But, that doesn’t mean the Canadian scene was dead when it comes to the North American first and second divisions. This weekend, Bruno Zebie made his NASL debut, coming on as a sub for FC Edmonton in its 1-1 draw with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. But, what makes it all the more interesting is that his brother, Allan Zebie, started the game.
Mason Trafford scores. Hanson Boakai scores. Sadi Jalali scores. Jay Chapman gets his first start. Jordan Hamilton makes his first MLS appearance. Nana Attakora is sent off. FC Edmonton gave a whopping 512 minutes of playing time to Canadians in a 4-0 win over San Antonio.
With the Canadian women’s national team losing a heartbreaking quarterfinal Saturday at BC Place to the English, this might be the week of weeks where our readers say “oh yeah, I guess MLS had games this weekend. Let me check the phone to see what the scores were.”
The revealing good news/bad news scenario in this week’s Quintessentially Canadian Power Rankings is found in this past weekend’s Vancouver Whitecaps match.
This weekly update to the minutes-played-by-Canadians list need to be taken with more than a few grains of salt.
It was moving day on the Quintessentially Canadian Power Rankings.
Ouimette now has five appearances, four of them starts, for the Red Bulls. He’s played a total of 412 minutes. And that’s significantly more minutes this season than — ahem — all of the Canadians combined on the Impact roster.
Coach Colin Miller said that Ameobi is officially listed as day-to-day, and is undergoing a scan to assess the severity of the injury to his foot.
Off the field, there was some good news as well. FCE’s Allan Zebie, who looks to have claimed a starting fullback spot after making the jump from the academy to the first team this past off-season, was signed to a contract extension that keeps him with the Eddies till 2017. Zebie is also rocketing up the Canadian minutes-played charts.
Late in the game, after intercepting a pass, Eddies’ central defender Mallan Roberts lingered on the ball rather than making the simple play and hoofing the ball out of danger. San Antonio’s Billy Forbes, who scored earlier in the game, nicked the ball off of Roberts’s feet and then went in alone on goal. He finished neatly, giving the Scorpions the late winner.
