May 27, 2023 League1 Ontario Premier League...Masters FA vs Alliance United game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday May 27, 2023 League1 Ontario game between Masters FA and Alliance United
played at L'Amoreaux Park in Scarborough at 8:00pm.

Masters FA (all red uniforms, white numbers)

....................1 Spirdon Koskinas
70 Eric Savvas...2 Ian Gutierrez...6 Anthony Wright...3 Tyler Miranda
18 Christian Inchima...15 Jason Alvarado...90 Maleik De Freitas...13 Terrell Spencer (cpt)
..............19 Justin Robertson...11 Zion Richards

Subs:...0 Richard Watson (gk)...4 Julius Dominelli...7 Artin Sharifzadeh...8 Devonte Brown
...9 Nathan Ferguson...10 Stefan Nikolic...12 Timothy Cordova...14 Triston Frankson...16 Ethan Defranca
team officials:...team head coach Giuseppe Mattace Raso...assistant coach Orazio Falciano
...managers Devon Porter, Junior Groves, and Seif Radwan

Alliance United (white socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers)

.....................1 Praveen Ahilan
.........11 Zak Drake...20 Jacob Maurutto-Robinson...19 Koosha Nazemi
7 Nirun Sivananthan...4 Nicola Stakic (cpt)...17 Atchu Sivananthan...3 Matthew Monteiro...22 Jeloni Murray-Powell
.................10 Dusan Kovacevic...14 Prince David Amanda

Subs:...30 Cristian Lisi (gk)...6 Nicholas Osorio...8 Mehdi Essoussi...12 Andrew Paolucci
...15 Kingsley Belele...16 Christian Keshishian...21 Andrea Schifano
team officials:...team head coach Ilya Orlov...assistant coach Eric Nelson
...therapists Daniel Dalla Rosa and Michael Silvestri

Game officials:...referee Kim Lee...referee's assistants Tristan Forgie and Najeeb Almasri
...fourth official Liam Tremblay...(teal socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 8:01pm...Masters defends south end on this warm evening with a bright sun setting in the north west.
1 min...AU Atchu Sivananthan run up left and low cross to AU Kovacevic is too far forward and is picked up by goalie at 15 yards.
3 min...MFA Spencer cornerkick from left has goalie catch in crowd of players on right post.
4 min...AU Atchu Sivananthan cuts to middle from right but shoots 20 yarder high and wide right of top corner of net.
6 min...AU Stakic 45 yard freekick down middle has MFA Savvas head ball wide left for cornerkick.
6 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from left has AU Nirun Sivananthan on right head ball into box and has an MFA player head ball away.
Two AU players shots are then stopped before they get into the box.
10 min...AU Amanda low 18 yard pass to AU Stakic has goalie make sprawling stop.
12 min...MFA De Freitas taps pass right to MFA Savvas whose 25 yard shot from extreme right bends behing net.
13 min...MFA Robertson low cross from right is through box unplayed.
15 min...MFA Savvas gets pass on right and sends shot well over net from 25 yards.
16 min...AU Stakic 50 yard chip of freekick from left is caught by goalie on right post.
21 min...MFA Spencer rush on slight left cutting to middle and low 28 yard shot is smothered by goalie diving left.
21 min...AU goalie in middle catches cross from 25 yards on right.
23 min...AU Kovacevic taps ball back and AU Atchu Sivananthan blasts 18 yarder up middle well over net.
24 min...AU Amanda recovers loose ball and takes quick rolling shot from 15 yards on right that's wide left of net.
25 min...AU Kovacevic has shot tipped by sliding MFA Wright wide right for cornerkick.
25 min...AU Stakic high cornerkick from right is cleared on left.
26 min...MFA Gutierrez blocks AU Amanda shot after run on left to 20 yards.
27 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from left has MFA Gutierrez clear ball on short left side.
31 min...AU Amanda steals ball off defender on right side of MFA box and rolls pass where AU Stakic shoots 10 yarder
down middle well over net.
33 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from right has AU Monteiro in crowd of players in box head ball over net.
35 min...AU Drake cross from right has AU Amanda whiff on midair 10 yard shot.
36 min...MFA Wright heads ball from inside own box for cornerkick.
37 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from left is partially cleared. AU Maurutto-Robinson shot up middle is stopped in box
and has ball deflect out for rebound and 22 yard shot is well over net.
38 min...MFA Richards cuts around defender on run on left to roll 15 yard shot that goalie smothers on left post.
41 min...MFA Spencer high cross from 40 yards on left has MFA Robertson midair 20 yarder from far right well flies
well behind net.
43 min...MFA Richards cornerkick from left is caught by goalie unopposed at 5 yards.
45 min...Masters Eric Savvas GOAL...MFA Terrell Spencer takes freekick from 28 yards on the left and has Savvas
bump into goalie Praveen Ahilan to head in 6 yarder on right into open net.
46 min...half ends 8:47pm.

Halftime Entertainment: There's a mother/daughter relay race then a boys race for prizes.

Second Half:...starts 9:02pm. It is now dusk and getting cooler temperature wise.
Halftime subs:...AU Schifano replaces Amanda.
....................AU Essoussi replaces Murray-Powell.
....................MFA Frankson replaces Gutierrez.
45 min...AU Nirun Sivananthan 7 yard shot fro left is off underside of bar and deflects to right.
45 min 45 sec...Alliance Dusan Kovacevic GOAL...AU Matthew Monteiro sends cross over from right that Kovacevic
flick-foots 8 yarder up middle that goalie Spirodon Koskinas gets a hand to flying over from right but ball deflects
under him into net.
49 min...MFA goalie picks up bouncer ahead of charging AU Kovacevic.
51 min...AU Essoussi high cross from 40 yards has flying AU Atchu Sivananthan at 6 yards on right head over net
and is shaken up on play.
53 min...Au Atchu Sivananthan rolls pass forward to AU Schifano whose 15 yard shot is off top of bar.
55 min...MFA sub...Nikolic replaces Richards.
56 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from left has ball on right not crossed into box.
56 min...MFA Miranda 55 yard freekick from left is caught over by goalie.
57 min...AU player makes scissor kick goal from 8 yards but it's called offside.
59 min...MFA player makes key header to concede cornerkick to avoid two AU players waiting for tap in.
59 min...AU Stakic high cornerkick from left has AU player in crowd on right is headed over bar.
60 min...MFA YELLOW card...Wright earns it for on left sideline for timewasting on kicking ball out of bounds after whistle.
61 min...AU Stakic freekick from 28 yards on left is cleared on right. MFA Gutierrez then makes slide to stop shot at 8 yards.
62 min...AU YELLOW card...Drake earns it for holding MFA player back at AU 35 yard line.
63 min...MFA Spencer 40 yard freekick down middle tips off foot of MFA player at 20 yards and rolls to goalie.
64 min...MFA Spencer 35 yard freekick from right has defender head ball away at 20 yards.
65 min...Alliance Atchu Sivananthan GOAL...AU Nikola Stakic passes over from right and Sivananthan shoots
low 10 yarder from slight right under sliding goalie.
66 min...MFA sub...Dominelli replaces De Freitas.
..........AU sub...Osorio replaces Monteiro.
68 min...AU Atchu Sivananthan can't draw Penalty kick on trip in box.
69 min...AU Zak Drake gets called on a play that gives Masters a Penalty kick awarded by referee Kim Lee.
70 min...Masters Julius Dominelli GOAL...Dominelli rolls his Penalty kick to the left corner of the net as the goalie
gets a hand to on his dive but can't keep it out.
71 min...MFA sub...Sharifzadeh replaces Savvas.
72 min...MFA goalie dives and gets hand to ball in middle and defender clears.
72 min...AU Stakic midair shot from 25 yards misses net.
73 min...Alliance Dusan Kovacevic GOAL...AU Andrea Schifano passes from 30 yards in middle to Kovacevic who
shoots 12 yarder from the right into the left side of net.
74 min...AU sub...Paolucci replaces Atchu Sivananthan.
75 min...AU YELLOW card...Nazemi earns it for grab at AU 50 yard line.
78 min...AU Nazemi key slide deflects ball off MFA Dominelli on right side of box on run and ball deflects for cornerkick.
81 min...AU Stakic cornerkick from left is headed away by defender.
81 min...MFA Spencer high cross over box has MFA Frankson on left end line head ball wide left.
82 min...MFA sub...Brown replaces Inchima.
86 min...MFA Nikolic 35 yard shot down middle has goalie catch ball on left post.
87 min...AU sub...Belele replaces Kovacevic.
91 min...MFA Robertson shoots 25 yard roller wide left of net.
91 min...AU Stakic down with injury and need trainer.
92 min...MFA Frankson is injured at MFA 45 yard line.
94 min...AU Nirun Sivananthan run down left wins freekick when he's injured.
96 min...MFA Sharifzadeh run down right but ball is cleared off him for goalkick.
97 min...AU goalie is out to top right of box to catch bouncer.
98 min...MFA Spencer 40 yard freekick wins cornerkick when defender pops header wide of net. The MFA goalie was up
in the AU box on this play.
99 min...MFA Alvarado overhead kick recovering clearance has ball palmed over bar.
100 min...MFA Sharifzadeh cornerkick is cleared and MFA Robertson gets shot from 22 yards on left and goalie gets over
to left post to catch.
101 min...game ends 9:58pm.

Final Score:.....Masters FA...........2........Alliance United.......3........

Attendance was about 150 with about half in the stands inside the grounds and half outside beside a schoolyard type wire fence or in the softball/baseball stands that actually faced east but were higher than the soccer stands so people could turn around and look onto the field. In the adjacent field on the west side was a meeting of an Ultimate Frisbee league or practice like last year. They threw back three soccer balls during the evening that were kicked over the fence onto their field but we didn't need to return the favour as nothing crossed our way.

Masters double their goals for this season scoring goals 3 and 4 this season in their seventh game. Their 17 goals against were bloated by one blow out where six goals were allowed but they haven't lost another game this season by more than two goals. There were two games they actually led this season by 1-0 and lost both by allowing two goals in the final ten minutes to powerhouses Blue Devils FC and Burlington SC.

Referee Kim Lee gave out three Yellow cards--two to Alliance for holding calls and one to Masters at 60 minutes for timewasting and the Masters Penalty kick. There weren't really any hard hits or dangerous sliding tackles.

The reverse fixture last season was held Saturday April 23 with Alliance winning that contest 6-0 at Centennial College. This season, Centennial is being renovated with a dome/air bubble being constructed so this year was scheduled to play at Bill Carruthers Secondary School in Markham but had to move to Varsity Stadium and Birchmount Stadium for their home games after a City of Markham bureaucratic decision to keep the school building locked on the weekends.

Master's record falls to 0 wins, 6 losses, 1 tie for 1 point (twentieth spot). They are currently twentieth of the twenty-one teams but their fate of relegation was sealed (4-12-5 record in 2022) last year with results as the division splits for 2024 into a Top 12 Premier Division with the remaining nine teams dropped into a newly formed (second tier) 'Champions Division'.

Alliance record improves to 4 wins, 1 loss, 2 ties for 14 points. With eight teams still to play tomorrow but all tonight's results known by the time I got home they move up to third place which would be a playoff spot this season (six teams qualify of the twenty-one). Winner of the playoffs earns the L1O spot in the 2024 Canadian Championships against other League1 Canada, CPL and MLS teams.

L'Amoreaux Park is one of the fields I can get to by a TTC local bus which is important as I wait to take my car in for engine repairs the end of next week—I now need an appointment at my dealership for repairs! I had planned to come here tonight anyway to continue my seasonal quest to interview every L1O head coach early in the season.

I congratulated Alliance head coach Ilya Orlov on them signing an agreement to be CPL York United FC's 'downward team' but neither of us expect any York players (young players needing game minutes or recovering injured players) to be moved here anytime soon with so many York players on the injury list right now.

My interview with Masters FA head coach Giuseppe Mattace-Raso (8 minutes, 15 seconds)

Your thoughts on tonight's game?
How frustrating was it to lose two games against such strong teams after the 80th minute?
Do you see tonight as finally an end to your goal scoring troubles?
Tell me something about your background with International FC.
Will your club be able to get by operating as a community team at the second tier level?

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

Masters FA starters