Eddies look to rebound against Cosmos
FC Edmonton did not have much time to dwell on their first loss of the North American Soccer League fall season.
Not with the New York Cosmos in town Wednesday (7 p.m.) at Clarke Stadium.
Edmonton will attempt to extend their NASL winning streak at home to seven games against New York and have their starting centre backs, Albert Watson and Papé Diakité, available after both missed the 1-0 loss to the Indy Eleven on Saturday.
FC Edmonton defeated the Cosmos 2-1 in their last meeting during the spring season.
“We’ll need to be as well-organized and disciplined as we were the first game against them. We deserved to win that game, I don’t think it was a fluke,” said FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller following practice Tuesday. “The Cosmos are coming off a very tough game in Tampa Bay (2-2 tie) and they’ll have one or two guys with heavy legs, I imagine. But we’ve also come through a game (in Indianapolis) where at 11 p.m., at night, it was 29 degrees Celsius, so it’ll show you how warm it was at 7 p.m. (for kickoff ).
“But our guys are in a good place and we understand the importance of (Wednesday’s) fixture. At home, we’ve been good and we’ll need to be at our very best against the champions from last season.”
With Watson and Diakité back, Edmonton will have their defensive back four intact against the Cosmos. Defence has been Edmonton’s strength this season along with the play of goalkeeper Matt VanOekel.
Watson missed the game against Indy after returning home to Northern Ireland due to the sudden death of his father, while Diakité was suspended for picking up two yellow cards for two cynical challenges in the victory over the Ottawa Fury the previous week.
“He (Diakité) got the belt from me, because it was foolish and he was lucky not to be sent off with the first tackle,” Miller said.
“A guy that size hitting you at that speed with studs up, could make you sore. He could have done a bit of damage to the player and I had a long chat with him.”
Newcomers Karsten Smith and Shawn Nicklaw filled in the middle for Edmonton against Indy, who won the spring season title and have already booked a spot in the NASL playoffs.
After conceding a goal 14 minutes into the game, the two settled in well, keeping the Indy Eleven off the board for the rest of the contest.
With Watson and Diakité back, Nicklaw will move back into his more familiar right back position, while Smith will get a chance to get to know some of his teammates, having joined the club just over a week ago and thrust into action.
“I’m excited of the changes we’ve made to (Wednesday) night’s game, and fingers crossed, we’re hoping we can get across the line,” Miller said.
“We’re hoping to get a sold out stadium, we want to keep building on these crowds, because they have played such an important part for us and we will need them, this is a huge game for FC Edmonton.”
Saturday ’s loss dropped Edmonton to fifth in the fall season standings, three points back of both the Cosmos and Indy Eleven. Edmonton is fourth in the combined standings and three points clear of the Tampa Bay Rowdies for the final playoff spot.
But with 18 games left on the schedule, there is still a lot of soccer to be played and Edmonton is looking to get back on the right track against the Cosmos.
“It was a disappointing result on Saturday, but I thought we did play well and we created enough chances to win,” said FC Edmonton striker Jake Keegan.
Edmonton have lost just two games at home this season, dropping their season opener to Minnesota United FC, then losing to Ottawa in the first leg of their Amway Canadian Championship encounter.
Outside of those two results, Edmonton have been excellent at home.
Edmonton defeated Ottawa two weeks ago at Clarke Stadium despite going down a man due to Diakité’s red card.
“There are seven, eight, nine teams that can easily make the playoffs, so it’s going to be a fight to the finish,” Keegan said.
“Every game is just as important. Going down the stretch, you think those games are more important, but these games are just as important as those games in October.”