Result and details of the Saturday April 22, 2023 CPL game between York United FC and Vancouver FC played
at York Lions Stadium in North York at 1:00pm ET.

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York United FC (green socks and shirts, blue shorts, white names and numbers)

...............1 Niko Giantsopoulos
16 Max Ferrari...2 Paris Gee...6 Roger Thompson (cpt)...43 Lassana Faye
................8 Elijah Adekugbe...10 Oussama Alou
.......11 Kevin Dos Santos...24 Osaze De Rosario...22 Austin Ricci
....................9 Brian Wright

Subs:...67 Eleias Himaras (gk)...3 Tass Mourdoukoutas...12 Clement Bayiha (mid)...23 Noah Abatneh (def)
55 Toby Richardson (def)...70 Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy (mid)
pregame injury...18 Molham Babouli
team officials:...head coach Martin Nash...assistant coaches Barry Smith and Mauro Eustaquio...goalkeeper coach Camilo Benzi
...doctor Jim Niu...kitman John Townsend...athletic trainers Michael Higbee and Laura Ozoria

Forge FC (all orange uniforms, gray names and numbers)

....................1 Triston Henry
24 Rezart Rama...5 Manjrekar James...4 Dominic Samuel...81 Melik Owolabi-Belewu
................13 Alexander Achinioti-Jonsson (cpt)
19 Tristan Borges...20 Kwasi Poku...22 Noah Jensen...14 Terran Campbell
...................17 Woobens Pacius

Subs:...29 Christopher Kalongo (gk)...2 Malcolm Duncan (def)...3 Ashtone Morgan (def)...10 Kyle Bekker (mid)
...21 Alessandro Hojabrpour (mid)...33 Aboubacar Sissoko (mid)...64 Khadim Kane (mid)
team officials:...head coach Bobby Smyrniotis...assistant coaches Kyt Selaidopoulos and David Edgar
...goalkeeper coach Johan Albert...physiotherapist Liam Macpherson...kitman Joe Hanley...atheletic trainer Jacob Miller

Game officials:...referee Myriam Marcotte...referee's assistants Sangmuk Choi and Bradley Doubrough
...fourth official Yusri Rudolf...(all black uniforms)...referee assessor Amato De Luca

First Half:...game starts 7:41pm...York defends south end on this hazy and cool evening.
49 sec...York Wright rushes down right and low centering pass is cut out by defender at 15 yards.
2 min...York Faye cornerkick from right has York Thompson at 6 yards on near post pop header well over net.
4 min...York goalie beats Forge Campbell to through ball pass wide left of net.
6 min...Forge Owolabi-Belewu breaks free of clutching defender on left and chips ball well over net from 15 yards on tough angle.
8 min...Forge Pacius can't quite rescue bouncer on left before it's over end line for goalkick.
9 min...York Ricci can't get shot on 1 v 3 rush into right side of box.
9 min...York Ricci taps ball sent over from left for York De Rosario at 12 yards but defender blocks shot in center of box.
10 min...York Faye 28 yard roller from left is betwween players and smothered by goalie.
11 min...Forge Rama recovers partial clearance and taps centering pass to Forge Borges and he blasts 22 yarder up middle
that goalie palms to right of goal.
12 min...Forge Borges cornerkick from right is wasted when rolled upfield and no shot was taken.
13 min...York Gee retreats and hooks ball away from Forge Campbell who's gotten behind defenders at 10 yards.
15 min...York Alou 28 yard freekick from left has Forge Campbell head away in crowd of players bouncing it wide right.
16 min...York Alou at 30 yards chips in partial clearance of York Alou cornerkick from right has York De Rosario bump aside
Forge Samuel and his diving header at 4 yards has goalie fly right to pop up ball over to right end line. Forge player recovers
ball skying it with back turned to field upward to keep it in play Forge goalie catches it on goal line near right post but referee
blows whistle for Forge freekick because York Thompson bumped into him.
20 min...Forge Terran Campbell GOAL...Campbell in center at 28 yards rolls pass left to Forge Woobens Pacius who sends
pass back to Campbell who takes low 15 yarder up middle to right side of net on bounce beyond diving goalie
Niko Giantsopoulos.
22 min...Forge Achinioti-Jonsson chips bouncere from 30 yards is over players and caught by goalie.
25 min...Forge Poku on give and go with Forge Borges running along 22 yard line from right and bends shot wide left of post.
27 min...York Faye rush on left and cross along 10 yard line has York Ricci not able to turn header at 6 yards.
32 min...Forge Jensen steals ball just outside top left of box and races into left side of box and sends in cross that York Campbell
heads ball dowards at 8 yards to center but no one is there at 6 yards and a defender clears.
36 min...Forge Poku and Borges play give and go on right siee of box and Poku shoots from 8 yards causing goalie to make point
blank save with by doing splits and defender clears rebound.
37 min...York Adekugbe sends in pass and York Ricci rolls 25 yard shot up middle wide left.
38 min...Forge YELLOW card...Rama earns it for knocking down York Alou at York 35 yard line.
40 min...Forge Campbell sends pass to Forge Pacius on rush on slight left blasts 28 yarder down middle wide right of net.
42 min...Forge Jensen 25 yard freekick from far left is out to 25 yards then over to right.
43 min...Forge James 50 yard chip too far for Forge player charging to edge of box.
43 min...York Thompson sends long chipped pass from own 25 yard line on right that bounces for York De Rosario who
bumps Forge James aside to get away 20 yard shot down middle that's high missing the top right corner of net.
44 min...York Gee does good job preventing shot giving up cornerkick on Forge rush.
44 min...York De Rosario endds up ending cornerkick pressure from right by heading away cross into middle of box.
45 min...Forge goalie turns to edge of box to catch ball in crowd of players.
46 min...half ends 8:27pm.

Second Half:...starts 8:43pm.
45 min...Forge Pacius is injured at Forge 40 yard line on bump.
46 min...York De Rosario bounces pass up middle ahead of charging York player and goalie picks up.
46 min...York Gee stops rush into top left of box on 1 v 1.
47 min...York De Rosario turns at 25 yards on slight left and centers pass to York Dos Santos. He collects on bounce
at 15 yards and shot deflects low off sprawling defender and goalie dives on left side of net to push ball away.
York Faye crosses back in from left that dfender heads away and York Alou shoots down middle from 20 yards well over net.
48 min...York Wright receives centering pass from right and shot up middle is deflected over net.
49 min...York Faye cornerkick from right is cleared from box.
51 min...Forge Pacius bends in cross from 28 yards on slight left too far for Forge Campbell charging in at 8 yards.
52 min...York Wright rush on right and entering cross has York De Rosario not able to turn ball at 10 yards up middle.
53 min...York Alou 25 yard shot deflects for cornerkick.
53 min...York Alou cornerkick from left is batted down on near post by goalie and picked up.
54 min...Forge Owolabi-Belewu can't win Penalty kick on left side of box. York Dos Santos is injured on play.
56 min...Forge Borges freekick from 35 yards on right is centered on roll to Forge Rama and he blasts 35 yarder well high
and wide left.
58 min...Forge Jensen is injured on edge of York box as play turns upfield. Jensen needs trainer.
62 min...York sub...Voytsekhovskyy replaces Ricci.
.............York sub...Mourdoukoutas replaces injured Thompson.
63 min...York goalie beats Forge Borges to ball bounced down middle at 15 yards on bounce.
66 min...York YELLOW card...Adekugbe earns it for grabbing arm of Forge Borges breaking out at center line.
67 min...Forge YELLOW card...Owolabi-Belewu earns it for grab and spin of York Wright at Forge 22 yards.
68 min...York Faye chips 30 yard freekick from right after York Alou fakes taking it. Charging York Wright can't quite
connect to header at 8 yards and goalie catches low on left post.
69 min...Forge Borges chips 28 yarder well over net.
70 min...Forge sub...Sissoko replaces Pacius.
...........Forge sub...Bekker replaces Jensen.
72 min...York Faye cornerkick from left is cleared on near side for throw-in on left.
72 min...York Faye cross from left edge of box has York Wright head 7 yarder down middle over bar.
73 min...There's a multi-player pushing match in front of the York bench.
74 min...Forge Borges gets to bounced pass a step ahead of defender but low 15 yard shot is wide right.
75 min...York YELLOW card...Alou earns it for pushing over Forge player at Forge 40 yard line.
76 min...Forge Sissoko low 22 yard rebound shot up middle has goalie smother on right side of goal.
78 min...York Voytsehovskyy bends 22 yard cross on left end line over net.
78 min...Forge player's cornerkick fro left has York goalie punch ball out right side of box.
79 min...Forge YELLOW card...Poku earns it for shoulder grab tackle at York 50 yard line.
79 min...York sub...Bayiha replaces Dos Santos.
81 min...York Mourdoukoutas retreats to break up 2 on 1 rush just inside box.
83 min...Forge sub...Morgan replaces Campbell.
85 min...York Ferrari cross into box has York De Rosario and Forge Samuel crash and Samuel is injured. De Rosario header
pops for goalie to pick up on bounce.
87 min...York Faye cross from left is over players in box and cleared.
87 min...York Faye cornerkick from left is knocked around in box with headers. York Wright has goalie punch ball away before
he can connect.
90 min...Forge sub...Hojabrpour replaces Borges.
..........Forge sub...Kane replaces Poku.
90 min...Forge RED card...Ashton Morgan earns it at York 45 yard line. Morgan was one of four players involved in a collision.
Morgan was pulled own but when he got up he dragged his foot over body of still prone Max Ferrari (but no in his face) who'd
 also been knocked over by the other Forge player involved.
92 min...Forge Bekker taps pass over to Forge Hojabrpour who shoots 15 yarder wide right of post.
93 min...York Ferrari cross from 25 yards on right is caught by goalie.
95 min...Forge YELLOW card...Kane earns it for knock over at York 35 yard line.
96 min...Forge YELLOW card...Sissoko earns it for holding up York player's throw-in deep in the York end.
96 min...game ends 9:34pm.

Final Score:...York United.........0..........Forge FC..........1..........

Attendance was not announced tonight but it certainly looked more than their last game—a third home game within one week that took place after a day of rain. [Late edit: someone posted online that it was 1016.] The weather tonight was hazy and the temperature was cool and getting colder. York has a lot more Friday night games this season so better find a way of convincing fans to come out after work. Their next game is Wednesday night against Vancouver Whitecaps in a quarterfinal of the Canadian Championship. That game I expect will have a larger crowd despite being midweek because it involves an MLS team.

Since their last home game two weeks ago, the league has purchased ownership of York United and will be running the team with the same staff as right now. We fans have been assured that it will not be like the shoestring budget of FC Edmonton which was folded at the end of last season because of debts that mostly incurred when they were in a different league. Last season Edmonton had players 'borrowed' from the other teams in the CPL. York is being shopped around for new owners as of this moment. Whether the team will be moved to the new Woodbine Racetrack stadium (or whether that project is even still on--which may have caused the previous owners to give up the team) is now up in the air. A possibility is the new owners may want to move the team to another province but I expect the league wants to have a team close to the 'media capital of Canada'.

This was the first start for both midfielder Elijah Adekugbe and forward Austin Ricci (who used to play for York 9 FC when the league started up but then went out west to play two years for Valour FC. Last year Ricci got into only three games as a substitute because of injuries.

The defence was more stable as captain Roger Thompson got the start after recovering from injury.

York has had to deal with injuries so early in the season that they've never been stable. Now tonight they had one to top the rest as their goalscoring threat Mo Babouli was injured in the pregame warm up and that suddenly put Osaze De Rosario in the starting lineup on a few minutes notice! DeRo can certainly start skillwise, but this would still be a shock for tactics that may have been planned for tonight. A club official upstairs in the press box said the Babouli absence was a precaution to save him for Wednesday night's Canadian Championship game.

Referee Myriam Marcotte gave out seven Yellow cards tonight (two to York) plus the Red card to Ashtone Morgan in injury time and had to get in the middle of a dustup between a group of players on each team just before her decision. That's the moment that you notice how small she was. This was a rough derby match so it wouldn't be unexpected. Forge are the defending playoff champions.

The result drops York's record to 1 win, 3 losses, 0 ties for 3 points which leaves them in 5th place but I expect that to fall with the three remaining games this weekend. York has in the race so far because of so many tie game results.

York becomes the first team in the league to lose three games. In fact no team right now has lost more than one game this season just coming into it's fourth week. Worse is all those losses have been at home. This has gone around the league though as the only home team that's won so far was Pacific in the first weekend when they beat Vancouver FC 1-0.

Forge who were tied for first coming into the game surge ahead of the pack with a record of 2 wins, 0 losses, 2 ties for 8 points. Valour FC will try to keep up with their game tomorrow.

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


York United FC starters


Forge FC starters


Forge FC Terran Campbell (14) takes the opening kickoff.


York Lassana Faye (43) takes this cornerkick.


A Forge cornerkick is rolled upfield to set up a cross.


York Austin Ricci (22) gets back to help check Forge Kwasi Poku (20) off the ball.


A Forge player is ready to send in a freekick.


York Kevin Santos (11) takes second half kickoff.


York Lasssana Faye (43) will send in freekick.


Some jostling near game's end. 

Game stats (from canpl.ca) 
                      York United FC   Forge FC

Shots                        14            13     
Shots on target               3             5     
Possession                   47.7%         52.3%     
Corners won                   7             3    
Fouls conceded               19            17

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