Home NASL & USL FC Edmonton Eddies can’t afford another slow start when the Strikers come to town

Eddies can’t afford another slow start when the Strikers come to town

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FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller knows that he doesn’t have to repeat the same messages. He doesn’t have to get angry during training.

After all, his players are professionals; they fully understand just how sluggish they’ve been at the start of their first two games of the NASL campaign. In week one, at Jacksonville the Eddies gave up a goal 12 seconds in and three in total in the first half. In last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Carolina, the Eddies gave up three golden scoring chances in the first 15 minutes, only to be bailed out by the heroics of keeper Matt Van Oekel.

“We need to start brighter,” Miller said after FCE’s morning training session at Clarke Stadium Thursday. “We can’t hammer on it, though, or else players will be uptight.”

The Eddies host the new-look Fort Lauderdale Strikers on Sunday.

And, with just one point out of their first two games in the spring season, one could argue that the match against the Strikers is a must win. After all, once the game against the Strikers is done, there will only be seven left in the spring schedule. The winner of the 10-game spring session and 20-game fall session will be guaranteed the top two seeds in the NASL postseason, with the next best two overall teams getting the three and four seeds.

But Miller doesn’t see a need to panic. He sees the NASL slate as a full schedule, and wants the Eddies to be near or at the top of the overall standings come November.

“I see it as there are 28 games left to go. However they want to dress it [spring/fall season split], it means nothing to me.”

Eddies’ central defender Mallan Roberts is expecting the Strikers to come out and press right off the opening kickoff.

“It’s always important that we start off well. But, I am sure the Strikers have done their job, and they’ve looked at how to press us. They’ll want to see how we react right off the bat.”

But why are the Eddies off to such sluggish starts?

“It’s football,” said Roberts. “In games, often one team starts off on the front foot, the other not so much. Just look at the Champions League game from yesterday. Look at the way Bayern Munich started [in a 3-1 loss to Porto]; you would not have expected that to happen, but it did.”

But Roberts understands that there could be consequences if the team continues to have sluggish starts.

“If we don’t do our job, then the gaffer will do his job, and that’s to make changes.”

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4 Comments

  1. :-/

    April 18, 2015 at 8:07 am

    Hope the weather is better too. Doesn’t having the home games televised affect the crowds?

    • italk2u

      April 18, 2015 at 4:22 pm

      I think on nice warm, sunny days, it shouldn’t be factor if the fans are looking for a way to spend sometime with friends and family in the outdoors and cheer on the hometown team. Esks fans do it all the time.
      But in weather like last week and possibly this Sunday’s as well, only the hardcore will be there, and since there just aren’t that many hardcore soccer fans in this city(i.e. Eddies fans), they will have a hard time getting the desired numbers for a while yet.
      The Eddies need to change their marketing strategy and aim for families and other groups to help fill Clark. It worked for the Esks and the Oilers over the early years and still does to this day.

  2. left back

    April 17, 2015 at 10:21 am

    Is there such thing as a ‘must win’ game early on?… i think so… if the Eddies drop out of playoff contention and get 1 point out of 3 games to start the season… it could be a situation similar to that of the Oilers with fans and supporters writing the team (and year) off by X mas… in FC Edmonton terms…. that could be when they go on break for 2 months between May 24 and July 26. If they are in the same position they were last year at that time… which was bottom… the remaining games in the fall season will be irrelevant… and crowd support will be dismal and interest in the team will be at an all time low….

    Again it is my belief that this or maybe next, is a ‘make or break’ year for the Eddies and if they fall at the first hurdle again this year…. it could spell the end….

    So ya…. it is a huge game…

    good luck boys… please try and pass the ball twice before you lump it up the park ;-(

  3. Kahkakew Yawassanay

    April 16, 2015 at 9:19 pm

    Blah blah blah, this is old news as FCE are notorious for wasting games in the early season them trying to make up for it and falling short. Obviously Miller cannot motivate players enough or has selected players who cannot provide the spark they need to get a good start; his inabilities are the obvious issue to get required results and in Edmonton 1 point out of 6 means small crowds….either you replace the players in question or the coach as this has been a lingering problem and is unacceptable and has impacted the bottomline

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