Jason Hills
FC Edmonton Communications
EDMONTON — FC Edmonton has proven to rise to the challenge through their first two matches, but now they will face their biggest test in the early stages of the 2022 Canadian Premier League season.
Their first road game.
After opening with two draws at home to start the year, the Eddies face Forge FC in Hamilton on Saturday afternoon (2 p.m. MT kickoff, Tim Hortons Field).
“I think playing at home as a young team is one thing, but going on the road as a young team is a whole different ball game,” said FC Edmonton head coach Alan Koch in Thursday’s pre-match conference call.
“For us, going into one of the most challenging places to play in this league will be a big-time challenge.”
The Eddies have proved many of the doubters wrong so far this season. Many felt FC Edmonton would be overmatched and clearly at the bottom of the league standings, but through the first two matches, the club has been scrappy and showed incredible poise and character to earn two draws against Valour FC and York United.
But the team isn’t being complacent with their solid start.
“The fact the guys showed resiliency, mentality and the cohesiveness to come from behind in both of those games was a nice, pleasant surprise,” said Koch.
“Having said that, we want to continue to grow and we know going to Forge this weekend, it’s going to be an almighty challenge. But the first two games, we played teams that were prepared for us, had been together longer, and now we’re in the exact same situation going on the road.”
Despite their 0-1-1 record to start the year, Forge FC will be a stiff challenge for the Eddies as they’ve won two of the last three league championships, and lost last year in the CPL Final to Pacific FC.
For Koch and the Eddies, their attitude all year long has been simple. Bring it on!
“To be honest, this is the perfect away game for us, because we want to be challenged, we want to go into places like this and see f we can rise to the occasion,” said Koch.
“Going on the road, we know we’re in for a tough challenge.
“We’ve been working on trying to progress this week, and we are going to go play in a hostile environment against a team that has had a lot of success in this league.”
FC Edmonton has had success against Force FC in the past. They hold a 4-4-1 record against their Week 3 opponents, and are coming off a 1-0 win the last time these two clubs met on Nov.13, 2021.
Forge FC is led by veteran forward David Choiniere, who is tied with the team lead in goals, and midfielder Alexander Börje Achinioti-Jonsson is tied with Eddies defender Luke Singh for the league-lead in interceptions with eight. Achinioti-Jonsson has also chipped in with a goal.
He also leads the league in passes with 151.
Playing on the road can offer a lot of different experiences, especially when you’re playing in front of a hostile environment.
Despite many of FC Edmonton’s players not having gone through that experience yet — Koch feels his squad will embrace it.
“We had chats with some guys this morning,” Koch said.
“It’s about patience, staying calm, managing the moment and not getting caught up in the moment. If you get caught up, you can get yourself in big trouble.”
IN AND OUT: FC Edmonton defender TBoy Faiya will make his return to the lineup after missing last week’s match against York United, due to injury.
Forward CJ Smith will miss the next three matches after receiving a straight red card after an altercation with York United midfielder Diyaeddine Abzi.