August 10, 2004 - EDMONTON - In a storyline typical of their inaugural season, the Edmonton F.C. overcame a 2 goal deficit to beat the Calgary Mustangs 3-2 in dramatic fashion at Foote Field.
The sparse, yet vocal crowd of 537 including a loud, traveling contingent from Calgary, were treated to a good display of soccer, goals, controversy, a post game melee and free shirts thrown at them at halftime by the local diehard soccer fans - www.90minutes.ca.
Edmonton FC fielded their normal formation of Nic Stankov in goal, Chris Devlin, Robin Hart and Simon Kassaye in defense, Paul Dhaliwal, Gordon Chin, Nikola Vignjevic, Captain Kurt Bosch and Sean Fraser in midfield and the dynamic duo of Fred Akok and Sipho Sibiya up front.
Calgary also went with a 3-5-2 system using Lutz Pfannenstiel between the pipes, Zvonko Pavicic, Charles Peszneker and Angelo Sestito in defense, Jamie Auvigne, Geert Brusselers, Steffen Holdt, Damir Jesic and Sergei Kolomiets-Raad in midfield and the tandem of Mesut Mert and Walter Otta as strikers.
Calgary got on the scoreboard early with Mert putting the ball away after some confusion in the Edmonton box at the 9' minute. Edmonton came back somewhat with Sean Fraser having a good run in the Mustangs box but running out of bounds with the ball at the 12 minute mark.
A minute later, Jesic broke away on Edmonton's right flank and Devlin did well to block the shot that Hart was able to clear away from danger. The see-saw continued with Sibiya losing control of a well placed cross from Fraser at the 17' minute.
The Mustangs could have gone up 2-0 within a minute when Devlin's missed clearance allowed 3 Calgary players to run in unopposed, but Brusselers' shot went wide to the relief of Devlin,Stankov and the home crowd.
Edmonton came right back gaining a free kick outside the Calgary box at the 20' minute, but Vignjevic's shot went sailing high over the bar. Shortly after, Ibrahim (Ebo) Mollaibrahimagaoglu came in for the less than 100% Devlin, shoring up Edmonton's defense. At the 22' minute, Hart took a free kick and passed it to Chin whose shot also went over the bar.
With Calgary trying to pressure the Edmonton defense, Vignjevic intercepted the ball in his own half, took it upfield, created some nice passing and Captain Kurt ended up with the ball, but nothing came of it.
At the 26' minute, Vignjevic again was the instigator, passing with Sibiya and Akok, who ended up cutting in to the box and unleashing a shot that was well blocked. Calgary came back on the counterattack and a simple cross from Auvigne ended up on finding a rising Otta whose header went straight in the net to make it 2-0 for the visitors.
Kassaye was issued a yellow card after grabbing on to a Mustang's jersey a minute later as the frustration began to show. But the home team would not go down without a fight and at the half hour mark, Kassaye found Sibiya whose pass through traffic ended up at Akok's feet who put it in the back of the net. 2-1 Calgary.
Both teams continued to attack with neither one dominating the match, and an injury to a Mustang player delayed the match for a couple of minutes. After play resumed, both teams continued on as previous, with Edmonton outhustling Calgary in the dying minutes, especially some nice passing between Chin and Akok.
With the clock ticking down and with excellent possession by Edmonton, Captain Kurt crossed the ball to the right side of the field where Fraser made no mistake in finishing and tying up the game at 2 goals a piece.
The visitors took advantage of the break in play and made some substitutions with Jordan Gillespie coming in for Jesic and Nicolas Zuniga taking off Mert. The game restarted with both teams level and at the 52' minute Edmonton could have taken the lead with Sibiya being brought down in the box although Referee Paul Ward awarded Edmonton a free kick. The ball ended up being cleared to Chin who crossed it to Sibiya but whose shot went wide.
Two minutes later, Kassaye impressed the fans, going up field and having a go with his shot that also went wide. Calgary came bak two minutes after that, gained a free kick that did not result in much. Three minutes after that, Stankov was on target as he knocked the ball down and out to safety after a dangerous spell of Mustang possession and passing in and around the Edmonton box. Chin was able to get the ball after Stankov's timely clearance, ran it up field and had a shot on goal that unfortunately went right at the keeper.
Calgary kept pressing and at the 61' minute a 2 on 2 rush forced Stankov to come out to challenge and luckily he blocked the shot but the ball looked as if it was going in before Hart cleared the ball away and made a beautiful save. At this time, Nic Reyes came on for Holdt. A few minutes later, Calgary gained a corner kick and the shot skimmed over top of everyone's heads in the box and out. Another corner for Calgary at the 69' minute also did not amount to anything.
Edmonton snapped out of their mid-game funk and at the 73' minute, Dhaliwal jumped up for a crossing ball, colliding with Pfannenstiel who held on to the ball but took his time getting up. Two minutes later, Ebo made the safest play possible giving Calgary a corner kick. The Mustangs kept possession, made a nice run into the box and as usual, Stankov was there to save the day.
Four minutes afterwards, Vignjevic made a nice move sending the defender the wrong way and took a shot that bounced making Pfannenstiel scramble at the last minute to cover it up. Calgary came right back and a shot go just wide.
At the 80' minute Dhaliwal making his best Roberto Carlos impression, took the ball upfield along the left flank crossed it to Akok who passed it to Vignjevic who passed it to Captain Kurt whose shot went wide. That would prove to be Dhaliwal's last play as he was replaced by Desmond Tachie soon after.
At the 86' minute, it was Tachie who would save the day as he was left behind in the Edmonton box with two Mustangs, but managed to clear the ball and send it upfield. Edmonton won a free kick a minute later which gave way to a corner kick. Vignjevic took it, Fraser headed it, but it was knocked out for another corner. On the right side, AHrt took the corner, but Calgary were quick to clear.
A minute after, Edmonton had another corner kick and this time, it made its way to Chin whose shot was deflected out to Captain Kurt whose shot went wide. Akok was called on the offside with a minute left in regulation time, and this allowed Calgary to gain momentum as the game came to a close.
Before the extra time commenced, Edmonton coach Ross Ongaro went with a more defensive set-up substituting Sibiya in favour of defender Liam DeSilva. With Edmonton hanging back more, Calgary found a little bit more working room and pressured the home side. Three minutes in, Calgary had the Edmonton net in its sights, but Hart was there with a last second tackle that cleared the ball from danger.
Edmonton did manage to gain some free kicks, with Vignjevic's effort blocked at the 95' mark and Tachie narrowly missing a header two minutes later. Calgary came right back gaining a free kick of their own at 99 minutes which Hart was able to clear, and winning a corner kick in the last minute of the first half of extra time. Fortunately, the ball went right at Stankov who got the ball up to Akok, who crossed it to Vignjevic who passed it to Fraser who had a weak finish this time.
Both teams regrouped for the last 10 minutes and in the 101 minute Kassaye had trouble with the initial missed pass reception and the followup clearance attempt. Calgary gained a corner, kept possession and the resulting shot went wide with a big 'WHEWWW!' from the stands.
At 106 minutes, Fraser made a beautiful move to get out of Edmotnon's defensive zone, ran it in to the Calgary box, did a give-and-go-with Vignjevic, but the ball ended up going wide. Calgary looked dangerous two minutes later walking the ball in to the Edmonton box but getting stripped of the ball at the last moment. On the counterattack, Akok was brought down gaining Edmonton a penalty kick in the final seconds of the game.
After some protests from the Mustangs, a yellow card to Pfannenstiel and Sestito, Vignjevic calmly took the shot and put it away for Edmonton's fourth victory of the year. With the celebrations going full force, Auvigne was a bad boy and unnecessarily earned himself a red card.
The fans gave their heroes a standing ovation which the players warmly returned. With the victory, Edmonton edges out Calgary in the A-League's Western Conference basement and puts themselves 3 points shy of Montreal for the Voyageurs cup - a fan Cup awarded to the Canadian team with the best overall record against fellow Canadian teams - www.voyageurscup.ca.
It was scary, but a job well done boys!
Sergio Teixeira
