Celebrations subdued after big win
Ottawa heads to Toronto down 1-0 on aggregate against last year’s MLS champions
His club jumped three spots in the United Soccer League table to move into a coveted playoff position after scoring a pair of goals in extra time to defeat a heavily favoured opponent and finally had a place on the USL Power Rankings for the first time all season at No. 12.
Ottawa Fury FC head coach Nikola Popovic could have been in a mood to celebrate on all counts.
Or not.
“We will only celebrate when we conquer something,” said a stoic Popovic, looking ahead to Wednesday’s second leg of the Canadian Championship semifinal against Toronto FC at BMO Field rather than looking back to last weekend’s thrilling 2-0 win over Nashville FC. “But I think (the Nashville win) was huge.
“Once more, it’s not only about what was on the scoreboard. It was the way our players fought to the end in the belief they could score. There is that belief in this team now.”
Heading to Toronto, Fury FC finds itself down 1-0 on aggregate after a July 18 loss to TFC at TD Place.
At the same time Ottawa was recording its big win over Nash- ville, Toronto FC was also taking a step to get back into playoff contention in the MLS with an almost must-win 2-1 decision over the Chicago Fire.
Unlike the lineup Toronto fielded at TD Place, all of its stars were back for the Chicago game and the Fury won’t know until close to game time, when it will see the Toronto lineup card, whether it will face the likes of Sebastian Giovinco, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and Jonathan Osorio.
Toronto may instead choose to give the stars more time to prepare for Saturday’s return match with Chicago and some valuable playing time to the reserves.
Either way, the Fury faces a monumental task in trying to advance to the Canadian final against either the Montreal Impact or Vancouver Whitecaps.
“We don’t have a choice but to win,” said Popovic. “After the first (leg), we are one goal down, but I really believe it will be a completely different game than the first one.
“I think we really have to take our chances. We had just two shots against their eight. We must be able to create chances. We really don’t know who they will play. They have a huge roster. Three of their players could pay for our whole roster.
“All we know is the 11 players they put on the field are all very good players and it will be very, very difficult for us.”
In last year’s matchup between TFC and the Fury, Toronto was off during the first leg in Ottawa and was upset 2-1, then loaded up and won the second leg 4-0.
In last week’s first leg, Toronto scored early on something of a fluky goal — one the Fury would like back. The Fury never really threatened after that.
“We need to go there with a winning mentality,” said goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, the Fury player of the year to date. “We need to go there and be the aggressor.
“We’re down 1-0 and it’s a 90-minute game. It will be difficult. We know it. It’s not going tobeeasy.
“But they came (to Ottawa) and won 1-0. So we can do the same thing.”