FURY FEELING PLAYOFF BUZZ
Should Ottawa triumph in play-in round, it will face either Nashville or Pittsburgh
Ottawa Fury FC was just about unbeatable on the pitch at TD Place this season, losing once all the way back in early April and only again in late August.
And the only two teams to defeat the Fury in 17 United Soccer League Championship regular-season home games just happen to be the top two teams in the Eastern Conference: Pittsburgh and Nashville.
So the Fury has reason to feel pretty good about its chances in the franchise’s first playoff game in four seasons — Wednesday, 7 p.m., at home against the Charleston Battery — in a play-in matchup of eighth- and ninthplace teams.
It doesn’t hurt that Charleston has one of the worst road records in the USL with just three wins away from home along with seven draws and seven losses.
“I think it’s a great game for us,” said Fury head coach Nikola Popovic, following a quick turnaround for his club after closing out the season Saturday in Charlotte, N.C. “It was a difficult regular season. This league is very competitive.
“We know (Charleston’s) strengths and weaknesses, but we have our own way to play.
“We try and be very aggressive and create scoring chances. And we want to be aggressive without the ball, too. Many (games), we created a lot of chances and failed to score. I believe we will create lots of chances (against Charleston).”
All season long, the Fury had hoped, even expected, to host a playoff game. They just anticipated it would be as one of the top four seeds in the conference, not as a team that needs to play itself into the final eight.
But they can make their fans forget all about the up-anddown season simply by beating Charleston and maybe pulling off an upset or two down the road.
It’s sudden death from here on in and the winner of the playin has little time to celebrate because it moves on against either Eastern Conference pennant-winning Pittsburgh or second-place Nashville on Saturday night.
The seeding will be dependent on what team wins the other play-in game between North Carolina and Birmingham.
“Now is the time to show,” Fury forward Christiano François said. “The playoffs are very important to us.
“If we can all put our best forward, I think we can reach the final or win a championship. We have a pretty good team here.”
The Fury finished six points up on Charleston and won three more games, though Charleston did have three more draws and the two tied with 10 defeats each over the 34-game regular season.
Ottawa ranked eighth in conference offence while Charleston ranked 13th, averaging just 1.29 goals per game, which is coincidentally the same average as Charleston’s goals against with 44 goals for and 44 against.
The Fury was slightly better with a plus-7 goal differential, scoring 50 for an average of 1.47 per game.
Head to head, the two teams played to a 1-1 draw in the season opener way back on March 9, while the Fury secured a 3-2 win at TD Place on June 26 when Mour Samb scored the game-winner in the 84th minute after Charleston had seemingly secured a tie with a goal in the 82nd.
Down the stretch to the post-season, the Fury didn’t exactly race to the finish line by closing with four wins and one draw in its final 10 games.
Charleston actually outdid the Fury over that 10-game span, matching Ottawa in wins and earning another three draws against just three losses. It also finished the season on a twogame winning streak, including a single-game, season-high five goals in a 5-1 win Saturday over Bethlehem.
It’s also worth noting that Charleston was blanked seven times and the Fury was shut out on eight different occasions, so a single goal might be all it takes.
Should the Fury advance, it would have no real preference between Pittsburgh or Nashville because Ottawa didn’t get a win against either opponent. The best the Fury could do against Pittsburgh was a 2-2 draw a week into June followed by an ugly 4-0 defeat at home when Pittsburgh scored three minutes in and led 3-0 by the 34th minute.
Things were no better against Nashville with the Fury losing 3-0 at home in early April, then fighting back for a 3-3 draw in late June in Nashville.
If we can all put our best forward, I think we can reach the final or win a championship. We have a pretty good team here.