Any doubts of how seriously FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury FC would take the Amway Canadian Championship were put to rest in the nation’s capital last week, when the Eddies won the first leg of the preliminary round 3-1 in a wild match that ended with Fury coach Marc Dos Santos in a verbal confrontation with officials.

Dos Santos was issued a red card and subsequently suspended for the second leg, Wednesday night at Clarke Stadium, paying the price for an emotional blowup that perhaps demonstrates just how significant this competition is to the North American Soccer League’s only two Canadian sides.

“It’s a rivalry, isn’t it?” said FCE manager Colin Miller, whose team is in the driver’s seat to advance to the semifinal round against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Each series is decided on aggregate, with road goals serving as the tie-breaker.

The Eddies shocked Ottawa with three goals after the 82nd minute last Wednesday, turning a 1-0 deficit into a two-goal victory that left the Fury facing near insurmountable odds.

After scoring Edmonton’s third goal, Lance Laing celebrated near the Ottawa bench, inadvertently bumping Santos, leading to a brief confrontation between the coach and FCE players. Shortly after, Dos Santos had words with officials as he was exiting the pitch.

“I actually didn’t see what went on after the game, I think Marc was a wee bit heated about a couple of decisions,” said Miller, who can relate — he was guilty of a sideline outburst in the opener of the 2013 Canadian Championship semifinal against Vancouver and suspended for the second leg.

“It’s difficult when you care so much about something that you really want everybody to do well, you want the fans to be happy, you want everything to be positive, so sometimes we do things that we look back on and go, ’Well, that was a bit daft.’

“Marc will be disappointed that he’s not going to be on the bench — I experienced the same thing when we went to play the Whitecaps and (FCE assistant coach) Jeff Paulus took over for me on the bench at B.C. Place, but it is what it is,” the Eddies coach continued.

“(Fury assistant) Martin Nash is a very competent coach and (technical director) Phil Dos Santos, Marc’s brother, will probably look after the team when they come here, so they’re in very good hands.”

Last week’s result means FCE will advance, unless they lose to Ottawa by a margin of two or more goals while allowing three or more goals.

“A few people said it would be a disaster not to go through, which is correct, but we’re far from finished the job,” Eddies midfielder Ritchie Jones said. “We’ve got a full 90 minutes, they’ll be coming to try to win the game and they want to go through as well, so we need to make sure we approach the game in the right manner. We want to win the game, let alone going through with a draw or anything like that.”

While the competitive fires have certainly been stoked, there doesn’t appear to be any bad blood boiling between the teams (Laing apologized to Dos Santos immediately after last week’s match).

“Ourselves and Ottawa, I think it’s a healthy environment,” said Miller. “We’ve got a great deal of respect for (owner) John Pugh and his club in Ottawa, they’ve done some great things for many years. I love a rivalry, I must admit, it’s ‘Bring it on’ for me.”

brian.swane@sunmedia.ca

@SunBrianSwane

GAME ON

FC EDMONTON vs. OTTAWA FURY FC

Second leg, Preliminary round

Amway Canadian Championship

8 p.m. Wednesday at Clarke Stadium

WHO TO WATCH

EDM — Lance Laing, midfielder

Momentum reversed in the Eddies favour during the first leg last week when Laing was substituted into the match during the second half. He almost immediately drew a penalty kick, then later scored the game-winning goal and assisted on the insurance marker in FCE’s 3-1 win at TD Place Stadium.

OTT — Oliver Minatel

The Brazillian had the Fury’s lone goal against Edmonton last week, scoring after a corner kick in the second minute. Minatel’s name was in the headlines early this month when he was attacked by a passenger in a bizarre incident on a flight from Toronto to Atlanta, fortunately being unharmed.

MEANWHILE, IN MONTREAL

Before they take the pitch at Clarke Stadium, the Eddies will be closely watching to see if their backup goalkeeper John Smits takes the pitch for the Montreal Impact when the MLS side hosts Club America in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final at 6 p.m., a match that has dubbed the biggest in Impact history.

Smits joined the Impact on loan prior to the first leg last week, providing depth to a team whose regular backup keeper Erik Kronberg is ineligible to play for Montreal in Champions League competition because he is cup-tied to Kansas City from last year’s qualifying stage.

In the first leg last week, when the teams played to a 1-1 draw at Mexico’s Azteca Stadium, Montreal keeper Evan Bush was issued a yellow card, rendering him ineligible for this match due to card accumulation. That appeared to make Smits the defacto No. 1 for the second leg.

Then On Monday, the Impact acquired goalkeeper Kristian Nicht from the NASL’s Indy Eleven, decreasing the odds that Smits starts at Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night.

With a victory Montreal would become the first non-Mexican team to capture the CONCACAF Champions League trophy.