March 2015 - Canadian Soccer League

TORONTO CROATIA AIMS FOR A WORLD HAT-TRICK

May 3, 2022March 29, 2015 by

Toronto Croatia is in for a busy season.

But that’s not unusual for a club with nine CSL championships and two world club titles under its belt since 1970.

The now elder statesman in the Canadian Soccer League – Toronto Croatia entered professional soccer in 1956 – winning the inaugural Croatian World Club Championship in 2007 and again in 2011, while being the most successful team in Canadian league competition during the past 60 years.

This year is third time around for the Croatian World Club Championship of overseas Croatian teams and the Canadian entry aims to make it three in a row. The games are held every four years.

Eight teams took part in the original 2007 competition: Toronto Croatia (Canada), Croat San Pedro (U.S.A), Zrinski Chicago (U.S.A.), Canberra Croatia (Australia), Croatia Essen (Germany), Croatia Berlin (Germany), Croatia Villefranche (France), and Burgenland Croatian (Austria).

Toronto Croatia defeated Canberra Croatia 3-1 in the final and the Canadian team repeated the victory against their Australian opponents four years later in 2011, this time with a 5-0 romp.

“And it’s our goal to win again this year,” said Joe Pavicic, president of Toronto Croatia, now planning to take his team to Croatia for the games this coming June 27 to July 4.

Pavicic, who was installed as Toronto Croatia president in 2006 and who is also a member of the CSL’s executive committee, considers his club will be well prepared for the world tourney that comes right in the middle of a 22-game First Division regular season schedule and the ensuing season-end playoffs for the CSL Championship, all of which makes for a rigorous six months of tough competition as a member of Canada’s professional league.

“But we know what to expect and we look forward to it,” said Pavicic while talking about the Toronto Croatia players that took part in the first two world championship wins and want to be part of the hat-trick should they pull it off again this year. Head coach Velimir Crljen was emphasized for being a big part of the Toronto Croatia success in recent years.

Pavicic’s confidence is reminiscent of the time his club merged with Toronto Metros in the 70s and Toronto Metros-Croatia stunned the North American sports media by winning the 1976 North American championship to become known as 1976 Soccer Bowl Champions. They defeated Minnesota Kicks 3-0 at Seattle, and the victory was the first for a Toronto sports team since the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967. The victory also helped to bring the local community closer to the game of soccer, especially when Portuguese star Eusebio, the Metro-Croatia captain, received a cheque for the winners and honoured by Metropolitan Toronto in a civic ceremony.

That was then and now is now with the Croatian World Club Championship back in Zagreb, the venue for the inaugural games which then moved to the Adriatic coastal city of Split in 2011. Toronto Croatia aim to be well prepared while also attempting to repeat their last CSL championship win of 2012.

Uefa president Michel Platini fears rise of hooliganism

May 3, 2022March 24, 2015 by CSL

Michel Platini warned of a return to hooliganism’s “dark days” as he was re-elected unopposed for a third term as president of Uefa.

The Frenchman says there is a rising trend of “nationalism and extremism” being observed in stadiums.

He reiterated calls for a European sports police force to avoid events witnessed in the “not-so-distant past”.

“A past where hooligans and all manner of fanatics called the shots in certain European stadiums,” he added.

Platini was a player with Juventus when crowd trouble prior to the 1985 European Cup final against Liverpool at Heysel Stadium led to the deaths of 39 people.

CSL CLUBS OFFER TWO-WEEK TRYOUT

May 3, 2022March 23, 2015 by

Many of the top soccer players of the world will tell you that the most significant occurrence in their careers was being seen by the right people in the early days, being spotted by a coach or a scout with the right connections.

With that in mind, the Canadian Soccer League teams are offering players 15 years old and over an opportunity to be seen. A CSL club will take the young player into its organization for two weeks sometime during the next two months and if the player is considered to be sufficiently talented with the right basic skill level, together with the peripherals of good fitness, healthy lifestyle and has established an attitude conducive to good team spirit, a recommendation to a European club will be considered.

CSL clubs have a long history of sending players on trial to higher levels, mostly in Europe, and so far this year defender Winston Crozier of York Region Shooters has been scheduled for a trial this summer with Burnley of the English Premier League.

Players interested in a two-week invitation from a CSL club during the pre-season tryout and training period prior to the season kickoff in May, are asked to write by regular mail, or send an email. Deadline for application is April 5, 2015. A meeting will be arranged, together with the appropriate family members or guardian. For reasons of limited training capacity, the CSL reserves the right to limit the number of invitations at any time.

Write or email to: csl@canadiansoccerleague.ca

Canadian Soccer League, Player Tryout,

5160 Explorer Drive, Unit 1,

Mississauga, Ontario L4W 4T7

CSL OWNERS PLAN BUSY UPCOMING SEASON…The weekend meeting

May 3, 2022March 19, 2015 by

Young players may have an opportunity to take part in a few training sessions with professional clubs following a decision taken at the annual meeting of team owners of the Canadian Soccer League over the weekend.

Vincent Ursini

Players 15 and over will be given an opportunity to apply to take part in pre-season training and coaching sessions during a two-week period leading to the CSL’s regular season kickoff and a number will be accepted on a first come first served basis.

The invitation came out of all-day discussions covering a wide range of topics relating to the competition, as well as business and legal issues requiring decisions before the CSL season gets underway.

The league lifted its restriction on the number of players a team can import, a measure introduced by North America’s soccer governance some years ago to ensure there were sufficient spots available in professional soccer for home grown players.

While the game gets tougher, it’s getting cleaner. That’s the opinion of CSL discipline chair Henry Helou who reported that there was a significant reduction in the number of yellow and red cards shown by the referees in 2014. The reduction in the number of discipline hearings and penalties handed down by the discipline panel was also considered to reflect an improvement in the amount of dissent being shown by players and coaches toward match officials.

Club president Ihor Prokipchuk and technical man Stas Honcharuk of Toronto Atomic FC, and SC Scarborough with Angel Belcev and Kiril Dimitrov attended their first CSL owners meeting. Tomo Dancetovic , GM of Brantford Galaxy, was also in attendance following the club’s return after a three-year absence.

“It’s going to be a busy and exciting season with four clubs entering an expanded 12-team First Division that were not there last year,” said Vincent Ursini, president of the CSL who will head the league for a further two years following a decision by the member clubs to extend his term of office.

The season will get underway the weekend of May 9 for both the First Division and the CSL’s reserve team following a pre-season press conference earlier in the week.

ANNUAL MEETING FOR CSL OWNERS THIS WEEKEND

May 3, 2022March 14, 2015 by

Canadian Soccer League owners gather in Mississauga this weekend for an annual meeting prior to a season which promises to be one of the busiest on record.

The 12-team league will play more than 200 regular season and playoff games in two divisions over an almost six-month stretch from mid-May to late October or early November.

While it’s unlikely York Region Shooters will come up with a repeat of their unbeaten 2014 campaign – all 21 regular season and playoff games without a loss – the defending champions are expected to be once again a serious contender for top honours.

While some teams, including SC Waterloo and expansion club Atomic FC, are bringing in import players from Europe, others will be focussed on giving younger players an opportunity to play first entry professional soccer in the hope they will further develop to be included in an expanding list of players moving from the CSL to the higher levels in North America and overseas.

“Our reserve team is important to us on the development side, but we also expect to bring in three import players from Europe for our First Division team,” said GM Vojislav Brisevac of SC Waterloo, one of the more successful teams to join the CSL in recent years.

The meetings on Sunday will deal with the competition and also the business side of Canada’s leading league, both in the near term as well as the long term goals. Announcements will follow.

ATOMIC FC TO ACCOMMODATE IMPORT PLAYERS FROM UKRAINE

May 3, 2022March 12, 2015 by

Ihor Prokipchuk has plenty on his mind these days.

The Ukrainian-born Toronto businessman running a successful company in the heating and cooling industry and pre-occupied with a busy soccer academy, is about to launch Atomic FC, a team in the competitive Canadian Soccer League. All while his mind remains fixed on the daily strife in his former homeland which by chance makes his team the beneficiary of a number of players moving to Canada.

“I’ve wanted to play a greater role in professional soccer for as long as I can remember and the CSL gives me that opportunity to launch this team and include some players wanting to get away from the trouble where soccer has now taken a back seat. The players are grateful to Canada for the opportunity to play in the CSL,” said the former pro player from that eastern European country.

Several players have already been granted work permits to play in the CSL, including from Lviv, Ternopil and Dnipropetrovsk.

Atomic FC will kick off its CSL campaign in May, one of two additions in an expanded 12-team First Division in the CSL. SC Scarborough is the other, while Brantford Galaxy returns from a three-year absence and Milton SC moves up to the top division following a successful first year launch in the CSL Division Two. Other First Division teams in Canada’s top league this upcoming season are Brampton City Utd., Burlington SC, London City, Niagara United, Serbian White Eagles, Toronto Croatia, SC Waterloo and York Region Shooters.

Prokipchuck, who played for six years as a professional in a country where football is the dominant sport highlighted by a quarter-finals position for the national team in the 2006 World Cup and followed by a successful hosting of the 2012 European Championship.

Prokipchuk is surrounded in his soccer activities by an abundance of skills with no shortage of experience, including head coach Ihor Yavorsky, who holds a UEFA B licence and time in the Ukraine’s Premier League and First Division, while Stas Honcharuk, a product of the Dynamo Kyiv academy who excels as an instructor in the local academy environment, has played professionally in the Ukraine and Poland. He will be playing for the CSL professional team.

“We take our football very seriously and the CSL will find we have a very professional approach to the game as we channel our young academy players in the right direction,” said Prokipchuk. The Atomic Selects Academy is a member of the Canadian Academy of Futbol (CAF). Of course, we share the responsibility of supporting our people in the Ukraine. Everyone understands that Ukrainians are hard-working, decent people wherever they are and we in Canada will do whatever we can to help,” he added.

Atomic FC are also entering a reserve team in the CSL Second Division and both teams will be playing out of the LCI Institute Stadium in Toronto’s west-end for a kickoff expected to be the weekend of May 16.

Players seeking a tryout for first entry to professional soccer are invited to email atomicselects2013@gmail.com.

Cyprus Cup: Canadian women lose final to England

February 2, 2024March 12, 2015 by CSL

Lianne Sanderson’s 67th-minute goal lifted England to a 1-0 win over Canada in the final of the Cyprus Cup on Wednesday.

The goal was the first given up by Canada at the women’s soccer tournament after victories over Scotland, South Korea and Italy.

The loss also ended Canada’s eight-game unbeaten streak.

It was a solid effort,” said head coach John Herdman after the match. “The last two times we faced England they were the better team, but I think it was the opposite today – we played really well. I’m disappointed for the girls. We had a few good opportunities early in the game, and I think we could have taken one and changed the outcome.”

New York Soccer Team Set for Historic Match in Cuba

February 2, 2024March 8, 2015 by CSL

It’ll take place on June 2 in Havana

The New York Cosmos will go up against Cuba’s national squad in Havana this summer, according to a new report, marking the first time in decades that a professional U.S. team will play on the island.

News of the soccer match was errantly announced early, according to the New York Times, which reports the game will take place June 2 during a lull in the Cosmos’ schedule. The Cuban national team will use the game to prepare for July’s Concacaf Gold Cup.

Pele: It’s time for Australia to host the World Cup

January 25, 2024March 5, 2015 by CSL

“No doubt [Australia can host a World Cup]. I remember when I was in Australia a long time ago people already mentioned about Australia hosting the World Cup,” Pele told Perform. “Now is the time, no doubt. The way to prepare for that is to have good players, good team and have some players play outside of Australia.

“I think no doubt Australia could host the World Cup.”