Match Preview: Fury FC Look to Tie NASL Record Saturday Night at TD Place vs Minnesota United FC
August 14, 2015 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
Ottawa Fury FC News Release
OTTAWA, ON (August 14, 2015) - The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
A message from Marc Dos Santos that has remained consistent throughout the course of this unfathomable run that has Fury FC once again knocking of the door of the NASL record books.
"We are not thinking about any kind of streak or record, rather in accumulating points and getting close to our main objective," said Marc Dos Santos.
While it is pretty hard to ignore their impressive form that has seen this unbeaten streak span over three months and now capturing headlines across the City and the League, Dos Santos knows that his squad is facing a very tough opponent.
"We are playing a team with very good attacking pieces and quality. Minnesota will provide us with an incredible challenge. We will need to be at our best and keep our concentration for the full 90 minutes if we want to succeed."
Coming into the 2015 season, Minnesota was immediately included in the conversation for favourites to win-it-all in 2015. It has been a Jekyll and Hyde season for Minnesota United FC.
While continuing to hold down a post-season position, they have been inconsistent at different times in their opening 17 games and come in to Saturday's game winless in their last 3 games.
After being shutout in their first two games of the season, the Loons have scored at least one goal in every game since. No striker is hotter in the NASL than Minnesota forward Christian Ramirez who has scored in each of his last six games. Ramirez's scoring streak began when Ottawa and Minnesota met back on July 11. The Loons ended Ottawa's league-best shutout streak at 648 minutes on a goal by Christian Ramirez.
Last Saturday's 4-1 win over Indy summed up everything that has been going right for Fury FC during the Fall campaign - offensive contributions from different sources, sound defence and a difficult team for opponents to break down. With Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Andrew Wiedeman and Mauro Eustaquio all netting their first goals of the season - for Eustaquio his first career goal - Ottawa now has goals from 11 different players. With no players in the Top-10 in league scoring, it is clear that
Ottawa's success is by committee.
The club's leading scorer, Tom Heinemann, has proven to be the club's most dominant player against Minnesota scoring a goal in each of his last three games against United. Five weeks ago the hulking strikers netted the game-tying goal converting a penalty kick and scored the match-winner in Ottawa's 2015 home opener in a 1-0 victory over the Loons.
Over their last 12 matches, Fury FC has outscored their opposition 17-6 with Romauld Peiser collecting seven shutouts and has a league-best eight overall this season. Seven of these twelve matches during this run have come at the friendly confines of TD Place where Ottawa is unbeaten in their last seven (5W-2D-0L) and are 6-2-1 on the season - a much improved mark from 2014.
Ottawa will continue to be shorthanded in midfield with Nicki Paterson out for the season and Julian De Guzman still a couple weeks away from returning.
If 13 proves to be a lucky number for Fury FC, Ottawa will look to break the NASL's unbeaten streak record against one of the record holders, the New York Cosmos, in their next match on August 26. Fury FC will close out their three-game homestand against the Tampa Bay Rowdies on August 29. Tickets to these and all Fall Season matches are available at OttawaFuryFC.com.
MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee: Lyes Arfa
Assistants: Peter Manastyrsky and Andre Pickler
Fourth Official: Chris Grabas
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- Match Preview: Fury FC Look to Tie NASL Record Saturday Night at TD Place vs Minnesota United FC - Ottawa Fury FC
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- United Looks to for Three Points at League-Leading Ottawa - Minnesota United FC
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