Plus Huntsville, Bracebridge and Muskoka updates; TFC in Van City this Saturday; Derby Day in Rome; and still a three-horse race in the Premiership and Championship

Finally, the long-awaited trophy presentation occurred this week as Blue Moon put a cherry on top of their (our) undefeated season with an 11-4 win over The Eh Team on Tuesday night in Huntsville Indoor League action.

All five healthy players for Blue Moon scored in the match for the balanced and focused champions.

Mark Gomes, who missed the final match due to personal reasons, exclaimed it may have been the best season ever by a single team. That could be true, but it is debatable as a previous team featuring Chris O and Doug Allen was equally dominant.

Though it must be said that with enigmatic talisman Kate Kerr, plus the father-son duo of Graham and Braeden Thompson in fine form, this year’s Blue Moon squad would be tough for anyone to beat from any era.

“This was a really fun team to play with,” said captain Chris O after the match. “Our team was unselfish, supportive of each other, and kept a positive energy throughout the campaign.”

The other teams were no slouches either, as Thunder FC and The Eh Team both almost gave Blue Moon a loss – each earning hard fought draws instead during the season – plus close matches were in abundance throughout the league.

In other final week scores, Thunder FC beat Your Mum 10-8, Golazos solidified second place with a 12-9 victory over Grape Soda.

Golazos were made up of Dave Caplan, Matt Rouse, Louise Azzara, Michelle Stockstill, Jan Haedicke, Brendan Morris, Mustapha Muktar, and Abe Mello.

Thunder FC featured George Johns, Lauren Vermulen, Steve Heaps, Enzo Meneses Carvajal, Matt Fuller, Billy Golding, and Patryk Filipiak.

The Eh Team consisted of Caley Brown, Steve Fairhall, Steve Paton, Wes Karelson, Sam Power, Fraser White, and Joel Almeida.

Your Mum was filled up by Paul Bourbeau, Mel Mercier, Olivia Wallman, Jeremy Bell, Jason Sprathoff, and Savario Cosenza.

Grape Soda’s team was Dylan Welsh, Mady Fedorowich, Quinn Thompson, Evan Mashinter, Ajin George, Anthony Asturi, and Ashley Moore.

HUNTSVILLE SOCCER CLUB NEWS

The summer season is only weeks away and there are still a few spots available in most age groups for the upcoming house league program – but they’re filling up fast, so take a look at www.huntsvillesoccer.ca and get yourself or your child registered for the summer.

Though most age groups are filling up, there are two programs that may not run if interested people don’t sign up: the U15 co-ed and Intermediate Adult co-ed programs. A decision will be made on May 1^st to cancel those two programs unless enough players register by April 30.

On a happier note, the Huntsville Soccer Club has two paid summer program coordinator positions available. They make a great (mostly parttime) summer job for a high school, college or university student.

If interested, contact administrator@huntsvillesoccer.ca for more information or to submit a cover letter and resume.

BRACEBRIDGE SOCCER CLUB NEWS

Registration for their summer house league program is open and doing well, but there is still time to register at: https://www.bracebridgesoccer.ca/

As well, the Bracebridge Soccer Club has their own position for a program coordinator (similar to the Huntsville positions) and those interested can contact bracebridgesc.info@gmail.com for more information or to submit a cover letter and resume.

MUSKOKA UNITED FC NEWS

Rep teams from U9 through U18 have been getting ready for their respective seasons with technical work indoors throughout the winter with outdoor practices set to begin as soon as this weekend.

Coach Ray Wright, the MUFC technical lead, is set to meet with each team in the coming weeks for training and goal setting, as well as offering advice and tips to the coaching staffs.

Stay tuned to this space throughout the season for news, scores, schedules and more!

CROSS-CANADA DERBY

Our beloved Toronto FC heads to the west coast for a Saturday night battle with rivals Vancouver in Major League Soccer play.

Still facing a ton of injuries starters and regular appearance players (Lorenzo Insigne, Richie Layrea, Sean Johnson, Raoul Petretta, Nicksoen Gomis, and Brandon Servania), plus facing a Vancouver side playing good football to start the season and this will be a difficult match for the Reds.

Still, they have shown fight in pretty much every match and should the unthinkable happen (TFC strikers actually finishing their chances) then anything is possible.

The match goes at 7:30 p.m. ET (yes, it’s an afternoon match for Vancouver) and is available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

ROMA, ROMA, ROMA

Okay, so it’s Derby Day in Rome (AS Roma vs. Lazio, Saturday, April 6 at noon ET on FuboTV Canada) and it’s going to be much different than the last time these two clubs met in Serie A play (a dull 0-0 draw ahead of the November international break).

That wasn’t the last time the clubs met though, as Lazio came away with a 1-0 Coppa Italia quarter-final win on Jan. 10 that was the second to last nail in Jose Mourinho’s coaching coffin at the Stadio Olimpico – the final nail was a 3-1 loss to Milan just a few days later.

Since that January match, both clubs have replaced their managers with Maurizio Sarri stepping down from Lazio a few weeks ago after the club lost four straight matches.

Though Lazio has kept it’s up and down performances in recent weeks – as is expected for a club that has overachieved to even be mid-table – the boys at AS Roma have been galvanized by their new gaffer – club legend and former captain Daniele DeRossi.

A players’ manager if there ever was one, De Rossi has reinvigorated the attacking play and creative juices amongst the top Roman players by giving them a freedom and front foot mentality. Though they failed to score in a 0-0 away draw to Lecce last weekend, their overall form has been solid.

Other than a thrilling 4-2 loss to runaway Serie A leaders Inter Milan, then knocking EPL side Brighton out of the Europa League, setting up a quarter-final with AC Milan (leg 1 goes on Thursday, April 11 at 3 p.m.), Roma haven’t faced too much competition since DDR took over.

That’s about to change starting with the Derby, Europa League tie, then a bunch of top of the table clashes against Bologna (fourth place, five points ahead of Roma), defending champions Napoli (eighth place and aiming for a top 6 or 7 finish), third place Juventus, sixth place Atalanta (only two points behind Roma), and a fourth match of the 2023/24 season on the final day against AC Milan.

Sprinkled in there are Udinese, Empoli and Genoa, but the real story will be told by the matches against the teams surrounding Roma in the standings.

I know, I know this is supposed to be about the derby, but really the end of the season is about whether Roma can make a third consecutive European final, and finish in a Champions League position.

Lazio are only really chasing, at best, a Europa League spot and are likely going to be knocked out of the Coppa Italia on April 23 (Juventus won the first leg 2-0).

They do have the easier run-in to the end of the Serie A season (they’re only six back of Roma for fifth place), but they have shown a willingness to lose to sides they should be beating, and they do still have Inter Milan on the schedule.

Also, their new manager Igor Tudor has yet to get a truly inspired effort from the squad. Though to be fair, it’s only been two matches under his watch and both were against Juve.

It’s all to play for and starts in the Roma Derby … the winner could catapult themselves into a great run to end the season.

ENGLAND HAS TWO THREE-TEAM RACES TO WATCH

With Serie A all but wrapped up for Inter Milan, Bayern Leverkusen closing in on the Bundesliga, Paris Saint Germain doing PSG things in France, and La Liga just no longer interesting to real football fans, it’s up to England to give the world real title races.

And they’re doing it in style in not just their number-one league, but the next one down the pyramid as well.

Forgive me for not caring about anything lower than the Championship, but that would be like me caring about that ridiculous league run by oil sheiks (just not in the cards).

Really, I only even care about English football because I have so many friends who are from that side of the pond or who support English teams.

Now that the lead-in took forever, on to the title races. So, so many eyes are focused on the English Premier League’s race to the title between Liverpool (70 points), Arsenal (68 points), and defending champion Manchester City (67 points).

Last weekend was the perfect storm for Liverpool, who picked up an important win to sit atop the table, then watched as the two teams chasing them played to a 0-0 draw.

In the middle of the week, all three teams picked up wins with Man City being the most convincing 4-1 over Aston Villa despite resting both Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne. Arsenal changed up their starting 11 a bit in a 2-0 win over Luton Town while Liverpool didn’t make as many changes and left things a bit late to take a 3-1 decision over Sheffield Wednesday.

This weekend sees City travelling to Crystal Palace (7:30 a.m. Saturday, FuboTV Canada), Arsenal travels to Brighton (12:30 p.m. Saturday, FuboTV Canada), and then Liverpool heads to Man United on Sunday (10:30 a.m. FuboTV Canada).

City obviously has the easiest match, but both Arsenal and Liverpool are fully capable of navigating their matches, especially since the whole EPL had mid-week matches. Depth will benefit the three clubs at the top of the table as the race continues.

Now, to the EFL Championship and the fight for automatic promotion – there is a league title to be won too – between Ipswich (87 points), Leeds United (86 points), and Leicester City (85 points, a game in hand on the other two).

The top two teams get automatic promotion to the Premier League (where Leeds and Leicester were last season) and a big payday. Spots third through sixth enter a four-team playoff for the third and final promotion spot.

This race has been so interesting, I’ve started to look ahead for when games are on DAZN Canada featuring these teams. Easter Monday was fantastic as Leicester kicked it off with a 3-1 win first thing in the morning against Norwich City, then Ipswich had a back-and-forth affair with Southampton before scoring an injury time winner to take a 3-2 result, Leeds finished the day with a 3-1 win that was most exciting in the last ten minutes as they scored in the 88^th minute and then again in injury time.

Seriously, if you get a chance, check out the highlights on all those games.

This weekend promises more of the same with Ipswich travelling to Norwich (7:30 a.m. Saturday), Leicester hosting Birmingham (10 a.m. Saturday), and Leeds away to Coventry (10 a.m. Saturday).

Of the three only Ipswich is on DAZN Canada this weekend, which is a bit of a shame.

Well, that’s it for me this week! Ciao for Now!