The notion that Ottawa Fury FC could beat an MLS team in a two-game series, that a third-year North American Soccer League team could advance to a Canadian championship, must have seemed far fetched.

On talent level and certainly by the amount of money they’re being paid, the edge would have to have gone to the Vancouver Whitecaps.

But Fury FC goes into the second leg of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal in Vancouver on Wednesday night with victory in sight. Up 2-0 as a result of a win at home last Wednesday, Ottawa has momentum, work ethic and pride on its side.

Said Fury FC coach Paul Dalglish on Monday: “It shouldn’t really happen, should it? Every single one of the (MLS) teams has got one player, if not more than one, who earns more than all of our players and staff combined. It shouldn’t happen. But with hard work and determination, anything can happen and that’s what we’ve proven. (Winning) would be huge, very unrealistic, very unexpected, but huge.”

With national team players Julian de Guzman and Marcel de Jong back and available to play, Ottawa has high hopes. It’s expected Vancouver will go with it’s A lineup, so it won’t be easy — even though Ottawa has a two-goal margin in the aggregate series. An Ottawa goal would be huge; by virtue of a tiebreaker, Vancouver would need to beat Fury FC by three goals Wednesday to win the series.

“We’ve got to show them respect, but we can’t show any fear,” said Dalglish. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t play the occasion, we’ve got to play the game. We’ve got to make sure we outwork them. If it’s a game of talent with the budget they’ve got, they should win.”

The Whitecaps are the defending Amway champs so you can bet they’ll come out of the gate strong on Wednesday. Still, Dalglish expects his lads will also come out fired up.

“I think there were only two (Vancouver) players in the first leg who hadn’t played MLS minutes,” said Dalglish. “They can only play with 11 players — one goalkeeper and 10 out field players. There’ll be different names on the back of the shirts, but we’ve got a 2-nil advantage, we worked hard to get that. We’ve got to play against whoever they send out there.

“All the pressure’s on them. They’re the MLS team. There’s no pressure on us whatsoever. We won our home game. Now we’ve got to go enjoy that occasion and there’s nothing that makes you enjoy it more than working hard and getting another victory.”