The B.C. capital had a man advantage over the Alberta capital for much of Sunday but came away with nothing to show for it.
Philippe Lincourt-Joseph of FC Edmonton was red-carded at 28 minutes in a scoreless Canadian Premier League soccer draw against Pacific FC before 4,238 fans at Clarke Stadium. Lincourt-Joseph slid in for a hard challenge on PFC defender Ryan McCurdy to receive the straight red and ejection from the game.
“The red card changed the rhythm of the game,” said Pacific FC head coach Michael Silberbauer, in the post-game media scrum.
“We tried to push. But the energy was missing. That is only logical with the schedule we’ve had. I still felt we created chances. But credit to Edmonton. They defended well. They were a little bit taller team and that made it difficult in set pieces.”
Silberbaeur said being up a man isn’t a magic panacea in soccer: “You do the same thing as the game plan [calls for]. You still have to put in the work.”
FC Edmonton probably had more pressure and chances than PFC, despite being down a man.
Of concern for PFC offensively has to be the lack of scoring as the team was shut out for the second consecutive game without Canada-capped veteran European pro striker Marcus Haber, who missed his second game due to a toe injury.
Terran Campbell led Pacific FC with three shots, and Canada-capped veteran-pro Issey Nakajima-Farran with two shots, the latter in only 16 minutes of action.
Mark Village recorded his second clean sheet of the season for PFC (1-2-1), while Connor James recorded the shutout for undefeated FC Edmonton (1-0-1).
After a 3-0 loss to Forge FC in Hamilton last Wednesday, Pacific FC flew back to the Island. A day of practice at PISE was squeezed in before flying back over the Rockies for Sunday’s scoreless draw in Edmonton.
“It is difficult travelling across the country,” said the 25-time capped Silberbauer, who was used to much shorter distances as a pro player in his native Denmark.
“The next games are coming fast as well. It’s not an excuse. It is what it is when you want to play in Canada.”
Pacific FC at least gets to settle down for some home cooking in its next two fixtures at Westhills Stadium, on Wednesday night against 3-0 Cavalry FC in a Canadian Championship tournament game (Canada’s FA Cup-type knockout competition), and league game Saturday afternoon against York9 (0-1-1) of Greater Toronto.
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