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PLAYOFFS! FC Edmonton vs Fort Lauderdale thread [R]


shermanator

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Wow, what a horrible half of football from FCE. Dominated is not the word, b-itch slapped would be more like it. Hardly ever got into the FL side of the field. The only thing that saved them is FL being unable to finish 100% scoring chance after 100% scoring chance. How many times did FL have a player alone in front of Baart only to shoot it straight at Baart or way over the net. It should have been at least 3-0 or 4-0 by the end of the half. And then in extra time FL scores a fluky goal that Baart totally flubs (like in almost every game this season. How is he still playing? He is not even good enough to be a NASL backup keeper). As unlucky as the last goal was FCE is very lucky to be still in this game. Even the defence looks very shaky tonight including Hamilton. Hopefully they can put in a much better effort in the 2nd half.

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3-0 now. I wonder what is causing FCE to collapse like this. This could be a blowout like the early season games against Montreal. However, even in those games FCE was a bit unlucky and did not play nearly as poorly as tonight. At this point the scoreline is flattering to FCE, it really should be 6-0 or 7-0 by now.

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4-0. Drunken fans yelling at Baart, "Your team will have a new keeper by next year!" We can only hope they are right (although only the first goal was really his fault but what an unbelievable f-uck up on the first goal, striker looks at player on other side and Baart totally commits to the pass while the first guy still has the ball and then puts a slow roller by Baart. How can a veteran professional keeper make that type of mistake?))

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Mercifully it is over. 5-0 for Fort Lauderdale. FCE has a good season but it is disappointing for it to end like this. Definitely their worse played game of the year. As I said earlier when they lost to Montreal 5-0 early in the season there was some bad luck and while Montreal deserved to win that game the scoreline flattered Montreal a bit. Today FCE lost 5-0 and the scoreline flattered them. 8-0 or 9-0 would have reflected the run of play better. They looked like a team a couple of divisions below their opponent. I wonder why they played so poorly. Is it because of them having so many young players without much playoff/pressure experience?

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Mercifully it is over. 5-0 for Fort Lauderdale. FCE has a good season but it is disappointing for it to end like this. Definitely their worse played game of the year. As I said earlier when they lost to Montreal 5-0 early in the season there was some bad luck and while Montreal deserved to win that game the scoreline flattered Montreal a bit. Today FCE lost 5-0 and the scoreline flattered them. 8-0 or 9-0 would have reflected the run of play better. They looked like a team a couple of divisions below their opponent. I wonder why they played so poorly. Is it because of them having so many young players without much playoff/pressure experience?

From July 1st and onward, FCE had 3 wins; 9 losses; 4 draws. And, two of those three wins was against Atlanta which (in the NASL this season) is akin to the "Free" square on the bingo card.

The 7-4-2 start got them into the playoffs but its been backwards ever since. That has to factor into the assessment of the team going fwd because in this sport, how you perform in the second half of match and in the second half of a season is much more indicative of the squad and talent that you have than how you did in first half of a game and season. Meaning there is a lot of work and improvement to do.

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Much to the FO's credit, they stuck with their game plan, to go as much Canadian as possible for the entire season.

Unfortunately though the rest of the league continued to improve and bring in new, more experienced players (even though it didn't get the Impact into the playoffs).

The "great canadian experiment" was a nice warm and fuzzy thing, but hopefully next season it will be tempered by a move to bring in some internantional talent to fill the experience-void.

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The "great canadian experiment" was a nice warm and fuzzy thing, but hopefully next season it will be tempered by a move to bring in some internantional talent to fill the experience-void.

Yes, we all want to see Canadian talent. And, given choice, we would all rather have a team made up entirely of Canadians as opposed all non-Canadians. But you also have to perform and get results on he pitch. If you are only sticking with canadians, you will pass up on talent that will go elsewhere (talent that is not canadian) and you will not be the best that you can possibly be. And the cnd talent will not develop properly because it will not be push for a spot as hard as it should.

solution is to strike a balance of both. That way, only the best canadians who truly earned a spot, are kept and they will develop properly in a truly pro env. In other words, you let the cream rise to the top.

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But it is BS to blame this on Canadian talent. They sucked yesterday but nevertheless were the only Canadian team to make the playoffs. And yes unlike many other NASL teams they did not add anyone at the end of the season (in particular MLS players which many teams loaned not just the Impact despite the ridiculous conspiracy theories of some FCE fans and journalists. Mayen from Chivas LA played 90 today). And one can not forget that the worst player on the pitch was (like almost every game this season) the Dutch veteran keeper. That first goal is embarrasing, I mean that is a bad goal even in pick up soccer let alone professional.

The problem was not that FCE played young talented Canadians. That was the thing they did right this year. The problems were:

1) Their foreign (and probably most expensive) players were in general worse than the Canadian players not better

2) They did not add any better players before the playoffs

3) The coach continued to play certain players even if they did not perform especially Baart

Mostly I was impressed by what Sinkgraven did with this team this year. However, in games like this one also sees why he probably has never progressed beyond the 2nd tier in Holland. Very good youth and development coach and FCE plays disciplined tactics that allowed them to overachieve this year. Nevertheless, why did he continue to play Baart despite screw up after screw up? And why does he go in to a must win game and not start Porter, the team's best striker? It looked like he planned to play defensively today and hope for a lucky goal and such a game plan will never affect a team's mentality positively. I hope he continues at FCE because he is doing good work there but unless he fixes/learns from some of the mistakes he made this year I would also not want to see him move up a level in professional coaching in Canada.

Here are the game highlights. That first goal is amazing. I mean FCE were maybe even worse in the 1st half then the 2nd but totally dodged a bullet and if they are going to do anything in the game Baart needs to stop that so they go to the half 0-0. That goal really killed them. He did not look good on the 4th goal either but the others were not his fault.

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Wow, Abe Thompson scored a hat-trick. That just says it all, really.

Good first season overall for FCE, hopefully they can improve over the off-season (start by getting rid of that awful goalkeeper, except if/when they play TFC ;) ).

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But it is BS to blame this on Canadian talent. They sucked yesterday but nevertheless were the only Canadian team to make the playoffs. And yes unlike many other NASL teams they did not add anyone at the end of the season (in particular MLS players which many teams loaned not just the Impact despite the ridiculous conspiracy theories of some FCE fans and journalists. Mayen from Chivas LA played 90 today). And one can not forget that the worst player on the pitch was (like almost every game this season) the Dutch veteran keeper. That first goal is embarrasing, I mean that is a bad goal even in pick up soccer let alone professional.

The problem was not that FCE played young talented Canadians. That was the thing they did right this year. The problems were:

1) Their foreign (and probably most expensive) players were in general worse than the Canadian players not better

2) They did not add any better players before the playoffs

3) The coach continued to play certain players even if they did not perform especially Baart

Mostly I was impressed by what Sinkgraven did with this team this year. However, in games like this one also sees why he probably has never progressed beyond the 2nd tier in Holland. Very good youth and development coach and FCE plays disciplined tactics that allowed them to overachieve this year. Nevertheless, why did he continue to play Baart despite screw up after screw up? And why does he go in to a must win game and not start Porter, the team's best striker? It looked like he planned to play defensively today and hope for a lucky goal and such a game plan will never affect a team's mentality positively. I hope he continues at FCE because he is doing good work there but unless he fixes/learns from some of the mistakes he made this year I would also not want to see him move up a level in professional coaching in Canada.

Here are the game highlights. That first goal is amazing. I mean FCE were maybe even worse in the 1st half then the 2nd but totally dodged a bullet and if they are going to do anything in the game Baart needs to stop that so they go to the half 0-0. That goal really killed them. He did not look good on the 4th goal either but the others were not his fault.

That is the most insightful post I have seen in a long time. Why does Baart keep playing? Why didn't Porter start? Why hasn't Sinkgraven advanced past the 2nd tier in Holland as a coach?. He has definite strengths, but appears unwilling to adjust.

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The first goal allowed by Baart was a disaster. He definitely has to go.

It will be interesting to see where the club goes in year 2. Perhaps Saiko and Porter get snapped up by an MLS club.

They need to do everything to keep those two around and I think that would be best for Canada as well to have so many U23 players on the same club. Personally for Edwini Bonsu I hope he stays in Finland but if FCE has the means they should grab him when his contracts up. I think Hamilton may get snapped up by someone, TFC could really use him. Also I think it would be a good move to drop that Dutch mid and let Lam take his spot.

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Holy ****, FCE are terrible.

Did any team break down in as many games as they did this year?

Agree, there was inconsistency and a tendency to lack composure. But it was season 1 and more great thing to come.

If the keeper had not sold some goals at key time this season, we would have done better in some key games.

Also, agree the coach lacks the depth that coach Dwight appeared to have - and too much reliance on long balls up to Dan / Michael all year.

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Agree, there was inconsistency and a tendency to lack composure. But it was season 1 and more great thing to come.

If the keeper had not sold some goals at key time this season, we would have done better in some key games.

Also, agree the coach lacks the depth that coach Dwight appeared to have - and too much reliance on long balls up to Dan / Michael all year.

I believe that midfield needs the biggest upgrade (other than the goalkeeping, which I think can be improved in-house with Parker and Monsalve). FCE had trouble keeping the ball all season and the link play, commented on above, was lacking. Even Saiko gave the ball away a lot and there were often big gaps between the striker and mid and mid and CBs.

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As a diehard FCE supporter, it's very encouraging to read all the comments so far. With the exception of trident, everyone has pointed out it was a great first season. Even if the second half wasn't the best, FCE did way better than anyone seemed to think, and the FO is in a better position than they were at this time last year. Season tickets sales seem to be going well, and the number of people who came to the bar for the watch party was really encouraging.

Compared to the start of other pro soccer teams in this city, and from what I've heard and seen, Fath is willing to stick it out.

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The following article has some interesting quotes from Fath:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/2011/10/02/18769626.html

Love the attitude but that last quote worries me... a couple years for a stadium? Can they last that long? I don't think there's a rush for their OWN stadium but I think they need to get away from the pointy ball fields they are at such a disadvantage in terms of attracting local supporters.

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But it is BS to blame this on Canadian talent. They sucked yesterday but nevertheless were the only Canadian team to make the playoffs. And yes unlike many other NASL teams they did not add anyone at the end of the season (in particular MLS players which many teams loaned not just the Impact despite the ridiculous conspiracy theories of some FCE fans and journalists. Mayen from Chivas LA played 90 today). And one can not forget that the worst player on the pitch was (like almost every game this season) the Dutch veteran keeper. That first goal is embarrasing, I mean that is a bad goal even in pick up soccer let alone professional.

The problem was not that FCE played young talented Canadians. That was the thing they did right this year. The problems were:

1) Their foreign (and probably most expensive) players were in general worse than the Canadian players not better

2) They did not add any better players before the playoffs

3) The coach continued to play certain players even if they did not perform especially Baart

Mostly I was impressed by what Sinkgraven did with this team this year. However, in games like this one also sees why he probably has never progressed beyond the 2nd tier in Holland. Very good youth and development coach and FCE plays disciplined tactics that allowed them to overachieve this year. Nevertheless, why did he continue to play Baart despite screw up after screw up? And why does he go in to a must win game and not start Porter, the team's best striker? It looked like he planned to play defensively today and hope for a lucky goal and such a game plan will never affect a team's mentality positively. I hope he continues at FCE because he is doing good work there but unless he fixes/learns from some of the mistakes he made this year I would also not want to see him move up a level in professional coaching in Canada.

Here are the game highlights. That first goal is amazing. I mean FCE were maybe even worse in the 1st half then the 2nd but totally dodged a bullet and if they are going to do anything in the game Baart needs to stop that so they go to the half 0-0. That goal really killed them. He did not look good on the 4th goal either but the others were not his fault.

Its getting worrysome, but again... totally agree with Grizzly.

I would add that they looked to have run out of steam before the game started. Did the extended break before the game hinder them?

How often does a player loose sharpness after a short layoff. only to be greeted with the phase "he'll be fine once he gets a game or two under his belt etc" (not that easy with a full squad however)

On the Goalie front. Loosing Lance Parker was a big factor his year. Baart should be on the coaching staff but he was technically the only keeper we had during the mid third of the season at one point we had a student in nets!

David M's aquistion came a little two late to help, but we know hes a good 'catch'.

IMO Looking into next year the #1 pecking order should read.

1. Parker

2. Monslav

3. Gil (if his backs fixed)

4. Baat, we love him. be we also love our grannies and we wouldn't put them between the sticks would we?

Okay enough sensible posting time for the Tin Foil Hat... anyone else notice that Edmontons season went to pieces ...After the introduction of that NASL 'Star' ball?;)

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Love the attitude but that last quote worries me... a couple years for a stadium? Can they last that long? I don't think there's a rush for their OWN stadium but I think they need to get away from the pointy ball fields they are at such a disadvantage in terms of attracting local supporters.

Even talk of a new stadium is positive at this point. I believe the timeline is based on the women's world cup happening in Edmonton as there was some talk about a legacy stadium last week. If we can see plans next season that will help. The club is also unsure if they will be returning to foote next year so a better stadium may be coming anyways (Clarke redone for soccer?!?!?).

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