2019

Following a third place finish in the 2018 CSL First Division standings and strengthened by the recent addition of five players from Europe, SC Waterloo kicked off a new campaign with a 4-0 victory over CSL Mississauga at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga Sunday night.

While the result was decisive enough, the pace and overall good performance of the recent arrivals also sent signals that the Eastern Ontario side will not be content with a third place finish in 2019. While it can be said that CSL champions FC Vorkuta and top-of-the-table and FC Ukraine United dominated the league’s top division last year, they can expect a strong challenge from more than one club during the coming season.

Waterloo will play its second game of the season at the Heritage Field in Hamilton on Saturday, one of four attractive games in the CSL over the weekend, while Vorkuta are at home at the Ontario Soccer Centre to expansion team Kingsman.

Hamilton City 1, under head coach Sasa Vukovic, will be also looking for an improvement in the team’s fifth place in the 2018 standings, highlighted by an impressive contribution by live wire striker Sani Dey who found the net 13 times in the regular season to lead the league’s First Division scoring.

Scarborough SC, at home to CSC Mississauga at Birchmount Stadium on Sunday, are expected to be prominent again after finishing the regular season in fourth position and were even closer to top honors in the post season, losing a heart-breaking penalty kicks decider following a 1-1 draw in in the championship final with Vorkuta. By contrast, their CSC Mississauga opposition this coming Sunday ended its inaugural 2018 CSL season with just one victory, although under new head coach Josip Raguz  Mississauga  appears to be an improved side despite the 4-0 opening game defeat.

Scarborough have retained goalscorers Aleksander Stojiljkovic and Kavin Bryan who accounted for 19 of the 34 goals scored during the regular season and prominent midfielder Zoran Knezevic for the upcoming campaign will also be in the line-up on Saturday.

Brantford Galaxy will be looking to improve their lowly eighth position in the 2018 standings when they kickoff the season at home to Serbian White Eagles on Saturday. Both sides have solid rosters to draw from and Galaxy head coach Milan Prpa will be counting on midfielder Sasa Vidovic, Miljan Milovic and Dragan Milovic to be prominent while bidding for honors during the regular season and in the playoffs.

Opposition Serbian White Eagles are in the same position as the Galaxy, searching for the former glory which brought the CSL championship in 2016 (Brantford were CSL champions in 2010), and Uros Stamatovic will be attempting to improve the low goal scoring record of 2018 which contributed to the White Eagles ending last season in an uncharacteristic sixth position in the First Division. Luka Bojic is one of several players expected to be prominent in the upcoming campaign.

The weekend games:

Saturday, May 25, The Ontario Soccer Centre 6 pm FC Vorkuta vs Kingsman A

Saturday, May 25, Heritage Field 6.30 pm Hamilton City vs SC Waterloo

Saturday, May 25, Heritage Field, 8.30 pm Brantford Galaxy vs Serbian White Eagles

Sunday, May 26, Birchmount Stadium, 8 pm Scarborough SC vs CSC Mississauga

An additional match, FC Ukraine United vs Real Mississauga SC originally scheduled for this Sunday, has been postponed.

The season opener on Sunday will see CSC Mississauga, a team in its second year in the CSL after struggling to find its feet during their inaugural 2018 season, take on SC Waterloo, a team that has been consistent and successful since first entering the CSL Second Division as KW United FC in 2011.

Waterloo’s most outstanding season came in 2013 when the Southwestern Ontario club won both the CSL Championship and the CSL Second Division Championship, a double never previously won by a CSL club in the same season. In 2018 Waterloo finished an impressive third in the standings behind the runaway leaders FC Ukraine United and FC Vorkuta.

CSC Mississauga was taking its first step into professional soccer in the 2018 campaign, finishing the season with just one victory and an average scoring rate of less than one goal per game.

“But you will find our team a little different this season,” said CSC Mississauga’s Mile Milkovic, GM of Sunday’s home side playing out of the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. “We learned a lot last year, our fitness level will be improved this season and we now have new players that will make a difference”.

Kristian Puljic, 23, an attacking midfielder recently transferred from Hamilton City, who beforefore entering the CSL attracted the attention of several European clubs and made nine appearances for Hrvatski Dragovoljac in the Druga HNL league of Croatia, and Peter Vukadin, a central defender also from that country, have been signed.

CSC Mississauga continues its development of young players and has entered a reserve team in the CSL Second Division in support of the first team.  “And we have other options for strengthening our First Division side for the upcoming season,” said Milkovic.

SC Waterloo GM Vojo Brisevac is beaming with confidence while facing the five-month regular season campaign and the prospect of breaking what is developing into a dominance of the CSL First Division by current CSL champions FC Vorkuta and FC Ukraine United, both finishing nine points clear of third place Waterloo in 2018.

Brisevac is ready to challenge the dominant top two, explaining: “ I’m very pleased with our team for the upcoming season. We have retained very good players from last year and we now have the addition of several outstanding players arriving this week from Serbia. They are going to make a difference,” he said.

Brisevac was referring to the arrival of Alexandar Milovanovic who played for FC Loznica and FK Buducnost, Petar Djordjevic, played for FK Sloga 33 and First Division OFK Petrovac in Montenegro,  Dalibor Ivanovic, was with OFK Divci and FK Buducnost, Nikola Milinkovic, with FK Buducnost and FK Loznica, and Vladimir Dojcinovic for liptovski Mikulas in Slovakia and  Dubocica.

But the club’s immediate focus is this coming holiday weekend’s opening game on Sunday, May 19 between CSC Mississauga and SC Waterloo with a kick off at 9 pm.

There will be a full slate of five CSL First Division matches scheduled for the following weekend, May 25 and 26.

The Canadian Soccer League has moved offices from Mississauga, Ontario to 75 International Blvd near Toronto International Airport. The move is effective immediately, with a change of telephone number. The new location is considered more central to the Greater Toronto Area.

The complete address is:

Canadian Soccer League

75 International Blvd.

Suite 203

Toronto, Ontario

M9W 6L9

Tel: 416 675-6256

SC Waterloo travels to CSC Mississauga for the CSL season opener May 19 to be followed by  five matches the following weekend  to kickoff  a new Canadian Soccer League five-month long regular season, a campaign stretching to early October, followed by the post-season playoffs leading to the CSL championship final later that month.

Defending CSL champions FC Vorkuta are at home to expansion team Kingsman SC at the OSA Soccer Centre in Vaughan and Hamilton City will begin its season against SC Waterloo at the Heritage Field in Hamilton followed by Brantford Galaxy vs Serbian White Eagles. FC Ukraine United kickoff their home season against Real Mississauga at Centennial Stadium.

Vorkuta enjoyed instant success on venturing into professional soccer after nine years of amateur competition in Toronto and just north of the city.  in 2017, the inaugural year in the CSL, the Richmond Hill-based club took the CSL First Division title and reached the semifinal of the championship playoffs. In 2018, Vorkuta won the CSL championship and there were also successes by the Vorkuta reserve team during both years, including the Second Division title in 2018.

FC Ukraine United has also been prominent in three years in the CSL following an impressive 10 years in the amateur Ontario Soccer League. Ukraine United entered local soccer in 2006, winning several competitions including promotion to the Central Premier Division in 2011. The Toronto-based club was accepted into the CSL in 2016, gaining a runner-up finish in the First Division, winning the Second Division in 2017 and taking the top division in 2018 by a superior goal differential over FC Vorkuta.

Scarborough SC team that came close to top honors following a very good 2018 regular season with just three defeats in the 16-game schedule for a fourth position finish. This was followed by a cliffhanger championship final that ended the season with Scarborough losing to Vorkuta on penalty kicks. It was a 1-1 draw following extra time. By contrast, CSC Mississauga ended its inaugural 2018 CSL season with just one victory and are expected to be stronger opponents in the upcoming campaign.

Opening games are:

Fri. May 19, Hershey Centre 9 pm CSC Mississauga vs SC Waterloo

Sat. May 25, Ontario Soccer Centre 6 pm FC Vorkuta vs Kingsman A  SC

Sat. May 25, Heritage Field 6:30 pm Hamilton City vs SC Waterloo

Sat May 25, Heritage Field 8:30 pm Brantford Galaxy vs Serbian White Eagles

Sun. May 26, Centennial Stadium 7:30 pm FC Ukraine United vs Real Mississauga SC

Sun. May 26, Birchmount Stadium  8 pm Scarborough SC vs CSC Mississauga

In just four weeks, ten teams will kickoff a new Canadian Soccer League season in a year that’s considered to be the beginning of a new era in professional soccer in Canada.

The CSL has announced the 2019 First Division line-up as FC Vorkuta (current CSL champions), Scarborough SC (2018 CSL Championship finalist), Brantford Galaxy, CSC Mississauga, Hamilton City, Kingsman SC, Real Mississauga SC, Serbian White Eagles, FC Ukraine United, SC Waterloo.

Kingsman SC was the one successful  expansion team of five that applied for 2019 First Division entry.

It’s been 95 years – in 1924 – since Canada ventured on to the world soccer stage, but its men’s national team has made only one appearance in the World Cup finals since that time. That was in 1986 when the team failed to score a goal in the three games played in Mexico.

Much has been said about Canada’s failure to gain a place in the World Cup finals since 1986, while many countries with less player and economic resources have basked in the glory of at least making an appearance.

Canada is all about hockey after all, it has been said. But demographics reveal a vastly different story, showing that the soccer community has been rich in player population for 20 years now – more than any other team sport – with an abundance of technical expertise following a flood of post-war arrivals of immigrants from countries steeped in soccer tradition. Dozens of coaches and players have settled in Canada after experiencing high level soccer elsewhere.

The lack of sufficient professional soccer, which includes the semi-professional game, for promising players to step into is now believed to be a major reason for Canada’s failure to develop a sufficient number of high level players for its men’s national team, a team strong enough for an appearance in the World Cup finals. It’s not every special player who wants to go outside of Canada during those early stages of uncertainty.

More high level soccer in Canada, consisting of Major League Soccer, the Canadian Soccer League and the launch of the Canadian Premier League on April 27, is expected to start paying dividends that will show results in the years to come.

“We will play our part and  continue a longstanding CSL practice and tradition of encouraging special Canadian players to strive for excellence that may give them a chance of entry into one of the youth national teams and eventually the men’s national side,” said CSL president Doug Bakoc.

In 2026, Canada should also be given a chance to compete in a World Cup as co-host with Mexico and the United States.

The CSL First Division regular season will run from mid-May to September with the post season playoffs leading to the CSL Championship in October.