“I don’t think Carolina will have an easier 45 minutes than they did in that first half,” said FCE’s coach.

If the Eddies don’t get points this weekend at North Carolina FC, their odds of being in the NASL spring-season race, well, they might just get awfully long.

“I’m in disbelief that we lost that game,” Miller said after the Eddies’ 1-0 loss to Jacksonville. “We battered Jacksonville for 80 minutes. We’ll play worse and win.”

As a member of the Canadian national side, he’s played on this country’s soil many times. But Saturday’s home opener against the Jacksonville Armada will mark the first time he’s been part of a professional club match played in his home and native land. His family is making the trip from Victoria to Edmonton to take in the game.

JC Banks pounced on an FC Edmonton giveaway in the middle of the park — and then made the visiting Eddies pay.

Both teams bubbled just under the 270-minute mark when it comes to time played by Canadians.

“We now owe them one,” said Miller after Wednesday’s training session at Clarke Field. “It still eats away at me that we set the NASL record of the quickest goal against in Jacksonville. We’ll try to rectify that result. We’ve done well over the last few times we’ve played down in Jacksonville. They’ve got one or two changes on their team, but we have to go down there with the mindset that we’ll get three points."

So, today, I asked the Oilers Entertainment Group point-blank about their involvement with the Canadian Premier League. And the statement: "We are not in discussions and it's not on our radar."

The North American Soccer League has just announced its American national broadcast schedule for the spring season. Whenever a soccer league that has teams in both the United States and Canada announces its broadcast plans for south of the border, those north of it are often left confused.

With Ledgerwood off to play for Canada, coach Colin Miller said that fullback Netan Sansara will get the captain’s armband for the Stoke City match. Dustin Corea, who scored and set up a goal against Newcastle, will be out with a groin strain. And goalkeeper Nathan Ingham is nursing a strain in his kicking leg.