Article and photo by Djuradj Vujcic
Bottom row: Marko Stajic (captain), Nikola Timotijevic, Nikola Djurkovic, Srdjan Simovic and Danilo Bakoc
Our Serbian White Eagles faced off against Scarborough SC yesterday afternoon at Paramount 1 Field (near the Paramount Fine Foods Centre) in Mississauga. After a hard-fought ninety minutes, our team fell short and lost 3-2 to Scarborough SC.
It was an interesting match in a day that somehow managed to be sunny, humid and rainy all at the same time. Adrian Ibanez featured in net for our club and was solid as he stopped a number of Scarborough chances. Marko Stajic opened the scoring for our club in the 15th minute with a shot from near distance but Petar Djordjevic of Scarborough would tie it up in the 25th minute. Marko Stajic then made it 2-1 for our club from the penalty spot in the 44th minute but Scarborough then tied it up also from the penalty spot on a goal from Jordan Webb.
After Petar Planic was fouled and remained on the centre of the pitch, Scarborough continued on without kicking the ball out as a gesture of fair play and in that same action Scarborough was awarded yet another penalty from which they went up 3-2 as Jaime Grondona placed the ball past our keeper Adrian Ibanez. The less I say about what preceded the goal the better but it must be said that Planic was visibly in pain even after the match.
A late Petar Planic header that hit the crossbar followed by a good chance from Marko Krasic nearly earned us the tie but that was that for this game. A hard-fought, painful and dare I say undeserved loss as Scarborough won 3-2.
The win gave Scarborough a four-point lead at the top of the table with a 5-0-1 WLT record with Serbian White Eagles in second position and a 4-1-0 record for twelve points. Scarborough has conceded just two goals from the six games played. Both were scored in this game by our Marko Stajic who continues to lead the league in scoring with seven goals.
Our next match is Saturday July 22 (4:00 PM) against Ooty Black Pearl. The match will take place at Mattamy Field in Mississauga.
Serbian White Eagles (3-4-2-1): Adrian Ibanez, Srdjan Simovic, Ivan Cendic, Petar Planic, Nikola Djurkovic, Danilo Bakoc, Marko Krasic, Marko Stajic (captain), Nikola Timotijevic, Stefan Milosevic and Marko Pavicevic.
On the bench were John Trye, Aleksej Rajsic, Marko Orosic, Miroslav Jovanovic, Stefan Pejic, Vladimir Strizovic (replaced Stefan Milosevic in the 46th minute) and Bojan Sisovic (replaced Nikola Timotijevic in the 60th minute). The head coach in this game was Bojan Zoranovic.
UPDATE: In August, the CSL overturned the result of this match and awarded a 2-0 official result to the Serbian White Eagles due to an improperly registered player in the Scarborough lineup.