2018

Last week’s home defeat of Kingston FC to Burlington confirms the 2013 First Division title winner in unlikely to be back in the catch-me-if-you-can mode demonstrated throughout last season and which brought eventual success.

An additional three players – Nathan Klemencic, Akil DeFreitas and Michel Paulin – are returning from injuries to bring Kingston almost back to full strength, which is bound to make a difference starting with Saturday’s home encounter with Brampton City Utd. That’s a 6.45 pm. kickoff.

Much of the attention on Saturday will be on York Region Shooters, however, as the team from north of Toronto faces a tough proposition while visiting Toronto Croatia in a bid to extend an unbeaten streak to six games.

Toronto Croatia appears to have found their stride following a slow early season start and will looking to break the impressive run that has Shooters on top of the standings, and that’s unlikely to change given the superior goal differential of York Region, whatever the outcome of Saturday’s match. The game goes at 8 pm.

The current CSL champions, SC Waterloo, are struggling under a slow start to the season with just one win in their six games and are hoping to improve that record at home to Serbian White Eagles, a 7 pm kickoff on Sunday at Warrior Field at Waterloo.

The weekend games were underway Friday night when last year’s Second Division title winner, Toronto Croatia B, nudged past York Region Shooters B by a 3-2 score.

FIRST DIVISION

Sat July 5 Queen’s West Field 6.45 pm Kingston FC vs Brampton City Utd

Sat July 5 Kalar Sports Park 7 pm Niagara United FC vs North York Astros

Sat July 5 Hershey Centre 8 pm Toronto Croatia vs York Region Shooters

Sat July 5 Hellenic Centre 8.30 pm London City vs Burlington FC

Sun July 6 Warrior Field 7 pm SC Waterloo vs Serbian White Eagles

SECOND DIVISION

Fri July 4 Hershey Centre  Toronto Croatia B 3, York Region Shooters B 2

Sat July 5 Warrior Field 10 am SC Waterloo B vs Serbian White Eagles B

Sat July 5 Kalar Sports Park 4 pm Niagara United B vs Milton FC

Sat July 5 Queen’s West Field 4.30 pm Kingston FC B vs Brampton City Utd B

Sat July 5 Sherwood East Field 6.30 pm Burlington SC B vs Winstars Shooters

 

 

Canada is a one soccer-developing country that has failed to recognize the importance of strengthening its professional soccer as a means of being more competitive on the world stage.

As Colin Miller puts it ‘We need more Canadian pro franchises to give Canadian players a chance to play’.

Miller, the head coach of Edmonton FC, was explaining as the former head coach of Canada’s national team for nine games including the CONCACAF Gold Cup last year, ‘seven of our Canadian national team players were unattached.’  His comments were part of a story published by the Times Colonist newspaper of Victoria, British Columbia.

Miller further elaborated in a telephone interview with CSL media: “So many players without a professional club is unheard of at the international level.”

The Canadian Soccer Association has continued to dodge what FIFA, coaches and technical specialists have been saying for years that a strong professional soccer structure plays a big part in strengthening the performance of a country’s national team in international competition, including the World Cup. They define professional soccer to include the semi-professional game.

Back as 2001 FIFA president Sepp Blatter visited Canada and didn’t mince words at a weekend press conference in Toronto, saying: “You must do something with your professional soccer,” a comment made while spelling out the need to have an independent pro soccer structure for promising players to stay within the country for serious development.

FIFA had the experience of congested Europe to fall back on and Blatter made it clear that it’s not every talented kid who wants to go to another country in search of an often elusive success while competing with local players for a place with the top clubs. “And you mustn’t count on the United States, they have their own interests,” he said.

The Canadian Professional Soccer League (forerunner of today’s CSL) came into focus at a subsequent meeting in Montreal immediately following Blatter’s visit which included a stop in Ottawa seeking support of the federal government.  Michael Vandale, the pro soccer committee chair for the Canadian Soccer Association then released a paper which summarized the CSA’s pledge which included: ‘to support the expansion of the CPSL in their drive towards establishing divisions across the major regions of Canada.’

Vandale’s statement also said: ‘The CSA Board of Directors should go on record as actively encouraging the membership of this Association to become more involved with the promotion and support of their regional club in order to better assist the future of pro soccer in Canada.’

No discernable steps were taken by the CSA following decisions to assist semi-professional soccer despite the CSL’s reputation (and that of its forerunner leagues) as a feeder system for producing players like Paul Munster (London City) to Slavia Prague, a top team in the Czech Republic, Atiba Hutchinson (York Region Shooters) to Toronto Lynx then to Oster of Sweden, Alen Marcina (Ottawa Wizards) to PAOK of Greece, and others who signed for overseas clubs and gained international honours with their national youth teams.

The attempt to launch the combination of a top-flight Canadian United Soccer League (CUSL) as Canada’s Division One, with the CPSL to be Canada’s Division Two, failed to get off the ground.

The most recent attempt to strengthen professional soccer in Canada – the expansion of the CSL – was met with little enthusiasm by the CSA and the league is now private.

Canada’s professional soccer structure – five clubs in two U.S.-based leagues, the CSL, and two undefined leagues finding their feet in Ontario and Quebec, is slim indeed, and the wishes of the Colin Miller, who played professionally in Scotland, England and Canada, and 61 times for the Canadian national team before becoming one of Canada’s top coaches, may be disappearing from the horizon.

A top-flight Canadian national league is just not in the cards for Canada and recent decisions of the CSA have left a fractured lower professional level attempting to redefine its place and purpose on the Canadian soccer landscape.

 

 

York Region Shooters extended their unbeaten streak to five games with a 3-1 victory over London City, while North York Astros ran over Brampton City Utd 5-0 and Burlington SC surprised Kingston FC with a 2-1 away win, three games in the CSL First Division Sunday.

Nathan Klemencic opened the scoring  for the home side at the Queen’s West Field in Kingston, finding the net past Burlington goalkeeper Vladimir Vujasinovic at the 12^th minute mark and it was 1-0 for Kingston at half-time.

Burlington struck twice in the second half, the first at 73 minutes by forward Erwin Uzunovic who scored past Kingston ‘keeper Jaroslav Tesar and the winning goal by forward Darren Chambers at 89 minutes for a 2-1 Burlington away win.

Striker Jose Melo opened the scoring for North York Astros at Victoria Park in Brampton, the goal coming at the 5^th minute and defender Jevon Vanderreyden made it 2-0 seven minutes later –  the score at half-time.

Melo then struck a second goal from the penalty spot, a drive that was saved by Brampton goalkeeper Euloge Awitor Kodzo against the goalpost and the Astros’ striker found the net from the rebound for a 3-0 score at 55 minutes.

Midfielder Andres Camilo Duenas made it 4-0 for the visitors at 77 minutes and Jose Goncalves De Sousa rounded out the scoring to 5-0 at 81 minutes, the score at the final whistle.

The 5-0 triumph, which is North York’s first win of the season, tops the previous notable away wins in recent times when in 2009 the Astros defeated Portugal FC 4-0 at Brockton Stadium on August 2, and a 4-1 result over London City at Cove Road a month later.

London City went ahead at 32 minutes in their away encounter with league-leading York Region Shooters at the St. Joan of Arc ground in Maple, the goal coming from striker Marin Vucemilovic Grgic on a breakaway following an attack by the home club. It was 1-0 at half-time.

Richard West tied the score 1-1 for the Shooters at 69 minutes, heading in past London goalkeeper Vladimir Markotic, then West added a second 10 minutes later for a 2-1 York Region lead.

Recently-signed forward Yora Enzam scored his first for York Region Shooters at 87 minutes for a 3-1 lead and the final score.

There were record-breaking individual and team scores in the CSL Second Division when forward Mademba Ba ran rampant in finding the net seven times in Kingston FC reserve team’s 9-1 blitz of Burlington SC reserves, a result that put the eastern Ontario side on top of the Reserve Division.

That high score was well short of SC Waterloo’s riot at Eglinton Flats in Toronto’s west end where the western Ontario reserve side thumped Serbian White Eagles B, 16-0. Waterloo’s Nikola Miokovic led with six goals.

The result means the second time SC Waterloo has achieved a record-breaking performance in the CSL, the 16-0 result follows the double championship victories of November 3, 2013 when the club that represents Waterloo region captured the CSL Championship and the Second Division Championship in the same season.

Sunday’s results:

Burlington SC 2, Kingston FC 1

North York Astros 5, Brampton City Utd 0

York Region Shooters 3,  London City 1

 

SECOND DIVISION

Milton FC 4, York Region Shooters B 3

Brampton City Utd B 2, Winstars Shooters 2

Kingston FC B 9, Burlington SC B 1

SC Waterloo B 16, Serbian White Eagles B 0

 

CSL current champions SC Waterloo gained their first victory of the new season with a 2-1 win over Serbian White Eagles at Lamport Stadium in Toronto, the only game in the CSL Saturday.

Serbian White Eagles opened the scoring when forward Milos Scepanovic collected the ball in the midfield, moved it to Sahjah Read who rounded Waterloo goalkeeper Irad Hakura before finding the empty net. The goal was scored at 17 minutes and it was 1-0 at the break.

Waterloo tied the game 1-1 at 52 minutes when Drazen Vukovic scored from the penalty spot, ordered by referee Jorge Oyague who pointed to the spot following a foul by Serbian Eagles defender Mirko Medic on Vukovic. It was Vukovic’s fifth goal of the season.

Waterloo’s Adis Hasecic struck the winner for the visitors at 61 minutes when he beat Serbian Eagles’ goalkeeper Stefan Avramovic with a drive from 16 yards and the 2-1 score held until the final whistle.

Remaining games in the CSL this weekend:

FIRST DIVISION

Sun June 29 Queen’s West Field 1 pm Kingston FC vs Burlington SC

Sun June 29 Victoria Park 5.30 pm Brampton City Utd vs North York Astros

Sun June 29 St. Joan of Arc 6.30 pm York Region Shooters vs London City

SECOND DIVISION

Sun June 29 Bishop Reding HS 12 pm  Milton FC vs York Region Shooters B

Sun June 29 Victoria Park 3 pm Brampton City Utd B vs Winstars Shooters

Sun June 29 Queen’s West Field 3.15 pm Kingston FC B vs Burlington SC  B

Sun June 29 Eglinton Flats 4 pm Serbian White Eagles B vs SC Waterloo B