By: Nathan Terlesky
Since Toronto brought in Aron Winter, much talk in Canadian soccer has been about the idea of “total football” and playing possession games. While this approach is slowly catching on in Toronto, FC Edmonton has been playing this “system” for over a year now. Watching FCE’s most recent game, and having just read Ben Knight’s article on Toronto’s approach (or lack thereof) to this system, I was struck by how well Edmonton played the possession game against Atlanta.
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Edmonton dominated the first and effectively shut down Atlanta at mid-field. The possession oriented play worked for FC Edmonton, and they achieved a 2-0 result despite missing their starting keeper and facing a pressing Atlanta in the last 15 minutes of the game. Edmonton used the system to show their patience and did not rush the play in this game. The defence showed that they were able to pass efficiently and effectively. While the team is still missing a finishing striker, the team showed more promise than against Montreal, where the attacking style of Montreal cut through the more inexperienced defence.
I will admit that I am not well versed in the “Dutch mentality” of playing the game, and have learned of it mostly through reading about Toronto and discussion over the style of Aron Winter. However if Edmonton can be seen as any type of comparison, there is promise for the style of play. One of the main differences between the Edmonton team that played in Atlanta, and the one that showed up against Montreal was the communication between the backline and the keeper.
While against Montreal, Rein Baart started in goal (and collected a straight red in the process), Lance Parker showed better control both against Toronto and Atlanta. With the addition of Paul Matthijs in the backfield, Edmonton showed more composure than they did against Montreal, and the result was evident. While personally I hope to see Parker start in net again upon Edmonton’s return home, there was more positive communication Saturday night than there was the previous Sunday. The addition of a more attacking striker in Kyle Porter, Edmonton looked much better than it has this year.
Hopefully this system can continue to work for Coach Harry Sinkgraven, and FCE can continue to show why the club deserves to be in the middle of the table, and not at the bottom.