Eddie Edward spent three years protecting the FC Edmonton net as a mainstay on their back line.
On Sunday, the defender will be on the other side of the ball with the Ottawa Fury, facing his former teammates for the first time.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be like, to be honest,” Edward said. “It’s going to be a little bit of a mental battle, because we know each other so well. They know me and I know them, so it’s almost going to be easy to predict what the other person is going to do. You want to do something to throw the other person off their game, but if you do too much, you can throw off your own game. It’ll be an interesting mental challenge for all involved. It should be interesting.”
Ottawa is looking for their first victory of the North American Soccer League Fall Season, while Edmonton have started with a win and a draw.
The last time the two teams met, Edmonton defeated Ottawa 2-0, on the road, in the second leg of the Amway Canadian Championship. It wasn’t enough for Edmonton, however, to overturn a 3-0 loss at home to Ottawa.
“Every team comes with a different style of play, I think both teams have very, very talented players,” Edward said. “I think that Edmonton, to no surprise, for the longest time we prided ourselves in our defensive work and that will never change. (Head coach) Colin (Miller) really prides himself in being a defensive specialist. I think that’s one aspect of the game that is different to ours.
“We are kind of the opposite where we like to attack more. That being said, Edmonton can defend, but they have a deadly attack. So when you play against them, it’s nice and dandy to attack, but if you don’t focus on their counter attack, which is something they are very good at, they can hurt you.”
Dvandiest@postmedia.com
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