The sa国际传媒 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.
鈥淭he red card changed the rhythm of the game,鈥� said Pacific FC head coach Michael Silberbauer, in the post-game media scrum.
鈥淲e tried to push. But the energy was missing. That is only logical with the schedule we鈥檝e 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.鈥�
Silberbaeur said being up a man isn鈥檛 a magic panacea in soccer: 鈥淵ou do the same thing as the game plan [calls for]. You still have to put in the work.鈥�
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 sa国际传媒-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 sa国际传媒-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鈥檚 scoreless draw in Edmonton.
鈥淚t is difficult travelling across the country,鈥� said the 25-time capped Silberbauer, who was used to much shorter distances as a pro player in his native Denmark.
鈥淭he next games are coming fast as well. It鈥檚 not an excuse. It is what it is when you want to play in sa国际传媒.鈥�
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 (sa国际传媒鈥檚 FA Cup-type knockout competition), and league game Saturday afternoon against York9 (0-1-1) of Greater Toronto.
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