June 4, 2023...MLS NEXT Pro Toronto FC II vs Orlando City B game report (by Rocket Robin)

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

Result and details of the Sunday June 4, 2023 MLS NEXT Pro game between Toronto FC II and Orlando City B
played at York Lions Stadium in North York at 9:00pm.

Toronto FC II (all red uniforms, white names and numbers)

........................90 Luka Gavran(cpt)
92 Theo Rigopoulos...51 Adam Pearlman...76 Lazar Stefanovic...3 Cristian Gutierrez
.............71 Markus Cimermancic...65 Antony Curic...73 Jesus Batiz
.............33 Reshaun Walkes...83 Hugo Mbongue...81 Themi Antonoglou

Subs:...40 Adisa De Rosario (gk)...62 Rohan Goulbourne (def)...68 Lucas Olguin (mid)...70 Matthew Catavolo (mid)
...72 Jordan Faria (mid)...82 Julian Altobelli (mid)...85 Marko Sojandinovic (mid)...86 Alec Diaz (fwd)...95 Ife Adenuga (mid)
team officials:...head coach Gianini Cimini...assisstant coaches Marco Casalinuovo and Yianni Michelis
...goalkeeping coach David Monsalve

Orlando City B (all white uniforms, purple names and numbers)

.......................31 Mason Stajduhar
53 Imanol Almaguer...54 Nabilai Kibunguchy...68 Thomas Williams...96 Zakaria Taifi
14 Shakur Mohammed...58 Juninho (cpt)....59 Alejandro Granados
................65 Cristian Medina...27 Jack Lynn...64 Jhan Solis

Subs:...70 Dominic Pereira (gk)...32 Wilfredo Rivera (fwd)...52 Gonzalo Agustoni-Chagas (fwd)...57 Eduardo Acuna (fwd)
...61 Tahir Reid-Brown (def)...74 Fernando Sanchez (def)...95 Favian Loyala
team officials:...head coach Martin Perelman...assistant coach Manuel Goldberg...goalkeeping coach Marcos Machado
...general manager Luiz Muzzi...strength and conditioning coach Vander Salas...chairman and majority owner Mark Wilf

Game officials:...referee Ryan Schwenger...referee's assistants Peter Pendli and Brad Doubrough
...fourth official Fabrizio Stasollo...(black socks and shorts, light blue shirts)

First Half:...game starts 9:03pm...TFC defends south end. The sun is down and the temperature is dropping.
15 sec...OCB YELLOW card...Williams earns it for sliding tackle on TFC Walkes who cartwheels over him at OCB 28 yard line
and needs trainer.
3 min...TFC Antonoglou 30 yard freekick from right is high and wide left.
5 min...After multi-pass play, TFC Rigopoulos has 18 yard shot from right blocked.
7 min...OCB Solis has 20 yard shot down middle stopped by defender at 12 yards with shouts of hand ball properly ignored.
9 min...TFC Gutierrez cross from left after long run to near end line has TFC Walkes head 15 yarder from right that goalie catches.
13 min...TFC Pearlman chips cross from 40 yards on right. TFC player heads short pass over to TFC Walkes who heads ball down
and wide right at 6 yard on end line into side webbing of net.
14 min...OCB Mohammed rush to right end line and cross is through box unplayed and TFC start fast break out.
16 min...TFC Mbongue and TFC Batiz work give and go on left to edge of box but Mbongue can't control ball and it rolls out
for goalkick.
20 min...OCB player makes long run up left and low centering pass is behind charging OCB player at 10 yards and ball is cleared.
21 min...OCB Solis cross from right into 6 yard box has defender head ball away. OCB Granados stops, spins and has 15 yard
shot stopped.
25 min...TFC Rigopoulos is tapped back pass and his 25 yard roller is well wide left of net.
26 min...TFC Batiz gets to ball in OCB box on left but falls turning around and defender clears.
29 min...OCB Taifi shot is blocked on top left of box.
29 min...TFC Batiz centering pass from left but no TFC players run into box so goalie charges forward to pick up ball.
30 min...TFC Cimermancic gets back to prevent 10 yard shot.
31 min...OCB Williams makes hit block on TFC Walkes at OCB 45 yard line. He was lucky not to pick up a second Yellow card.
32 min...TFC Reshaun Walkes GOAL...TFC Themi Antonoglou cross from left has OCB Zakaria Taifi duck at 6 yards
on right and head ball away. Walkes recovers ball at 12 yards on right and rolls 10 yarder under sliding goalie
Mason Stajduhar into center of net.
34 min...TFC Antonoglou blasts low 22 yarder from left wide right of net.
34 min...TFC Markus Cimermancic GOAL...TFC Hugo Mbongue run to just inside 18 yard box taps pass forward
and right to TFC Reshaun Walkes just inside box and he taps ball back to Mbongue at 10 yards but a defender pokes
it away. The ball rolls out to Cimermancic at 15 yards who is between two defenders. He runs two steps forward then
takes low shot between three more defenders from 10 yards and ball deflects off one of them into left side of net
with goalie frozen on right side.
36 min...OCB Granados short pass to OCB Taifi who can't win Penalty kick at top left of box on check from TFC Rigopoulos.
37 min...OCB Mohammed cross after run to right endline has OCB Taifi reach around defender to head 10 yarder from left
that goalie catches on near post.
39 min...OCB Almaguer cross from 35 yards on right has OCB Lynn on left heads ball into dirt from 12 yards bouncing to goalie.
40 min...OCB Mohammed run on right sends in low centering cross at 8 yards. OCB Lynn can't win Penalty kick call when
defender gets to ball.
44 min...TFC Mbongue is given pass by TFC Antonoglou into OCB box but tips ball back to him and Mbongue blasts 6 yarder
from far left well over net.
44 min...OCB Taifi low 22 yarder from slight left is between players but smothered by goalie.
47 min...half ends 9:50pm.

Halftime Entertainment: A soccer putting contest with two contestants kicking a ball into a portable golf hole. I saw the
two contestants sitting together in the first half so they're probably friends and will share the prize of 'two tickets
to the next TFC (MLS) game'.

I notice that only the nine TFC subs warmed up and they were doing cordinated sprints rather than just kick arounds.

Second Half:...starts 10:06pm.
Halftime sub:...TFC Stojandinovic replaces Rigopoulos.
48 min...TFC Batiz run on left and cross into box is too far forward for charging players and ball is bounced out right side of box.
50 min...OCB Almaguer tapped back pass and cross from right is out left side unplayed for goalkick.
53 min...TFC Batiz receives long pass from goalie for run up left from center line and taps ball back for TFC Cimermancic
who shoots 20 yarder from slight left well over net.
54 min...TFC Walkes and Mbongue try multi pass but can't work ball into box.
55 min...OCB Juninho chip from 25 yards looked like TFC Gutierrez headed ball dangerously back to goalie at 8 yards.
TFC Mbongue and an OCB player are injured in the TFC box.
56 min...TFC Antonoglou cornerkick from left has TFC player try to roll ball into 6 yard box but ball is cleared.
57 min...OCB Juninho has 20 yard shot blocked.
58 min...TFC Stojandinovic chips pass from 60 yards up right has TFC Walkes for clear break in on right. He chips pass
to TFC Mbongue but defender makes him rush his shot over net from 8 yards.
61 min...TFC Walkes low cross from right into box is cleared.
61 min...TFC sub...Faria replaces Walkes.
............OCB Loyala replaces Granados.
62 min...TFC Faria rush to right end line and 10 yard shot is trapped by goalie on near post.
63 min...OCB Mohammed chips cross from 25 yards on right is over charging players into box.
65 min...TFC Stojandinovic recovers loose ball and low corkscrew shot rom 28 yards on right saved by goalie diving left.
66 min...OCB Taifi run up left and pass forward has OCB Lynn shoot 18 yard roller wide right of post.
67 min...TFC Faria low cross form TFC Mbongue shoots 15 yarder that defletgs wide right for cornerkick.
68 min...TFC Antonoglou cornerkick from right has TFC Pearlman heads 5 yarder from left wide left of post.
70 min...OCB sub...Rivera replaces Mohammed.
70 min...TFC Jesus Batiz GOAL...TFC Markus Cimermanic receives pass at 30 yards and turns to try to get past defender
and rolls ball forward for charging Batiz at 22 yards in alone on slight left who runs to 15 yards and rolls ball between
legs of sprawling goalie at 12 yards into center of net.
TFC players Olguin and Catavolo are waiting to be subbed in when the stadium lights start to go out!

Final Score:...Toronto FC II........3.......Orlando City B........0.........

So Jesus (Batiz) scores at 70 minutes (10:33pm) to make it 3-0 TFC II over Orlando City B and the lights on the center line pole go out! A few minutes later the other four standards (the ones in the corners) go out too except for maybe four of the 20 something lights on those poles, probably for safety reasons. No announcements...players warm up and eventually leave the field.

11:00pm and they start playing music but it's from their same The Weeknd and Drake playlist we've already heard. Very convenient that now they won't hear anyone complain from down below asking them for an update. One guy up there mimes '5 more minutes' every ten minutes.

At 11:45pm, the lights come back on suddenly. OK then at 11:48pm the PA announcement is "Thank you for your patience during the power outage. The officials have decided to call the game. Toronto wins 3-0". Another 'Thank you for your patience' then they try to sell us tickets to the next home game.

'Just Can't Get Enough' by Depeche Mode (same one they use at BMO Field for victories) is played and people go home.

The players returned to the dressing rooms after trying to stay stretched out for the first 25 minutes. The MLSE staff played kick around at the south goal instead of asking any of the fans if they needed assistance. Stairs were in semi-darkness or worse. They may be lucky that Grandpa didn't fall in a stairwell and was found by the maintenance staff the next day. Security personnel held their positions near doorways the entire delay.

Geez 1 hour and 12 minutes until an announcement for the 50 fans still here.

Attendance was about 100. Knowing the late start originally 8:00pm (from their usual 7:00pm evening starts up until this game) which was changed to 9:00pm because of the flight delay for the visitors; Yes this news was tweeted out six hours before the game started probably cut down on the crowd including having almost no children brought to the game.

I hadn't caught up on my tweets so missed the late start. I tipped off the Poutine+More catering truck starioned outside the entrance gate which was here for the first game of the season but hasn't been here since. They were wondering why no one was here yet.

TFC dominated this game looking like the only team that would score although the shots on goal was recorded as TFC 5-4. Luka Gavran earned the shutout. He was helped out by his defensive line of Theo Rigopoulos, Adam Pearlman, Lazar Stefanovic, and Cristian Gutierrez.

Referee Ryan Schwenger gave out only one Yellow card and that was to OCB Cristian Medina at about 15 seconds (!) for tripping up TFC Reshaun Walkes causing him to cartwheel over him in his fall at the OCB 28 yard line and he needed the trainer.

Tonight's TFC II lineup had Themi Antonoglou and Hugo Mbongue who were on the MLS team lineup for their game in Minnesota last night although neither had gotten off the bench. A light night game because of the time zone difference but both looked great in tonight's game along with Walkes made up a very threatening front three.

Not a great day for OCB. Their flight was delayed so this game was pushed back from 8pm until 9pm. (All evening games were scheduled for 7pm until this one...no wonder very few children were here). OK both teams did tweet out the change in times with six hours notice so I'll give them that. Shakur Mohammed was about their only threat with runs up the wing and crosses into the box but at times looked frustrated as he wasn't getting fed the ball enough to his liking.

The league with I'm sure the cooperation of MLSE have spun the reason for the game being abandoned as a 'local curfew'. Oh really? If they knew that, why did they leave us fans so long in the darkened stands before an announcement was made?

The win improves TFC's record to 3 wins, 7 losses, 1 tie, 0 shootout points for 10 points. They move up from thirteenth (last) to eleventh place in the Eastern Conference despite losing on a mini-two game road trip last week to both NYCFC and Atlanta United. Top 7 make the playoffs which is currently at 19 points. TFC now goes back out of town to play Inter Miami next Sunday, one of those teams now below them. Next home game is the Thursday after (ie June 15th) when they host Huntsville City FC--the other team below TFC in the standings.

Orlando's record falls to 6 wins, 4 losses, 2 ties, 1 shootout point for 21 points and fourth place in the East.

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

......Game Stats........(from mlsnextpro.com)
                         TFC II      Orlando City B
Possession %               51.7             48.3
Shots                      17                9
Shots on Goal               5                4
Blocked Shots               3                3
Total Passes              486              447
Passing Accuracy %         89.3             89
Corners                     2                0
Crosses                     4                8
Offsides                    1                0
Duels Won                  29               41
Tackles Won                 5               10
Saves                       4                3
Clearances                  9                8
Fouls                       9                4
Yellow Cards                0                1
Red Cards                   0                0

Toronto FC II starters