Fury Dominant Claiming First-Ever Canadian Championship Win
Published on May 12, 2016 under North American Soccer League (NASL)
Ottawa Fury FC News Release
James Bailey and Lance Rozeboom of Ottawa Fury FC Test the Edmonton FC Goaltender
(Ottawa Fury FC)
OTTAWA, ON - Fury FC delivered their most convincing performance of the season Wednesday night in Edmonton, as Paul Dalglish's side downed the Eddies 3-0 in the first leg of the Amway Canadian Championship Preliminary Round.
Fernando Timbo gave his team a 1-0 lead early in the first half before Carl Haworth and Idan Vered added to the score with a pair of quick goals in the second half. Goalkeeper Marcel DeBellis, who was making his first-ever Amway Canadian Championship appearance, made several key saves to earn the clean sheet and give Fury FC their first-ever win in the Canadian cup.
"It's a very pleasing performance tonight," said head coach Paul Dalglish. "It takes time to change a team's mentality as the club had more of a defensive approach last year. We are still working on changing that into a more offensive-minded team and I hope that tonight's performance will help do that. We probably won't get many points for style tonight, but our performance was effective and at the end of the day that's what matters."
Fury FC gave themselves a deserved lead in the 13th minute when Fernando Timbo headed James Bailey's free-kick cross past Edmonton goalkeeper Matt VanOekel. It was Timbo's second goal of the season after the Brazilian scored against Miami FC in Ottawa's first NASL win of the season.
Just before the end of first half, DeBellis made an outstanding save to keep his team in front when he dove back to tip Shamit Shome's effort over the crossbar. After 45 minutes, Fury FC headed to the locker-room with a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, Ottawa capitalized on an FC Edmonton defensive mistake to double their lead. In the 69th minute Lance Rozeboom intercepted a pass from VanOekel in the box and delivered a perfect pass to Haworth who tapped it in for a 2-0 lead.
Minutes later, in the 74th minute, Marcel De Jong produced a flawless second-post cross which found Idan Vered's head and the Israeli tripled the lead for Ottawa by putting the ball home.
Vered - who was the first Israeli to feature and to score in an Amway Canadian Championship match - and Marcel DeBellis - who scored his first-ever professional shutout - both turned in impressive efforts in the match.
"Marcel was really good tonight," said Dalglish. "His save at the end of the first half was incredible, it allowed us to go back in the locker-room with a 1-0 lead. He works really hard at training and we are very pleased with him."
Fury FC will now travel back home and will be back in action Wednesday night at TD Place as they play the return leg of the Amway Canadian Championship Preliminary Round against Edmonton. The winner will meet the Vancouver Whitecaps in the semifinal stage of the competition. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
Single game tickets are available now, calling 613-232-6767 x1 or in person at the TD Place Box Office. Interested in more than just single game tickets? Fans can buy their 2016 Fury FC season tickets here and become part of a growing legion of fans that has helped make TD Place a fortress.
Images from this story
 James Bailey and Lance Rozeboom of Ottawa Fury FC Test the Edmonton FC Goaltender |
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- Eddies Fall 3-0 to Fury in First Leg of Amway Canadian Championship - FC Edmonton
- Fury Dominant Claiming First-Ever Canadian Championship Win - Ottawa Fury FC
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