FC Edmonton is transforming missing scoring chances into an art form.

“They got it wrong; the referee got it wrong on Saturday night — and that came from the league,” said Miller.

But, on Saturday night, referee Daniel Radford just got it plain wrong. To call a hand-ball in the box, you need to have an essential ingredient: The ball has to make contact with the arm or hand of the offending player.

“This is a local derby, this is,” Miller joked. “We could almost walk there or take bikes or whatever. It’s great; it’s a west-coast rivalry, it’s as close as you can be for a rivalry in our league. It does feel like a genuinely short trip.”

“He said there was a push, but there was just the usual hustle and bustle in the box you usually get every game,” said Ameobi.

FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller is expecting a short bench when his team hosts NASL-leading Miami FC Saturday night.

“I’m excited, it’s been a long time coming,” Ingham said after the Eddies trained Friday.

Maybe this was just a bit of karmic payback for the Cosmos scrambling to postpone their May 21 home date with the Eddies just so the New York side could jaunt off to Saudi Arabia for a friendly.

“The buck stops with me,” said the coach. “I’m big enough to accept that when things go like that, it’s a reflection on Colin Miller.”

The 5,600-kilometre trip is so daunting, so logistically difficult for a travelling contingent of 22 people, that the only way it can be done is to break the group into two.