NASL Midweek Action: FC Edmonton Shines, Islanders and Stars Draw

FC Tampa Bay made the long trek north to Edmonton for a Tuesday matchup with the expansion FC Edmonton club, but the shining Edmonton side ended the Florida club’s three game unbeaten streak; broken convincingly with a 4-0 win. On Wednesday, the Puerto Rico Islanders hosted the NSC Minnesota  Stars, with the two clubs splitting points after their 1-1 draw in Bayamon. The result of the midweek NASL action sees FC Edmonton return to 2nd place, six points behind the Carolina RailHawks, with NSC Minnesota in third place and Puerto Rico in fourth.

FC Edmonton 4-0 FC Tampa Bay

The expansion side FC Edmonton has demonstrated during the first two months of the NASL season that they could defend, score consistently and play well on the road. The expansion side has only allowed one goal or less in five of seven matches. They have been shut out two times in seven games and have earned 10 out of a possible 15 points.

On the last day of May, FC Edmonton added another piece to their portfolio — as they are beginning to turn Foote Field into a fortress by routing FC Tampa Bay 4-0.

Playing most of their early season games on the road, FC Edmonton were pounded in their NASL home debut by Montreal 5-0. But the club has since shown that they do indeed enjoy home cooking, thank you, by beating NSC Minnesota last week and now thumping Tampa Bay.

FC Edmonton took the lead in the 28th minute on Tuesday with a goal that ended up the game winner. Following an FC Tampa Bay corner kick, Edmonton counter-attacked with Calgary native Kyle Yamada breaking through and getting off a shot that hit the post but was cleaned up by Kyle Porter for his fourth goal of the season. Edmonton doubled their pleasure less than ten minutes later as Yamada netted a deflected Tampa Bay clearance to give the Canadian club a 2-0 lead going into halftime.

Coach Ricky Hill’s Tampa Bay club, coming off their best performance of the season against Montreal Saturday, came out of the half-time locker room looking to get goals, but despite efforts by Tsuyoshi Yoshitake and Keith Savage, they were doomed to be shut out. Going into the match without injured defenders Andres Arango and Omar Jarun, the Floridians also suffered in-game injuries to Warren Ukah and Chad Burt, both of whom had to subbed off in the first half. Certainly injuries and travel fatigue worked in FC Edmonton’s favor, but FC Edmonton demonstrated plenty of flair, skill and a killer instinct, too.

Smelling blood in the water, FC Edmonton finished off FC Tampa Bay in style with two second half goals.  Midfielder Shaun Saiko, having a brilliant season thus far, knocked in the third goal of the match from a quality sequence with Michael Cox. And Shawn Chin, who played his collegiate soccer in Tampa, finished the game off in the closing minutes with a beautiful curling shot that eluded Tampa Bay keeper Jeff Attinella. Chin’s first professional goal was well-earned as he worked himself into position before clinically finishing.

Hill was justifiably unhappy with his team’s performance, but he didn’t use travel or injuries as an excuse.  “Obviously it is not good enough, especially in the manner of how we conceded the goals tonight,” said Hill. “We struggled to get clear cut chances. And I expect a great deal better from each and every one of the players; I expect us to not fold and concede goals the way we did.”  Hill added that “the injuries early on were disappointing but the team that was out there was still capable of going out and competing.  We conceded three very poor goals from a team defensive perspective and that cannot continue.”

Things unfortunately don’t get easier for the banged-up club, as they play host Saturday to first-place Carolina.

For FC Edmonton, everything is falling into place. The club is playing as a team, with eight players having contributed goals and Rein Baart and his backup, Lance Parker, both giving the team solid play in goal.  The combination of Dutch leadership on the field and in the person of Harry Sinkgraven on the sidelines, along with a group of underrated Canadian youngsters proving that they have the right stuff makes the FC Edmonton saga one of the most compelling currently in professional soccer.  Although Foote Field is obviously not the ideal venue for professional soccer in the Alberta capital, it’s a start and the almost 2,000 fans in attendance for a weeknight game indicates that fans know a good product when they see one.  Hopefully western Canadians will continue to hop aboard the FC Edmonton love train to enjoy the impressive brand of soccer the team is playing.  FC Edmonton will get the opportunity to avenge their worst result Saturday afternoon in Montreal.

Puerto Rico Islanders 1-1 NSC Minnesota

For details on this match read the earlier game report from Brian Quarstad.

A few thoughts on this game:

First off, it was a good result for both sides.  As much as one imagines Islander head coach Colin Clarke desired three points, one of his strengths as a coach is realism. Coming off the emotion of another CFU title last weekend and playing against a strong attacking club, the draw sets up the Islanders to be in good position in the league table if they can get a win Saturday in Tampa Bay against the injury-riddled Florida side. After this upcoming Saturday’s matches, they’ll still have games in hand compared to every other NASL club but Montreal. Considering the way that NSC Minnesota were pouring into attack towards the game’s conclusion, a draw was a positive result.  La Tropa Naranja are built for the long haul, and if Islanders fans are disappointed in specific game results, all they need to do is look in the club’s trophy case to feel better.

From a Stars’ perspective, a draw on the road against the reigning D2 champions gets NSC Minnesota back onto positive ground after last week’s loss in Edmonton, and it gives them momentum going into their road clash Saturday with last-place Atlanta. Like last year, Manny Lagos’ side has the ability to gain results in the last quarter of the match. Lagos has again proven that he knows how to use substitutes well, and having a quality attacker like Devin Del Do to bring in during the latter stages of a match certainly gives the Stars’ a tangible advantage in attacking.

Lagos gave Jamaican-American youngster Amani Walker his first professional start in Wednesday’s game.  The former UC-Irvine striker has size and had already shown indications that he can be a force in the opponent’s third of the field, heading long passes to onrushing teammates. It should be interesting to see how Walker develops as he gains pro experience, and the opportunity to get minutes on the pitch only deepens the attacking options at Lagos’ disposal over the long season.

NSC Minnesota are a good team possibly on the cusp of becoming an elite side in D2 play. What’s holding them back right now is their tendency to get 1 point results instead of three points. In 10 league games they have drawn 5 times. The Stars look to have the talent base to challenge Carolina for NASL supremacy, and although their Wednesday night draw in Puerto Rico should be seen as a positive result, they need to begin nailing down a string of victories.  Saturday evening in Atlanta looks to be a good place to begin.