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A FRESH CANADIAN RESERVE TEAM LIGHTING SIDE CAN’T UP THE AMSL TAKE THE EARLY ADVANTAGE Canadian U-15 Side loses 3-0 to Mexico By Jill Horbay — It was FC Edmonton Re- serve player Aymar Sigue’s first trip down to Mexico and also his first time pulling on the red and white jersey for the U-15 Canadian VTXDG The team participated in the Copa Mexico de Naciones Sub-15, a boy’s U-15 tournament in Ciudad de Mexico, which ran June 18 - 24. The team suffered a 3-0 loss to Mexico in its first game of the tournament. “It was our first time playing together, but once we start train- ing together more, we’ll get better,”
Sigue said confidently after his first match for the Canadian side. Even though he’d only played one game with the team, Sigue said he’d had a great experience meeting and playing with his team members from other provinces and hoped that the tournament and WLPH ZLWK WKH 8 VTXDG ZLOO SUR- pel him into other national sides in the future. The young Canucks’ second game was against another Mexi- can side which they lost 1-0. They lost by the same score line against Chile and finished off the tourna- ment with a friendly against Costa Rica where they picked up a 3-0 win.
Coach Paulus is “extremely happy” with his team’s per- formance By Andreas Morse — During the month of June, the Junior Eddies have continued their run of impressive play in the AMSL, compiling a record of four wins, one loss, and one tie. Overall in season play, the FC Edmonton Reserves have run their UHFRUG WR ZLWK JRDOV IRU and only six against (as of June 25). After a disappointing 1-0 loss to the Calgary Villains on June 1, where the team only conceded one shot on goal and that being a PK, the young prospects have since been on a five game undefeated streak that has seen them post three clean sheets. “In each of the reserve team games during this month, the Junior Eddies have been able to maintain an advantage in ball pos- session over their opponents as they really do look to keep the ball on the ground,” said Reserve Team
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head coach Jeff Paulus. “Their growing confidence and patience in buildup has frustrated many op- ponents and has highlighted their growth in the academy that usually trains four times per week.” Defensively, the Junior Ed- dies have really excelled, often limiting their opposition to only a few chances on goal and many of those coming from outside of the 18. Inside their own half, opposi- tion players do not often find much space to play into as the Junior (GGLHV TXLFNO\ FORVH SDVVLQJ ODQHV and often get numbers around the ball to win it back. Their commit- ment to defending as a team and following team defending princi- ples is validated by their six clean sheets in only 10 games. As a special note, the acad- emy saw two players;; Hanson Boakai and Aymar Sigue, selected for Canadian national team proj- ects. Hanson accompanied the U-17 national team to Italy while Aymar made his way to Mexi- co with the U-15 national team to compete in a tournament.
“The goal of the FC Edmon- ton Academy and Reserve team is to try to develop players for our first team and at this point, I’m ex- tremely happy with what I’ve seen from these young athletes,” Paulus said. “The inclusion of two players into national team projects is a big moment for our first year academy and highlights Tom Fath’s commit- ment to developing young Canadi- an talent. While it is incredibly im- portant for any young player to get to represent our national team, it is also very special to the club and our academy as the work we are do- ing with the young players is being UHFRJQL]HG DW WKH QDWLRQDO OHYHO ´