BLAST FROM THE PAST: NOTABLE FRIENDLY MATCHES

Article by Djuradj Vujcic
Photo by Boris Spremo

Serbian White Eagles striker Gabriel Pop (in blue) heads the ball

Throughout the club’s decades-long history, Serbian White Eagles FC has taken part in several notable friendly matches.

On May 23, 1973, the Canada Selects (a National Soccer League All-Star team) played a friendly against renowned English club Arsenal at Exhibition Stadium (located where today’s BMO Field is). Several of the NSL players were from the Serbian White Eagles. Arsenal won 1-0.

That same year, the Serbian White Eagles played Portuguese club Belenenses resulting in a 3-3 draw.

On July 26, 1974, the Serbian White Eagles beat Yugoslav First League side Vardar from Skopje (the capital of today’s North Macedonia) by a result of 1-0. The match was played at Exhibition Stadium and Vardar (who at the time of play were sixth in the Yugoslav First League) featured players such as Metodije Spasovski, Vanco Balevski, Josif Srebrov and goalkeeper Dragan Mutibaric. The Serbian White Eagles (who at the time of play were unbeaten in the NSL) were led by the legendary Dragoslav Sekularac.

On May 6, 2006, the Serbian White Eagles lost to the Toronto Lynx by a score of 1-0. The match was played at Centennial Park Stadium and the Toronto Lynx were the top team in Toronto at that time (Toronto FC began play in 2007).

Six days later, on May 12, 2006, the Serbian White Eagles played Portuguese second division side Santa Clara at Lamport Stadium. Santa Clara (traveling all the way from the Azores Islands) won the match 2-1. The photo used in this article is from that friendly. Goals were scored by Hermes Junior and Rúben Leite for Santa Clara and Gabriel Pop for the Serbian White Eagles.

On August 5, 2006, the Serbian White Eagles played Santa Clara once again – this time at Centennial Park Stadium. The match ended 0-0 and a fun fact about this match is that it was the first time the Serbian national anthem was played in an international soccer match.

On August 13, 2006, Jamaican side Harbour View beat the Serbian White Eagles 1-0 at Centennial Park Stadium. The match was well attended by members of both communities.

On May 26, 2009, the Serbian White Eagles played Toronto FC in a match played behind closed doors at BMO Field. The match finished with a score of 1-1.