Jason Hills
FC Edmonton Communications

EDMONTON — Every soccer player young and old dreams of scoring a goal like FC Edmonton striker Tobias Warschewski did in his team’s Canadian Premier League season opener against Valour FC.
In stoppage time and down to their final possession, the 24-year-old German pulled off a remarkable bicycle kick goal to tie the game at 1-1 in the 95th minute to snag a point for the Eddies, Sunday afternoon at Clarke Stadium.
It was a remarkable goal and finish to what will likely go down as the Goal of the Year in the CPL this season.

“I scored a goal on a bicycle kick once in Germany,” said Warschewski.“I practice this in training, but it was incredible to do it in a game.”

Warschewski played the role of hero, but it was a collective team effort on the goal. Wesley Timoteo chased down the ball at the goal line to keep it in bounds, and he chipped a quick pass to CJ Smith, who fed it back to Timoteo, who made the perfect cross pass to Warschewski, who took the ball off his thigh and hit the bicycle kick into the top corner of the net.

“I had my back to the net and then I took the touch and I saw the ball was in the air and I thought it was time to do it,” smiled Warschewski.
“I was shocked when I saw the ball go in. Then everybody came running to me and we celebrated with the team.”

The Eddies deserved all the credit for earning the tie. The weather conditions made it tough on both teams as high winds wreaked havoc all afternoon.
Valour scored their goal in the final seconds of the first half on their final possession as Andy Baquero beat Eddies keeper Andreas Vaikla with a shot that tucked just inside the left post.
Despite being down a goal at half, the Eddies used the wind to their advantage in the second half, and poured their hearts out to try and tie the game.
They didn’t quit and got rewarded with Warschewski’s heroic goal.

“I’m very happy for our supporters. Very happy for our players and very happy for everybody that stood by this club and has committed to professional football in this community,” said FC Edmonton head coach Alan Koch.
“To see our team and our supporters get rewarded with the goal of the season in the first week, is really gratifying.”

Warschewski enters his second season with the Eddies, and will be relied upon heavily not just for his offensive punch, but for his leadership.
In his first game of 2022, he came through in both fronts.

“Toby is a special player. He’s a player that’s capable of doing special things and that was a world class goal, today,” said Koch.

The odds are stacked against the Eddies this season. After a turbulent off-season that saw the team’s previous ownership walk away, the club is now being operated by the CPL.
The team is by far the youngest in the league, and many pundits have predicted it to be a tough year for FC Edmonton.

Koch showed incredible emotion after the tying goal.

“To be honest, this business is not always fair and our young kids today deserved to get something,” Koch said.
“I think that was the biggest reason I was going nuts (after the goal) because it doesn’t always happen this way.
“We deserved to get something out of the game and thank goodness, the soccer gods were a little bit on our side at that. But for our players, it’s a little bit of a reward for the effort they put in to get to this place.”

It may only be the first game of the 2022 season, but FC Edmonton certainly showed they’re not going to back down and be pushed around by the rest of the league. They’re committed to being competitive this season.
“For us, we know everybody was thinking we would finish in eighth place this season,” said Warschewski.
“We’re going in with this mentality that we don’t want to finish last. We know we have a young team and I know I have to take on more of a leadership role this year and try to get the most we can out of the game and not finish at the bottom.”

The Eddies showed incredible resilience in the second half. The young and inexperienced team could’ve easily got frustrated after Valour’s late goal in the first half, but FC Edmonton created several big scoring chances of their own in the second half.

“We knew we could flip the script. We knew the game was going to be different in the second half,” said Koch.
“We kept pushing until the end, and (this effort) gives us as a collective group something to feel as we prepare for next week.”