Jesse Winter, Centretown News
Ottawa Fury forward Tom Heinemann tackles San Antonio Scorpions midfielder Rafael Castillo during a match at TD Place on Oct 18.In only its 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 club followed its 1-1 draw against the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Oct. 10 with a 1-0 win against the San Antonio Scorpions on Oct. 18.
The team was founded in 2013 by the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group.
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. 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 NASL 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.
After the Fury struggled in their first season, finishing in eighth place, the organization managed to completely restructure the team.
“This is 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.
After the Oct. 21 game against the Jacksonville Armada, the Fury only have one other game left in the regular season. The last game is Oct. 31 against the Atlanta Silverbacks.
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,” says Fury goalkeeper Romuald Peiser. “You have to be ambitious.”
Peiser has been key to the Fury’s success.
Peiser has the league record in shutouts with 14 this season, six of which were consecutive — another league record — and holds a 0.77 goals against average, which is just shy of the 0.75 league record.
The 36-year-old keeper says he’s happy with the accomplishments.
“It’s cool for an old guy to make some records,” Peiser says .
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,” says Dos Santos. “We never stop. We never have a time off and now we see all the effort bringing to this.”
Dos Santos’s work has paid off, though this will be his only season to enjoy it.
He says 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,” 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.”