July 28,2023 League1 Ontario...North Mississauga SC vs Simcoe County Rovers game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Friday July 28, 2023 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between
North Mississauga SC and Simcoe County Rovers FC played at Mattemy Sports Park in Mississauga at 8:00pm.

North Mississauga SC (red socks and shirts, black shorts, white numbers)

.............................1 Michael Williams
25 Chidiebere Nnolim...2 Tremayne Julien...4 Marcus Brooks...12 Deshawn Palmer-Agyemang
14 Inder Thind...17 Karamvir Mehmi...5 Justin Loginov...8 Gregory Desouza
....................11 Lee-Victor Massunda (cpt)...27 Mateo Caride

Sub:...0 Aman Jiwani (gk)...3 Martin Iyamabo...7 Dylan Avila...9 Luc Coulombe
...10 Frank Previte...21 Cedric Ngounou...22 Noah Antenucci...26 Diadie Traore
Team officials:...team head coach Amir Riazi...assistant coach Peyvand Mossavat...manager Connor Mooney
...equipment manager Jonathan Ocquaye...therapist Shervin Teymoori

Simcoe Country Rovers (all black uniforms, gold numbers)

..........................1 Baj Maan
16 Allen Saye-Blegay...3 Tajay Reid...24 Cameron Dasilva...8 Alejandro Portal
18 Ijah Halley...12 Javier George...19 Justin Earle (cpt)...11 Shawn-Claud Lawson
...............20 Paul Karagianakos...10 Orlendis Benitez

Subs:...4 Oriaon Wiersma...7 Gabriel Boakye...9 Jevontae Layne...13 Michael Markac
...14 Feargod Ozomba...27 Luc Ihama
team officials:...team head coach Jason Beckford...assistant coaches Paul Smith and Zak Zico Mahrady
...manager Donte Henry...equipment manager Bola Avolonto...therapist Mark De Lange

Game officials:...referee Melvin Christopher...referee's assistants Bradley Douborough and Onurcar Gokhaya
...fourth offiicial Nicholas Thompson...(teal socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 8:00pm...NM defends north end.
35 sec...Simcoe Paul Karagianakos GOAL...SCR Orlendis Benitez runs to left end line and sends low cross from 20 yards
and Karagianakos slides forward at 5 yards even with left post and directs ball into right corner of net beyond goalie
Michael Williams guarding near post.
1 min...SCR Benitez throw-in from right near cornerflag has ball cleared on left side of box.
4 min...NM Nnolim chips 45 yarder on right that defender heads away on left edge of box.
6 min...SCR Benitez 30 yard freekick from left is wide right and defenders clear.
8 min...NM Brooks pokes ball away from SCR Halley on run into right side of box giving up cornerkick.
10 min...SCR player's short cornerkick from right is worked out and SCR Benitez high cross from 20 yards is caught at top
left corner of net by goalie.
13 min...SCR Lawson wins cornerkick on left on deflection.
14 min...SCR Benitez is passed short cornerkick on right and has ball cleared.
15 min...SCR DaSilva 35 yarder from right bends to goalie on bounce.
16 min...NM Caride receives cross at 22 yards on left but has shot blocked.
16 min...NM Mehmi 22 yard blast on right has goalie bat down and defender clears.
17 min...NM Caride beats defender to bouncer on left and runs along end line and defender concedes cornerkick on rolled pass.
17 min...NM Massunda high cornerkick from left has SCR Reid clear in box.
19 min...SCR Saye-Blegay pass from extreme right has SCR Benitez turn header and goalie catches 10 yard pop-up.
21 min...Simcoe Orlendis Benitez GOAL...SCR Ijah Halley and Benitez work a give and go play up the right wing
after Benitez makes a check at the 40 yard line to gain possession of the ball. Halley runs to the right end line and rolls
centering pass for Benitez to shoot 5 yarder into right side of net.
21 min...a water break is called.
23 min...play resumes.
24 min...NM players win headers battle to clear ball into NM box.
27 min...SCR Benitez pass to SCR Halley who shoots 15 yarder on extreme right that goalie catches on near post.
28 min...SCR Saye-Blegay low cross from right is caught on end line.
29 min...NM player's long ball bounces for goalkick.
34 min...SCR Earle low blast from 28 yards up middle between players and goalie smothers.
35 min...SCR Lawson cornerkick from left has defender head ball away in 6 yard box and starts break out.
36 min...NM Caride can't win Penalty kick on bump over in SCR box on left.
37 min...Simcoe Paul Karagianakos GOAL...SCR Orlendis Benitez rolls through ball pass up the middle from 35 yards
and Karaianakos holds off NM Tremayne Julien to send 15 yard roller into left corner of net.
39 min...NM Julien retreats to break up 2 on 1 run and prevent shot in box.
41 min...Simcoe Paul Karagianakos GOAL...SCR Ijah Halley sends short through ball pass in middle to slight left
and Karagianakos lofts 22 yard shot into right corner of net beyond flying goalie.
46 min...NM goalie is out to 22 yards to fly and head ball away. An SCR player can't get away chip attempt at 30 yards.
47 min...NM Mehmi wins cornerkick on 28 yard shot that tips off defender.
47 min...NM Brooks cornerkickc from right is high and defender heads away on left. NM Palmer-Aghyemang chips 40 yarder
wide left of net.
48 min...half ends 8:48pm.

Halftime: The sun is now behind the clouds. Both teams' substitutes warm up.

Second Half:...starts 9:04pm.
halftime subs:...SCR Ihama replaces Benitez.
..................NM Avila replaces Thind.
46 min...SCR Portal and NM Massunda have referee call them over to break up a pushing match.
47 min...SCR YELLOW card...George earns it for trip at SCR 28 yard line.
48 min...NM player's 30 yard freekick from left has NM Loginov take midair blast from 20 yards down middle that goalie palms
over bar.
48 min...NM Caride cornerkick from right is over players in box and out left side for throw-in.
49 min...NM player retreats and checks SCR player off ball on right end line.
50 min...NM Mehmi cross from extreme right. NM Avila misses ball charging forward at 8 yards.
50 min...NM Avila cornerkick from left has defender in crowd of players in box head away.
53 min...SCR Karagianakos run on right and 22 yard shot bendds behind net.
55 min...Simcoe Paul Karagianakos GOAL...SCR Ijah Halley on long run down left and cuts into box surviving bump
by defender and taps pass in middle and Karagianakos rolls in 7 yarder to left corner of net.
59 min...SCR Karagianakos is injured by NM Loginov on sliding tackle at NM 45 yard line.
60 min...North Mississauga Lee-Victor Massunda GOAL...NM Chidiebere Nnolim starts play with throw-in from right
and a MN player taps pass up right. Massunda cuts to center and takes 18 yard shot into top right corner of net past
flying goalie Baj Maan.
Some NM player yells to 'Get the ball'! Well it is 5-1.
65 min...SCR Saye-Blegay collapsed on his own at SCR 50 yard line and needs trainer.
67 min...A water break is called.
68 min...NM sub...Previte replaces Caride.
69 min...play resumes.
70 min...NM YELLOW card...DeSouza earns it for blocking SCR Halley at NM 50 yards rushing for ball.
74 min...NM Loginov cuts off SCR Halley as he cuts towards goal and gives up cornerkick. SCR Saye-Blegay collapses
again away frrom play.
75 min...SCR Halley high cornerkick from left has SCR player pop up header at 20 yards in middle and defender clears.
76 min...SCR sub...Ozomba replaces injured Saye-Blegay.
78 min...SCR sub...Wiersma replaces George.
..........NM sub...Antenucci replaces Nnolim.
81 min...SCR Halley steps over ball faking freekick. SCR Portal 30 yard freekick from left bounces to goalie on right post.
83 min...NM Palmer-Agyemang chips cross from 28 yards on right and defender heads away on left.
84 min...NM Massunda chips 33 yard freekick from right and players are flagged offside.
85 min...NM sub...Traore replaces Loginov.
...........NM sub...Ngounou replaces DeSouza.
86 min...NM goalie catches low 45 yard shot from right.
86 min...NM player crosses pass along 6 yard line from left that's cleared.
87 min...NM Mehmi pass from right has NM Antenucci blast partial clearance wide right from 20 yards.
88 min...NM sub...Iyamabo replaces Mehmi.
89 min...SCR Halley takes point blank shot from 6 yards that's blocked on left post by sliding goalie.
89 min...SCR Earle fires low 25 yarder up middle that goalie saves.
90 min...NM Julien oollapsed at NM 28 yards with leg injury and needs trainer.
94 min...NM Previte 35 yard freekick is caught by goalie stepping forward in crowd of players.
94 min...game ends 9:53pm.

Final Score:...North Mississauga SC.....1......Simcoe County Rovers.....5......

Attendance ended up being about 75 by halftime. Lots of mosquitos showed up after the sun set but I remembered that from previous visits here and had brought insect repellent. Daytime record temperatures that made it feel like it was 40oC had cooled a little with clouds that had come over helping a lot.

Referee Melvin Christopher didn't have much to do giving out one Yellow to each team and scheduling a water break in each half. He called over SCR Alejandro Portal and NM Lee-Victor Massunda after a multi player dustup at 46 minutes to give them, on behalf of both teams, a warning then gave SCR Javier George a Yellow (the first card of the night) a minute later on a tripping call to show he meant business and there were no more incidents. Matches sometimes devolve into hack fests when one team is dominating so it was good to see that did not happen.

My later tweet about Paul Karagianakos deserving a look from CPL teams for being a 2002 and scoring four goals may have been a bit over the top as when I checked the L1O website, I saw this game was the first he'd scored in the seven games he'd started.

Former CPL player York 9 FC/York United FC player Ijah Halley looked great on wing with long runs down to the end line and sending in crosses or cutting into the box himself. Twice out of the six or more times he did that resulted in SCR goals.

This game was one of the six league games in the Credit River Cup, a fan sponsored trophy given for the best team in the Mississauga-Brampton region (yeah Simcoe County Rovers of Barrie is a bit of a stretch geographically). After tonight's result the winner between the four teams is.....Sigma FC who were the first to complete their schedule with two wins and a tie for 7 points. Their key win over Rovers back at the beginning of May ensured that Rovers could only finish with 6 points. North Miss had only played one game until tonight and a win over Rovers and a win next month over fourth team ProStars FC who have two losses would have tied them at 7 points with Sigma and it would have come down to goal difference as they held Sigma to a 2-2 tie. I assume the organizers will present Sigma with the trophy before one of their next home games.

I saw a flag waver wearing a scarf (yeah so was I for a very brief time—40oC weather remember) and crossed the field at halftime to say hello but he was wearing an SCR scarf and was not with the CRC organizers. The official North Mississauga fan group 'Rogue Street Elite' (I don't know if they still come to games) purchased the trophy that is given to the L1O Men's team that finishes first in the regular season.

The CPL is buzzing this weekend as recent HFX Wanderers signing Doneil Henry is returning to Toronto for the first time when they play York United FC on Sunday afternoon. Tonight could be seen as a tribute to him as North Mississauga was his boyhood team and Simcoe County is a team he is a celebrity co-owner with fellow and former Canadian National team players Julian De Guzman, Cyle Larin, Janine Beckie, and Atiba Hutchinson plus businessman Peter Raco.

I asked SCR head coach Jason Beckford after the game and he said Henry had trained with the team before he signed with HFX Wanderers. Wow, well why not he's a co-owner. Now he receives a benefit from L1O even though the league started almost a decade after he broke into the pros with Toronto FC. TFC during Henry's development had a team in the Canadian Soccer League (the CNSL/CPSL era).

The win vaults Simcoe until second place in the twenty-one team league but only two games have been played so far this weekend. Places continued to be dueled for week after week and we'll see where they'll settle on Monday morning but finishing top six ensures a playoff spot, finishing third or fourth ensures a home game in the quarterfinals, finishing top two ensures a bye to the semi-final and a home date. Their record improves to 11 wins, 4 losses, 1 tie for 34 points.

North Mississauga's record falls to 3 wins, 9 losses, 4 ties for 13 points. They are currently in eighteenth. They are ensured of not making the top 12 division split coming at the end of this season with a combination of 2022 and 2023 results and will play in the soon to be created 'Champions League Division' (second tier).

Tonight's game was one that I could have predicted between a team of 'Mike's Mercenaries' (an all star team poached from other clubs) vs a community youth team that are just advancing their own kids through the program up the steps of development. Only fun thing is to say “Wow, starting goalie Michael Williams is a 2006 and starting forward Mateo Caride is also a 2006”. One thing is though the new 12 team Premier League will draw players like a magnet for the spotlight of being seen and moving on to other leagues and stronger week by week competition.

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

North Mississauga starters