The Ottawa Fury FC are on the brink to winning the NASL fall title after a 1-0 win against the San Antonio Scorpions on Oct. 18.
In only their second season in the North American Soccer League, the club has managed to clinch a playoff berth and sits in first place in the fall standings.
The team was founded in 2013 by the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group. Home games are played at TD Place in front of an average of 6,000 fans.
NASL is a tier-two professional soccer league under Major League Soccer, the MLS. There are two NASL championships each season, one in the spring, from April to early July, and one in the fall, from July to October.
After the fall season there is a playoff round, which is a four-team postseason tournament, introduced in 2014. This consists of the season winners from spring and fall, as well as the next two best overall teams from the combined season standings. The winner of each semi-final game plays in the championship for the NASL Soccer Bowl Trophy.
The league consists of 11 teams, including two from Canada: the Ottawa Fury and the Edmonton FC. Teams from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver play in the MLS.
If the Fury win the fall title, they will face off against the spring champions, the New York Cosmos. Ottawa has a 1-1-1 win-loss-tie record against the Cosmos, trouncing them 4-1 in their last meeting. The matchup would be a tough game as the Cosmos have been the league’s dominant team in recent seasons.
The Fury organization managed to completely restructure the team after struggling in the 2014 first season, finishing eighth.
“This not something you accomplish alone,” says head coach Marc Dos Santos. “It took players, coaching staff, front office, the president and owner.”
Despite the team’s strong play in recent weeks, the Fury did not start out with the same success. In April, Ottawa lost three consecutive games.
“You know, in April, when we had a very bad start and lost three in a row, people stuck with us, people believed in this team, people knew what we were able to do,” says Dos Santos.
The club bounced back and has only lost one game since. The Fury currently have a fall record of 11-5-1 and an overall record of 14-10-4 — strong enough to qualify for one of the four playoff spots.
Ottawa plays the San Antonio Scorpions at home on Sunday (Oct. 18) and has two other games left in the regular season.
Even though making the playoffs is a great feat, the team is more focused on winning the fall title at this time.
“Yeah we are now in the playoffs and now we have to look forward, because we want to win the title for the fall season. . . You have to be ambitious,” says Fury goalkeeper Romuald Peiser.
Peiser has been key to the Fury’s success. He has the league record in shutouts with 14 this season, six of which were consecutive — a league record — and holds a 0.77 goals against average, just shy of the 0.75 league record.
The 36-year old keeper from France says he’s happy with the accomplishments.
“It’s cool for an old guy to make some records,” Peiser says with a laugh.
Making the jump to first place in two seasons is a remarkable achievement, one that couldn’t have been done without hard work.
“I’m just happy because you guys don’t know what we went through in July 2013 with all the building. . . We never stop. We never have a time off and now we see all the effort bringing to this,” says the Montreal-born Dos Santos.
Dos Santos’s work has paid off, though this will be his only season to enjoy it. He said this would be his last year with the Fury because he is pursuing a coaching job in the MLS after this year.
“Success follows Marc around — it’s no accident, whether it be the Montreal Impact winning the Amway or the USL title or the U16 championship in Brazil,” Fury president John Pugh said in a recent press conference. “Marc has been successful everywhere he’s been. Here in Ottawa it’s no different; he’s built the Fury into a team to be admired and feared.”
Before Dos Santos leaves, he has some unfinished business he says he needs to take care of.
“We have to think that we have a shot,” he says. “There are three games left. We have a shot at winning a trophy for the club.”