So, to kick off the fall season Sunday and welcome back all-time FCE leading scorer Daryl Fordyce into the fold, Eddies coach Colin Miller instructed his team to play in a 4-1-3-2 formation, bringing numbers to the front and hoping to coax more goals out of an offence that finished dead last in scoring in the spring season.

Maybe this Saturday night was the night soccer finally arrived in Edmonton.

This may be the week where the NASL narrative changes. We’re edging towards the halfway point of the fall season, and we might now be talking about FCE, Indy and the Cosmos all being playoff teams, and everyone else fighting for that fourth and final spot — unless one of those other clubs can make a mark on the fall-season race.

FC Edmonton lost its home opener by a 2-0 count to Minnesota United, Sunday. But, on the day, the gap between the teams deserved to be emphasized by a margin of greater than two goals.

With seven members of his national championship side off to the pro ranks, coach Caleb Porter has to replenish the cupboards at the University of Akron. What Porter has established in his five years has helped the cause. “We’re always going to have to work hard,” Porter says of recruiting. “Everybody wants those (top recruits) guys and we’re going to have to work to get them. I think our biggest sell right now is not so much that we’ve won but it’s the way we play. The way we play helps to develop players for the next level.