“For us, it we sit back in the 18-yard box, it is inevitable what will happen,” said FCE coach Colin Miller. “Our game plan worked to a T at BC Place, save for the last six minutes. And, I think we can score, I feel that way about every game we play, and that we need to score. But we are in a position where we’re not chasing the game, so there’s no need to do anything stupid.”

Late in the game, after intercepting a pass, Eddies’ central defender Mallan Roberts lingered on the ball rather than making the simple play and hoofing the ball out of danger. San Antonio’s Billy Forbes, who scored earlier in the game, nicked the ball off of Roberts’s feet and then went in alone on goal. He finished neatly, giving the Scorpions the late winner.

If Lance Laing enjoys an extended period with the Reggae Boyz, FC Edmonton will have to learn to play without him on the left wing.

“What a performance by these guys tonight,” said FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller. “It speaks to the culture that we’re trying to build here. We gave up some very poor goals to the best team in NASL on Sunday. But we came into this game not looking to draw; we thought we could win the game. We knew that, playing against the best team in the MLS Western Conference, that we couldn’t have one single player out there fail tonight. And we didn’t have any failures.”

Crazily, that marks only the fourth quickest goal the Eddies have given up this season in NASL or Canadian Championship play. That’s right. Even though the season began in April, the Mendes goal is only at No. 4 in the quick-goals chart.

After referee Dave Gantar deemed FC Edmonton’s home pitch unplayable, officials from the Canadian Soccer Association, FC Edmonton and the Whitecaps unanimously agreed to postpone the first leg of their Amway Canadian Championship semifinal, which had been set for Wednesday night. The Edmonton leg, now set for May 20, will be the second leg of the series. The Whitecaps still host a match on May 13, but it will now be the first leg, not the second.

Then, it all changed on what looked to be an innocuous play. Minnesota fullback Justin Davis got into the penalty are with the ball, and looked to have run himself into a corner; he wasn’t facing goal and he didn’t have a shooting angle. At best, he could hope to turn and pop a cross to the centre of the area. But FC Edmonton substitute Michael Nonni elected to dive in. Even though Nonni got all ball with the tackle, Davis went down and referee Geoff Gamble pointed to the spot.

“It wasn’t my choice; they didn’t have me in their plans,” Van Oekel said of the move from Minnesota. “They wanted to go in a different direction. And it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I have a coach here (in Edmonton, Colin Miller) who I get along with wonderfully, and a goalkeeping coach (Darren Woloshen) who really pushes me.”

According to Armada general manager Dario Sala, "Chaim Roserie is a tremendous young prospect for our club.He has a great amount of potential, and we look forward to seeing him develop and working to become a fixture in our lineup in the future."

Up 3-1 after the first leg of their Amway Canadian Championship preliminary round tie against the Ottawa Fury, FC Edmonton’s players had a bit of a surprise prepared. Instead of bunkering and trying to protect the three road goals they scored in the first leg, they came out onto the Clarke Stadium turf looking to break the backs of their …