USL Ottawa Fury FC

Fury FC Scratch Their Way to a 1-0 Win over AS Blainville in Canadian Championship

Published on June 20, 2018 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Ottawa Fury FC News Release


OTTAWA - On another stormy night in Laval, QC, Ottawa Fury FC got their Battle of the North underway in the first leg of their qualifying round of the Canadian Championship as they faced PLSQ representative AS Blainville. Fury FC went on to secure an scrappy 1-0 lead going into the return leg scheduled for June 27th at TD Place.

True to his comments earlier in the week, Fury FC Head Coach Nikola Popovic fielded a strong, proudly Canadian starting formation featuring eight of the 10 Canadians dressed on the night. Coach Popovic had opted to make a change on top of the starting lineup going into the match, inserting Tony Taylor in the striker position in replacement for Steevan Dos Santos. Taylor did not waste his chance to make an impression, finding the back of the net in the opening minute of the match after speeding past the Blainville defenders.

With an early 1-0 lead, Fury FC continued to press on and set the pace of the game. On numerous occasions, Taylor and Reid cleverly made it past the Blainville last four. Not surprisingly, Ottawa's pressure gave Blainville some headaches, despite their physical demeanor. In the first half hour of play, the locals conceded four free kicks just outside their box, but also defended them well enough to keep Ottawa at bay.

Blainville's physical style did cause some trouble for Fury FC who had to defend spirited attacks for most of the last five minutes of the half. After watching most of the first frame from afar, Fury FC keeper Maxime Crépeau had to step up and contribute to his side's efforts. No harm, almost no fouls, and Ottawa Fury FC headed into the half with the 1-0 lead.

Fans were treated to a much more subdued start to the second half, with Ottawa opting to maintain a strong defensive front in the early goings. Blainville, on the other hand, had something else in mind. They orchestrated two power strikes in the 57th minute that tested Ottawa to the core; a clinical cross missed the foot of prolific striker Mayard by inches, and the follow up corner kick was confidently punched out by Crépeau. Fury FC stood their ground, much to the discontentment of their opponent.

Throughout the evening, Blainville's keeper Ofouya stood tall in front of his goal, making tough saves after tough saves to keep his side in the match. He undoubtedly robbed Fury FC on a handful of occasions. On the other side of the pitch, Fury FC keeper Crépeau also showed his fire in front of the cage, pulling out another noteworthy performance.

When the final whistle came from official Alan Ruch, Fury FC headed to the locker room satisfied with the 1-0 win. While some detractors would call for a more significant goal differential in a match against a club that was often overlooked in the days leading into the competition, the Fury lads took that hard-earned win as a step towards an exciting and promising return match. One they fully intend on win.

Following their league match on Sunday in New York, Ottawa Fury FC will host AS Blainville for the second leg of the qualifying round on Wednesday, June 27th (KO 7:30 p.m.), with a spot against known foe Toronto FC in the Championship semifinals on the line.

POST-GAME COMMENTS

Head Coach Nikola Popovic "First, I want to say that I'm very proud of our players. As you know we've come from a lot of games on the road, coming here and knowing what this game means for our club, for our project; they were fantastic."

"I'm very happy to see so much quality in Canadian players. We had today a lot of Canadian players on [both sides of] the field. And I'm very happy to see how this competition is organized. To me, it smells more like football - European football. How it's all put together, it's a fantastic image of Canadian football."

On the result vs a semi-pro team... "I think it's a difficult game. We played against a team who is very good. They have good players, perhaps players who didn't get the opportunity to show themselves on bigger stages, but that doesn't mean they don't have quality. We faced today a very good team, organized. It was a very difficult game for us. We are happy with the 1-0 result. The game didn't tip over and it tells us that we will have to be very focused when coming in to play the second game because we expect it to be difficult."

"This is the most important competition for us. We are responsible, and we want to face this competition. For us, this is like Champions League."

Goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau "We knew that they would be pumped, that they were waiting for us there at home. We also knew that on our end, we would play compact and on the counter-attack. We stuck to our game plan and now we get to go home with a 1-0 lead."

MATCH REPORT

Starting XI Ottawa Fury FC (4-3-3): Crépeau; Obasi, Meilleur-Giguère, Attakora, Edward; Oliveira, Mannella, Dixon (90+1' Manesio); Reid (64' Tissot), Taylor (78' Luboyera), Haworth ©

AS Blainville (4-4-2): Ofouya; Beauséjour, Dicko-Raynauld ©, Redjradj, Lenours; Belguendouz (77' Syla), Noor-Ali, Leconte, Toker (71' Moulinas); Lachouri (46' Abzi), Mayard

Scoring Summary 1' - Taylor (Reid)

Caution Summary 40' - Dixon 76' - Moulinas

Next Match: Sunday, June 24 @ New York Red Bulls II - 5:00 pm - MSU Soccer Park Next Home Match: Wednesday, June 27 v AS Blainville - Canadian Championship - 7:30 pm - TD Place

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