Miller said that, when healthy, Jones was the “best box-to-box midfielder” in NASL. He added that the injury is not forecast to be a career-ender, and that he hopes Jones can eventually make a full recovery.

“If we wouldn’t have slipped up in Miami two weeks ago, we’d be having a party right now,” said Keegan, who opened the scoring with his foot and scored the second with the back of his head.

FC Edmonton began Saturday evening’s action in a dogfight for the NASL spring season title. But a fantastic 25-yard strike from Miami FC’s Ariel Martinez ended those dreams.

The game was a fast-paced toe-to-toe battle between the Cosmos and the Eddies, but kickoff was delayed because of a… wait for it… sock controversy. Referee Yusri Rudolf was not happy when both the Cosmos and Eddies lined up in white socks.

It is becoming clearer with every FC Edmonton match that Diakite is a real diamond-in-the-rough signing for the Eddies. He may be one of the meanest tacklers NASL has ever seen. He’s dominant in the air. He’s unorthodox at times, but he’s an absolute shutdown defender.

The slump in oil prices? Tom Heinemann’s fault. The Leap Manifesto? Tom Heinemann. The LRT line to NAIT? Tom Heinemann designed that.

It wasn’t pretty. But, considering the circumstances, it was effective.

FC Edmonton will open training camp this Wednesday the Commonwealth Fieldhouse, and on hand will be the team’s newest signing, Senegalese central defender Pape Diakite.