Struggling Toronto FC’s depth could give Fury a few fits
Maxime Crepeau thinks the difference in facing upstart Quebec’s AS Blainville as opposed to taking on defending MLS -champion Toronto FC constitutes nothing short of a complete role reversal for Ottawa Fury FC.
“We went in and beat Blainville knowing we were the favourites,” said Crepe au, the Fury F CM VP to date in defending the home goal. “Now, against Toronto FC, wear ethe underdogs and we know that.
“They might have had some difficulties this year, but there’s still a lot of great players on that roster. Their ‘A’ team is great. Their ‘B’ team is great. And their ‘C’ team is great. There’s a lot of depth over there.”
And that’s just it.
Fury FC really won’t know which Toronto FC team they will be facing until pre-game warm-up Wednesday evening at TD Place with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff and a crowd expected to be in the 10,000 range won’t know which stars they are seeing or missing until that same point.
The Reds haven’t enjoyed the kind of season they were expecting coming off their glorious run to the MLS Cup win last December and could opt to leave some of their stars back home to rest from the first leg in the Canadian Championship semifinal against the Fury.
Toronto did just that last May and the Fury won the first leg at TD Place 2-1 before going to Toronto seven days later and getting it handed to them 4-0 to lose the aggregate 5-2.
The two teams turn around and play the second leg July 25 at BMO Field in Toronto.
“Toronto FC is a big name,” said Crepeau. “But this is important for our team. We talk about it all the time.
“(The Fury) did it last year ( by beating Toronto) and I have a feeling we can do it again. It’s now about getting the result we want.
“Toronto, this year, has been like two different teams. They make BMO Field like their fortress with the big crowds and everything going on. They have not been the same away from there.”
Going into the series, the two teams do have something in common and, no, it’s not the size of their paycheques as a mid-range Toronto FC player may well account for the annual salary of the entire Fury FC roster.
Both teams will take the field as 10th-place clubs in their respective league conferences.
Toronto began its 2018 season so early and so strong, getting to the final of the CONCACAF Champions League before bowing out 4-2 on penalties to Guadalajara after beating Colorado of MLS as well as Mexican clubs Tigres UANL and Club America.
The early February start to the season meant a shorter than normal off-season and the travel to Central America around their MLS schedule had to account for a championship-calibre team that has just four wins and four draws in 19 regular season MLS games. That kind of record won’t get Toronto even into the postseason, though there’s still plenty of season to go.
The Fury, meanwhile, is coming off a huge come-from-behind win last Saturday at TD Place and has to turn around and host Nashville in USL play this coming Saturday, again at home.
Ottawa’s seven wins and three draws in 18 games don’t have them in a playoff spot yet.
“Even good teams have their ups and downs,” said Fury FC head coach Nikola Popovic. “They still have the quality of roster to come back this season. There’s easily enough talent on that roster to do so.
“The CONCACAF competition made things even more difficult for them and they did very well to make it all the way to the final and only lose off penalties.
“But they had a very long season to win the MLS championship and when you do that, then go to CONCACAF, that means you do not have much of an offseason. It was like their (2017) season ended (in December) and they almost had to start training right away.
“And togo as far as they did made for a lot of addition travel and made things even more difficult for them. So I see what has happened to them as a perfectly normal situation.”