Monday, August 23, 2004 Cop sparks Croatia to Spectator Cup title By Alge Borusas (THE SPEC) - Ante Cop had just enough good luck to counter any of his bad luck in the 107th annual Spectator Cup men's soccer final last night.
The 30-year old centre-forward scored once and set up another goal as he sparked Hamilton Croatia to a 2-0 win over Hamilton Serbians at Brian Timmis Stadium to clinch the oldest soccer trophy in North America. But, in between those goals, there were many other golden opportunities for him and others to further bump up the score for the winners. Twice Cop scraped the outside of the net with shots that clearly had beaten Serbian goalkeeper Brian Castledine. Another two times, he set up teammate Dan Lustrinelli in the clear only to have Castledine rush out of his net to deflect away one shot and then Lustrinelli, standing on the doorstep of a wide open net, shot the ball off the crossbar. Fortunately, Croatia got an insurance marker in injury time at the end of the game when Jerko Grubisic had to reach hard to get his foot on Cop's cross to tap in the ball over the line. "I wish I could have put a few more away," said Cop, who has played on and off with Croatia over the last few years. "I got to get back into training. I can't keep missing those goals. I got the one that counted, but I remembered the ones I missed." Cop found the inside of the post on an indirect free kick in the 11th minute of the second half for what turned out to be the eventual winning goal. "The first one was the hardest one to get in," he said. "I had 10 guys in front of me and I just managed to get it in. After that first goal, the stadium was just electric and got the Croatian people back on side. This was unbelievable. It's a great feeling. The other ones I missed is just the nature of the game. You got to take it as it is. As long as JJ scored that last one and made it 2-0, that's all that counted." Serbians were not without their chances in the game, getting perhaps two of the best opportunities to break onto the scoresheet in the first half. Nick Ampas's header was grabbed on the line along the ground by Croatia goalie Chris Tournidis and then Tournidis punched away another header coming off a corner kick. Shortly after Cop's goal, Zoran Krickovic just failed to connect with an equalizer for the Serbians at the other end and later Dragan Ardic whizzed the ball wide on an indirect free kick. This game not only matched teams representing a traditionally heated national rivalry, but also teams from two different area leagues. Croatia plays in the Hamilton and District Senior Men's Soccer League and Serbians play in the Ontario Soccer League. The game attracted several hundred fans and it didn't take long for them to get aroused by anything that was happening on the field. Hamilton's top amateur clubs must battle through a knockout style tournament throughout the summer independent from their league play without losing a game in order to get to the Spectator Cup final. There's more at stake than this historic silver trophy. Players who win the Spectator Cup also get to inherit soccer bragging rights for the next year. The men's game capped off a trio of championship games at Timmis. In the oldtimers' final, S.C. Croatia rampaged past Hamilton United 6-0 for their third oldtimers' title in nine years. In the women's final game, East Hamilton B repeated as champions when they shaded Flamborough 3-2. The money raised during the daylong event was directed to The Hamilton Spectator Summer Camp Fund.