6 yards.
11 min...Sigma Delascio is injured at Sigma 45 yard line and needs trainer.
17 min...Burl Jaramillo 35 yard freekick from left is headed away on edge of box. Burl Noblecilla eventual 40 yard chip
from left is caught by goalie.
18 min...Sigma goalie bats Burl Espiro to dive on through ball at 15 yards.
20 min...Burl Oku rush on right and rolls 25 yarder well wide of net.
21 min...A water break is called.
23 min...play resumes.
24 min...Sigma Goldhar cornerkick from right bounces through box unplayed.
24 min...Burl Nobelcilla has 15 yard shot from left blocked.
27 min...Burlington Augustus Oku GOAL...Burl Yordan Stoyanov touches pass in middle just inside Sigma box
and Oku blasts shot from 15 yards up middle into top right side of net over flying goalie Eduard Amrbus.
28 min...Sigma Mehta 30 yard freekick chip from slight right is over to 12 yards on left and player is called offside.
29 min...Sigma Mehta 28 yard freekick on far right has Sigma player swing and miss on midair shot at 12 yards
and defender clears ball for throw-in.
32 min...Burl Espiro has Sigma goalie beat him to back pass at 15 yards and clears but Burl Stoyanov recovers and chips
towards open net from 30 yards but sends it wide left.
33 min...Sigma Cleary rush down left but rolls ball across box too far ahead of Sigma Caldeira.
35 min...Burl Jaramillo 65 yard freekick from left sideline has goalie catch in front of Burl Oku.
36 min...Sigma Goldhar and Sigma Caldeira have a give and go on 2 on 1 rush and Caldeira chips 12 yarder wide left of open net.
41 min...Burl Oku takes tumble out of bounds head over heels rushing for long ball upfield over Sigma end line and needs trainer.
43 min...Sigma Robbie Cleary GOAL...Sigma Hilli Goldhar freekick on right edge endline of box is rolled into center
of box and knocked around by players on both teams. Cleary in center of box shoots 12 yarder between players into
left side of net past goalie Oliver Steinke.
44 min...Burl Espiro rush on right and rolls 20 yarder that goalie smothers.
45 min...Burl Oku shot on run down left is wide left.
46 min...Burl goalie beats Sigma Caldeira to smother at 10 yards as he pushed it past defender.
48 min...Burl Jaramillo freekick from left center line has Burl Espiro outbump defender at 30 yards on right. He gets away shot
that deflects off another defender and over goalie but lands on top of net for cornerkick call.
49 min...half ends 1:49pm.

Halftime: both teams return to their dressing room with the only the Sigma subs at first staying out to warm up.

Second Half:...starts 2:05pm...The wind is really strong now from the north east.
Halftime sub:...Burl Iantomasi replaces Noblecilla.
50 min...Burl players are rolling ball too far head on offensive plays.
52 min...Sigma Caldeira header with his back turned from 12 yards is wide right of the Burl net.
53 min...Burl Iantomasi 12 yard shot from right is just wide left. Burl Oku is just a step behind on left post.
54 min...Sigma Delascio cross from right has goalie catch at 7 yards in front of Sigma Mehta.
55 min...Burl sub...Milidrag replaces Oku.
58 min...Burl Espirto centers pass to Burl Milidrag whose 15 yard shot tips off defender wide right.
59 min...Burl player's cornerkick from right is headed away on edge of box.
59 min...Sigma Goldhar is injured at Sigma 40 yard line.
60 min...Sigma Caldeira can't win Penalty kick as he bashes up middle with defender grabbing his shoulder.
60 min...Sigma Cleary 25 yard shot is caught by goalie.
61 min...Sigma YELLOW card...Helmy earns it on a delayed call.
62 min...Sigma sub...Walton replaces D'Souza.
64 min...Sigma Delascio is rolled centering pass and he rolls shot wide right from 15 yards.
64 min...Burl sub...Ciotirca replaces Willingham-Murphy.
............Burl sub...Simrak replaces Zaghloul.
68 min...Sigma sub...Tejumola replaces Stampatori.
............Sigma sub...Nikolovski replaces Delascio.
............also a water break is called.
68 min...play resumes.
71 min...Sigma Nikolovski pushes pass over Burl end line.
76 min...Sigma sub...Garvey replaces Cleary.
80 min...Sigma Tejumola run on right and sends low cross through box has defender concede cornerkick.
81 min...Sigma Mehta cornerkick from left has goalie palm ball through box and out for cornerkick on right.
82 min...Burl sub...Bagoso replaces Culver who had been limping for the last few minutes.
82 min...Sigma Mehta cornerkick from left has goalie catch in crowd of players.
83 min...Sigma sub...Folino replaces Mehta. Walton becomes captain.
84 min...Sigma players are having trouble with long ball into the wind.
85 min...Burl Jaramillo high 45 yard freekick has goalie run forward in crowd of players and catch.
86 min...Burl defender slides to block centering pass in Burl box.
87 min...Sigma sub...Squeo replaces Caldeira.
88 min...Sigma Garvey rush on left and cuts towards middle and shoots 15 yarder wide left of net.
89 min...Sigma Folino eludes sliding defender but goalie smothers ball at 15 yards from a bad first touch.
90 min...Burl Espiro retreats to break up play in Burl box.
91 min...Sigma Garvey 25 yard freekick from far left is low and Sigma players rolls 20 yarder that defender stops at 12 yards.
92 min...Sigma Walton 30 yard freekick from left is wide right for goalkick as it's too 'hot' to play it.
93 min...Sigma Garvey has cross well over his head sho he can't head it from 10 yards.
94 min...Sigma Garvey low cross from left edge of box is cleared by defender.
94 min...game ends 2:54pm

Final Score:....Sigma FC......1.......Burlington SC........1........

Attendance was about 60 on this hot day with a bright sun in the south and wind from the north west
which grew stronger as the game went on.

There was a third team on the field today (Ok fourth team if you count the officiating crew) and that
was the wind. It certainly effected the strategy. Keep the ball on the ground as every high pass
or clearance into the wind was going to get hung up, and every high kick with the wind at your back
had the ball 'too cooked' and bounce out for a goalkick or bounce to the opposing goalie. Then pass
it into the wind and that would be the moment the wind died and the ball would sail out the other end.

Burlington had the wind at their back in the first half and probably regretted not scoring more but
neither team could score in the second half.

Referee Anthony Dimambro gave out three Yellow cards (two to Sigma and one to Burlington which
I didn't notice). There were about as many knock downs as other games but some were probably attributed
to the wind with players overstraying to get under a ball and not looking at where they were going
or balls sent too far ahead so players were changing direction while watching the ball not where
they were going.

A clash of the blue sock wearing teams. Somehow it was confusing as some officials thought Burlington
would wear yellow socks but it was revealed they don't have them. It's not the worst I've seen.
In another league long ago I saw two teams show up in all red and the home team could have obliged
but some team official had just driven their alternate kits to the cleaners after a midweek game
so the visitors wore numberless pinnies. I could not write a good report that afternoon. I guess
today ankle kicking infractions were free.

The Sigma backline was constantly breaking up plays that got near the edge of the box and goalie
Eduard Amrbus had few stops to make. Daniel Stampatori, Malcolm Duncan, Oluwageun Oyegunle,
and Aaron D'Souza were pretty solid. Kyle Walton was back as a defender coming in at 62 minutes.
He started many games at the beginning of the season but stepped back when the university players
returned to concentrate more at their academy. No mistakes from him! The offence though?
Two goals in four games is the main reason the results aren't coming.

Burlington SC is this year celebrating it's 60th year (a few name changes along the way) but it's
their first in League1 Ontario. There were only two players I recognized on a quick glance
at the roster from other L1O teams in past years. Head coach Mark Worton is also the head coach
at Waterloo University and has brought about five players with him to Burlington. I noticed
Lucas Raposo and knew MLS player Ryan Raposo was from Burlington. Yep! Older brother. See if
Burlington had been in the league sooner, Ryan could have stayed closer to home instead of having
to travel every game to Vaughan to play for the Azzurri. This league is opening up all kinds
of opportunities to discover talent!

As this is Sigma, I noticed in the second half both Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis and former
assistant coach Peter Reynders were here both well away from the Sigma bench. Was Bobby scouting?
I was recording an interview with the Burlington head coach and Smyrniotis left but I expect
to see him Friday night when Forge visits York United and I can ask him how, while watching
on a Saturday afternoon (June 11) Sigma play Vaughan Azzurri, he signed a Sigma player (defender
Malcolm Duncan) to play for Forge (not a real surprise) but he also signed Vaughan forward
Orlendis Carlos Benitez Hernandez and had him come in as a late-minutes sub the next day June 12
when Forge played their Canadian Premier League game against Pacific FC.

As this was the first game of Saturday, these standing may change by the end of the day and change
again after Sunday results.

Sigma's record improves to 4 wins, 5 losses, 4 ties for 16 points to put them in a three way tie
for tenth place (although ranked twelfth because of having one less win than Woodbridge Strikers
and Scrosoppi SC). This is now five games in a row without a win although three have been ties
so teams are passing them in the standings.

Burlington improves its record to 3 wins, 5 ties, 3 ties for 12 points and is tied for sixteenth
place although ranked seventeenth behind Darby FC for having a poorer goals for/against rather
than better because of playing one fewer game. Make that two as Darby is playing another game
that was just starting after I got home. Burlington's debut season started out hot but they hadn't
scored in their last three games and lost each one including a 9-0 home game against Blue Devils FC
so a goal and a point may be a turning point. Their season ends with five of their last six games
being at home.

Top six teams this season make the playoffs. Top twelve averaged over the next two years survive
the division split in the Premier Division with the other ten in the Championship Division.
Currently to be twelfth, you need 16 points. (ie Saturday midafternoon)

I taped an interview with Burlington SC head coach Mark Worton after the game.

(7 minutes, 31 seconds) (audio recorded by Rocket Robin) What did you think of today's game? How about the wind today? What has made Burlington SC (celebrating 60 years) join L1O in their ninth year? What is your own background in coaching? Where did all your players come from? How important is it to your players/fans/directors/recruiting that you finish in the Top 12 when the league splits from it's current 22 team division into a 12/10 by the start of the 2024 season?