May 20, 2023...League1 Ontario Unionville Milliken SC vs North Mississauga SC game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday May 20, 2023 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between Unionville Milliken SC
and North Mississauga SC played at the Ontario Soccer Centre at 9:00pm.

Unionville Milliken SC (all red uniforms, white numbers)

........................1 Matthew Mattila
17 Michelangelo Khan...4 Hans-Conny Chery (cpt)...3 Oscar Teixeira...19 Abdel Youssef
9 Temesgan Alemseged...8 Andy Lau Moon Lin...7 Kaden Bennett...5 Ethan Hunter
...............13 Alexander West...10 Alexandre De Cunha

Subs:...0 Nikolas Da Rosa (gk)...14 Aidan Gideon...18 Muad Mohamoud...20 Tenzin Worsal...21 Andrew Popov
team officials:...team head coach Filipe Bento...assistant coach Paul Omoghan...manager Natasha Whyte
equipment manager Moses Kgasa...therapist Stefan Di Conza

North Mississauga SC (all black uniforms, white numbers) .........................1 Omeed Naeemy
25 Chidiebere Nnolim...4 Saahb Kular...3 Luca Ragagnin...2 Deshawn Palmer-Agyemang
17 Karamvir Mehmi...8 Gregory Desousa...6 Marcel Tesolin...7 Darren Gertiesingh
..................10 Wesley Cain...11 Lee-Victor Massunda (cpt)

Subs:...0 Michael Williams (gk)...5 Tristan Gayle...9 Kyse Majel...12 Marcus Brooks
...14 Matthew Perovic...15 Justin Loginov...21 Cameryon Stewart...22 Mark Allen...26 Noah Antenucci
team officials:...Amir Riazi...assistant coach Adrian Field, Peyvand Mossavat, Siamac Kavianpour,
and Volen Parashkevov...therapist Shervin Teymoori

Game officials:...referee Nick Vagenas...referee's assistants Najelb Almasri and Daniel Boduryan
...fourth official Ryan Schwenger...(teal socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 9:02pm...UM defends south end.
2 min...NMiss Gertiesingh 30 yard freekick from left bounces to goalie on near post.
3 min...NMiss Cain rolls 20 yard shot wide left of net.
4 min...NMiss Gertiesingh rolls 20 yarder from left to goalie.
5 min...UM goalie is out to left edge of box to smother through ball.
8 min...NMiss Mehmi 18 yard shot is tipped off defender for cornerkick.
8 min...NMiss Gertiesingh cornerkick from right has NMiss Nnolim pops up header and UM player gives up cornerkick.
NMiss Desouza is injured and needs trainer.
10 min...NMiss Gertiesingh cornerkick from right has NMiss player pop up header well over net.
15 min...NMiss Gertiesingh chips cross from 25 yards on left has goalie catch on bounce ahead of NMiss Cain.
17 min...MMiss Cain rolls 15 yarder up middle is smothered by goalie after receiving centering pass from right.
19 min...NMiss Palmer-Agyemang cross from left end line over players in box.
20 min...UM De Cunha 25 yard shot from slight left is caught by diving goalie on right.
22 min...UM Lu Moon Lin low 30 yard shot from left after multi pass around play is well wide right of net.
25 min...UM Kaden Bennett GOAL...UM Alexandre De Cunha on left sends short centering pass to Bennett
who shoots low 15 yard shot over sprawling goalie Omeed Naeemy.
25 min...NMiss midair volley of 5 yarder is over bar.
28 min...NMiss Gertiesingh cornerkick from right has NMiss Ragagnin head 8 yarder in crowd wide left of post.
30 min...NMiss YELLOW card...the fourth official calls over the referee to give a card to head coach Amir Riazi.
31 min...NMiss Cain rolls ball wide left trying to get to through ball pass.
33 min...NMiss Gertiesingh cross into box has NMiss Massunda spin around to control ball and shoot 10 yarder wide left of net.
34 min...UM Bennett long run down middle and can't draw Penalty kick when he pushed ball too far forward and went down
to defender's touch.
35 min...UM De Ccunha 35 yard shot down mniddle is just over bar.
37 min...NM Chidiebere Nnolim GOAL...NM Darren Gertiesingh sends in cornerkick from left that has charging Nnolim
leap and twist 8 yard header up middle into right corner of net with goalie Matthew Mattila frozen in the center of goal
in a crowd of players.
40 min...NM Karamver Mehmi GOAL...NM Gregory Desouza shot up middle has diving goalie save. Mehmi recovers
rebound at 4 yards and his point blank shot is saved then he turns to recover ball and lifts in 4 yard rebound
over fallen goalie.
43 min...NMiss Mehmi on long run up middle stops and blasts 20 yarder over net.
45 min...NMiss Gertiesingh cross from left to NMiss Mehmi on right of net and goalie catches his 8 yard header.
47 min...half ends 9:49pm.

Second Half:...starts 10:08pm.
46 min...A poor UM clearance is almost a disaster but the UMiss shot is blocked by a defender.
46 min...NMiss Mehmi low cross from 25 yards on right has goalie pick up on bounce.
47 min...NMiss Massunda 20 yard shot is deflected low off defender that goalie smothers one step ahead of NMiss Cain at 5 yards.
51 min...NMiss player cross is sent across the 6 yard box and but not for a clear shot.
53 min...NMiss Tesolin blasts shot from 20 yards down middle over net.
53 min...UM sub...Worsal replaces West.
54 min...NMiss Massunda bends in cross from 25 yards on far right that's caught by goalie.
55 min...NMiss sub...Loginov replaces Desouza.
55 min...NMiss Mehmi blasts low 20 yarder that goalie dives to smother.
56 min...NMiss Cain shoots 20 yarder up middle just ovver bar.
57 min...NMiss Nnolim chips forward down right for NM Mehmi who chips into box and retreating defender concedes cornerkick.
58 min...NMiss Gertiesingh cornerkick from right is headed down and cleared by UM players.
59 min...NMiss YELLOW card...Tesolin earns it for sliding trip of UM Chery at UM 30 yard line breaking out of own end.
61 min...NMiss Mehmi centers pass from right and NM Cain chips 15 yarder that lands on top of net.
62 min...NMiss Tesolin shakes off defender to chip 25 yard shot up middle that goalie catches.
64 min...NMiss Cain rush down right and cuts to middle then blasts 18 yarder over net.
65 min...NMiss Mehmi recovers UM deflection and has shot blocked at 12 yards.
68 min...UM Youssef high cross from left has goalie drift wide to right post to catch.
69 min...NMiss Mehmi long run up right and cross in from near end line is saved.
71 min...UM sub...Gideon replaces Youssef.
...........UMiss sub...Majel replaces Gertiesingh.
72 min...NMiss Mehmi rolls centering pass from right and NMiss Cain flubs 12 yard shot from slight right rolling it to goalie.
74 min...NMiss Massunda blasts 20 yarder near right end line and deflects off defender and rolls to goalie on near post.
77 min...UM Hunter 30 yard freekick from slight right is low and hits outside webbing of net.
79 min...NMiss sub...Allen replaces Mehmi.
80 min...UM Hunter on ground gets forward pass to UM Alemseged who rolls 15 yarder along 2 yard line unplayed and out
right side of box.
83 min...UM Alemseged high cross from left is caught by goalie in crowd of players.
83 min...NMiss Allen blast from 12 yards near right end line is saved by goalie.
86 min...UM De Cunha is centered pass from right and blast is over net and back fence for cornerkick.
86 min...UM player's cornerkick from right is cleared out left side of box.
88 min...UM Alemseged blasts 18 yarder up middle that goalie palms over bar.
88 min...UM player's cornerkick from right si cleared by nearest defender on right side of box.
89 min...UM Bennett cuts into middle and low 18 yard shot is between players is smothered by goalie.
90 min...NMiss Palmer-Agyemang blasts 45 yard freekick from left that's wide left of net.
91 min...UM De Cunha wins cornerkick on shot from left side of box.
91 min...UM player's cornerkick from right is caught by leaping goalie.
92 min...NMiss goalie stops low shot from right on near post.
92 min...game ends 10:55pm.

Final Score:....Unionville Milliken SC......1.......North Mississauga SC.......2.......

Attendance was about 70 on this surprisingly cold night. There was a strong crossfield wind from the West so that made no advantage to either team in this field's North-South alignment. The 9:00pm start ensured that no children were here. This stadium is about 20 kms from the UM home base (City of Markham) but city officials ruled that they would not open the highschool's washrooms and change room facilities one week before the season began. Such a late move meant that Unionville got a poor time at the OSC which had rented out their prime time outdoor field to community teams months earlier.

Referee Nick Vagenis gave out only two Yellow cards tonight (both to North Mississauga) including one to head coach Amir Riazi at 30 minutes. The rest of the half Riazi spent nagging the fourth official by kept asking “Why did I get the card” and “What did I say” with the reply “Ask your assistant the reason”. There wasn't a lot of standing around to be hit and the other card was for a sliding tackle, about the only time I saw a challenge like this.

This game was wide open with rushes up and down the field but the finishes by both teams was lacking. North Mississauga was dominating but couldn't put in an insurance goal and Unionville had almost complete control after 80 minutes with chance after chance to get a tie. The closeness of the game kept NM from making more than three substitutions to take advantage of UM's rather short bench tonight.

The scoreboard was working better than last week when Scrosoppi was here hosting. The clock was restarted at halftime at 0:00 so there was no funny times like 70:78 or 84:89 showing caused by the first and third digit being in sync.

The loss keep Unionville Milliken in twenty-first (last) place with a record of 0 wins, 6 losses, 1 tie for 1 point and a goals for/against of 4/19 for -15 (the league worst).

The win improves North Mississauga's record to 2 wins, 3 losses, 1 tie for 7 points. That moves them up to thirteenth place with ten other teams still to play this weekend. Some people think “Hey almost in the Top 12 to survive the Division split at the end of the season”....but wait, last year's records have to be considered (well at a 75% rate) so they now have 17.5 points which is only good for eighteenth right now. The rising bar for that final spot is 28.25 points held by Hamilton United Elite who tied FC London a few hours ago.

Things look bleak for both of tonight's teams earning a spot staying in the Premier Division.

Unionville was using a young squad with only three players not born this century and those three were born in 1999! I am sensing some teams are keeping to their mandates of using players from their own youth teams for budgetary or club dictates reasons while others are becoming “Mike's Mercenaries” in collecting rather older players from other clubs to chase making the Top 12 split at least in this initial year. Some of the new L1O teams haven't had time to set up their own youth teams and have just latched on to existing youth clubs.

No interview tonight as the North Mississauga SC head coach listed on the L1O website is different than the one in charge I saw on the roster. I like to have an interview after the game but ask permission before the game to set it up. I spent most of my pregame huddled in my car to keep warm. I expect I will see this GTA team again in the weeks to come.

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

Unionville Milliken SC starters