‘Totally refreshed’ Fury back after 3-week break
It’s time to go back to work for Ottawa Fury FC.
A three-week break between the spring and fall seasons of the North American Soccer League comes to an end with Saturday night’s away match against the New York Cosmos, which means Fury FC has an opportunity to make everyone forget about its struggles in the early portion of the 2016 campaign, to some degree the byproduct of the collective grind of seven matches in 25 days.
“Maybe a couple of our results at the end of the spring this year didn’t go our way, but our performances were there,” forward Carl Haworth said following a workout earlier this week. “We’re playing the type of football that we want to be playing.
“As long as we keep playing our game and keep creating chances, keep scoring goals, we’ll generate enough results where we’ll at least be pushing for a playoff spot.”
All NASL clubs kick off the fall season with zero points, but Indy Eleven already has in hand a guaranteed post-season championship berth after finishing atop the spring-season table with 18 points and edging the Cosmos on goal differential. There’s one more berth for the fall-season leader and a pair remaining for the next-best teams in the combined standings.
That’s where the spring-season travails could prove harmful for Fury FC hopes. Coach Paul Dalglish’s injury-plagued squad managed just nine points from its 10 matches, so it resumes play nine points behind the Cosmos and eight behind FC Edmonton.
Or, Fury FC could just go about winning the pennant for the 22game fall season, just as it did last year en route to reaching the NASL championship game before falling one goal short against the Cosmos.
“We are totally refreshed,” Dalglish said. “We gave the guys some time off, and the other thing as well is we have implemented a lot of new ideas.
“The time off gave everybody a chance to take a deep breath, have a think about what worked, what didn’t work and get focused for the fall season.”
There were moments to savour from the early portion of the season, of course, including victory against FC Edmonton in the two-leg qualifying round of the Amway Canadian Championship and an eye-opening 2-0 triumph against the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS side before a crowd of more than 9,000 at TD Place stadium, although a 3-0 setback in the return leg at BC Place brought the players quickly back to earth.
The packed schedule “definitely took a toll,” Haworth said. “I think you could see that. When we went to Tampa, it was tough. Our second leg in Vancouver was pretty tough. But then we came back against Rayo OKC and put in another good performance and we got a result (1-1 draw) out of the game.
“It was tough, that stretch, but it’s just part of the game. We have a few mid-week games coming up in the fall as well, so I think we’ll be well-prepared for those.”
Fury FC’s roster will still be less than fully stocked because of lingering injuries for some players and the departures of forward Idan Vered and midfielder Marcel de Jong, whose short-term contracts expired.
However, Rafael Alves is expected to return after missing the last spring-season game because of injury and fellow defender Eddie Edward of Ottawa has been acquired from FC Edmonton.
Dalglish said Fernando Timbo was “touch and go” to play Saturday because of a recent injury, while Onua Thomas Obasi and Mozzi Gyorio needed more time to recover. Kyle Venter, Rich Balchan and Gerardo Bruna may also return, but only later in the fall season.
Efforts to recruit another attacker continue, but Dalglish said nothing was imminent, partly because the international soccer transfer window only reopened Friday.