The player who scored the first-ever goal against Ottawa Fury FC is now a member of the second-year North American Soccer League Club.

The team announced Thursday it had signed former Fort Lauderdale Strikers defender Rafael Alves for the upcoming season, one of the final few pieces of the squad to fall into place before the team begins training in mid-February.

Alves scored the winning goal against Ottawa in Fort Lauderdale last April in Fury's first competitive match of its expansion season and while that wasn't what pushed Fury coach Marc Dos Santos to go out and sign him, it certainly put the 29-year-old Brazilian on the club's radar. ​Dos Santos had a casual chat with Alves when Ottawa visited the Strikers the last time in November with the two mostly discussing forward and fellow Brazilian Paulo Junior, who also recently signed with Fury FC. Dos Santos was an even bigger fan of Alves after that meeting and the player's stock continued to climb when he helped lead the Strikers to a spot in the NASL championship final.

"He was very important (in bringing) Fort Lauderdale to the final," Dos Santos said in an interview with the Sun Thursday. "He's very athletic, very good in the air, excellent technically, good leadership (and) confident.

"He's the full package. We felt it was a good opportunity for us."

Dos Santos was adamant throughout last season that he wanted to improve his back line and appears to have done just that by bringing in Alves and the recently-signed Mike Randolph to play with returning Fury players Mason Trafford, Drew Beckie and Omar Jarun. With Dos Santos saying he wants to bring in yet another centre back, competition for minutes in the back should be fierce in 2015, which is exactly what the coach wants.

But for now a back line featuring Trafford and Alves in the middle with Beckie or Ryan Richter on the right and Randolph on the left could be scary. With Omar Jarun returning and the fact that Beckie is also a natural centre back and Trafford can play on the left if needed, Dos Santos should have no shortage of options with his group of defenders.

"I just want competition to be deadly," Dos Santos said. "I want competition to be so strong that if there's an injury and we have to make a change, we almost won't (notice) it in the team."

As for Alves, Dos Santos said "other teams were interested in him" before Ottawa manged to scoop him up.

"Rafael is a guy that has a (recognizable) name in the league," Dos Santos said. "He was on our radar since far long ago."

In a statement from the club, Alves said he was "very excited" to be coming to Ottawa.

"It is a club with an excellent structure and with great professionals," he said.

The 6-foot-3 centre back arrived in the NASL for the 2013 fall season and played every minute of every game for the Strikers the rest of the year. He featured in 24 of 27 matches for Fort Lauderdale last season.

The native of Praia, Grande, Brazil first came to the United States to play for PDL club Ocala Stampede after starting his professional career with Ituano, Boa Esporte and Goias back home in Brazil.

With 16 players under contract out of an expected squad of 22, Dos Santos is getting close to finalizing his group for 2015 and sees the team as a significant improvement over last year's expansion side that finished out of the playoffs.

"Our team is definitely better, no doubt," said the coach.

ROSTER SHAPING UP

By this time next week, Fury FC's roster should be all but set for 2015.

Head coach Marc Dos Santos confirmed Thursday a deal was almost finalized for another forward and said he is planning to bring in one more centre back. Assuming those two deals get worked out, Fury will have 18 players under contract.

While it hasn't been finalized yet, Dos Santos said it was pretty much a "done deal" that former Toronto FC right back Ryan Richter would return to Ottawa this season.

"We will bring Ryan Richter back," he said of the player who came to Fury on loan from the MLS club last year and enjoyed his time in the NASL.

Dos Santos also confirmed that Jamaican defender O'Brien Woodbine, a late-season addition last year, would not be back and said it was very unlikely that veteran midfielder Tony Donatelli would return to Ottawa.

"When you try to get better as a whole ... somebody is going to pay a price somewhere," he said, adding that it would have been difficult to keep both Donatelli and fellow midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic, who recently re-signed with Fury. "You're going to sacrifice one or two pieces to get six."

Twitter: @chrishofley