BOTH CAVALRY AND FORGE UPSET ABOUT EJECTIONS
Appeals now in the hands of Canada Soccer as Borges and Waterman fight suspensions
The finals fate of both Tristan Borges and Joel Waterman are in the hands of Canada Soccer.
The two teams in the Canadian Premier League championship series each have set in motion appeals to have automatic one-game suspensions of their respective players overturned for red-card violations handed their way during the first leg last Saturday that saw Forge FC defeat visiting Cavalry FC 1-0 in Hamilton.
“If there is a process to do it, we’ll obviously do it,” Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis said, when asked about such an appeal moments after his team won
Leg 1 but lost the game’s only goal-scorer and the league’s top striker in Borges.
“We’ll review the video and if the video shows there’s nothing there, then we owe it to the player, we owe it to the league and we owe it to everyone that one of the best players in the league is playing in that last game.”
That kind of thinking didn’t sit well with Smyrniotis’ counterpart Monday.
“If the referee has deemed kicking out to be violent conduct, then I believe the officials have taken a hard stance on that (all season)," Cavalry Gm/head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said. “It’d be interesting to learn what, if any, the differences are.
“Then if you’re showing lenience to the rules to accommodate for the final, that’s setting a precedent that could bring the game into disrepute and nobody wants that.”
On the play, Cavs defender Jonathan Wheeldon came in on Borges with a hard challenge, the two got tangled up and Borges, while on the ground, got his legs up into Wheeldon.
Borges was shown the red card and sent off for violent conduct.
And the talented striker didn’t go quietly, needing to be restrained while being escorted off the pitch.
“My understanding is that it was violent conduct,” Wheeldon Jr. said. “If you look back, our man Dean Northover got sent off against Pacific on, I think, Canada Day for violent conduct, and we were going, ‘Well ... what’s violent conduct?’ And ... apparently it’s lashing out. But he’s put his hands up to protect himself.
“(FC Edmonton’s Jeannot) Esua against our Jose Escalante did the same thing,” Wheeldon
Jr. continued.
“Runs into Jose and claims he didn’t make massive contact, but that’s seen as violent conduct. We’ve seen Jose with (York 9 FC’S) Ryan Telfer, too. And now we’ve seen Borges lash out.
“We’re all trying to understand violent conduct now in the eyes of the officials. And if he’s kicked out, that’s deemed violent conduct.”
Regardless, the appeal now is in the hands of the national soccer body, meaning that higher court will determine if the front-runner for the league’s most outstanding player returns to the roster for Saturday’s second leg of the CPL finals (2 p.m., CBC/ Onesoccer.ca).
The same goes for Waterman, who was deemed to have stopped a scoring threat with a deliberate hand ball when, early on in the match, he fell and tried to recover with Borges looming in tight to the Cavs goal and was flagged for getting his arm on the ball in the penalty area.
“If it was a deliberate hand ball outside of the range of motion, we don’t think that’s right,” Wheeldon Jr. said.
“We think it’s his natural body shape to slide and his hand is there. We think it’s unfortunate that Borges cut in that way. But again, you’re at the beck and call of the officials and their interpretation.”
According to the league, Canada Soccer said Monday that its disciplinary committee will review the appeal claims of both clubs and make its determination in the next few days.
DAN HAMILTON-USA TODAY SPORTS FOR CPL
COLD SHOULDERS
The weather outside has been frightful.
At least it was Monday. An afternoon temperature of -10C with a wind-chill that made it feel like -21C was nothing to sneeze at — and nothing you wanted to sneeze into for fear of frostbite.
Would such a frozen fright be a welcome sight come Saturday at Spruce Meadows?
“When you’re playing soccer in Canada, you get these kind of cold spells,” said Cavalry fullback Dominick Zator, a Calgary native. "I think it would be pretty exciting to play in the cold weather.
“Personally, I like it — I don’t mind it.”
‘Bring on the cold’ seems to be a party line for the entire team heading into the second leg.
Especially if Forge acts like it did Oct. 8 in -10C conditions during a 2-1 loss at ATCO Field.
“Based on the last game we played them at home, I think they were shocked coming here seeing how cold it was,” Zator said.
“We’re used to it, and we know that Forge doesn’t like it,” Cavalry midfielder Sergio Camargo added.
“Last time they were here, it was freezing, and it looked like they didn’t want to be here. Obviously, now it’s the finals and they obviously want to win, so that might change a bit.
“But we’ll take the cold, for sure. In any condition, we’re ready to play.”
It’s actually supposed to warm up for the weekend after a couple of days cold and snow, with Saturday’s forecast being 8C and cloudy with sunny breaks.
“That warm?” said Wheeldon Jr. with a smile. “It’s a wonderful climate. It does wondrous things for my hair — keeps it in place with the frost.
“The season started in the snow — it could potentially end in the snow. This is a great way to finish off the Canadian Premier League.”
EXTRA KICKS
Cavalry midfielder Julian Busher (lower body) is day-today ... More than 4,000 seats have already been sold for the second leg at ATCO Field ... Tickets for Saturday are as low as $23 at Ticketmaster. Big Rock Fan Zone, Friend Pack and Family 4 Pack tickets are also available.