By: Nathan Terlesky
The Eddies turned in another positive result Tuesday night, beating FC Tampa Bay 4-0. While the crowd wasn’t the best that FC Edmonton has seen, they got their best score line of the season.
With this win, Edmonton moves back into second place in the NASL with a game in hand (against Carolina and Minnesota) and a much better goals-for record.
With much of the talk in Canadian soccer focusing on the firing of Vancouver Coach Teitur Thordarson, and Toronto’s dismal performance against the Philadelphia Union, Edmonton has quietly shown that Canadian talent can get positive results. FC Edmonton is ahead of Montreal by a mile in the NASL, and has a better result than both Vancouver and Toronto (in league play). While I’m not trying to say that Edmonton is far and away better than Canada’s MLS teams, I do believe that Canadian talent, along with a sprinkling of veterans and some surprise young talent has helped the club find success.
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Kyle Porter alone has demonstrated that Vancouver missed a huge opportunity when they elected not to sign him. And while I doubt that Edmonton has signed him for more than one year, I am hopeful that Edmonton can retain some of the talent that has made them so successful in the early part of this season. Players like Paul Hamilton, Porter, Kyle Yamada, and Paul Craig have shown to be integral parts of Edmonton’s solid play. Edmonton still struggles with some nerves in the early goings of games, but they have begun to settle in nicely and have been able to pot a few first half goals that have complimented an otherwise full 90 minutes of solid, possession football.
All this, coming from a team that has more wins than Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal combined, shows how Edmonton is quickly turning into Canada’s team... Or at least should be. The commitment to Canadian content, along with the club's record right now (5-1-2) is proving the Fath’s trust in their Dutch coach (both Harry Sinkgraven and the groundwork of Lodeweges last year) is more than justified.
It will be interesting to see Edmonton’s style of play against Montreal on Saturday afternoon. While Montreal has the psychological advantage after the last meeting, Edmonton enters the game having not lost a match since. And Edmonton has adjusted to the poor pitch at Foote Field, and now turned the poor pitch into a home field advantage. However Edmonton adjusts to the superior pitch in Montreal come Saturday, it will be equally of interest to see how the team with superior Canadian content performs.