Fifteen years ago, Allan Zebie was a boy, playing soccer in the playgrounds and on the streets of Paris with his friends and cousins.

When Ethan Gage left the Vancouver Whitecaps for Reading, the former Canadian U-20 Player of the Year had high hopes for his career. Instead, it was a disaster. He’s spent years in Scandinavia rediscovering a passion for the game, a passion that he’d lost in England...

When FC Edmonton travelled to Indiana for its final game of the NASL spring season, the team was depleted. Defender Mallan Roberts and midfielder Lance Laing were away on international duty. The team was ravaged by injuries.

“The more I see the goal [on the replay monitors], the more I like it,” Watson joked after the match. “And the more I think I’m wasted as a centre back.”

On Sunday, both FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller and Minnesota United boss Manny Lagos will rue how the players in their teams’ respective walls got out of the way when free kicks were hammered in their direction.

“But we’ve created a monster here, in terms of players getting call-ups to their national teams. It’s a situation we’ve never had to deal with before this season, but it’s also an honour for the club.”

With 10 minutes left Saturday’s match between Atlanta and FC Edmonton, Silverback Junior Burgos came up with that moment of magic. He hammered a free kick from distance just inside the post to give Atlanta the 1-0 win.

The Eddies produced more turnovers than you’d find in a bakery. And, they really only created one scoring chance of note — and that came in the second half with the Eddies already down a goal. And, in true comedy-of-errors style, sub Hanson Boakai and winger Lance Laing got in each other’s way when the ball sat in the Fort Lauderdale penalty area and keeper Josh Ford down and out on the turf.

And, in the fall? The Eddies are the only team in NASL to allow an average of less than a goal per game; FCE has conceded just eight times in nine matches. And the defensive turnaround has put the Eddies in second place in the fall table, and just two points out of fourth in the combined standings. That fourth spot would likely represent the final post-season spot.

Without the stellar play of the Carolina keeper, the RailHawks would have lost to FC Edmonton by a more lopsided scoreline than Sunday’s 3-0 result at Clarke Field. Make no mistake; a 3-0 loss was a scoreline that flattered the visitors, who have become all too used to hidings on the Clarke turf.