Fury defeat Edmonton in first leg
The Battle of Ontario on a soccer pitch?
Ottawa Fury FC has taken a big step toward a showdown with Toronto FC following a 1-0 win over FC Edmonton in the first of two games in the opening leg of the Canadian championship Wednesday night at TD Place. Ottawa’s work is far from done; Game 2 of the aggregate-goal series will be played May 10 in Edmonton.
“Football means something to us,” Fury FC coach Paul Dalglish said. “It means something to play in a Canadian championship. I think you saw two teams that really wanted to win.”
It was a remarkable finish. Ryan Williams, with his mom watching, scored the only goal of the game in the 90th minute. After a nice delivery into the box by Andrae Campbell, Williams found himself unmarked after the ball glanced off Edmonton goalie Tyson Farago.
Said Williams: “My mom hasn’t actually seen me play for two years, so to get a goal was a nice bonus; of course, most importantly was to get the win.”
In the 60th minute, Ottawa goalkeeper Callum Irving made backto-back brilliant saves, robbing Allan Zebie.
Joked Dalglish: “He wanted to get on the highlight tape, didn’t he? So he pushed it to the guy so he could do a good save. Don’t push it to the guy next time, just catch it.”
Formerly in the North American Soccer League alongside Edmonton, Ottawa now plays out of the United Soccer League. But a strong rivalry between the two clubs remains — Ottawa advanced to the second leg of the Canadian championship a year ago with a 3-2 aggregate win over the Eddies. Ottawa put up a tough fight before being ousted by the Vancouver Whitecaps in the second round.
Travelling to Charleston, S.C., for its April 28 game, Fury FC ran into a big delay. Here’s Dalglish with the story: “United (Airlines) gets a raw deal, but they were very good to us. We got to Ottawa airport at 1:15 and we were going to be flying through Dulles (Washington). We were told our flight was delayed, but they were going to keep the connection for us in Dulles.
“Then when we got through (to the gate in Ottawa), they said the only way we could get to Charleston was an eight-hour shuttle bus when we landed at Dulles or we could fly to Chicago, then get up at 4 a.m. to get a 6 a.m. flight and go to Charleston from there. Either way the players wouldn’t have slept.
“So that was what we were prepared for when we landed at Dulles. But when we got there, a United representative met us at the plane and said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do: there’s a flight going to Norfolk (Va.) tonight. We’re going to put you on that, keep you on the plane and fly another leg to Charleston.’ So they actually created a flight for us. But we didn’t get in until 2:30 in the morning. We couldn’t train the morning of the game; the players needed to sleep in. Those are the challenges you face going across borders in the North American leagues being a Canadian team.”