According to the NASL's match stats, FC Edmonton got just one shot on target in Saturday's match at the Indy Eleven.

hursday, a Canadian national futsal team made up mostly of amateurs from Ontario and Quebec felled an American side filled with professionals. Thanks to a Robert Renaud hat trick, Canada beat the American 5-3 in Costa Rica Thursday, which gave our national side a 9-7 edge in the two-game aggregate series.

FC Edmonton will be hosting food drives for displaced Fort McMurray residents at its next two home games. In partnership with Canada Soccer, Alberta Soccer, the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association and the Edmonton Food Bank, the Eddies will be collecting food donations at the May 11 Amway Canadian Championship game against Ottawa and the May 15 NASL game against the Cosmos.

It is becoming clearer with every FC Edmonton match that Diakite is a real diamond-in-the-rough signing for the Eddies. He may be one of the meanest tacklers NASL has ever seen. He’s dominant in the air. He’s unorthodox at times, but he’s an absolute shutdown defender.

Over the courses of two games this week, Maxim Tissot, Patrice Bernier, Kyle Bekker and Wandrille Lefevre found places in the starting lineup. Under the leadership of Canadian coach Mauro Biello, there has been a real surge in the number of minutes the team is offering to Canadian players. The Impact is still not equal to Toronto FC when it comes to giving first-team minutes to Canadian players, but Montreal’s average has shot up significantly over the last few weeks.

From next Wednesday (May 4) to May 22, the Eddies will play six games. That works out to an average of a game every three days for the better part of a month. Beginning with next Wednesday’s date in Jacksonville, the Eddies will play four NASL matches and two Amway Canadian Championship matches in the span of a little less than three weeks.

All but three of the American players are under contract to teams in the Major Arena Soccer League, including Danny Waltman, who was named the MASL’s goalkeeper of the year in 2016. Canada has three MASL vets: Ian Bennett of the Milwaukee Wave, Frederico Moojen of the St. Louis Ambush and Vahid Assadpour of the Missouri Comets.

At this time last year (MLS Week 8/NASL Week 4), 26 Canadians had seen the field for their MLS or NASL clubs. This year, 32 Canadians have played in MLS or NASL games so far this season.

So, when asked after the game if Scarlett would be making more appearances in pre-game ceremonies to come, Watson answered with an emphatic yes. Maybe the little girl has replaced the rabbit as the Eddies’ good-luck charm.

FC Edmonton’s 18-year-old midfielder made his professional debut Saturday, playing 80 minutes against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. But, he couldn’t let himself get too carried away — on Tuesday, the University of Alberta first-year engineering student wrote an exam.