Rumored to be changing clubs since before the start of the Gold Cup, Canadian international goalkeeper Milan Borjan finally completed a move to the Turkish top flight.
The 23-year-old shot-stopper was sold by Serbian club FK Rad to Sivasspor in Turkey’s Süper Lig, bringing the number of Canadians in that league up to three.
Another Canuck ‘keeper making headlines this past week is Kenny Stamatopoulos, who backstopped his club AIK to a couple of victories in the Swedish Allsvenskan. AIK topped Norkopping 3-0 in midweek action, then followed up with a 2-1 win at Trelleborg FF on Sunday, leaping to sixth on the league table.
Next door in Finland, goalkeeper Tomer Chencinski and VPS grabbed a 1-1 draw versus Haka in the Veikkausliiga in the midweek. VPS have a brief break until their next match in early July, and will look to restart their campaign with enough energy to climb out of the bottom third of the standings.
Also in Veikkausliiga midweek action, IFK Mariehamn drew visiting MyPa 1-1, with Canadian content on both sides of the pitch. For Mariehamn, Luca Bellisomo subbed in with 20 minutes remaining, while usual starter Mason Trafford was not available for selection. Striker Riley O’Neill entered the match at the 74th minute as MyPa pushed for a winning goal, but both teams had to settle for a point.
Elsewhere in Scandinavia, Chris Pozniak featured in two games for Haugesund FK over the past week. Haugesund were eliminated from the Norwegian Cup following a 3-2 loss to Viking Stavanger in weekday action, with Pozniak playing the final 11 minutes of that match. On Sunday, Pozniak was in the starting lineup and went the distance as Haugesund dropped a 3-1 decision to Strømsgodset in league play.
The other Canadian in Norway’s Tippeligaen — goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld — played 90 minutes for Vålerenga in a 2-0 win over Start, the result pushing Vålerenga up to seventh on the table with many more games still to be played.
Finally, 19-year-old midfielder Joseph Di Chiara started his first match for Russian Premier League cellar-dwellers Krylia Sovetov after having transferred to the club earlier this year. Di Chiara played all 90 minutes in Krylia Sovetov’s 3-0 loss to Anzhi Makhachkala on Wednesday, then came on as a 46th minute substitution as Krylia Sovetov fell 2-0 to FC Spartak Nalchik on Sunday.
