Home NASL & USL FC Edmonton Will Shaun Saiko return to Edmonton this weekend? Colin Miller says “I couldn’t care less”

Will Shaun Saiko return to Edmonton this weekend? Colin Miller says “I couldn’t care less”

10
0
916

After an injury-filled spring NASL season, Canadian midfielder Shaun Saiko is healthy again.

Now, the question: Will he be with the San Antonio Scorpions when the team travels to Edmonton for this Sunday’s date with FC Edmonton? Will FC Edmonton’s all-time leading scorer, now a member of the Scorpions, get the chance to return home and play against his former team?

If there is any Saiko-mania this weekend, FCE coach Colin Miller won’t hear of it.

“I couldn’t care less about Shaun Saiko anymore. We don’t pay his wages anymore. He left our club and it’s history. I have no interest in San Antonio or Shaun Saiko. I’m interested in the guys that are here. This is how I feel. These are our players, the club has moved on, the club is evolving and we’re in a good place. Unfortunately, we’re where we are in the league, but progress is being made.”

FCE hasn’t scored yet this fall season, and has one point from three games. The Scorpions have played four times, and won all of those matches. They are already 11 points ahead of the Eddies in the standings.

In what was a disappointing 2013 season, Saiko was released by FCE at the end of the season after he spent his final weeks playing with the reserve side. Saiko is still the club’s all-time leading scorer. He then made the move to Texas, but injuries curtailed his spring season.

Saiko has been brought slowly back into the Scorpions’ lineup by Canadian coach Alen Marcina. After undergoing surgery for a double hernia in early June, Saiko was ready for the fall campaign, but has been on the subs’ bench for three of the team’s four games. He’s come on twice. But, in last weekend’s road win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Saiko wasn’t in the Scorpions lineup.

The team has yet to announce its traveling squad for Sunday’s game.

Shaun Saiko

How talented is the San Antonio lineup? How deep is it? In last weekend’s win over Tampa, the Scorpions had former MLS Designated Player Eric Hassli on the subs bench. And well-known NASL midfield studs Danny Barrera and Richie Menjivar were also on the bench. Canadian central defender and former Toronto FC player of the year Adrian Cann? Unused sub.

Miller says he can’t feel anything but impressed by the squad Marcina has beem able to put together in Texas.

“They spent a great deal of money, by the sounds of it, on their squad,” says Miller. “It’s very, very talented, if not the most talented, roster in the league. There’s a depth of squad there that would be the envy of a lot of clubs in our league, for sure…

“We know they’re top of the league, they score goals, they’re dangerous, they soak up pressure, they’re well organized and then they’ll hit you quick on the counterattack. They have a little bit of everything. They can come full pressure, they can drop off, they’re a good footballing team. But I think if we are as focused as we are going in against them, or any opponent, playing at home, I think we have a good chance. We don’t fear anybody at home.”

FC Edmonton may not fear anyone at home; but the truth is the team still has but one home win this year. On Sunday, FCE hit the woodwork three times in a 1-0 loss to the Indy Eleven.

“I despise the sound of the ball hitting the goalpost, now,” says Miller.

Load More Related Articles
Load More By Steven Sandor
Load More In FC Edmonton

10 Comments

  1. Seathanaich

    August 7, 2014 at 4:06 am

    That’s as unprofessional an attitude as Pep Guardiola just petulantly displayed after the MLS all-star game.

  2. Rango

    August 5, 2014 at 4:41 am

    Miller should have been more respectful and professional in his comments. How Saiko does well in San Antonio. However, a note to his diehard local supporters who appreciated his contributions to the Eddies: he’s not a guy that Floro will be calling up for the nats.

    • Rango

      August 5, 2014 at 6:09 pm

      Should have said “Hope Saiko does well.”

  3. Mike

    August 1, 2014 at 11:04 pm

    Sorry can’t say I’m a big Saiko fan. Not the hardest worker (dogged it IMO) on the pitch but has a good shot. Probably joining Hamilton, Kooy and co. on their AMSL team in the near future.

  4. Over it

    July 30, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    To say that “the club is evolving and we’re in a good place” while being in dead last with only 9 points is tough for me to agree with. It worries me that he thinks a “good place” is in fact, last place – I’m no soccer coach but even I know that dead last isn’t good… He knows the team is supposed to try and GET points, right? It’s time for CM to take some accountability and quit blaming everything or everyone around him. Man up and admit that what YOU are doing is not working. I am a die hard eddies fan but CM is making this harder and harder with each interview he does.

    The fact that he is tossing a local Edmonton player (that many, me included, here in Edmonton still support) under the bus in the process of it all? For me, that’s just the icing on the crap cake that is CM. When an ex player comes back to their home town and previous home club for the first time, I find that other coaches tend to actually be professional about it. Grow up CM. If Saiko returns maybe I’ll cheer on the other side instead…

  5. left back

    July 30, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    I understand that Saiko is no longer part of the ‘history’ of FCE but… CM should be a bit respectful of the franchises leading scorer and arguably best player ever. To say ‘he could care less’ is silly. CM has to remember that Shaun is local and some supports (like me) really stand behind our local guys.

    One thing that is bothering me about CM is that every time he opens his mouth he sticks his foot in it.

    With all the weird quotes he has come up with – how mad he has been at times, blaming the refs over and over again, the pitch, the weather, why they can’t score…. the list is a mile long.

    I have never heard him say ‘we just aren’t good enough.’ Something simple and honest would go a long way with me.

    Hope Shaun makes the trip and gets to play. It would be a good story.

  6. Soccerfan

    July 30, 2014 at 2:34 pm

    hahaha, you could tell Colin didn’t like the question! What a guy! Needs to grow up.

  7. Kahkakew yawassanay

    July 30, 2014 at 2:04 am

    CM and FCE have a lot more to worry about than a marginal player who left them..in order of priority, keeping his job, scoring, winning, attendance and revenues

  8. James

    July 29, 2014 at 10:44 pm

    Colin Miller is a joke. No class. Zero. Shaun Saiko did more for soccer and for FCE fans than CM could ever dream of achieving. plus, he could score a goal or two. Something CM’s version of FCE can’t do… At all. I hope shaun is back for this match. At least then, somebody from Edmonton might actually score a goal.

Check Also

Field of dreams? As CanPL owners meet in Edmonton, commissioner turns eyes towards baseball stadium

As the Canadian Premier League’s Board of Governors meeting in downtown Edmonton wrapped u…