FC Edmonton to decide soon on Porter, Leroy

Wednesday will be cut-down day for FC Edmonton coach Harry Sinkgraven. Well, sort of.

The team spent a week in Florida with its full roster complement of 23 players — and trialists Kyle Porter and Adrian Leroy — ahead of Saturday’s NASL-opening 2-1 win over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

But, several of those players will head home Wednesday to continue training in Alberta while the rest of the squad continues with the final two games of the road trip, enough for Sinkgraven to fill a lineup card and have a full bench. FCE is in Atlanta Saturday, then heads north to face the Carolina RailHawks before heading back to Edmonton to prepare for the April 27 Nutrilite Canadian Championship date with Toronto FC.

Defender Paul Matthijs is sure to get a ticket home as he recovers from a knee injury.

Porter and Leroy are still in camp. A decision on their fate is expected this week but, as if Tuesday, neither had put pen to paper on a deal.

Porter, the former Vancouver Whitecap, went to camp with the Montreal Impact this spring. But, rather surprisingly, he turned up at FC Edmonton’s camp last week. There were some eligibility issues that need to get ironed out because of Porter’s decision to leave the Whitecaps, but The 11 has learned those have been smoothed out. Now, the only decision left for Sinkgraven and the FCE brass will be whether or not Porter is good enough to stick.

Leroy, the former Ottawa Fury defender, continues to audition.

If either signs, don’t expect to see them right away, as Sinkgraven’s 4-3-3 system is intricate, and players can’t simply be tossed into it. The majority of the team worked with Sinkgraven all winter long, and it showed in the way that they passed Fort Lauderdale off the pitch at times during Saturday’s match.