Harry Sinkgraven Archive

5

Le Toux, Whitecaps, beat down FC Edmonton’s brave resistance

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/10/2012

Vancouver's Floyd Franks, left, takes on FCE's Shaun Saiko, right.

For 75 minutes of Wednesday’s second leg of the club’s Amway Canadian Championship final against the Vancouver Whitecaps, things looked good for FC Edmonton to be Cinderella at the BC Place ball.

The Eddies had a 1-0 leading, halving the 2-0 deficit from the first leg at Commonwealth Stadium. The soccer gods looked to be smiling on them, as an early goal from Whitecap Michael Nanchoff was incorrectly ruled out for offside — as replays showed that the low cross from John Thorrington was played when Vancouver’s attackers were all in onside positions. And, the Eddies had created the bulk of the chances, getting the first-ever North American professional goal from Chilean Yashir Pinto, and forcing Caps keeper Brad Knighton to make a few excellent saves, including a point-blank chance from Michael Cox.

But, with the Eddies needing just one goal to improbably send the tie crashing towards extra time, FC Edmonton crashed itself.

It all came undone in the 75th minute, when substitute Sebastian Le Toux turned left back Fabian Vorbe inside out then stroked a low shot towards the middle of the goal that went right under keeper David Monsalve.

It was a deflating moment that sent a Div.-2 side crashing down — and the Whitecaps scored twice more against the shellshocked Eddies to take the game, 3-1, and the series, 5-1.
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5

Saiko scores three as FC Edmonton dominates the RailHawks

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/06/2012

Shaun Saiko, front, wins the ball from Carolina's Cory Elenio. PHOTO: FC EDMONTON

Shaun Saiko enjoyed one of his finest days as a professional player, as he scored all of the goals as FC Edmonton got its first win of the season, downing the Carolina RailHawks 3-0 at Clarke Stadium.

But, while Saiko was the author of all three goals — two wonder strikes and a penalty — the fact is the 3-0 scoreline wasn’t an indication of just how wide the gulf was between the two teams on Sunday. Yashir Pinto was stopped five, count ‘em, five times by Carolina keeper Ray Burse on close-in chances. And, a corner taken by Saiko that came off FCE’s Paul Hamilton struck the Carolina goalpost.

Really, had Edmonton won this game by six goals the RailHawks wouldn’t have been able to say it was an unfair result. This was FC Edmonton’s most confident, assured performance since last spring, and the Eddies did it with former coach Dwight Lodeweges — who the club assures is on vacation and is simply taking in some matches — watching from the stands.
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7

Blame FCE’s losses, not City of Edmonton, for poor attendance at Commonwealth Stadium

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/03/2012

Commonwealth Stadium before the ACC match: Most of the seats remained empty

The number was painful to read, painful to report. In a concrete monolith of a stadium that’s built to seat more than 60,000, just 2,777 people came to see FC Edmonton play the Vancouver Whitecaps in the first leg of their Amway Canadian Championship semifinal.

And that number was bolstered by a healthy number of Vancouver supporters who made the trip to back the Whitecaps. In fact, from the broadcast booth on the other side of the stadium, the noise made by Curva Collective and the Southsiders drowned out anything the rest of the small FCE-suporting portion of the crowd could muster.

It was supposed to be a great scenario for the tournament in Edmonton. Unlike last year, when Edmonton faced Toronto, the Eddies would play a regional rival, with a chance to build something of a Western Canadian derby. The start time was at a more fan-friendly 8 p.m., when last year it was tacked onto the end of the work day to accommodate Eastern time zone TV watchers.

Yet the Whitecaps game drew far less than the 2011 edition against Toronto.
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0

FCE learns some tough lessons from the Whitecaps

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/03/2012

FCE's Paul Hamilton, right, heads the ball away from Whitecap Omar Salgado

In the Commonwealth Stadium press box before the game, FC Edmonton Director of Soccer Joe Petrone made the prediction: If FCE could keep the Whitecaps off the scoresheet through the first 20 minutes, if the Eddies could make it through those initial nervous moments, “we’ll be fine.”

They didn’t make it through the first 20 minutes. They didn’t settle for most of the first half, allowing a physically dominant and mature Vancouver Whitecaps side to come out with a comfortable 2-0 win in their road leg of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal, in front of a disappointing crowd of 2,777.

“When you see the game, you see the difference in the way we play,” said FCE coach Harry Sinkgraven after the match. “They are more mature, you can see that. In battles, they are stronger. We lost too many individual battles.”
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0

FCE focused on not allowing Whitecaps to get an away goal

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/01/2012

Paul Hamilton takes a shot on FCE keeper David Monsalve during Tuesday's training session at Commonwealth Stadium,

Keep it clean.

That’s the prevailing message from FC Edmonton’s final training session before Wednesday’s Amway Canadian Championship semifinal first leg against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Whitecaps are bringing pretty much a full-strength lineup to Edmonton outside of midfielder Camilo and defender Jay DeMerit — who were both omitted from the Whitecaps’ team sheet for the game. FC Edmonton coach Harry Sinkgraven conceded that the MLS side is bigger and stronger than FCE, whose mobile-but-small backline struggled in its last NASL match against Minnesota’s six-foot-plus strikers. So, for Edmonton, the key will be to focus on the likes of Eric Hassli, Sebastien Le Toux and Omar Salgado — depending on who Vancouver chooses to start — and keeping them off the scoresheet.

FC Edmonton coach Harry Sinkgraven said that he told his squad of his exploits in European Cup matches.

“Twice in first game, we won 1-0. If you keep a clean sheet in the home game, and just score one goal away from home, then the opposition has to make three goals,” Sinkgraven said Tuesday.
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0

Sinkgraven not worried by FCE draws; goalie Parker dealing with setback

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/12/2012

Harry Sinkgraven

FC Edmonton coach Harry Sinkgraven isn’t concerned that his NASL side has only two draws to show for its first two preseason matches.

Far from it.

“No, I am not disappointed at all,” said Sinkgraven after FC Edmonton needed a last-ditch 93rd-minute save from David Monsalve to preserve a 0-0 draw with the University of New Mexico. “Of course, you want to win games. But the goal right now is to make sure all the players get their time on the field. You have to give everyone a fair chance.”
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1

French revolution continues at FC Edmonton

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/07/2012

Serisay Barthelemy

The French contingent on FC Edmonton has been increased to three.

The club revealed Tuesday night that French midfielder Serisay Barthelemy isn’t a trialist, after all. He actually finished a medical and signed a contract before he got on the plane that took the club to Casa Grande, Ariz. on Monday.

Barthelemy joins countrymen Kevin Hatchi, who is the projected opening day starter at left back, and centre back Jonathan Joseph-Augustin on the roster.

Barthelemy, like Canadian fullback Kenny Caceros, attended the NASL combine in Fort Lauderdale back in mid-February. Caceros was invited to FCE camp on a trial basis.
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0

FCE signs French defender, releases Canadian defender

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/24/2012

Jonathan Joseph-Augustin: IN

Justin Farenik: OUT

FC Edmonton now has a French connection on the backline.

The team announced three player moves Friday. The club has signed French defender Jonathan Joseph-Augustin. Originally, the club planned to bring him to its March Arizona camp as a trialist, but he impressed enough during his recent weeks training with the club in Edmonton that he has a contract before the team heads south.

Joseph-Augustin was recommended to the club by left back Kevin Hatchi. The pair played together eight years ago with French side Grenoble.

At the same time as Augustin’s signing was made official, the club released Canadian defender Justin Farenik and American forward Shawn Chin.
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3

FC Edmonton to make stadium announcement in early March

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/15/2012

FC Edmonton fans will need to wait just a couple of more weeks before learning where the team will play its NASL home games in 2012

The team has confirmed that it is targeting the first week of March for a major announcement on its stadium plans for the upcoming season.

As reported by IMSoccer News (see here), NASL set a Feb. 15 deadline for the club to let the league know about its stadium plans. It is The 11’s understanding that FCE has satisfied that requirement, but that we shouldn’t expect the league to announce the stadium ahead of the team.
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FC Edmonton coach interesting in “a couple” of players from NASL Combine

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/14/2012

Harry Sinkgraven

FC Edmonton coach Harry Sinkgraven said he has interest in “a couple” of the players he saw put through their paces over the weekend at the NASL Combine.

Sinkgraven and assistant Hans Schrijver traveled to Florida over the weekend to look at more than 70 prospects vying for jobs in North America’s second division — a list that included six Canadians.

From NASL match reports, we know that former Montreal Impact prospect Kevin Cossette impressed with a whale of a free-kick goal; and Simon Fraser University product Dalvir Malhi also had some impressive stints on the field.

Sinkgraven said he can’t name the prospects who interest the club, as the team now needs to negotiate with their agents and find out if those players would actually be interested in coming to Edmonton.
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