Fort Lauderdale Strikers Archive

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Saiko says FCE must improve its possession game ahead of Rowdies tilt

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/11/2012

The 4-3-3 system is based on keeping the ball. Players move around the pitch and make themselves available for passes.

FC Edmonton is focusing on doing a much better job at possessing the ball, something that midfielder Shaun Saiko felt the team failed to do in its NASL season-opening loss to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday.

“We have been working hard,” said Saiko from Florida, as the Eddies prepare to face the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday. “We were disappointed in the loss, but there were some positives that we felt we could build on, and there are things that we’d like to correct.”

The first thing is possession. Edmonton had a man advantage over Fort Lauderdale for more than 50 minutes, but Saiko said the team was giving the ball away too easily. FCE needs to make the opponents chase shadows, and wear down defences by making them chase, chase, chase.
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10-man Strikers outplay, outhustle FC Edmonton

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/08/2012

Michal Misiewicz

FC Edmonton was a man up for more than 50 minutes of soccer, but never asserted its numerical superiority and fell 1-0 on the road to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in their NASL season opener.

Returning to the site of the 5-0 playoff loss that ended its season, FC Edmonton got the benefit of what should have been a game-changing decision, when Striker Aly Hassan was sent off for a late challenge on Eddies’ defender Fabrice Lassonde.

But, outside of a break from Matt Lam that forced Strikers’ keeper Matt Glaeser into a fantastic one-on-one save at the end of the first half, FCE didn’t do enough with the man advantage.

In fact, for large portions of the second half, Fort Lauderdale did not seem like a team that was a man down. And, right after Eddies Michal Misiewicz made a highlight-reel, stretching save to deny Striker Lance Laing’s scorching drive, he found himself picking the ball out of the back of his net. After the ensuing corner, the Eddies couldn’t relieve the pressure and former MLS star Andy Herron got on the end of a low cross from teammate Scott Lorenz and converted the chance.
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FC Edmonton falls to Minnesota in final preseason match

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/02/2012

John Smits

The NASL champs handed FC Edmonton its first loss of the preseason Monday.

Playing their final tuneup match before Saturday’s NASL curtain raiser in Fort Lauderdale, FC Edmonton lost 2-0 on the road to the Minnesota Stars.

But, as a caveat, while it’s Edmonton’s first loss of the preseason, Monday’s matchup in Minnesota marked the first time the Eddies had faced another NASL side in the exhibition campaign.

Simone Bracalello gave the Stars the halftime lead with a volleyed goal, while new signing Kevin Vegenas headed home a late insurance goal.
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With more fullbacks in camp, FC Edmonton decides to part ways with Saler

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/21/2012

Niko Saler

Fullback Niko Saler survived the last year’s purge of the FC Edmonton backline. But, with more defensive prospects coming into the NASL team’s camp, the Canadian left back was let go on Wednesday.

Saler, who was invited to the Canadian U-20 camp last year but didn’t make the final squad, got into a few matches last season as an understudy to left back Alex Surprenant. Eddy Sidra, who was still returning to match fitness, wasn’t ready to play early in the year and so Saler was able to get some time. When Sidra was healthy, he became the No. 1 choice at left back.

But, both Surprenant and Sidra were part of a postseason purge after 2011’s playoff loss to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers which saw FC Edmonton chop 11 players from its roster. But Saler, a Lethbridge, Alta. native, was spared, even though the club’s Director of Soccer Operations, Joe Petrone, had repeatedly stated that improving the left side of defence was the team’s major off-season priority.
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FC Edmonton debuts three new trialists, while Barthelemy notches hat trick

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/18/2012

Fabien Vorbe: Haitian national-teamer auditions for FCE

FC Edmonton debuted three new trialists Saturday in its 3-1 preseason win against the Vancouver Metro Soccer League All-Stars on the grounds of Simon Fraser University.

Fabien Vorbe was in the starting XI, while defender Adam West and Canadian striker Mario Kovacevic, who was a scoring standout at the University of Toronto, came in as halftime subs.

All three of the trialists joined FC Edmonton when the club arrived in Vancouver.

But, it was Serisay Barthelemy who was FCE’s dominant player on the day. The newly acquired French forward scored all three goals for the Eddies. Barthelemy was signed two weeks ago, just before the team got on the plane for the Arizona camp. Barthelemy, who previously played at SC Bastia, impressed at the NASL combine — enough that he got offers from multiple NASL teams. But he chose Edmonton, and has been impressive in preseason action.
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Chance for revenge: FC Edmonton to open season against Fort Lauderdale

By
Steven Sandor
– 12/12/2011

FC Edmonton will get its chance for revenge when the NASL season opens April 7.

For the second year in a row, the Eddies will open the NASL season in Fort Lauderdale. NASL announced the dates and opponents for the home openers of all eight member teams on Monday.

The Eddies came back to beat Fort Lauderdale 2-1 in the 2011 season opener, thanks to a highlight-reel rocket from Shaun Saiko and a winner from the now-departed Dan Antoniuk. But, unfortunately, more fans will remember the 5-0 shellacking the Strikers laid on the Eddies in the opening round of the playoffs. FC Edmonton picked the worst time to play its worst game of the season.

The Eddies will open at home on April 22 against the league champion NSC Minnesota Stars. The Stars beat the Strikers in the the two-legged NASL finals, capping off one of the year’s finest Cinderella stories in soccer. Minnesota entered the playoffs as the bottom seed, then upset FC Tampa Bay, the regular-season champion Carolina RailHawks and then the Strikers on the way to the title.
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First Mayen, now Arguez: Strikers definitely made an impression on the Montreal brass

By
Steven Sandor
– 11/25/2011

Now that the MLS expansion draft is done, the Montreal Impact wasted little time going back to the NASL well.

The team announced Friday that it has signed American midfielder Bryan Arguez, who spent the 2011 season with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

Even before Jesse Marsch came on as coach, the team vowed that it would mine NASL for players — not just from its own roster, but from around the league — to make the jump with the Impact to MLS. The team confirmed that Arguez was a pick made through the MLS Discovery process.

Arguez represented the Americans at 2007 U-20 World Cup in Canada and played for for U-20s again in 2009.
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Expansion Draft: Impact ignores Ching’s retirement threat

By
Steven Sandor
– 11/23/2011

Brian Ching vowed to retire if the Impact chose him in the expansion draft.

Montreal Impact coach Jesse Marsch showed the entire league that he doesn’t respond well to threats.

Brian Ching, scorer of 77 career regular-season goals, made it public that he would rather retire than be plucked off Houston’s roster and go to the Impact. What did Marsch do? He made Ching the first pick of expansion draft.

Now, the questions are: Will Ching back down? Will he retire? Or will the Impact make a deal that sends him back to Houston?

“We’d be delighted to have him,” Marsch said after the team had announced its 10 picks and a couple of subsequent trades.

“When you see the list, Brian’s name sticks out.”
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Great night for NSC Minnesota, bad night for NASL

By
Steven Sandor
– 10/30/2011

For anyone not cheering for the NSC Minnesota Stars to take the Soccer Bowl, it was an ugly spectacle.

But, for the Stars and their fans, the NASL championship was worth it. Protecting a 3-1 lead after the first leg of the league championship, the Stars travelled to south Florida to take on the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, and parked 10 men behind the ball for 90 minutes-plus of mind-numbingly dull 0-0, ahem, “action.”

The result gives Minnesota, who finished just a point ahead of the Montreal Impact for the sixth and final playoff in the eight-team NASL, the Soccer Bowl. It wraps up an improbable playoff run which saw it beat the No. 1 seed and runaway regular-season champion Carolina RailHawks in the semifinal.
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GolTV Canada to broadcast second leg of NASL final

By
Steven Sandor
– 10/27/2011

NASL fans in Canada will have the choice of watching the second leg of the league championship live online or on GolTV Canada’s tape-delayed broadcast.

The NASL announced Wednesday that the game would be broadcast on GolTV in the U.S. Confirmation came Thursday that the match will also be broadcast on GolTV Canada.

The NSC Minnesota Stars hold a 3-1 lead over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers after the first leg. The second leg from Florida will be broadcast on GolTV. Both English and Spanish broadcast crews will do the game. The Soccer Bowl finale will be shown on tape at 10 p.m. ET this Saturday in the U.S. And, if you can’t wait, it is shown live on the web, through nasl.com. Canadian viewers should check GolTV Canada’s website (goltv.ca) for updated programming information on when the game will air north of the border.

GolTV and GolTV Canada are broadcasting the three-part Team NASL series, which features news and highlights from the eight teams in the league in 2011. Unfortunately, it debuted after four of the teams had been eliminated from playoff contention.
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