Fury need to find some magic around the goal
All it would take is a goal here or a goal there.
It doesn’t seem like too much to ask and that’s really all Ottawa Fury FC needs to start climbing up the United Soccer League table.
As Fury FC opens the second half of its USL regular-season schedule at home at TD Place Saturday at 2 p.m., against the Rochester Rhinos, the side’s 5-5-6 record could so easily be something better if the offence would just break out — if only in a modest fashion.
That’s how it goes for a team that is averaging just 1.25 goals per game, has scored two or less in 14 of 16 matches, has all five of its losses by a goal and three of its five wins by just the slimmest of margins ... yes, a goal.
“It comes down to key moments in football,” said Fury FC head coach Paul Dalglish.
“At top levels (of soccer) it’s more about tactics. At our level, it’s mainly about key moments and taking advantage of them. There’s so much parity at this level.
“We have broken down our games into 15-minute segments and our best segments are the first 15 minutes of a game and the last 15 minutes of our games. We have to start doing it for a full 90 minutes.
“We’ve got to start scoring goals. We have to find that offensive power. And I think we have players here who can do it.”
For 10th-place Fury FC, finding that offensive power can’t happen soon enough, not with just eight playoff spots up for grabs and only 10 points separating second place and 12th in the East.
Discounting the two biggest offensive days for Fury FC when they scored four and five goals in backto-back games in late May against New York and Richmond, the side’s goals-per-game average drops all the way to .785.
That lowly number comes from being shut out six times, scoring just once on five other occasions and scoring twice three times.
That string of shutouts includes a 1-0 loss in Rochester a month ago.
Now, in defence of Fury FC, they have had five goals disallowed, three on close offside calls, one by foul and another where the referees were the only ones on the field who failed to see a sure goal and play continued. Still, the numbers don’t lie. Charleston’s Romario Williams leads the league in scoring with 14 goals. Reno’s Dane Kelly is next at 13 and Real Salt Lake’s Chandler
It comes down to key moments in football ...We’ve got to start scoring goals. We have to find that offensive power. And I think we have players here who can do it.
Hoffman has 11.
Third-place Charlotte has two of the top seven scorers, with Jorge Herrera with nine and Enzo Martinez eight.