The father of a young soccer player told an Edmonton courtroom Tuesday how he ended up with five facial fractures and a broken nasal passage after his son's soccer match last year.

Dean Smith, whose son played for La Perle of the Edmonton Minor Soccer League, was testifying at the trial of Manpreet Grewal.

Grewal, 19, faces a charge of aggravated assault in connection with the beating on June 5, 2008, that was alleged to have occurred after an under-18 soccer game between the La Perle and Meadows teams.

Smith testified a post-game argument with Meadows players escalated into a shouting match.

Smith threatened to rip off one player's head covering and then ran to the parking lot, where he tripped and fell.

That's when he was swarmed by several people and kicked while on the ground, Smith testified in Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, admitting his hands were covering his face and he couldn't see exactly who was kicking him.

The defence concedes the assault was egregious, but says the Crown doesn't have enough evidence to convict Grewal.

"I didn't have plates in my head before this happened," Smith alleged while addressing reporters outside court, "so obviously somewhere along the lines — [by] one or two or three of these kids, four or five, I have no idea — I was kicked so many times."

Smith also alleged the right side of his face is still numb, even though the incident happened last summer.

'It happened really quickly'

Other witnesses, like La Perle soccer coach Randy Oleschuk, said it was tough for him to know exactly who was responsible in the melee.

"It happened really quickly, it was a young group of guys with a lot of adrenalin flowing and it just exploded," Oleschuk said outside the courthouse.

Witnesses, including Oleschuk, identified Grewal to police by pointing him out from players' cards, which the defence argues has no weight in a court of law.

Grewal's lawyer, Chris Milsap, calls the Crown's case a house of cards, saying when one card is removed, the Crown is left with nothing.

A verdict is expected in November.