Canadians sweep NASL Player of the Week awards

Canadians swept the NASL Player of the Week Awards. FC Edmonton’s John Jonke got the nod as the Defensive Player of the Week, while FC Tampa Bay’s Mozzi Gyorio was named the Offensive Player of the Week. For FCE, it was some good news in the wake of Sunday’s disheartening loss to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Jonke was named the Man of the Match in Wednesday’s 2-1 triumph over Atlanta, which saw the Eddies clinch a playoff spot. And Jonke scored FC Edmonton’s lone goal in the 2-1 loss to Fort Lauderdale, as he finished after fellow defender Paul Hamilton headed a corner kick back across the penalty area. The loss means that Edmonton needs to beat Montreal in the final game of the season and hope that Fort Lauderdale can’t get more than a point out of its final two games — one of them against the last-place Atlanta Silverbacks. Without that combination, FCE knows it will be going on the road for its first-round playoff match. For most of the season, Jonke had been the no-nonsense centre back, while Hamilton was the one who got more involved in moving the ball up the field and jumping into the attack. But Jonke’s confidence has grown; in the match against Atlanta, he had a header go just wide of goal, and he sprayed a series of excellent passes upfield to the midfielders and forwards. Gyorio scored the goal that clinched Tampa Bay a playoff spot, a 30-yard free-kick effort against NSC Minnesota that would be up for the league’s goal of the year, if it had such an award. “It is always an honour to win an award,” said Gyorio, who was raised in Stratford, P.E.I. “But the main thing is that the team is playing well and you can never do it without your own teammates. Hopefully we keep this good form going into the playoffs.” Despite all the talk of FC Edmonton’s Canadian content, Gyorio could be the first Canadian from NASL to jump this season. Sources have indicated that Gyorio could be making a move to Europe at the end of the campaign.