Captain of the national football team, Christopher Nurse has signed with FC Edmonton, a Canadian professional football team based in Edmonton, Canada.
According to a release, Christopher Nurse, born in England of Guyanese parentage had split last season between the Carolina Rail Hawks and a return to the Puerto Rico Islanders. Giving a reason for leaving Puerto Rico,
He is quoted as saying, “I wanted to be part of a team that will contend for the championship this season.”
Nurse said that he knew the writing was on the wall for his old club, the Islanders, at the end of last season. The club has taken the 2013 season off in order to reorganise.
He has fond memories of playing in Puerto Rico. “It was a great club, great fans. It’s certainly hard to see what has happened this season, but hopefully they are back next season and can get back to where they were as a club.”
The national midfielder highlighted that one of the major reasons he switched from Puerto Rico to Canada is that both offer two of the easier routes to the CONCACAF Champions League. He said, “It’s the top competition in the region, and it’s possible for second-division teams in Canada and Puerto Rico to get there. In the U.S. it’s almost impossible. I’m really looking forward to playing the Whitecaps.”
Nurse, who was one of the 16 players already named to the FC Edmonton roster last Monday, believes the team has the talent to go from worst to first under new coach Colin Miller. He thinks the addition of a number of North American Soccer League (NASL) veterans will help to push a young, talented squad to new heights.
“Wes Knights won at this level (got to a final in ’09 with the Whitecaps),” said Nurse at the Club’s training session on last Tuesday at Common-wealth Field house. “(Neil) Hlavaty has won a championship. I’ve won a championship at the second-division level. We have done it before and we can win another second-division title. We have players like (Shaun) Saiko and (Paul) Hamilton, who were both league all-stars.”
He said that former Minnesota Star Martin Nunez and Canadian Edson Edward, who teamed with Nurse in Puerto Rico, are also encamped. He observed that is even more NASL experience, a far cry from the dependence on French talent that was brought in last year.
So far, Nurse has favourable reviews of how Coach Colin Miller is conducting camp, putting a premium on fitness.
“The coach is disciplined,” said Nurse. “He is looking at what didn’t work last year and what worked. So far, the sessions have been very enjoyable. We know that if we have discipline, if we work hard, then we have a chance at becoming a winning team.”
