CSL NEWS

PICTURE: Milos Kocic going down in CONCACAF Champions League play quarterfinal match won 2-1 by Toronto FC over LA Galaxy.                                                                                 Photographer: Michael Janosz

Former England goalkeeper Joe Corrigan was holding a coaching session for about 40 young would-be goalkeepers on a warm Sunday afternoon at Keelsedale Park in Toronto’s west-end some years ago, and  made a loud declaration “If you are not brave, you should stop trying to be a goalie now.”

The subject of bravery returned a few days ago when a Serbian White Eagles fan commented that goalkeeper Milos Kocic was a brave goalkeeper years ago, always ready to go down in the path of a speedy forward determined to get there first in a 50-50 ball situation, often at the end of a breakaway.

Kocic was one of Canada’s better goalkeepers, last played competitively in 2015 before retiring at 30 after making his mark with a promising career in Europe, then impressively in North America.

Unexpectedly, Kocic entered the field for Serbian White Eagles in the team’s last game of the regular season played at Centennial Stadium on October 2 and explained some days later following an indoor session: “I retired from playing back in 2015 to spend more time with my family, but I still enjoy the game and was encouraged to come back,” said the Serbian-born Kocic.

A youth international with Serbia and Montenegro, Kocic moved to the United States in 2005 and excelled in college soccer at Maryland where in 2008 he was named to the All-American Second team. He was drafted by DC United of Major League Soccer, while at the same time he was contacted by Red Star Belgrade where there was serious interest in a signing.

Kocic decided to stay in North America and in 2009 was signed by Toronto FC making his debut against Vancouver Whitecaps on June 2, 2010. Following a period on loan to Serbian White Eagles in the CSL, Kocic played 37 games for Toronto FC through to the 2012 season. A stint with Portland Timbers of MLS followed, then a signing by ETO FC Gyor, a top club in Hungary.

An imposing 6’ 4” in height, Kocic is anxious to be involved in the playoffs but a shoulder injury puts in doubt his appearance for Serbian White Eagles in the quarterfinal match against SC Waterloo at RIM Park on Saturday, while SC Waterloo GM Vojislav Brisevac reports his squad is healthy and looking forward to the match.

Samad Kadirov, general manager of CSL defending champions FC Vorkuta, says key player Pavlo Chornomaz has fully recovered from a groin injury and his crew is fit and ready for the quarterfinal against Kingsman.

CSL Championship – Quarterfinals

 Saturday, October 12  Ontario Soccer Centre 6 pm  FC Vorkuta vs Kingsman A

Saturday, October 12 Birchmount Stadium 6 pm Scarborough SC vs  CSC Mississauga

Saturday, October 12 RIM Park 7 pm SC Waterloo vs Serbian White Eagles

Sunday, October 13 Centennial Stadium 4 pm FC Ukraine United vs Hamilton City

Second Division Championship – Quarterfinals

The two top teams in the regular season standings, FC Vorkuta B and Serbian White Eagles B, gain a bye to the semifinals

Quarterfinal games:

Tuesday, October 15 Hershey Centre 9 pm CSC Mississauga B vs Brantford Galaxy B

Tuesday, October 15 Esther Shiner Stadium 9 pm Kingsman B vs Hamilton City B

PICTURE: Vorkuta won this game against Kingsman and 14 others to go the entire 2019 regular season  undefeated in the First Division. How far can Vorkuta go in the playoffs ?

FC Vorkuta has won 37 of the 48 regular season matches since kicking off in the Canadian Soccer League’s First Division in 2017. The club, named after and in tribute to a community with a troubled past located just above the Arctic Circle and almost 2,000 kilometers from Moscow, has won the CSL Championship and the First Division title twice, and Its reserve team has won the Second Division twice. All squeezed into almost three seasons.

The regular season just ended was particularly impressive with an unbeaten streak from start to finish in the First Division to reflect added signings on top of a solid squad that caught wide attention during the inaugural 2017 campaign and repeated successes in 2018.

New striker Mykola Temniuk, who played at a high level in Poland and Ukraine before signing for Vorkuta, was an immediate hit earlier this year and eventually won the current First Division top scorer award with 18 goals. Recent additions, midfielders Bogdan Borovskyi and Pavlo Chornomaz, both with high level experience in Ukraine, made a strong side even stronger following their arrival, and local talent addition Fadi Salback, who raised eyebrows when scoring four in his reserve team opener, was quickly moved to the first team, made a difference and is now considered a bright addition for the future..

How far can FC Vorkuta go in CSL professional soccer?

With two league titles won, can Vorkuta create a new CSL record by winning the CSL Championship and CSL Second Division Championship to scoop up all four titles in one season ?

“Playoffs are completely different story. Of course, we are dreaming of winning both playoffs titles and winning 4 titles in the same season would be something unbelievable. We will try our best, we will fight from the first second of the game till the very last one.  We sincerely hope that we will lift both playoffs trophies on October 26,”  said Vorkuta GM Samad Kadirov earlier this week.

Vorkuta’s first post-season match in pursuit of the CSL Championship goes against Kingsman at The Soccer Centre in Vaughan on Saturday, October 12, a 6 pm kickoff.

CSL Championship – Quarterfinals

Saturday, October 12  Ontario Soccer Centre 6 pm  FC Vorkuta vs Kingsman A

Saturday, October 12 Birchmount Stadium 6 pm  Scarborough SC vs  CSC Mississauga

Saturday, October 12 RIM Park 7 pm SC Waterloo vs Serbian White Eagles

Sunday, October 13 Centennial Stadium 4 pm FC Ukraine United vs Hamilton City

 Second Division Championship – Quarterfinals

The two top teams in the regular season standings, FC Vorkuta B and Serbian White Eagles B, gain a bye to the semifinals

Quarterfinal games:

Tuesday, October 15 Hershey Centre 9 pm CSC Mississauga B vs Brantford Galaxy B

Tuesday, October 15 Esther Shiner Stadium 9 pm Kingsman B vs Hamilton City B

 

Hamilton City jumped two positions to sixth in the standings with a 3-1 victory over Kingsman A and in one other match played to end the regular season in the Canadian Soccer League, Brantford Galaxy and Real Mississauga played to a scoreless tie.

Vukasin Kovacevic opened the scoring for Hamilton City at 36 minutes at the Heritage Field, a 1-0 lead at the interval. Haris Osmanagic made it 2-0 at 68 minutes and Kovacevic struck the third at the 87^th minute mark. Sayid Belmokhtar scored for Kingsman.

Hamilton City ended the season with a 6-9-3 WLT record for 21 points, while Kingsman drops to eighth in the standings with a 6-11-1 record for 19 points.

Kingsman and CSC Mississauga have each ended the season with 19 points and each has a first tie-breaker of 6 games won during the regular season. In the second tie-breaker, CSC Mississauga has a superior home-and-home record to assume 7^th position in the standings, Kingsman drops to 8^th.

With the completion of the First Division regular season the quarterfinals of the CSL Championship playoffs will be played Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13:

Saturday, October 12  Ontario Soccer Centre 6 pm  FC Vorkuta vs Kingsman A

Saturday, October 12  Scarborough vs  CSC Mississauga      Venue to be advised

Saturday, October 12 RIM Park 7 pm SC Waterloo vs Serbian White Eagles

Sunday, October 13 Centennial Stadium 4 pm FC Ukraine United vs Hamilton City

 The semifinals will be played the weekend October 18 – 20 and the CSL Championship Final will be played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Saturday, October 26, a 3 pm kickoff, to be preceded by the Second Division Championship at 1 pm.

 

 

 

Serbian White Eagles completed its regular season with a 3-1 victory over Kingsman A and in one other game in the Canadian Soccer League First Division, Hamilton City defeated CSC Mississauga 2-1.

Midfielder Nikola Postic opened the scoring for Serbian White Eagles in the first minute of play at Centennial Stadium, and Misel Klisara made it 2-0 for the home team at the 20 minute mark. It was 2-0 at the break.

Defender Zoran Pesic increased the lead to 3-0 for Serbian White Eagles at 82 minutes and Kingsman defender Vadym Zayamyy found the net past Serbian White Eagles goalkeeper Milos Kocic to reduce the lead to 3-1 at 86 minutes, the score in favour of Serbian White Eagles at the final whistle. It was Kocic’ return to Serbian White Eagles following success in Major League Soccer which included 37 appearances for Toronto FC.

Serbian White Eagles ended the regular season with a 9-5-4 WLT record for 31 points for fifth position in the table, having tied on points with SC Waterloo which took fourth in the standings by virtue of a superior tie-breaker of 10 wins during the regular season, Serbian White Eagled finished with nine.

Hamilton City improve to a 5-9-3 record for 18 points following Wednesday’s 2-1 win for 8^th position in the standings and one game remaining, while CSC Mississauga has completed its season with a 6-11-1 record for 19 points in 6^th position. Positions may change following the two games scheduled for Saturday, October 5. The final games in the First Division are:

 Saturday, Oct. 5 Heritage Field 6:30 pm  Hamilton City vs Kingsman A     

Saturday, Oct. 5, Heritage Field 8:30 pm Brantford Galaxy vs Real Mississauga     

TIE-BREAKERS

When teams are tied on points at the end of the regular season, the following tie-breakers are used in the following order:

1. Total wins
2. Head to head record
3. Goal difference
4. Goals score during regular season

First Division teams in the CSL Championship playoffs:

FC Vorkuta (Home advantage)

Scarborough SC (Home advantage)

FC Ukraine United (Home advantage)

SC Waterloo (Home advantage)

Serbian White Eagles

Kingsman A

CSC Mississauga

Hamilton City

_________________

Second Division Championship

 In the Second Division Championship, all six teams will take part in the playoffs. FC Vorkuta B, which won the Second Division regular season, and runner-up Serbian White Eagles B, will gain a bye in the opening round quarterfinals. The four remaining teams will play in the opening round.

 

FC Vorkuta completed its regular season with a 2-1 victory over nearest rivals Scarborough SC Saturday, to register an unbeaten 18 games and a nine-points margin at the top of the table.  Waterloo completed its regular season with a 5-0  win over Brantford Galaxy and in one other game Real Mississauga kept its playoff hopes alive with a 1-0 defeat of Hamilton City.

Vorkuta took 1-0 lead midway through the first half at Esther Shiner Stadium, a goal by Sergei Ivliev who took a corner kick by Bogdan Borovskyi to volley the ball into the corner out of reach of Scarborough goalkeeper John Trye.  Scarborough equalized at the 33^rd minute mark, a goal by the prolific Aleksandar Stojiljkovoc, his 13th of the season to be second in the First Division scoring behind Vorkuta’s Mykola Temniuk, the scoring leader with 18. It was 1-1 at the break.

Vorkuta was on the attack for most of the second half and the winning goal came at 75 minutes from the penalty spot. Vorkuta’s Serhii Melnyk was brought down in the box and captain Liubomyr Halchuk found the net from the spot. The 2-1 Vorkuta lead held to the final whistle.

Vorkuta ended the regular season with a 15-0-3 WLT record for 48 points, while Scarborough ended with 13-2-3 for 39 points in the runner-up position.

Forward Petar Dordevic opened the scoring at the 20^th minute at Heritage Field for Waterloo, a 1-0 score at the break. Sven Arapovic made it 2-0 for the visitors at 50 minutes and Aleksandar Milovanovic increased the lead to 3-0 seven minutes later.

Dado Hadrovic increased the Waterloo lead to 4-0 at 71 minutes and forward Aleksandar Bozovic completed the scoring at 78 minutes, a 5-0 result in favour of Waterloo at the final whistle.

Waterloo completed the regular season with a 10-7-1 record for 31 points, while Brantford Galaxy has a 2-14-1 record for 7 points, with one game remaining.

Real Mississauga won a 1-0 squeaker over Hamilton City at Heritage Field to keep playoff hopes alive. Real Mississauga has a 3-12-1 record for 10 points and in ninth position in the table with two games remaining in the regular season, while Hamilton City has a 4-9-3 record for 15 points and also two games remaining.

Teams having clinched a playoff spot are:

FC Vorkuta

Scarborough SC

SC Waterloo

FC Ukraine United

Serbian White Eagles

Kingsman A

CSC Mississauga

Hamilton City or Real Mississauga will clinch the last playoff spot to complete the eight First Division teams in the CSL Championship playoffs.

Brantford Galaxy has been eliminated from the playoffs.

Quarterfinals for the CSL Championship will be played the weekend October 11 to 13, the semifinals the following weekend October 18 to 20.

The CSL Championship Final and the Second Division Championship will be played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Saturday, October 26 and the Second Division Championship will kickoff at 1 pm to be followed by the CSL Championship at 3 pm

UPCOMING GAMES IN THE FIRST DIVISION

Tuesday, Oct. 1 Centennial Stadium 8 pm FC Ukraine United vs Real Mississauga SC

Wednesday, Oct. 2 Centennial Stadium 7.30 pm Serbian White Eagles vs Kingsman A

Wednesday, Oct 2 St. Marcellinus HS Field 9 pm CSC Mississauga vs Hamilton City

 

 

 

 

CSC Mississauga clinched a playoff spot with a 6-2 victory over Kingsman A, and in an earlier game in the Canadian Soccer League First Division Friday night, FC Ukraine United defeated Serbian White Eagles 3-1.

Following a scoreless first half at Centennial Stadium, Ukraine United striker Molham Babouli found the net from close in against Serbian White Eagles to open the scoring at 62 minutes and Viktor Lee beat Serbian White Eagles’ goalkeeper Goran Skaric to make it 2-0 ten minutes later.

Forward Nazar Milishchuk increased the lead to 3-0 for the home side at the 86^th minute mark and at 90 minutes Serbian White Eagles reduced the lead to 3-1 when Marko Stajic found the net past Ukraine United goalkeeper Oleksandr Popravka and the 3-1 score in favour of Ukraine United held to the final whistle.

The win moves Ukraine United up to third in the table, a 9-6-2 WLT record for 29 points with one game remaining in the regular season, while Serbian White Eagles drop to fifth in the standings with an 8-5-4 record for 28 points, also with one game remaining.

CSC Mississauga earned a place in the post season CSL Championship playoffs with an easy 6-2 defeat of Kingsman A in the late game played at the Hershey Centre.

Matthaus Garcia struck twice for CSC Mississauga, Pero Manalo. Mykhaylo Berezovyy, Edgar Osorio Rios and substitute Vitalii Koliesnikov each scored singles, while Serhil Pitel and Pavlo Shulhan scored the two goals for the visitors.

CSC Mississauga has a 6-10-1 record for 19 points in the standings, while Kingsman A has a 6-8-1 record, also for 19 points.

Teams having clinched a playoff spot to date are:

FC Vorkuta

Scarborough SC

FC Ukraine United

SC Waterloo

Serbian White Eagles

Kingsman A

CSC Mississauga

Hamilton City or Real Mississauga will clinch the last playoff spot to complete the eight First Division teams in the CSL Championship playoffs. Brantford Galaxy has been eliminated from the playoffs.

Quarterfinals for the CSL Championship will be played the weekend October 11 to 13, the semifinals the following weekend October 18 to 20.

The CSL Championship Final and the Second Division Championship will be played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Saturday, October 26 and the Second Division Championship will kickoff at 1 pm to be followed by the CSL Championship at 3 pm

UPCOMING GAMES IN THE FIRST DIVISION

Saturday, Sept. 28 Esther Shiner Stadium 6 pm   FC Vorkuta vs Scarborough SC 

Saturday, Sept. 28 Heritage Field 6.30 pm Hamilton City vs Real Mississauga SC 

Saturday, Sept. 28  Heritage Field 8.30 pm Brantford Galaxy vs SC Waterloo        

Tuesday, Oct. 1 Centennial Stadium 8 pm FC Ukraine United vs Real Mississauga SC        

Wednesday, Oct. 2 Centennial Stadium 7.30 pm Serbian White Eagles vs Kingsman A     

Wednesday, Oct 2 St. Marcellinus HS 9 pm CSC Mississauga vs Hamilton City

 

While Real Mississauga is not officially out of the playoff picture, the team’s chances of clinching a spot in the post season championship games changed for the worse following the Mississauga side’s 4-1 home defeat by Hamilton City Tuesday night.

Real Mississauga must win all three of its remaining regular season matches to be involved at best in a tie-breaker determination to be one of the top eight teams. One defeat or a draw automatically eliminates Real Mississauga. Kingsman A have clinched a playoff spot and Brantford Galaxy is the first team to be eliminated as a result of Hamilton City’s 4-1 win.

Hamilton City scored twice in each half and won handily despite losing Vukasin Kovacevic when shown the red card following a second caution in the match at Esther Shiner Stadium Tuesday night. The victory improved Hamilton City to a 4-8-3 WLT record for 15 points in eighth position, while Real Mississauga are at 2-12-1 with 7 points in ninth position in the table.

Teams having clinched a playoff spot are:

FC Vorkuta

Scarborough SC

SC Waterloo

Serbian White Eagles

FC Ukraine United

Kingsman A

 The following teams still have an opportunity to secure a spot in the playoffs:

CSC Mississauga

Hamilton City

Real Mississauga

 The following team has been eliminated from the playoffs:

Brantford Galaxy.

 Quarterfinals for the CSL Championship will be played the weekend October 11 to 13, the semifinals the following weekend October 18 to 20.

The CSL Championship Final and the Second Division Championship will be played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Saturday, October 26 and the Second Division Championship will kickoff at 1 pm to be followed by the CSL Championship at 3 pm.

FC VORKUTA B WINS SECOND DIVISION 

FC Vorkuta B dominated Kingsman B 12-2 at the Ontario Soccer Centre Wednesday night and in doing so won the Second Division title to add to the First Division regular season title secured over the weekend.

UPCOMING GAMES IN THE FIRST DIVISION

Friday, Sept. 27 Centennial Stadium 7 pm  FC Ukraine United vs Serbian White Eagles

Friday, Sept. 27 Hershey Centre 9 pm CSC Mississauga vs Kingsman A     

Saturday, Sept. 28 Esther Shiner Stadium 6 pm   FC Vorkuta vs Scarborough SC  

Saturday, Sept. 28 Heritage Field 6.30 pm Hamilton City vs Real Mississauga SC  

Saturday, Sept. 28  Heritage Field 8.30 pm Brantford Galaxy vs SC Waterloo         

Tuesday, Oct. 1 Centennial Stadium 8 pm FC Ukraine United vs Real Mississauga SC         

Wednesday, Oct. 2 Centennial Stadium 7.30 pm Serbian White Eagles vs Kingsman A      

Wednesday, Oct 2 St. Marcellinus HS 9 pm CSC Mississauga vs Hamilton City       

 

 

 

 

Scarborough SC secured the runner-up position with a 2-1 victory over Serbian White Eagles in the only match played in the Canadian Soccer League First Division Sunday night.

The win leaves Scarborough with one game remaining in the regular season, a visit to Esther Shiner Stadium to complete its regular season against FC Vorkuta on Saturday, September 28.

Vorkuta and Scarborough have occupied the top two positions in the First Division for most of the regular season.

Vorkuta and Scarborough will enter the CSL Championship quarterfinals with home advantage during the weekend of October 11-13 and an additional two teams – expected to be from Waterloo, Serbian White Eagles or FC Ukraine United – will also have home advantage during the post-season playoffs. With five playoff spots confirmed – Vorkuta, Scarborough, Waterloo, Serbian White Eagles and Ukraine United, the remaining three have yet to be decided.

The quarterfinals will be followed by the semifinals during the weekend of October 18-20 and the CSL Championship Final will be played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Saturday, October 26.

The CSL Second Division league title has yet to be decided to establish the top two teams gaining a bye into the playoff semifinals. The remaining four teams will play their quarterfinal matches, with the two winners and the top two teams in the standings meeting in the semifinals.

 FIRST DIVISION GAME TUESDAY        

Tuesday, Sept. 24 Esther Shiner Stadium 9 pm Real Mississauga vs Hamilton City

UPCOMING SECOND DIVISION GAMES 

Wed,, Sept. 25 Iceland Field 9 pm Serbian White Eagles B vs Hamilton City B           

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Ontario Soccer Centre 9 pm Kingsman B vs FC Vorkuta B   

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Cardinal Newman 9 pm Brantford Galaxy B vs  CSC Mississauga B  

              

 

 

PICTURE: The opening goal from the penalty spot almost immediately following the evening kickoff between visiting FC Vorkuta and Real Mississauga at Huron Park in Mississauga on Saturday night, was scored by FC Vorkuta captain Liubomyr Halchuk. The goal led to the 7-1 victory  and the First Division title for Vorkuta, a fitting achievement for the now 37 year old Ukrainian-born defender with almost 200 professional appearances in Europe, more that 100 of which was for FC Lviv of the highly rated Ukrainian Premier League. Halchuk is today surely one of the most experienced defenders playing in Canadian soccer and is a big reason for the continuing success of Vorkuta in the Canadian Soccer League.

Unbeaten FC Vorkuta emphasized its season-long superiority with a 7-1 victory over Real Mississauga Saturday night and in doing so won the Canadian Soccer League First Division title. It was the 14^th regular season win for the current CSL champions, and with three draws it leaves one game to be played by Vorkuta before the post-season championship playoffs begin in October. In one other First Division match on Saturday, SC Waterloo nipped FC Ukraine United 1-0, scoring in the closing minutes of a hard-fought contest.

Vorkuta lost no time in finding the Real Mississauga net at the Huron Park ground, scoring from the penalty spot in the first minute of play following a foul in the box by Mississauga defender Vadim Gozbunov on Vorkuta’s Mykola Temniuk. Vorkuta captain Liubomyr Halchuk scored from the spot. Serhii Melnyk made it 2-0 for Vorkuta, scoring his first goal of the season for the visitors at 15 minutes, a powerful low strike which quickly found the corner of the net. Temniuk added a third minutes later, his 17^th goal of the season after taking a pass from Vadym Gostiev and at the 32^nd minute mark Volodymyr Bidlovskyy drove a perfect curling free kick over the wall to increase the lead to 4-0.Temniuk scored goal number 18 on the season from the penalty spot following a hand ball offence by Real Mississauga’s Vadim Gozbunov for a 5-0 score at 41 minutes, the score at the break.

A third penalty kick in the game resulted in Real Mississauga’s only goal, the penalty taken by Arlind Ferhati after Valerii Haidarzhi of Vorkuta drew the referee’s whistle for a foul in the box. Iaroslav Solonynko’s one touch volley off a cross by Bidlovskyy made it 6-1 and the final goal came at 65 minutes when Bidlovskyy took a pass from Sergei Ivliev to find the corner, a 7-1 result in favour of Vorkuta at the final whistle.

Vorkuta wins the First Division with a 14-0-3 WLT for 45 points with one regular season game to be played, while Real Mississauga are at 2-11-1 for 7 points in ninth position in the table and four games remaining in the regular season schedule.

Defender Vladimir Zelenbaba struck the winner at 88 minutes for SC Waterloo in a hard fought encounter against visiting FC Ukraine United at RIM Park, to lift Waterloo into third position in the standings with a 9-7-1 for 28 points. Ukraine United has an 8-6-2 record for 26 points and fifth in the table. The top four teams at the completion of the regular season have home ground advantage in the post-season playoffs.

Midfielder Maksym Rohovskyi of Ukraine United was shown the red card by referee Javier Prior for a second half send-off.

There was one game in the Second Division Saturday, CSC Mississauga B defeated FC Vorkuta B, 4-0

REMAINING FIRST DIVISION GAME THIS WEEKEND:        

Sunday, Sept. 22 Birchmount Stadium 8 pm Scarborough SC vs Serbian White Eagles

Tuesday, Sept. 24 Esther Shiner Stadium 9 pm Real Mississauga vs Hamilton City

UPCOMING SECOND DIVISION GAMES 

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Iceland Field 9 pm Serbian White Eagles B vs Hamilton City B           

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Ontario Soccer Centre 9 pm Kingsman B vs FC Vorkuta B   

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Cardinal Newman 9 pm Brantford Galaxy B vs  CSC Mississauga B  

              

 

 

 

 

CSC Mississauga moved much closer to a playoff spot with a 3-0 victory over Brantford Galaxy, the one Canadian Soccer League First Division match played Friday.

With a record of 5-10-1 WLT following the win, the Mississauga side has two games remaining in the regular schedule, at home against Kingsman A on Friday, September 27, followed by an away encounter with Hamilton City.

Brantford Galaxy, with a record of 2-13-1 for 7 points following Friday’s defeat, has two games remaining, at home against SC Waterloo on September 28 and Real Mississauga on October 5.

The regular season is expected to end during the first week of October and the post season playoffs will begin with the quarterfinals the Thanksgiving weekend of October 11, 12 and 13, followed by the semis the weekend 18, 19, 20. The CSL Championship Final and Second Division Championship Final will be played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Saturday, October 26.

On completion of the First Division regular season, the top four teams will have home team advantage in the playoffs and the opening round quarterfinals will be arranged 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5.

In the Second Division, all teams are in the playoffs and the top two teams at the end of the regular season will gain a bye to the semifinals.

The position of teams tied on points at the end of the regular season will be decided using the CSL Tie-Breaking Rule 2009:  Total wins during the regular season is the first decider, and if still tied, it’s the head to head record based on points. If still tied, the best goal difference in regular season games is used and if still tied, the total goals scored in regular season games is what counts.

Playoff games will be the usual regular time plus added time at 90 minutes (as with regular season games). If the score is tied, the teams will play 15 minutes each way extra time. If still tied, penalty kicks will be taken as per FIFA guidelines, to decide the winner.

REMAINING FIRST DIVISION GAMES THIS WEEKEND:     

Saturday, Sept. 21 Huron Park 7 pm  Real Mississauga SC vs FC Vorkuta 

Saturday, Sept. 21 RIM Park 7 pm  SC Waterloo vs FC Ukraine United      

Sunday, Sept. 22 Birchmount  8 pm Scarborough SC vs Serbian White Eagles

Tuesday, Sept. 24 Esther Shiner Stadium 9 pm Real Mississauga vs Hamilton City

 UPCOMING SECOND DIVISION GAMES

Saturday, Sept. 21 St. Roberts Field 1 pm FC Vorkuta B vs CSC Mississauga B        

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Iceland Field 9 pm Serbian White Eagles B vs Hamilton City B           

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Ontario Soccer Centre 9 pm Kingsman B vs FC Vorkuta B   

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Cardinal Newman 9 pm Brantford Galaxy B vs  CSC Mississauga B  

              

 

PICTURE: Aleksander Stojiljkovic of Scarborough (seen here) and Molham Babouli of FC Ukraine United each scored 4 goals in recent regular season action, a good sign the teams are in form and confident of the upcoming post season playoffs which begin weekend October 11, 12, 13.

With five teams, FC Vorkuta, Scarborough SC, Serbian White Eagles, FC Ukraine United and Waterloo having clinched playoff berths for the post season Canadian Soccer League Championship, the remaining five teams in the CSL First Division are completing their regular season in a late attempt to clinch the three remaining spots still open.

Brantford Galaxy will play the first of its three games remaining in the regular season on Friday and with just 7 points they need a win to stay in contention. Real Mississauga, while also having 7 points and needing wins, are in a more favourable position, have played just 13 games  with five games still outstanding.

CSC Mississauga – Galaxy’s opponents on Friday –  is also in a better position for a playoff spot, as is Kingsman A, a team that’s not playing this weekend, it is idle until September 27. Hamilton City, will continue its bid for a playoff spot in a rare midweek game against Real Mississauga on Tuesday, September 24.

Defending champions FC Vorkuta continues to be a force in both divisions of the CSL and are considered favourites for a repeat of the 2018 CSL Championship victory. Scarborough SC, Serbian White Eagles and FC Ukraine United and SC Waterloo are all confident after clinching early playoff berths and showing recent strong form.

Individual players in two of these teams, FC Ukraine United and Scarborough SC, each struck 4 goals in recent games and thast’s always a good sign. They are Molham Babouli, playing in his first game with Ukraine United on September 8 and Aleksander Stojiljkovic scored 4 in the 6-1 Scarborough victory over Brantford Galaxy on September 14. Stojiljkovic has some history of finding the net four times in CSL games.

UPCOMING FIRST DIVISION:

Friday, Sept.20 Hershey Centre 9 pm CSC Mississauga vs Brantford Galaxy

Saturday, Sept. 21 Huron Park 7 pm  Real Mississauga SC vs FC Vorkuta

Saturday, Sept. 21 RIM Park 7 pm  SC Waterloo vs FC Ukraine United

Sunday, Sept. 22 Birchmount Stadium 8 pm Scarborough SC vs Serbian White Eagles

Tuesday, Sept. 24 Esther Shiner Stadium 9 pm Real Mississauga vs Hamilton City

UPCOMING SECOND DIVISION GAMES

Saturday, Sept. 21 St. Roberts Field 1 pm FC Vorkuta B vs CSC Mississauga B

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Iceland Field 9 pm Serbian White Eagles B vs Hamilton City B

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Ontario Soccer Centre 9 pm Kingsman B vs FC Vorkuta B

Wednesday, Sept. 25 Cardinal Newman 9 pm Brantford Galaxy B vs  CSC Mississauga B