It all begins tonight as FC Edmonton, the city's professional soccer team, plays its first official game against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at Lockhart Stadium (5:30 p.m. MST www.fcedmonton.com). "I'm excited," said head coach Harry Sinkgraven. "I've worked with the team now for four months and I think we've done a lot of good things. We've progressed and of course, tonight is going to be a pretty nice moment." Since the team's inception it has played numerous exhibition games against opponents like Portsmouth FC (England), Colo Colo (Chile), Montreal Impact (NASL), Miami FC (NASL) and FC Dallas (MLS). But now the friendlies are over and the run for the 2011 NASL Championship begins. "I'm really looking forward to this. The boys and the club have put in a lot of work over the past year and as long as we go out there and enjoy ourselves and play properly, hopefully we'll get a good result," said assistant coach Dave Randall. "I'm pretty pleased that I've been here from the start so I'm very happy, especially that we've got mostly Canadian players and plenty from Alberta because I firmly believe that we can do it and I guess tonight we'll find out if they can." Joe Petrone, FC Edmonton's director of soccer operations, has spent the last year and a half building the expansion squad from scratch. He started with a core group of local talent, including players like captain Chris Kooy, Shaun Saiko, Kyle Yamada and Chris Lemire. He added talented Dutch players like goalkeeper Rein Baart and defender Paul Matthijs. Mixed in a few Americans like Mutanda Kwesele, Daniel Antoniuk and Shawn Chin and recently signed a Trinidad and Tobago international in Conrad Smith. Eighteen players will be available for the first game of the season but coach Sinkgraven will wait until game time to announce his starting line up. Fort Lauderdale finished the 2010 season with a 7-11-12 record and missed the playoffs finishing in ninth place. Strikers coach Daryl Shore has brought in former USL-1 star Cristian Arrieta and Argentine Eduardo Coudet from MLS' Philadelphia Union but loaned out perhaps their best player, Paulo Jr., to MLS' Real Salt Lake. FC Edmonton will play three games on the road prior to its home opener - a Nutrilite Canadian Championship game against MLS' Toronto FC at Commonwealth Stadium on April 27. Kick off for that game is 6 p.m. and tickets are available through Ticketmaster. FC Edmonton's NASL home opener takes place on May 1 at Foote Field when it takes on the only other Canadian team in the league, the Montreal Impact. Tickets for that game, and all other 2011 FC Edmonton home games, are available by calling 780.439.7529. FC Edmonton roster for Game 1: #1 - Rein Baart - Goalkeeper #4 - Alex Surprenant - Defender #5 - André Duberry - Defender #6 - Shaun Saiko - Midfielder #7 - Alex Semenets - Striker #8 - John Jonke - Defender #9 - Chris Lemire - Striker #10 - Kyle Yamada - Midfielder #13 - Conrad Smith - Striker #16 - Eddy Sidra - Defender #17 - Mutanda Kwesele - Midfielder #18 - Paul Hamilton - Defender #20 - Chris Kooy - Midfielder #21 - Dominic Oppong - Defender #22 - Daniel Antoniuk - Striker #23 - Lance Parker - Goalkeeper #24 - Antonio Rago - Defender #27 - Sam Lam - Midfielder NEXT MATCHES • Saturday, April 16 - FC Edmonton @ Atlanta Silverbacks - Atlanta Silverbacks Stadium - 5:30 p.m. (MST) • Wednesday, April 20 - FC Edmonton @ Carolina RailHawks - WakeMed Soccer Park - 5:00 p.m. (MST) • Wednesday, April 27 - Toronto FC @ FC Edmonton - Commonwealth Stadium - 6:00 p.m. (MST) (Nutrilite Canadian Championship)
