FURY EXPECT TO HAVE MORE SCORING PUNCH
Ottawa club on verge of signing more players as team begins training camp
Following an off-season that had a big bump in the road, Ottawa Fury FC coach Nikola Popovic isn’t so worried about what’s behind his team. He’s more focused and excited about what’s ahead.
The team is in training camp — the week began with a practice at Gee-Gees Field, followed by daily workouts at Gatineau’s Complexe Branchaud-Briere — with an eye toward Fury FC’s United Soccer League regular-season opener March 9 in Charleston, S.C. Ottawa will play a “preparatory match” Saturday morning at Gee-Gees Field against the Carleton Ravens.
There’s still plenty of work to do and some new bodies — probably a couple of significant assets — to be added in the coming days. Fury FC is a team that scored just 31 goals in 34 games a year ago. That was a huge factor in the team’s 10th-place finish (13 wins, 15 losses and six ties). Fury FC also gave up 43 goals.
“We refreshed our back line and we brought in some quality players in the midfield,” Popovic said. "We have (Christiano) Francois in the front, but we need at least a couple of players in front who will be able to finish. We are close (to signing) some players. I don’t think it will be weeks, it should be days and we will have some news.
“We are going to have a bit more capability of bringing the ball into pockets with more control. That will give us a bit more possession.”
Fury FC has adjusted its training camp, allowing for outdoor practices leading right into its first game. Fury FC will work out indoors in Ottawa before leaving for Florida for training from Feb. 20 to March 7. Indoor practices just aren’t the same and don’t translate to game conditions. It’s a problem Canadian teams traditionally have, from Major League Soccer down.
“I really believe that will help,” Popovic said of training in Florida. “Almost always, there is a slow start for the Canadian teams. It’s not only the surface, you’re indoors and it gives you a different perception in your brain in how you analyze the game.
“We are more prepared (this year) in terms of understanding the weather and the indoor situation with the artificial field. We also have a better understanding of how the club operates and what our needs are. That will allow us all to be more prepared.”
Fury FC has moved beyond the fight it had with North American soccer governing body CONCACAF, which announced in December that it would not sanction the Ottawa team to play the 2019 season in the USL. It was only after Fury FC sought urgent relief from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to permit the team to play in the USL that CONCACAF reluctantly agreed. The Ottawa club had committed to the USL, choosing a wait-andsee approach to joining the new Canadian Premier League, which kicks off in 2019. CONCACAF is run by Victor Montagliani, the former Canada Soccer boss and thus a booster of the new Canadian Premier League, which will start in April.
“It was an unpleasant situation, but I was always confident the organization would fix things,” Popovic said. “The most important thing for everybody is to focus on what we can control — that’s working hard every single day and have a team that will be very competitive.”
At the time, Mark Goudie, president and CEO of Fury FC’s parent company, Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, said: “We’ve been clear from the start that we’re happy to watch the CPL evolve — it’s a pretty exciting time for them. In 2019, we’ll see how that’s coming together and hopefully we’ll all be in a better position to avoid what was a pretty difficult, emotional process this year.”