A rousing second-half comeback and an astonishing miss from NSC Minnesota forward Amani Walker has propelled FC Edmonton within touching distance of the NASL playoffs.

The Impact goes to Bayamon on Sept. 7, one day after the Puerto Rican national team plays Canada in a World Cup qualifier. Seven members of the Islanders will be on national-team duty. As well, the team’s top scorer, Jonathan Fana, will be on World Cup qualifying duty for his Dominican Republic national side.

FCE didn’t train Tuesday as it prepared for two days of travel. On Wednesday, the team will fly to Minneapolis, then connect on a flight to Atlanta. The club will spend Wednesday night in Atlanta, before heading on a flight to Puerto Rico. By the end of the trip Thursday, the team will have spent three days away from the practice field. If you could fly from Edmonton to Puerto Rico direct, you are looking at about a seven- hour flight. But it is broken up into three chunks — and FC Edmonton isn’t flying charter.

Ironically, on that night Hamilton wasn’t named our man of the match — that nod went to striker Michael Cox who, in his second start of the season, put up two goals.

FC Edmonton exploded for three second-half goals after a sluggish first half, and brought its eight-game winless skid to an end with a 3-0 triumph over the last-place Atlanta Silverbacks.

“We should not lose,” said Porter. “No way. We have to go full throttle. We can’t take Atlanta for granted just because they are in last place.”

While it’s still improbable that the Impact will overhaul FC Edmonton for the last playoff spot, FCE’s recent struggles have made the race a lot more interesting than it needed to be.

The good news? FC Edmonton’s five-game losing streak is over. The bad news? The Eddies gave up a sloppy late goal and threw two points away, being forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers Sunday at Foote Field.

FC Edmonton’s losing streak has grown to five games, as Aaron Pitchkolan’s last-gasp wonder strike gave the Puerto Rico Islanders a 1-0 win at a rain-soaked Foote Field Saturday.

As Canada prepares to begin its World Cup qualifying campaign — which kicks off Sept. 2 against Puerto Rico — coach Stephen Hart has a lot on his plate. With that in mind, The 11, with some input from our readers, has created a list of players — not including Junior Hoilett, he’s been talked about ad nauseam already— who didn’t take part in the Gold Cup and could inject some life into the Canadian squad.