Shaun Saiko Archive

1

Rago’s return to starting XI has been a major boost for FC Edmonton

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/16/2012

Shaun Saiko, left, and Antonio Rago at FCE practice Wednesday at Clarke Stadium.

Before the kickoff of the 2012 NASL season, FC Edmonton’s coaching staff pulled right back Antonio Rago aside to give him some bad news — that he’d lost his place in the starting XI.

Rago, a local product and fan favourite, was almost an automatic choice in coach Harry Sinkgraven’s starting lineups throughout the 2011 season. So, when Rago began the year on the subs’ bench, it was an eyebrow-raiser of a move.

But, over the last two weeks, Rago has reclaimed his starting spot. Before Rago came in as a started, Edmonton was winless in four league games. Since he came back, the team has won its two NASL matches by an aggregate 5-0 count and showed very well in an Amway Canadian Championship semifinal loss to Vancouver at BC Place — in which Rago set up Yashir Pinto’s goal for the Eddies.

Rago brings the kind of intangibles that you don’t find on a stat sheet. Intensity and an ability to judge when is the right time to go forward, and when he needs to remain at his post.

And, through the process, he said he never allowed himself to get bitter.

“It wasn’t a surprise (being dropped),” said Rago after FCE completed the first of two training sessions at Clarke Stadium, Wednesday. “The coaches came to me and told me that I wasn’t playing at the level that they knew I was capable of. They didn’t feel like I had a good preseason. And, to be honest, they were right. But I am a team player. I don’t sit on the bench cheering against my teammates just because I am not playing.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9% [?]

Share
0

FCE’s Hamilton named NASL Defensive POTW

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/14/2012

Paul Hamilton

For the second week in a row, an FC Edmonton player has won a weekly honour from the NASL.

Last week, it was Shaun Saiko getting the Offensive Player of the Week award for his hat trick against Carolina. This week, it’s central defender Paul Hamilton, who was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Week after the Eddies shut out Atlanta 2-0 for their second league win in a row.

In Atlanta, Hamilton played his third game in six days and had a keeper — John Smits — who was making a his professional debut. But, despite fatigue and the new partnership in the back, the Eddies soaked up the pressure early in the second half and were able to press their advantage after the Silverbacks went down to 10 men.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 6% [?]

Share
0

Saiko’s hat trick earns him NASL Offensive Player of the Week nod

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/07/2012

Shaun Saiko

FC Edmonton attacker Shaun Saiko went on a second-half rampage against the Carolina RailHawks Sunday.

And, for his efforts, he was named the NASL’s Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. Saiko scored his first career professional hat trick as FCE beat the RailHawks Sunday.

The previously winless Eddies went into the second half of their match with the RailHawks tied 0-0. But, with the wind at their backs in the second half, the home team was urged to try and take some shots from distance by their head coach, Harry Sinkgraven.

And Saiko must have been listening. His 32-yard blast (we can tell because of the football lines at Clarke Stadium) flew into the goal after a leaping attempt by Carolina keeper Ray Burse to fingertip the ball away proved fruitless.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

Share
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.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 17% [?]

Share
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.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 28% [?]

Share
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.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 16% [?]

Share
0

FC Edmonton has week and a half to prepare for Whitecaps clash

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/25/2012

Ilja Van Leerdam, left, and Shaun Saiko in action against Minnesota on Sunday. FC EDMONTON PHOTO

If a looming Amway Canadian Championship semifinal against the Vancouver Whitecaps wasn’t enough to get the minds of FC Edmonton’s players off of Sunday’s crushing 4-3 defeat to Minnesota, two training sessions on the same day in blustery 4C temperatures did the trick.

After the second training session wrapped up, FCE’s players were far more interested in talking about the big game next Wednesday at Commonwealth on Wednesday than dwelling on the last-gasp goal that gave Minnesota a 4-3 win over the Eddies in Sunday’s Clarke Stadium NASL home opener. Well, that and getting somewhere warm.

“It was disappointing to lose the way we did,” said midfielder Shaun Saiko, who scored for FCE and set up two other goals on Sunday. “We scored three goals, but we conceded four. But we are excited about next Wednesday, the chance to show all Canadians what we are about.”

Saiko sat out practice with what he called a minor toe problem, but expects to be at 100 per cent by the time the Whitecaps come to town.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 18% [?]

Share
0

Minnesota capitalizes on FCE’s defensive errors in wild 4-3 game

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/22/2012

FC Edmonton's Yashir Pinto shields the ball from Minnesota's Lucas Rodriguez. PHOTO: FC EDMONTON

A cavalcade of defensive and goalkeeping mistakes allowed the NASL champion Minnesota Stars to come away from FC Edmonton’s Clarke Stadium opener with a 4-3 win.

The winning goal — scored by subsitute Devin Del Do in stoppage time — was emblematic of the problems the Eddies had all afternoon long under the brilliant Alberta sunshine. With time ticking down, the Stars launched a throw in deep into the heart of the box. Del Do was first to the ball — but the real mistake came from FCE’s Ilja Van Leerdam, who wasn’t hugging the post on a throw-in set play the Eddies knew would be just like a corner kick. If Van Leerdam is on the line and on the post, the ball is cleared away and FCE comes up with a point.

“It was an open game with a crazy ending,” said FCE coach Harry Sinkgraven. “If you look at the game, we gave the first two goals away.”

Sinkgraven is being charitable. It was more like four.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 13% [?]

Share
0

FCE’s scoreless streak stretched to three games in 0-0 draw with Puerto Rico

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/19/2012

Kenny Caceros: Got his first FCE start, and played against former Ottawa Fury teammate Edson Edward

FC Edmonton’s scoreless streak to start the NASL season went past the 270-minute mark, but the Eddies will take a point out of Wednesday’s visit to Puerto Rico.

The Eddies and Islanders played to a 0-0 draw that saw FCE keeper Michal Misiewicz and PRI netminder Richard Martin asked to do very little outside of grabbing crosses and hammering goal kicks.

But, for FCE, which lost the first two of this three-game road trip, a point earned in Puerto Rico was a small victory.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

Share
5

FC Edmonton succumbs to early pressure from the Rowdies

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/15/2012

Paul Hamilton

FC Edmonton couldn’t survive an early surge from the home team, and would later rue a series of missed opportunities, as the Eddies fell 1-0 to the Tampa Bay Rowdies Saturday night.

The Eddies were lucky to come out of the first 20 minutes of the match down only 1-0, thanks to a couple of fantastic saves from keeper Michal Misiewicz. But Misiewicz could do nothing to keep out Takuya Yamada’s shot from point-blank range. And even though FCE improved as the game went on, the team could only lament a series of spurned chances.

“They had some clear-cut chances and we had some clear-cut chances,” said defender Paul Hamilton, who was in the Eddies’ starting XI after missing the season opener due to a suspension that carried over into the 2012 campaign. “The difference was that they put one of their in the back of the net. We had about three chances inside the 18-yard box where the shooter didn’t have anyone around, and we didn’t put one in the back of the net.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 13% [?]

Share
Older Entries