Fury FC grind out draw in School Day matchup
FURY FC 0, RED BULLS II 0
For much of the first half of Wednesday morning’s School Day home game against New York Red Bulls II, Ottawa Fury FC defender Eddie Edward felt the pain. He could barely walk, but he kept going.
Edward and his teammates fought tooth and nail, playing a man short for about 25 minutes in the second half at TD Place stadium after Chris Mannella was given a red card. While a 0-0 result wasn’t what they were looking for — at this stage of the United Soccer League season, the winless Fury FC team needs to start putting wins up — it was impressive and gritty and it was more like what coach Nikola Popovic has spoken about when he said the team is seeking consistency.
“I got a little knock on my hip, it seized up on me. Any time I tried to move, it would kind of lock up and prevent me from doing what I wanted to,” Edward said. “I needed to get into the half, get some rub on it, get some heat on it to loosen me up. As a local boy, I want to be on the pitch to put this all right. It takes a bit of grit.
“It’s funny how when faced with adversity it can sometimes bring a group together. Maybe some days we fall apart. But today we were a cohesive unit. It wasn’t three points, but it was a point. It definitely feels better than losing. If we can build on performances like this, we could put it all together and get some more victories. We can’t rest on this or get comfortable; that effort out there today is what we need every single game.”
It was important to have a clean sheet, Popovic said.
“We played against an MLS(calibre) team which didn’t play on Saturday ... and we played with 10 men,” he said. “I think we can be proud of our team and the way they fought. When we speak about the foundation and the culture, this is the most important thing — it’s a team that will fight.
“They’re starting to understand in such a demanding league you cannot have moments where you switch off the lights. When that happens, you (can give up) three or four goals. What happened today, if you analyze all the circumstances, perhaps the result could be different.”
While Fury FC goalie Maxime Crepeau, who seems to have cemented his status as No. 1 on the depth chart, made a couple of superb stops, the contributing cast was just as important, according to the coach.
“You have to say the 11 guys and all who were standing there and all the (8,000) people in the stands, that’s what saved us the point, not Maxime Crepeau,” Popovic said. “Maxime, for me, is one of the best goalkeepers we have in Canada and can be the future of the Canadian (team) in goal.”
There was no denying Crepeau, the man of the match, was brilliant.
“I’m happy with the clean sheet due to the circumstances,” Crepeau said. “We worked hard, we suffered in there. We’re not satisfied with the result, but it’s a tie with a good feeling.”
Diving to his right, Crepeau prevented a goal in the 26th minute, thwarting a header by Kevin Politz.
Adonijah Reid had a chance late in the first half when he got in behind the Red Bulls’ defence, but found himself in too tight to the goal to the left side of the net and his pass attempt drifted out of bounds.
Kevin Oliveira blasted a ball at the net in the 62nd minute, but Red Bulls goalkeeper Ryan Meara made a terrific save to keep the game scoreless.
Crepeau made another big save in the 82nd minute, then went diving to his left to stop another dangerous shot just before extra time.
Asked if he would like to speak about the refereeing, in particular about the red card, Popovic said, “I’m never going to speak about the refereeing. Today I would love to speak about the referee, but if the coach starts speaking about the referee, we have a problem.”
Speaking about his team’s offensive effort, Crepeau said, “We need more numbers. In this game, there were too many one-versus-ones. We need to move the ball around instead of just having one wave of attack. We need constant pressure on their half of the field. It was 0-0 today, we lost 3-0 against Cincinnati — the results are not there, we know it. I think there’s an improvement and we’re going the right way.”
Child’s play: Fury FC broke the USL record for largest School Day attendance. Wednesday ’s crowd of 8,084 fans smashed the record Ottawa set a year ago (7,551). There were 49 schools on hand. And, yes, there was even a chant of “Ref, you suck” in the second half. Popovic was thrilled with the reception his team got: “I think we have potential to be a fantastic team, a fantastic environment for soccer, but there are some things that need to be created. I know people want everything for tomorrow. But it doesn’t work like that. If you want for tomorrow, you’ll always be changing, changing, changing and it’s never going to happen. You have to give it time. Today is the proof we can do something very, very beautiful here.”
Up next: Fury FC is on the road for a Monday game against Penn FC (6:30 p.m.). Former Ottawa fan favourites Tom Heinemann and Romuald Peiser will be playing against their former team. Fury FC will be back at TD Place on May 12 to face Atlanta United 2.