Toronto Falcons defeated Serbian White Eagles with a 5-4 penalty kicks victory following a well-played, entertaining scoreless 90 minutes at the Mattamy Sports Park in Mississauga Saturday.
The result was seen by as an upset in the Canadian Soccer League season opener following a league title win by Serbian White Eagles in 2022, while Toronto Falcons ended its inaugural season in professional soccer last year with a fifth place finish in the standings.
Saturday’s match was a special opening event for the Royal CSL Cup, a tribute to long-time CSL announcer Enio Perruzza who died January 15th 2021 at the age of 54 following a period in which the popular Perruzza had heart surgery.
Serbian Eagles was quick to attack from the left wing in the early stages and into the first half with Nikola Timotijevic involved in several dangerous attempts including a drive that hit the lower post with Falcon’s goalkeeper Vasyl Shpuk beaten. A good cross by Timotijevic was headed just over the bar from 15 yards by Stefan Milosevic making his first appearance for the Serbian side.
Andrii Dulibskyi came close for Toronto Falcons late in the first half, his drive going over the bar. There were several close calls just before the break, with the best scoring opportunity for Serbian White Eagles when midfielder Marko Stajic also lifted his drive inches over the bar after collecting a pass and closing in to face the oncoming Shpuk in the Falcons goal.
Falcons goals in the penalty kicks decider were scored by Vasyl Matviyshin, Iaroslav Solonynko, Serhii Pitel, Andrii Sukhetskyi and Yevhen Osypenko, and Serbian White Eagles scorers were Marko Krasic, Stefan Milosevic, Nikola DurKovic and Marko Stajic.
The CSL is releasing its 2023 regular season schedule the week of May 15. The opening three matches will be at the Mattamy Sports Park in Mississauga on Sunday, May 28 with Hamilton City 1 the listed home team against Scarborough SC at 2 pm, to be followed by a 4 pm kickoff for Serbian White Eagles vs Ooty Black Pearl FC and a 6pm kickoff for FC Dynamo Toronto vs Weston United.
