Fury keep their slim playoff hopes alive
Victory over Minnesota puts them within striking distance in NASL
Ottawa Fury FC did what it had to do on Saturday night.
Second-half goals by Giuseppe Gentile, Ryan Williams and Lance Rozeboom lifted Fury FC to a 3-1 victory against Minnesota United FC and breathed a little bit more life into their admittedly slim North American Soccer League playoff hopes.
Minnesota still holds fourth spot in the combined standings at 106-10, but there’s a sizable pack of pursuers closing in quickly and even 10th-place Fury FC is only seven points in arrears, with six matches remaining on the fallseason schedule.
“You should never stop fighting,” said Williams, who converted a scoring opportunity in the 82nd minute into what proved to be the winning goal. “I think the mentality in that dressing room is we have to go for it every game.
“We are not looking too far ahead. We are taking every game as it comes, but you also have to have a long-term goal, and we’re not giving up.”
Fury FC (7-8-11) gets its next opportunity to close that gap Wednesday in Florida against Miami FC, another of the five squads between Ottawa and Minnesota in the rankings. Then it returns home for contests against last-place Puerto Rico FC (Oct. 2) and firstplace New York Cosmos (Oct. 9).
Head coach Paul Dalglish described Fury FC’s other four remaining regular-season games as “six-pointers” against other clubs in the struggle for post-season qualification.
“This really is the part of the season where not only is it important to win, it’s (also) important to take points from whoever you’re playing against and stop them from getting in fourth place,” Dalglish said.
“It’s really, really important that we try and win those games, and you never know what can happen.”
United FC, which has now lost three consecutive games and hasn’t won on the road since April, looked in the first half as if it might end both those streaks.
Tightly packed defenders, particularly inside the 18-yard box, frustrated Fury FC attackers almost every time, and a fortuitous break allowed the visiting side to take the lead in the 20th minute.
After Ben Speas flicked the ball in front of the net, it bounced between two United forwards and a collection of Fury FC defenders before landing at the feet of Jamie Watson, who promptly kicked it past keeper Romuald Peiser.
United nearly added to its lead in the 52nd minute, but a long, left-footed drive by Lance Laing was parried by Peiser, and the rebound bounced harmlessly off Minnesota’s Christian Ramirez before careening wide of the target.
That left the margin at just one goal until the 57th minute, when a cross from Maxim Tissot eluded a United FC defender and found its way to Gentile. He deflected the chest-high pass to the ground, took his time and then ripped a left-footed shot past Minnesota keeper Sammy Ndjock.
The score remained tied 1-1 for more than 20 additional minutes, but then Williams found some space near the edge of the 18-yard box before stepping to his right and snapping the ball past Ndjock, who had no chance.
Rozeboom made it 3-1 just four minutes later, in the 86th. He took a short pass from Carl Haworth and quickly slotted the ball past the keeper for an insurance goal.
It was, to some degree, a repeat of last weekend’s matchup between the same two clubs in Minnesota, where Fury FC staged a late second-half rally for a 3-2 win.
“Paul has been laying a foundation for how we want to play ever since I’ve been here,” said Williams, an English midfielder who signed with Fury FC in mid-July, “and finally I think we are starting to see the fruits of our labour.
“Everyone is sort of understanding their role, their function in the team, and I think the last two games we have played some really, really good stuff.”
Ottawa is also fifth in the 22game fall season, but at 5-5-6 it remains 11 points behind New York (9-4-3), so its better shot at qualifying for the playoffs would be seizing one of the two combined-standings berths.