EDDIES EYE HOT START
Lots at stake versus Fury
For FC Edmonton, the opportunity to host last season’s MLS finalist would be monumental.
However, to set up a date with Toronto FC, the local North American Soccer League club must first get past the Ottawa Fury FC.
Edmonton will play the first leg of the Amway Canadian Championship in Ottawa on Wednesday (5:30 p.m.) before hosting the Fury the following week at Clarke Stadium.
The winner of the two-game, total-goals series will face Toronto FC, who lost the MLS final last season to the Seattle Sounders on penalty kicks.
“We know how important this Canadian championship is to our club and to our fans,” said FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller. “We know how we let ourselves down last season by not getting to that semifinal round. The carrot dangled in front of us this year is Toronto FC and that has to be our goal, to beat Ottawa. We’re going to try to do that in any way, shape or form that we can.”
A year ago, Edmonton lost the first game 3-0 at home to the Fury, which presented a big mountain to climb in the return leg in Ottawa.
Yet, FC Edmonton nearly pulled off a huge comeback, scoring two first half goals en route to a 2-0 win in Ottawa. A third goal would have sent the game to extra time.
“We actually felt we let ourselves down a little bit in the second half last year,” Miller said. “We played very, very well in the first half, and in the second half, we weren’t as aggressive going forward.”
This year, with the series starting in Ottawa, FC Edmonton is hoping to win and return home with a cushion. FC Edmonton has struggled early in the NASL season with one win in their first five games, but hopes a good result against Ottawa will springboard them in the right direction.
“We will be playing to win the game on Wednesday,” Miller said. “How we do that? That remains to be seen, but that’s our goal. We want to score as often as we can to make life difficult for Ottawa, because we know in Edmonton that we play well at home.”
Ottawa left the NASL this season to join the United Soccer League and currently sit 14th in the 15team Eastern Conference with one win and two draws through their first five games.
Last year, after getting past Edmonton in the first round of the Amway Championship, Ottawa lost 5-0 on aggregate to the Vancouver Whitecaps. Vancouver went on to lose to Toronto FC in the final.
FC Edmonton has competed in the Canadian championship since 2012. The winner of the national title moves on to represent Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League tournament.
Under the current format of the national tournament, which features the five Canadian professional teams, including the Montreal Impact, FC Edmonton has made it to the semifinal twice.
Edmonton lost to the Impact in the semifinal in 2014 and to the Whitecaps in 2015.
Being the only two Canadian teams not to play in the MLS, Ottawa and Edmonton have to play in a preliminary round for the right to move on to the semifinal.
“We’re going to try to do the same things we did in Ottawa last year,” Miller said. “We played very, very well in that game. I don’t think Ottawa recorded a shot on goal in that game that we won 2-0. Unfortunately, we were unable to score the third goal.”
Even a tie in Ottawa would suit Edmonton well before returning for the second leg on May 10. However, Miller doesn’t want to leave anything to chance with two games against TFC on the line.
FC Edmonton have never played Toronto FC, the five-time Canadian champions.
“We just have to get some of these good performances on the road to turn into wins,” Miller said. “And I can’t think of a better way to start than Wednesday night in the Canadian Championship.”