Serbian White Eagles repeated their 2024 season victory in the Royal Cup final, defeating Scarborough 2-0 at Esther Shiner Stadium on Sunday. Our club has three CSL Championships to its name as well as six Regular Season titles since entering the Canadian Soccer League as an expansion team in 2006. But our success in Canada goes back much earlier when our club relocated from Hamilton to Toronto to become a member of the National Soccer League and in 1974 drew attention throughout the country by being the first Canadian club to compete in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The final was a hard-fought encounter throughout and Scarborough found the net early with a goal that was ruled offside at the 11th minute mark.
Serbian White Eagles forward Marko Pavicevic opened the scoring at 30 minutes with a drive from inside the box that was deflected into the net for a 1-0 lead at the break. Pavicevic struck again for a 2-0 lead at the 71st minute and while Scarborough came close and midfielder Olek Katsiba was a constant threat to break through, Serbian White Eagles held an advantage for a 2-0 score at the final whistle against a team down to ten men following a second half red card to defender Marco Johansen which referee Ranee Arpati ruled a Violent Conduct offence at the 65th minute mark.
Serbian White Eagles head coach Bojan Zoranovic considered that the game went according to a determination to defend winning the trophy in 2024.
“I congratulate everyone on a good game, and my boys on a victory and great fight. A solid and competitive game, like all the games so far between Scarborough and us. We were lucky in some moments, but I think we showed more on the field and deservedly won this final. Our goal was to defend the title in the cup and we succeeded in that. New fights in the championship await us and I hope that we will be just as successful,” said Zoranovic.
Match Officials
Referee: Ranee Arpati
Assist. Referee 1: Tim Sandu
Assist. Referee 2: Yousef Yousef
4th Official: Phil Papanicolau
