With two of the seven round robin segments of Dagostino Cup play now completed, it's the Sudbury Stallions and The Boys leading the pack early, both with a pair of wins to their credit.
Last Monday at Queen's Athletic Field, the Stallions defeated Croatia Adria 3-1 on goals from Marcel Diro, Teo Torres and Stan Pankiewicz, with Mason Steen countering with the only strike for Croatia.
The three-time defending league champions did a nice job of neutralizing the heart of the Adria attack, a task that was very much top of mind for the likes of Samim Massoom and his teammates through the interior of the pitch.
"Our interest was to try and contain them in the midfield," noted Massoom, a native of Afghanistan who celebrated his 31st birthday on Monday in style. "They have two engines out there. Marking them between three of us in the middle was quite an effort, but fortunately, we were able to contain them."
Moving to Canada some 15 years ago, Massoom continued his progression in soccer in Ottawa, playing on some high level teams both in the nation's capital and in the province of Québec.
While goal-scoring may have been a forte in his youth, the friendly gent who moved to Sudbury after spending four years in Nunavut has now found a home on the field that suits him well.
"For years, I was a striker - but as I get older, I find that I fit well in the middle and can move at my own pace," said Massoom. "I enjoy finding spaces. At this level, things can get densified on the field."
"The moment I get the ball and turn, I am trying to find the farthest pass to open up the space and make them run."
The remaining game last Monday at Queen's saw the newly-formed Leopards of Sudbury (largely a Collège Boréal centric squad) play to a scoreless draw with the Afro-Heritage Juniors.
The result leaves the Leopards and Toros Latinos FC tied for second (1-0-1), with the Afro-Heritage and the Sudbury U18 Cyclones both in the books with one point each.
SRCSL (Sudbury Regional Competitive Soccer League) play resumes next Thursday with four more games but fans will have to wait until the week of July 14th to the 17th to take in more Dagostino Cup action.
