United’s dream of playing Toronto FC shattered
GUELPH – Guelph United FC really wanted to play Toronto FC in the quarter-finals of the Voyageurs Cup Canadian men’s soccer championship tournament.
So did the Halifax HFX Wanderers.
Halifax 2 Guelph United 0
After 90 minutes plus of play Tuesday at Alumni Stadium, it was the Wanderers from the professional Canadian Premier League that advanced and United of the semi-pro League1 Ontario Men’s Premier league that was ousted as the CPL squad recorded a 2-0 victory.
“The boys worked hard and we weren’t miles apart, just missing a couple of little key things and (Tomasz) Skublak made a difference when he came on (in the second half), which we knew he would,” United coach Keith Mason said. “But we just couldn’t get him on earlier. We pushed him more than what we were actually cleared to do anyway. It is what it is. I think that would be an amazing goal if someday we could achieve that.”
United pressed a little early in the game, but couldn’t come up with any glorious scoring opportunities.
When Halifax pressed, as they did often, their chances were more dangerous and the Wanderers kept United’s defenders in almost constant motion. If not for the effort of goalkeeper Svyatoslav Artemenko, the game would have been decided in the opening half as he made a trio of diving saves.
Unfortunately, Artemenko couldn’t stop Halifax’s Akeem Garcia from scoring on a penalty kick in the 22nd minute after Mohamed Omar was fouled in the box.
“We had a couple of moments that were good. The penalty changed things,” Mason said. “The goals change the moments and change things in games. You could see visibly some of our players almost a bit of belief went out of them for a while after that goal came in because they know it’s going to be tough against a proud team. The longer it stays tight and 0-0 with some of the players that we’ve got, we could always get a goal and who knows. But as soon as they get one it makes it very difficult because now you need two to win and that makes it difficult when you’re playing teams that are above you. But the boys continued to fight and they continued to give it everything they had. I have no complaints at all from what they gave me. We’ll learn from it and hopefully build on it.”
Artemenko, who returned from Ukraine about a month ago, was making his first start of the season, his previous outing with United last weekend being in relief in the second half.
Halifax made a few adjustments in the second half that kept play in the Guelph end for much of the time until United sent Skublak into the game for his first appearance of the season. He helped push the play into Halifax end at times, but couldn’t get the locals on the board. Skublak, who once played for the Wanderers, missed United’s first three league matches after getting his appendix out three days before the start of the season.
“I felt a little bit out of shape, but that’s to be expected,” Skublak said. “Four weeks not doing absolutely anything, not even being able to walk for the first two, that kind of takes a toll on your stamina and the ability to play. Just being in shape in general is different than soccer fitness.
“It was nice to get on the pitch and it was nice to play again, it was fantastic to feel the ball again and have that feeling playing on the pitch with all those people in front of you. But it’s just a stepping stone in my recovery.”
Aidan Daniels added Halifax’s other goal in the 60th minute on another set piece.
While United was disappointed not to become the first semi-pro team to advance out of the preliminary round of the national tournament, they were pleased with the show they put on and the supportive crowd in attendance. United felt attendance was over 2,000.
“It was fantastic,” Skublak said of the crowd. “It was exceptional. For them coming out and getting a turnout like that in a small city like this is incredible. I think they were great supporters. Down 1-0, down 2-0 and even at the end of the game shaking hands with players and just enjoying it. I think it was amazing and something that we honestly would love to continue to have, especially as we’re growing it over here. We had a lot of success last year that we want to have this year as well. I think they’re a big part of it and we hope to see them again.”
United also realized how fortunate they were to get in the tournament by winning the L1O league title in their inaugural season, a season shortened by the pandemic. Rather than play every other team in the league in the regular season last year as is usually the case, pandemic protocols forced the league into a two-division format to reduce travel. United finished first in the Western Division, won a crossover semifinal and then beat a division mate in the final.
It’ll be a tougher challenge to get back as the league has returned to its one-division format where each team gets a single game against each of its league rivals in the regular season. The league has also expanded with the addition of three teams to bring its membership to 22.
“It’s going to be a much tougher go,” Mason said. “The teams (in L1O) are a lot stronger, we’ve already seen that. There’s a lot more of them. It’s a longer road. It’s a harder road. We’re under no illusions that it’s going to be easy, but we believe in the product that we’ve got and we believe that we will be there or thereabouts in the end and then we just need all the soccer gods to call it our way when we get to playoffs because that’s what you need.
“You need every call to go your way. You need every break to go your way when you get to those kinds of moments. In the meantime, we need to get our head back on to the day-to-day grind of wanting to get back here. We’ve had a taste of it and when you’ve had a taste of it, you want more. I want more and I know the players do so to do that we’ve got to make sure we’re focused and we stick to our task one game at a time.”
United, who have split their three league matches with a win, a loss and a tie, are to play the Woodbridge Strikers at Vaughan Grove Sunday at 7 p.m.
That game will be the third consecutive road match for United. They’re to return for a game against Master’s FA May 19 at 8 p.m. at Alumni Stadium.
In the national tournament, CS Mont-Royal Outremont, reigning champion of the semi-pro league in Quebec, also lost in the preliminary round to CPL’s Forge FC of Hamilton by an identical 2-0 score.
- Guelph Sports Journal
United’s dream of playing Toronto FC shattered
GUELPH – Guelph United FC really wanted to play Toronto FC in the quarter-finals of the Voyageurs Cup Canadian men’s soccer championship tournament.
So did the Halifax HFX Wanderers.
Halifax 2
Guelph United 0
After 90 minutes plus of play Tuesday at Alumni Stadium, it was the Wanderers from the professional Canadian Premier League that advanced and United of the semi-pro League1 Ontario Men’s Premier league that was ousted as the CPL squad recorded a 2-0 victory.
“The boys worked hard and we weren’t miles apart, just missing a couple of little key things and (Tomasz) Skublak made a difference when he came on (in the second half), which we knew he would,” United coach Keith Mason said. “But we just couldn’t get him on earlier. We pushed him more than what we were actually cleared to do anyway. It is what it is. I think that would be an amazing goal if someday we could achieve that.”
United pressed a little early in the game, but couldn’t come up with any glorious scoring opportunities.
When Halifax pressed, as they did often, their chances were more dangerous and the Wanderers kept United’s defenders in almost constant motion. If not for the effort of goalkeeper Svyatoslav Artemenko, the game would have been decided in the opening half as he made a trio of diving saves.
Unfortunately, Artemenko couldn’t stop Halifax’s Akeem Garcia from scoring on a penalty kick in the 22nd minute after Mohamed Omar was fouled in the box.
“We had a couple of moments that were good. The penalty changed things,” Mason said. “The goals change the moments and change things in games. You could see visibly some of our players almost a bit of belief went out of them for a while after that goal came in because they know it’s going to be tough against a proud team. The longer it stays tight and 0-0 with some of the players that we’ve got, we could always get a goal and who knows. But as soon as they get one it makes it very difficult because now you need two to win and that makes it difficult when you’re playing teams that are above you. But the boys continued to fight and they continued to give it everything they had. I have no complaints at all from what they gave me. We’ll learn from it and hopefully build on it.”
Artemenko, who returned from Ukraine about a month ago, was making his first start of the season, his previous outing with United last weekend being in relief in the second half.
Halifax made a few adjustments in the second half that kept play in the Guelph end for much of the time until United sent Skublak into the game for his first appearance of the season. He helped push the play into Halifax end at times, but couldn’t get the locals on the board. Skublak, who once played for the Wanderers, missed United’s first three league matches after getting his appendix out three days before the start of the season.
“I felt a little bit out of shape, but that’s to be expected,” Skublak said. “Four weeks not doing absolutely anything, not even being able to walk for the first two, that kind of takes a toll on your stamina and the ability to play. Just being in shape in general is different than soccer fitness.
“It was nice to get on the pitch and it was nice to play again, it was fantastic to feel the ball again and have that feeling playing on the pitch with all those people in front of you. But it’s just a stepping stone in my recovery.”
Aidan Daniels added Halifax’s other goal in the 60th minute on another set piece.
While United was disappointed not to become the first semi-pro team to advance out of the preliminary round of the national tournament, they were pleased with the show they put on and the supportive crowd in attendance. United felt attendance was over 2,000.
“It was fantastic,” Skublak said of the crowd. “It was exceptional. For them coming out and getting a turnout like that in a small city like this is incredible. I think they were great supporters. Down 1-0, down 2-0 and even at the end of the game shaking hands with players and just enjoying it. I think it was amazing and something that we honestly would love to continue to have, especially as we’re growing it over here. We had a lot of success last year that we want to have this year as well. I think they’re a big part of it and we hope to see them again.”
United also realized how fortunate they were to get in the tournament by winning the L1O league title in their inaugural season, a season shortened by the pandemic. Rather than play every other team in the league in the regular season last year as is usually the case, pandemic protocols forced the league into a two-division format to reduce travel. United finished first in the Western Division, won a crossover semifinal and then beat a division mate in the final.
It’ll be a tougher challenge to get back as the league has returned to its one-division format where each team gets a single game against each of its league rivals in the regular season. The league has also expanded with the addition of three teams to bring its membership to 22.
“It’s going to be a much tougher go,” Mason said. “The teams (in L1O) are a lot stronger, we’ve already seen that. There’s a lot more of them. It’s a longer road. It’s a harder road. We’re under no illusions that it’s going to be easy, but we believe in the product that we’ve got and we believe that we will be there or thereabouts in the end and then we just need all the soccer gods to call it our way when we get to playoffs because that’s what you need.
“You need every call to go your way. You need every break to go your way when you get to those kinds of moments. In the meantime, we need to get our head back on to the day-to-day grind of wanting to get back here. We’ve had a taste of it and when you’ve had a taste of it, you want more. I want more and I know the players do so to do that we’ve got to make sure we’re focused and we stick to our task one game at a time.”
United, who have split their three league matches with a win, a loss and a tie, are to play the Woodbridge Strikers at Vaughan Grove Sunday at 7 p.m.
That game will be the third consecutive road match for United. They’re to return for a game against Master’s FA May 19 at 8 p.m. at Alumni Stadium.
In the national tournament, CS Mont-Royal Outremont, reigning champion of the semi-pro league in Quebec, also lost in the preliminary round to CPL’s Forge FC of Hamilton by an identical 2-0 score.
- Guelph Sports Journal