FC Edmonton vs. Railhawks (R)

[Keegan]

A 3-0 win with a hat trick from Saiko. The first a 30 yard dipping screamer over Burse, the second a nice curler from the left edge of the box and the third a penalty. Thought the Eddies played well, 8 of 11 starters were Canadian too... Pinto is skilled but he missed a lot of chances, hopefully he can bury some.

[Grizzly]

Those were nice shots by Saiko but it was also a pretty poor keeping performance by Burse. Hopefully this gets FCE's season going though, I think everyone was expecting them to be much stronger this year with all their signings. Carolina is the worst team in the league this year though so maybe we shouldn't get too excited about the victory.

[foreverthursday]

I will start off by saying that I loved where we sat today. We got a great view of the field, we could easily be heard by other fans, and I didn't feel separated by the rest of the fan base.

I also have decided to keep my chants clean. I might used Pixar style adult yelling (Cox/Del Do), but I want kids to copy us and carry that enthusiasm. Doing that means we can bury ourselves right in the normal fan seating and bring them into our zeal. I was thinking about it all the way on the drive home, after I had a guy came up to me after the game and told me I did a "good job" on cheering for the team. I heckled the ref with no obscenities, and tried to make it funny.

I just enjoyed being around other fans in a spot where I could have a great view.

That first half was savage! It was really bad soccer. It was really, really, really bad soccer. There must have been chairs and garbage cans flying at player's heads during half time, because the second half looked completely different then the first half. Saying that though the ref was under the idea that letting the boys be boys and not interfere was the way to go. It was frustrating watching Pinto fouled blatantly in the box with no call. Or that savage "offside" call by the linesman. This game easily could have been 6 - 0, especially if Pinto can find a killer instinct instead of kicking the ball like a blind, wooden legged pirate. His footwork is awesome, and his passes are sick, but his shots fire of his foot like he was kicking a soaking wet, bundled up sweater. Just my opinion. Also my little Dutchy regressed back from the pretty good game he had against the Whitecaps. He needs to play like he his our top payed player, you know, BECAUSE HE FREAKING IS!

[SteveBeau]

Good win for FCE! Happy you guys beat Carolina, still kinda pissed on how we got screwed in the semis against them in 2010

[ditty]

Those were nice shots by Saiko but it was also a pretty poor keeping performance by Burse. Hopefully this gets FCE's season going though, I think everyone was expecting them to be much stronger this year with all their signings. Carolina is the worst team in the league this year though so maybe we shouldn't get too excited about the victory.

Yeah, Saiko's first, though dipping and from long range, kinda ended up going through the keeper's hands as he mistimed his jump. But I don't think Burse could be faulted on the second. I seems like Carolina are a ways off replacing the core of their team that bolted for MLS this season, at least at this point.

I think Edmonton will challenge for first place, even given this slow start. The last three league games have been pretty positive from my standpoint. They gave away some silly goals last week vs Minnesota but the game prior they were gutsy in getting a point in Puerto Rico at the end of a road trip. For me, playing at Clarke is going to reap some dividends in that the pitch and width suits their game more than Foote did.

[Redcoatsforever]

I will start off by saying that I loved where we sat today. We got a great view of the field, we could easily be heard by other fans, and I didn't feel separated by the rest of the fan base.

I also have decided to keep my chants clean. I might used Pixar style adult yelling (Cox/Del Do), but I want kids to copy us and carry that enthusiasm. Doing that means we can bury ourselves right in the normal fan seating and bring them into our zeal. I was thinking about it all the way on the drive home, after I had a guy came up to me after the game and told me I did a "good job" on cheering for the team. I heckled the ref with no obscenities, and tried to make it funny.

I just enjoyed being around other fans in a spot where I could have a great view.

That first half was savage! It was really bad soccer. It was really, really, really bad soccer. There must have been chairs and garbage cans flying at player's heads during half time, because the second half looked completely different then the first half. Saying that though the ref was under the idea that letting the boys be boys and not interfere was the way to go. It was frustrating watching Pinto fouled blatantly in the box with no call. Or that savage "offside" call by the linesman. This game easily could have been 6 - 0, especially if Pinto can find a killer instinct instead of kicking the ball like a blind, wooden legged pirate. His footwork is awesome, and his passes are sick, but his shots fire of his foot like he was kicking a soaking wet, bundled up sweater. Just my opinion. Also my little Dutchy regressed back from the pretty good game he had against the Whitecaps. He needs to play like he his our top payed player, you know, BECAUSE HE FREAKING IS!

I think Pinto is going to have to be more of an assists player than a raining-in-the-goals striker, which is fine. He's too good to cut, goal production or no. As to van Leerdam, I thought he looked more tired from his Wednesday performance than anything. He should be fine again soon, I think. Who knows, maybe he was saving energy to go on a mad streak at BC Place this week?

[James]

Now lets hope this is a starting point for the rest of the season. Best three players in my opinion were Saiko, Lam and Rago. All played brilliantly. I think Rago just won his starting position back. Pinto, while he didn't score had a great game too. He creates a lot of havoc up front, makes space for other players. He's fearsome. Hamilton, a stud as usual. And I thought West settled down nicely and played a pretty strong game too. Van Leerdam.... He's playing the position that should be Saiko's. Watch the way Lam and Saiko play... Van Leerdam isn't doing it or maybe can't do it. He needs to come in off the bench next game. Let him watch for a bit. Great game, nice crowd and I hear that they might have beer for us at the next game. That should help with my shakes. I really liked Lodeweges watching from the stands and sticking around after the game... I hope they have something in the works for Dwight... think he's a bit bolder than Harry but we will see what develops.

Plus, we should remember not to take anything away from Saiko on those goals... They were sick!. Burse is one of the best keepers in the NASL, not sure if anyone could have done much better. He made a couple amazing stops in the game off Pinto too. First class stops. If it wasn't for Burse it could very easily been 6-0.