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Ottawa Fury FC head coach Nikola Popovic likes to blame the United Soccer League schedule-maker.

Of course, that’s only when he’s not blaming the person who sets the game times or blaming the weatherman for the summer heat.

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True enough, the Fury played their fifth regular-season game in 15 days Saturday afternoon in a nil-nil tie with the Indy 11.

And they have just three days to prepare for another all-important game Wednesday night on the road in Bethlehem, Pa., before racing right back to Ottawa to host Penn FC on Saturday night at TD Place.

But this is the stretch drive to the playoffs.

“I am very proud that we were able to fight,” Popovic said. “We have played a lot of games and in four days we have to play again.

“We must give rest to our players.”

The Fury FC sit seventh in the Eastern Conference, where eight teams make the post-season, and they are down to their last nine games, with six of them on the road.

The schedule going forward would suggest the Fury have five very winnable games and a pair with Bethlehem — a point up on Ottawa, having played one more game — that could go either way. They are in tough against Louisville City and Charleston in the other two games.

Five wins against the likes of Toronto, whom they play twice, Penn FC, New York and Richmond could just be enough.