FC Edmonton needs to be better out of the gate

Paul Hamilton in action vs, Atlanta.

FC Edmonton’s players and coaches realize that a disturbing pattern has appeared — and it’s helped lead to three losses out of the team’s last four games.

The Eddies are 3-7-2 after losses over the last two weekends in Fort Lauderdale and Cary, N.C. That’s only good enough for seventh-place in the NASL, with top dog Puerto Rico coming into Edmonton for a Canada Day matchup.

And, if Edmonton is to break the losing skid, and improve on what has been a disappointing 2-2-1 home record, it needs to do a heck of a lot better job right after the opening kickoff.

“We have talked about it (the team’s slow starts),” said coach Harry Sinkgraven after Wednesday’s training session at Clarke Stadium. “But the coaches, we can talk about it, but we can’t fix it. It’s up to the players. But we know that in our last four games, we have played much better in the second half than we did in the first half.”

Edmonton was outscored 2-0 by the last-place Atlanta Silverbacks in the first half of their 2-1 loss four games ago. FCE won against the Strikers three games ago, but keeper Lance Parker was forced into several key first-half saves, including a penalty stop. In their last two road losses, FCE’s goal was under siege in the first half of each game.

“It’s something that’s hard to explain as a player,” said defender Paul Hamilton. “We have done well in the second half, and if we can extend that and play as well in the first half, we know that we can get some results.”

And, when at home, it’s important for FCE to set an early tone, to dominate the game early — which wasn’t the case in the team’s previous two home dates.

The team returned to full training Wednesday after the players got two days off to recharge their engines. Some were able to get away from the city for a couple of days, to try and get their minds off soccer.

“We have had some long travel days and we have a busy schedule coming up,” said Hamilton. “We’ll have three games in a week. And, when you are loising, it is always on your mind. So, it was nice to get away from it for a couple of days.”

After playing Puerto Rico on Canada Day, FCE travels to San Antonio for a Wednesday game then out the Caribbean to face the Islanders on the following Saturday.

“We have had a lot of travel in the last two weeks,” sad Sinkgraven.”We had two long road trips to the United States. So it was good to give the players an extra day off, a bit of a break. And, we have some of our injured players coming back, some will play in the reserve game tonight.”

But Sinkgraven wouldn’t say if he is contemplating any major lineup changes ahead of Sunday’s match. There were no trialists at Wednesday’s session. But, with FCE on a short week, then going on the road for two games next week, it wouldn’t make sense to bring in any trialists this week, as coaches like to look at them for at least two weeks.

EURO 2012: FC Edmonton officials confirmed that there were internal discussions held to see if the 2 p.m. MT kickoff of Sunday’s match would be moved — as it conflicts with the Euro 2012 final. But no change will be made.

Toronto FC moved its start time of last Saturday’s home date with New England so it wouldn’t conflict with the Euro 2012 quarter-final.

But, remember that TFC manages BMO Field, FCE doesn’t manage Clarke Stadium.