Result and details of the Tuesday July 28, 2015 international friendly between Toronto FC II of the USL

and AS Roma Primavera (Italy) played at The Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan at 8:00pm.



43 min…Roma Edoardo Soleri GOAL…Roma Lorenzo Vasco passes forward from 60 yards on left and it splits

defenders and Soleri at 30 yards eludes goalie Filippo Di Bennardo at 25 yards down middle and

rolls 15 yarder into center of open net.

46 min (1st half)…TFC Raheem Edwards GOAL… Edwards pass from 55 yards on left is blocked by sliding

defender Lorenzo Vasco at 40 yard line but ball deflects to TFC Mark Serjeant on left sideline. He runs

from 45 yard line and rolls ball forward for TFC Malik Johnson who is pushed over by Roma Andrea Paolelli

but keeps on his feet and regains balance and runs 20 yards on wide left of net and rolls centering pass

to TFC Molham Babouli at 18 yards on edge of box who chips ball forward for charging Edwards at 7 yards

who jumps over sliding defender and around Roma Lorenzo Vasco at 5 yards and takes 3 yard shot from left

of post that deflects over sliding goalie Lorenzo Crisanto on post and into left side of net.

80 min…TFC Marcos Nunes GOAL…TFC Edwin Rivas at 20 yards in middle rolls ball forward and right

to Nunes who shoots low 15 yarder into left side of net.

85 min…Roma Conor Borg GOAL…Roma Francesco Di Mariano crosses from 20 yards on left and Borg

heads 6 yarder into center of net over goalie Brogen Engbers.

Regulation time ends 2-2 but late in the second half it is announced that if the game was tied

after 90 minutes, the teams would go straight to Penalty kicks.

Roma won the coin toss and elected to take the first shot. (shots are at the north end).

1. Roma Riccardo Marchizza GOAL…Marchizza shoots low to left corner of net as goalie

Brogen Engers dives to right.

1. TFC Molham Babouli shoots low and hits left post and ball deflects over to right post

as goalie Lorenzo Crisanto dives to left.

2. Roma Francesco Di Mariano GOAL…Di Mariano shoots low to left as goalie dives right.

2. TFC Marcos Nunes GOAL…Nunes blasts shot to left side while goalie crumples in middle.

3. Roma Alessandro Bordin GOAL…Bordin blasts shot to top left corner as goalie flies

to left but the ball is above him.

3. TFC Jordan Hamilton GOAL…Hamilton shoots low to left corner as goalie dives right.

4. Roma Antonkio D’Alena GOAL…D’Alena shoots low to left side under flying goalie.

4. TFC Liam Fraser GOAL…Fraser chips ball or right corner of net as goalie dives to left.

5. Roma Andrea Paolelli GOAL…Paolelli shoots to right side of net over flying goalie.

Final Score:…..Toronto FC II……2……..AS Roma Primavera………2…….

…..AS Roma Primavera win 5-3 on Penalty kicks.

Attendance was announces as 1017 (which is a record for TFC II this season).

Spooky in that I was saying about three minutes earlier to some old friends that based

on other games I’ve seen that there were about 1000 fans here. A pregame question and

answer session with AS Roma Primavera head coach Alberto De Rossi drew over 100 people

in the stands over an hour before the game started. I couldn’t hear what was being said

and translated. The crowd was slightly more favourable to the visitors judged by the

amount of gear I saw being worn by fans and the cheering of goals.

I wasn’t able to find a listing of numbers or player names on the internet before the

game of the Roma players. Listening carefully to the PA announcement introducing the

players I heard the numbers read off and player names didn’t always match. Thanks

to Krista from the game day staff for letting me take pictures of the Roma game sheet

after the game (although I found a clearer photo on a twitter post after I got home).

It was certainly important because the game commentators were reading from the program

and the PA announcer was using the game sheets so the Toronto FC Live site was reading

the wrong name on Roma’s first goal.

TFC II was certainly not outplayed at all in this game. I wouldn’t put anything into

believing that Canadian soccer is superior to Italian as this Primavera team is all

under age 19 while TFC II has players that age but stretching into their early twenties

and man sized!

The TFC II team was split into two squads I’d say of equal skill. They made ten changes

at the start of the second half (poor PA guy was reading swap for swap and someone

didn’t restart the game clock on time). Only Sal Bernal survived the purge but he lasted

until 61 minutes when Marcos Nunes replaced him. 79 minutes brought Molham Babouli back

into the game (the only player who ‘played twice’) but probably a special exemption

because Massimo Mirabelli had been injured six minutes earlier and hadn’t fully recovered.

Roma subbed five players at various times in the second half and that was their entire bench

except an extra goalie. Coach De Rossi said they’d left five players home with their first

team instead of making this trip.

In second half injury time a through ball was played to Roma’s 45 yard line without

an offside flag being held up. TFC Jordan Hamilton touched the ball and was immediately

called offside but charging behind him and slightly to the left was TFC Molham Babouli

who would have been fine if the ball had been allowed to roll to him.

Referee Yusri Rudolf only gave out one Yellow card the entire game and that was to Roma

Edoardo Soleri in second half injury time. A few other cards could have been given

to both teams earlier but players were just let off with warnings.

Raheem Edwards played last year in the first year of League 1 Ontario for International

(the team that was folded just before the halfway point of the season) and Durham United FC.

Of course a lot of the TFC II players played in that league while with the TFC Academy

which has a team in that league but it is nice to think a player on another team may someday

be able to cross over to TFC even though they didn’t get their start there.

A pregame interview on the TFC website had midfielder Chris Mannella looking forward

to playing his childhood favourite team but he wasn’t even listed on the subs bench so

maybe he’ll be on the MLS team’s squad for their Saturday game in New England.

Two easy reasons for a TFC II split squad is the chance for more players to have a tale for

their grandchildren and the fact that they have a home game this Saturday against

Louisville City FC.

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Robin Glover Website Robin has been writing about soccer in the Toronto area for message boards and his own website since the early 1990s in the days of 2400 baud modems to USENET sites. In the 2014 season he attended 76 games in various leagues that played in the GTA area. Follow Robin on Twitter and on his website

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