EDC FC Burnaby moved into the quarter-finals of the Vancouver Metro Soccer League Imperial Cup.
The premier division club blanked first-division opponent Rino’s Vancouver A 3-0 at Point Grey turf last Sunday.
Brendan Djambarov, with an unstoppable first-half strike from 20 yards out off a Chris Kyd corner kick, scored what proved to be the game winner.
Michael North and Tarek Yassing tallied second-half counters for EDC, while Hugo Vasquez registered the shutout in goal.
Leading team scorer Rizal Ganief did much of the work on the second marker, winning a couple of battles at the top of the box before passing off to North, who went man-on-man with the Vancouver keeper.
Ducivan Desouza set up Estrella de Chile’s 3-0 goal in the 18-yard box with Yassing beating the charging keeper to the ball with a sliding score.
“Rino’s came out very strong and were really working hard – a little more effort than skill – But we played a very sound match and our experience showed in the end,” said EDC head coach Claudio Ramirez.
Chile play league second-place ICST Pegasus in the third round of the Imperial Cup.
The Burnaby-based club defeated Pegasus 4-2 in a league meeting a few weeks back, but Ramirez has no delusions that Friday’s meeting will be nothing less than a very tough matchup.
“(Pegasus) plays a similar brand and likes to keep the ball on the ground. They have a very experienced team and are extremely organized. We like playing them because of those reasons and have built a very good rivalry with them,” Ramirez said. “We look forward to challenging them and giving them a solid run.”
EDC and Peg play off at Newton Athletic Park today (Friday) at 8:45 p.m.
