Ottawa Fury FC NASL 2014 Season Thread

Now that the NASL season has kicked off, I think we could use a thread to discuss the NASL season and OFFC's results, transactions and other events throughout our maiden season in the league.

 

Here are some of the season previews for OFFC that I've read over the past week. We've also shared them on the Bytown Boys' Facebook page and group as well. Chris Hofley has been excellent in his coverage for the Ottawa Sun. RedNation Online, Canadian Soccer News, The11.ca and Soccer Newsday has also had good coverage, as well as the 3 or 4 blogs I've seen so far (BlogFuryFC, Ours is the Fury, Flashes of Fury...)

RedNation Online: http://www.rednationonline.ca/Articles2014/2014OttawaFuryseasonpreview.aspx (season preview of OFFC)

RedNation Online: http://www.rednationonline.ca/Articles2014/2014NASLseasonpreview.aspx (NASL season preview of all 10 clubs)

NASL/OFFC: http://www.ottawafuryfc.com/news/de...at-new-kids-on-the-block-in-2014#.U0A8B_ldU1I (Preview of OFFC and Indy Eleven)

BlogFuryFC: http://blogfuryfc.wo...4/06/furygame1/ (preview of match vs Fort Lauderdale)

 

Here are a few articles from our NASL debut, a 2-0 loss at Fort Lauderdale. My quick thoughts on the game are that we made some good passes and touches in the middle of the park, but lacked the killer dribble or pass or instinct in the final third of the pitch. We controlled the ball and had 65% of the possession and a greater number of chances, which will manifest itself in more positive results throughout the season, but the team was warned by Coach Dos Santos about the threat of the Strikers' counter attacks at HT and yet broke down badly during one such move. Overall, a great experience for Ottawa footy fans to see this day, and I hope the domination of possession that Coach favours will result in clearer chances in front of our home crowd next week.

NASL: http://www.nasl.com/...-0#.U0o7h5K9KSM

OFFC: http://www.ottawafur...le#.U0o9kJK9KSN

Ottawa Sun: http://www.ottawasun...erdale-strikers

CDN Soccer News: http://www.canadians...ury-FC-fall-2-0

 

The last thing I read today or yesterday was that most of the tickets are gone now, except for some in the supporters section. It's something I read, but I don't know how accurate it is. Hope that helps!

 

Watched the game vs. Fort Lauderdale again last night and wanted to post a couple quick points. Will try to point out the positives here, and you can infer the negatives. My observations, sprinkled with good comments and blogs I read throughout the week from others.

GK and D: Great assured keeping from Gorrick. Great distribution from Trafford, good defending from Jarun and Beckie. Great touches from Maykon in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, the Strikers attacked our left flank with long balls and through balls and attacked our right flank with overlaps, and they had more chances, particularly in the first 15 minutes.

M: Looked great, the strongest unit in the team during the game, with Ubi showing good dribbling and playmaking, and Paterson and Ryan showing good passing and touches throughout the game. Struggled with a couple of the long passes because of the strong wind in the 2nd half.

F: Looked good in the 1st half, but not as much in the 2nd half. 1st half saw some very good interchanges and one-two's. 2nd half saw some passive crosses, as opposed to the much more dangerous crosses that Fort Lauderdale whipped in. Would be great to see a stronger presence up front in the middle.

Also, didn't get to post this from a few posts back up,

BlogFuryFC: http://blogfuryfc.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/fury-strikers-game-recap/

 

tippose, this is the latest I saw from Twitter:
Ottawa Fury FC ‏@OttawaFuryFC 3h
@athletictwit @Carleton_U Only a couple hundred tickets left so best to buy in advance

 

For Carleton, it's 3,000.

 

Preview of NASL Matchday 2: vs. Minnesota United

OFFC: http://www.ottawafuryfc.com/news/de...a-fury-fc-vs-minnesota-united-fc#.U1GSnCm9Kc3

 

More previews of NASL Matchday 2:

MLS: http://soc.cr/vWeh0 or http://m.mlssoccer.com/news/article...fury-embrace-first-nasl-season-hope-feed-canm

Ottawa Sun: http://m.ottawasun.com/2014/04/18/o...oblems?token=f376ef514f578c00b5720c0aa3880f74

With Heinemann, Paterson and Ubiparipovic out for today's match, this article gives a possible starting lineup as Gorrick - Defense - Donatelli, Ryan - Davies, Minatel, Mayard - Vini Dantas in a 4-2-3-1 instead of 4-3-3. However, I am going to guess that Coach Dos Santos may stick with 4-3-3 with a Donatelli-Ryan-Minatel mid, or a Donatelli-Ryan-Davies mid.

 

We missed Ubiparipovic for the creativity, definitely. He is our #10 for a reason. We also missed our main box to box guy in Paterson and our main target man in Heinemann, but the other players stepped up and did the best they could. That last minute goal hurt badly for everybody, for sure.

 

Some recaps so far on the NASL Matchday 2 vs. Minnesota United

My two quick cents on the match was that it was a heartbreaking goal to concede at the end of stoppage time, but that we did concede significant possession and chances to Minnesota in the 2nd half. Here's to hoping the boys come back strong for the V Cup game on Wednesday. A big congrats to Vini Dantas, the 50th minute will always be his to us.

OFFC: http://www.ottawafuryfc.com/news/de...-victory-with-97th-minute-winner#.U1PBzSm9Kc0

OFFC: http://www.ottawafuryfc.com/news/de...ersity-in-front-of-sellout-crowd#.U1PCASm9Kc0

NASL: http://www.nasl.com/article/uuid/15...ottawa-fury-1-minnesota-united-2#.U1L7McZ-rWE

Ottawa Sun: http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/04/19/ottawa-fury-fc-fall-2-1-in-home-opener

Ottawa Citizen: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/story.html?id=9756574

Flashes of Fury: http://flashesoffury.wordpress.com/?p=159&preview=true

@OttawaFuryFC: Starting XI for @OttawaFuryFC (4-2-3-1) GK Gorrick; D Maykon, Trafford, Jarun, Beckie; M Ryan(c), Donatelli; Mayard, Oliver, Davies; F Vini Dantas (edited and goes L to R)

@OttawaFuryFC: subs for @OttawaFuryFC GK DeBellis; D Fresenga, Soria; M Messoudi, Elias, Eustaquio; F Haworth

 

Here are a few more detailed thoughts and a few more recaps of the Matchday 2 vs Minnesota. Still waiting for the one from BlogFuryFC! There were also good podcasts on the game from Corner Kicks (TSN), Ours is the Fury, and The Two Solitudes. I watched the game on Rogers TV/NASLLive again last night, and I have to say I really like the two commentators, spot on analysis throughout the game.

GK and D - Gorrick played well throughout the game, but needs to communicate and control his D even more as the season goes. Also, he had to do just that little bit more on the 2nd goal, he had to get his full fists on it one way or the other. Jarun led the D well again, Beckie had a below-average 1st half but a fantastic 2nd half, and looks like a better CB than a RB. The D was caught in possession several times during the game in their own half though, and gave up some chances they should not have.

M - Ryan led the M well again, kept the tempo moving along and making tackles here and there. Props to Donatelli on the first assist of the OFFC history. Would have liked to see more from him though. Oliver led the attack well from both the middle and the left and showed hustle throughout the game, the best attacking threat for OFFC. However, the foul that led to the FK for the 2nd goal hurt.

F - Dantas hustled throughout the game and was well rewarded. Showed strength and presence, more than last week, which was important for the play of the team. Davies showed some nice touches on the right flank, but it would be nice to see him be more aggressive and take on the fullback more. Mayard kept the play flowing smoothly, especially in the 1st half, but dropped off slightly in the 2nd half.

Subs - All three subs provided spark and energy with their running. Haworth fashioned a couple chances from his hard running, Fresenga ran all the way up on the field on the counter that Haworth nearly finished, and Elias ran hard off the ball, always trying to make himself available. I would love to see the coach use his bench a bit earlier in the game for the fresh energy off the bench.


CDN Soccer News: http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?5376-Fury-FC-fall-to-Minnesota-United-FC, http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?5377-Sober-Second-Thoughts-Number-5

Soccer Newsday: http://soccernewsday.com/canada/a/1789/what-we-ve-learned-from-the-fury-so-far

Flashes of Fury: http://flashesoffury.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/fury-drop-home-opener-in-heartbreaking-fashion/, http://flashesoffury.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/april-19th-game-reaction-minnesota-united/, http://flashesoffury.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/tactical-recap-fury-fc-april-19th/

 

Preview of tomorrow's match from a Fury blog. By the way, on Corner Kicks on TSN 1200, Dos Santos said that Trafford and Beckie are the likely pair at CB. And AJ Jakubec said on twitter early today that Jarun will be out, along with the 3 that were out on Saturday (Paterson, Heinemann, Ubiparipovic).

Flashes of Fury: http://flashesoffury.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/fury-fc-dig-in-ahead-of-fc-edmonton-test/

 

Just to add to Kingston's reply,

1) 3) We also had a semi-pro club in the "new" CSL in 2011, called Capital City FC. We had a amateur summer club in the USL PDL called Ottawa Fury SC, which is nearly the same ownership group as this NASL club, the Ottawa Fury FC.

2) On TV, for home matches only, it is Rogers TV Ottawa 22, and on internet, NASLLive.com for all NASL matches. The Voyageurs' Cup/Canadian Championships matches will usually be on Rogers Sportsnet One. Today's game is NOT on Sportsnet One though, so the CSA will stream it om their site.

4) Damn, I didn't even remember! No discussion of it in the Canadian media, unless a Canadian team continues in the tourney. In Canada, we follow 5 major team sports already, and it's the playoffs in two major sports, so even I'm a diehard footy fan and I can barely keep up with a tourney
like the CONCACAF CL. Watching UEFA CL, NBA, Canadian Champs match today and it's a Wednesday! So much sports lol. Good luck to your club in the CONCACAF CL final!

 

More previews of the VCup/CDNChamp match today vs FC Deadmonton,

OFFC: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/...ound-.html?soid=1101855648039&aid=jRsooZrO2ic

Ottawa Sun: http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/04/22/ottawa-fury-takes-on-other-canadian-team

NASL: http://www.nasl.com/article/uuid/1n...ampionship-match-creates-history#.U1a9fPldWLE