FC Edmonton spends week in Atlanta prepping for Tampa trip By Steven Sandor Posted on July 25, 2012 1 0 768 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Chris Kooy After beating the Atlanta 2-1 on Saturday, FC Edmonton has made Silverbacks Stadium its home away from home this week. The team has remained in Atlanta this week as it prepares to face the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday. The team flies out of Georgia on Friday. “We’ve been practicing early in the morning, to get away from the midday heat,” said FCE midfielder Chris Kooy. But even though the Eddies scored multiple goals in Atlanta Saturday, the first time the team has done that since a 2-2 tie with San Antonio back on May 27, Kooy assured that getting that victory — just the team’s fourth of the season — will not in any way make the team cocky. Yes, there is a good feeling at practices this week — but, the players know that the win over the Silverbacks has seen them just start to dig themselves out of a hole that sees them trail Fort Lauderdale by eight points for the final playoff spot in the NASL. “We have no reason to feel overconfident,” said Kooy. “We had one good result, one win. But that’s just one step towards our major goal, which is making the playoffs.” One person who isn’t on the trip is midfielder Ilja Van Leerdam; he is back in Edmonton, getting his knee evaluated. He hasn’t played since a 1-0 loss to Tampa a couple of weeks back. Kooy is one of the players who has had to adjust to the loss of a player who has played the third-most minutes on the team so far this season. “We have a lot of midfield options,” said Kooy. “That’s a good thing, but we do miss him (Ilja). He’s been working very hard for us going forward and defending. But we do have midfielders who can fill in, some more defensive and some more attacking oriented.” And, with the injury, it should mean that Kooy spends most of his time in midfield. The holding midfield spot is where he’s most comfortable, but coach Harry Sinkgraven has used him in the backline on several occasions over the past month. “There are times they haven’t told me where I’m playing till the day before,” said Kooy. “But I will play wherever I am need to help the team, in the midfield, on defence or even on the bench.”
