Eddies’ playoff hopes now on life-support
FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller has played amateur psychologist this week after a disappointing result last weekend.
Miller has had to try to get his charges up for another crucial encounter after dropping last week’s crucial encounter.
FC Edmonton are running out of games to try to qualify for a North American Soccer League playoff spot and need a win against the Jacksonville Armada on Friday (7 p.m.) at Clarke Stadium to keep their faint hopes alive.
The 1-0 loss to the San Francisco Deltas last Sunday put those hopes on life-support.
“It’s been one of those weeks where the players deserved more than what they got on Sunday,” Miller said. “So now you have to try and lift the spirits again and have them go hell for leather again on Friday night.
“To be fair, the players have responded reasonably fair this week. We know we made the job that much more difficult having lost the game on Sunday against San Francisco, but the door is not firmly closed yet. And while the door is slightly open at the moment, we have to do all we can to get maximum points out of these last six games.”
Edmonton have fallen 11 points out of both the top spot in the fall season standings and fourth spot in the combined standings.
The club needs to either win the fall season or move into the top four in the combined standing to qualify for the playoffs. With only two home games remaining and the other four on the road, it’s a mountain for the team to climb.
“We’re at home and we played some good football last weekend against San Francisco and we have to build on that,” Miller said. “There will be one or two changes to the team as you would expect, but we now know that this is a real test of character for everyone connected to the club. We haven’t sold the jerseys, we haven’t given up by any stretch of the imagination and we want to see that character in abundance (Friday) night.”
Expectations were high for FC Edmonton heading into the season after qualifying for the playoffs last year and coming within a goal of the NASL final.
However, the club had a terrible spring season campaign, winning just four of 16 games and losing 11 with one draw.
The disastrous spring put FC Edmonton into a hole in the fall season. It appeared they might be able to climb out of it before losing three of their last four games.
“The previous Saturday down in San Francisco, the first 45 minutes was arguably the worst we’ve played since I’ve been here,” Miller said. “But since then, the attitude has been fantastic. How many times this season have we come off the field saying, we were well on top and then we gave away a pretty poor goal?
“We’ve said that eight or nine times probably this year. We have to turn those conversations into being on top and going on to win the game.”
In the Armada, FC Edmonton are facing a team very much in the playoff race, just two points back of fourth place in the combined standings. Unlike FC Edmonton, Jacksonville had a strong spring season and fell back in the autumn.
Jacksonville is at the bottom of the fall season standings with two wins and four ties in 11 games.
FC Edmonton will be without midfielder Dustin Corea, who was called up to the El Salvador national team for an exhibition game against Canada on Sunday in Houston.
FC Edmonton have not played Jacksonville since losing 1-0 to them in Florida in June.