FC Edmonton turned September into Christmas for the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Brazilian striker Julio Cesar da Silva Rodrigues trained for the first time with FC Edmonton Wednesday, and the early reviews are good.

Antoniuk, who scored the first-ever winning goal in FC Edmonton’s NASL history but was released by the team at the end of the 2011 season, got the only tally as the Tampa Bay Rowdies edged the Eddies by a 1-0 score.

But, the Eddies got two second-half goals in the space of 93 seconds, then held on to beat the Silverbacks by a 2-1 count. The win saw FC Edmonton spring off the league basement, ahead of the Silverbacks.

Despite being up a man for an hour, FC Edmonton couldn’t score — and, to make matters worse for the home team, the Eddies were caught at the back late in the game, as Luke Mulholland’s goal gave the Tampa Bay Rowdies a 1-0 win.

From the way the teams traded scoring chances, you wouldn’t believe that 0-0 draws were the results of the first two encounters this season between the clubs. Really, if this game would have finished 5-5, it would have been fair based on the quality scoring chances each team was able to carve out.

Both defender Paul Hamilton and midfielder Kenny Caceros were forced to leave the game at halftime with injuries. Defender Fabien Vorbe broke his nose in the first half after a collision with San Antonio Scorpion forward Walter Ramirez.

And, for Saturday’s game in San Antonio — he can choose to give Lance Parker his first NASL start since last June, or he can stick with the hot hand with John Smits, who recorded a clean sheet against Atlanta last week.

"Before the game, I knew this was a chance to make a statement to North America that CIS can produce a lot of great players, and we're often overlooked," said Smits. "It was a very emotional game for me. There needs to be some kind of draft system for us in North America."

Playing their final tuneup match before Saturday’s NASL curtain raiser in Fort Lauderdale, FC Edmonton lost 2-0 on the road to the Minnesota Stars.