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Spartacus continued their league play on July 28th with a game against Weston Soccer Club. The game demonstrated the fact, even a team that has been riding a wave of successful results cannot go into a game with the attitude it will be an easy game.

Spartacus had significantly more ball possession than their opponents, but much of that possession translated into very little positive purpose, as Spartacus played sluggish and uninspired football. Defensively, Spartacus lacked their usual poise and tenacity allowing the opposing offence to have opportunities to be menacing when none should have developed.

However, any successful team must achieve positive results when they are performing at a level significantly less than they are capable of, and at half time Spartacus had built a 2-0 lead.

In the second half Spartacus continued to fail to identify the correct tactical build up in a timely fashion when in possession of the ball, as well as invited unnecessary problems when not in possession of the ball as a result of apprehensive play. Nevertheless, Spartacus higher skill level allowed them to improve on their half time lead and finished the game with a 4-0 victory.

Although by the final whistle Spartacus won comfortably on the scoreboard, the game should serve as a lesson that regardless of how good the team might be, the team will struggle in any given game if they are to rely on past performance as a tactical strategy.

Spartacus has just returned from their highly successful participation in the Inaugural Milton Magic Soccer Tournament U11 (Year up) division.

On Saturday Spartacus played their group stage matches, finishing with a perfect record without even conceding a single goal. Based on their play during this stage of the tournament it is clear the team has become much more comfortable playing on a larger pitch which includes many more players. Their passing game was creative and their finishing play was attempted with much greater confidence than was previously evident. Also, their defensive capability continues to be a team strength when called upon. Consequently by the end of the first day of competition Spartacus had secured top spot in their group, earning them a place in the semi finals.

The semi final game against Erin Mills proved to be the best game of the tournament for Spartacus, as the team showed consistent quality in their passing game, along with a lot of class around the opposition’s goal. At the game’s conclusion Spartacus had attained a deserved 5-0 victory along with a berth in the final.

The final against Waterloo witnessed Spartacus best start to any of their games, as from the opening whistle the team played at a very fast tempo while at the same time maintaining a high level of technical football. As a result Spartacus went ahead early from a well taken free kick. Soon after Spartacus doubled their lead with an easy head from close range after the initial shot rebounded off the crossbar. Spartacus continued to press and was rewarded with a third goal soon after scoring their second. Halftime arrived with Spartacus holding a commanding 3-0 lead.

In the second half Spartacus continued to dominate ball possession and create chances. For much of the second half the game was played in the opposition’s half, but when called upon defended with poise, confidence, and in fact did not concede a single shot on goal. At the final whistle Spartacus had won the game 3-0, and crowned champions of the Milton Magic Soccer Tournament.

11 a side games summary

Spartacus continued their progress toward playing next year as a full 11 a side team with two more exhibition games last weekend against Brampton under 11 and High Park under 11.

Spartacus continued to demonstrate their impressive defensive strength, even against older opposition. However, Spartacus offensive understanding showed vast improvement over games previously played against other 11 a side teams. Over the two games Spartacus scored 13 goals, and decisions made around the opposition’s goal area showed much greater tactical awareness than had been previously evident.

Many players were given the opportunity to play in positions they were not familiar with in order to see how they would respond, and the results of this experiment were extremely encouraging as overall effective team shape was maintained, and individual players continued performing with confidence and aggressiveness.

NYYSL game summary

Spartacus most recent game was a league match versus North York Cosmos. It was a tense hard fought contest throughout, with both teams working hard to shut the other down.

Spartacus had a slight edge in play in the first half, and was unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty kick after one of their players was brought down by the Cosmos goalkeeper. However, shortly thereafter Spartacus went ahead through some fine finishing. For the remainder of the half Spartacus had the lion’s share of the play but could not finish on any of the scoring opportunities they created.

The second half was a continuation of the first, with Spartacus having a slight edge in play, as well as higher quality scoring opportunities for the most part. Although Cosmos tried to push forward for the tie, the Spartacus defence remained resilient making sure any attempts on their goal were made from a less than ideal position on the field.

Late in the second half Spartacus put the game beyond doubt through a nice pass from midfield that split the opposing defence, followed by some high quality finishing. This seemed to take any hope out of the Cosmos to salvage anything from the game , with Spartacus comfortably seeing out a well earned 2-0 victory.

Recently Spartacus completed four games in four days. The first two games Spartacus played 11 a side games against Brampton and Erin Mills respectively. Brampton plays a physical style, trying to release their two fast forwards whenever the opportunity arises. Spartacus responded extremely well to this tactic, keeping a very high line at the back and pushing their defence quickly up field when gaining possesion of the ball.
As a result Brampton were continually caught offside, allowing Spartacus to regain posession quickly whenever Brampton attempted to move into the final third of the field in attack.

Spartacus is still developing an understanding of the different tactics required to score on a large field against eleven players. Although they moved the ball well from defence, through the midfield and down the flanks to their forwards, Spartacus did not capitalize in and around the penalty area. This will improve with practice and experience.

The second game againt Erin Mills saw two teams playing similar styles. There were few offsides, plenty of passing and good defensive play. The rain made the field very slick but both teams coped quite well with the less than ideal conditions. The balance of play was decidedly in favour of Spartacus, but as was the case against Brampton, the team could not finish around the opposition goal area.

The final two games were played on successive nights against Weston and Hillcrest. Both games began quite similarly, with Spartacus dominating possession and scoring opportunities.

However, in both games the half time score did not reflect the play. Fortunately in both games the scoring opportunites resulted in a much more successful completion rate, as Spartacus
built insurmountable leads in both games.

Moreover, Spartacus did not allow a goal from open play during the four games, and allowed only one in total. As a team Spartacus is quickly becoming highly technical at shutting down their opposition, while a much more balnced attack is definately becoming more evident.