The Ottawa Fury FC look to start their NASL Fall Season strongly with new transfers, key players returning from injury and a move into their brand new stadium this month. The team enjoyed some great moments during the NASL Spring Season, including significant victories over the Carolina RailHawks and fellow expansion side Indy Eleven, while the Fury FC also recorded a thrilling 1-0 Canadian derby victory over FC Edmonton. Ottawa recorded 10 points in the spring season to finish in 6th place with a 3-1-5 record, and the interest in Fury FC is certain to grow with their move to TD Place at Landsdowne Park and the afterglow of the memorable FIFA World Cup.



For those who are catching a glimpse of the club for the first time, the Ottawa Fury Football Club (OFFC) is owned by the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), who also own the OHL Ottawa 67’s and the expansion CFL side Ottawa RedBlacks. The president of the Fury FC, John Pugh, was president of the Ottawa Fury SC side in the USL PDL and has brought a tremendous amount of work to build soccer in Ottawa, including bringing in the successful USL W-League Ottawa Fury FC Women side. The 10-team NASL consists of a 9-game spring season and an 18-game fall season, with 4 sides entering the playoffs at the conclusion of the season.



The management team of Ottawa consists of manager Marc Dos Santos, a thoughtful and direct-spoken tactician formerly of the Montreal Impact, while assistant manager Martin Nash has significant playing experience as a Canadian international and in Europe and North America. Dos Santos’s brother Phillip is the technical director for the club, in charge of the overall structure of the club, including the academy. The team that Nash and the Dos Santos brothers have built showcases a good balance of both youth and experience, with a significant number of Canadian talents. They mainly play a short-passing possession-oriented brand of football in a 4-3-3 formation, but have also started as a 4-2-3-1 and can evolve into a 3-3-4 when chasing a goal in the late stages.



Here is a quick review of the Fury FC players and their NASL Spring Season, as of July 10, 2014.



Summer 2014 In: #22 D Ryan Richter (Toronto FC – loan), #1 GK Romuald Peiser (Academica, Portugal – Transfer)



Summer 2014 Out: #26 M Zakaria Messoudi (Montreal Impact – end of loan), #23 M Hamza Elias (Released)



Goalkeepers



#29 Devala Gorrick – The 6’3’’ American keeper started all games for the Fury in the spring season and was one of the brightest spots for the club, showing great composure and organization of his defenders. He has played in the Bayer Leverkusen academy, as well as in Sweden and Thailand.



#1 Romuald Peiser – This veteran French keeper brings significant experience from across Europe, including the PSG academy and Bayer Leverkusen, among others. He spent 4 seasons with Academica in Portugal, his most recent club, and is expected to provide stiff competition in the position in the fall season.



#12 Chad Bush and #24 Marcel DeBellis – These two young Canadians have not played any minutes for the Fury yet. However, there is much excitement about their potential, with Bush developing his youth career with the Fury FC and TFC Academy and turning out for Canadian youth sides. He was named PDL Goalkeeper of the Year in 2013 while playing for the Ottawa Fury SC PDL side. DeBellis made the jump to the Benfica academy during his teenage years and spent some time in Serie B before joining the Fury.



Fullbacks



#2 Ramon Soria – A Spanish left-back with youth international experience, Soria spent significant time at the Villlarreal CF academy and Mallorca B. Soria showed good drive with the ball during the spring season, as well as committed defending.



#4 Drew Beckie – A Canadian right-back/centre-back with youth international experience, Beckie played for the reserve side of Columbus Crew before joining the Fury. Beckie played all 810 minutes of the NASL Spring Season, alongside Gorrick and Mason Trafford, playing across 3 of the back 4 positions. Showed great hustle and tenacious defending throughout the season.



#7 Maykon Araujo – A Brazilian left-back/winger known by his first name, with experience in the Champions League qualifiers in Cyprus. He started the season with energetic displays along the left flank, showcasing good passing and combination play, before a thigh injury interrupted his season.



#13 Andres Fresenga - This Canadian youth international right-back hails from a Uruguayan background and spent time playing with the academies of Nacional and Racing Club. He showed great enthusiasm in overlapping on the right flank during the Spring Season.



Centre-backs



#3 Mason Trafford – A left-footed Canadian international centre-back, Trafford started all 9 games for the Fury in the spring season in the LCB position, showing good composure and calm distribution from the backline. Trafford’s contract was recently renewed until the end of the 2015 season.



#5 Omar Jarun – A Palestinian-American centre-back with significant international experience, he has represented his country in FIFA World Cup qualifiers and has substantial experience in the NASL, as well as in Europe. One of the tallest members of the team, he is very strong in the air, and can play as a target man when chasing a goal. One of two vice-captains of the club, alongside Nicki Paterson.



#16 Kenny Caceros – This Ottawa native developed his youth career in the Fury FC academy and has played for the Ottawa Fury SC PDL club, as well as for the Capital City FC CSL side in Ottawa. He also played with FC Edmonton and provides options at both centre-back and defensive midfield.



#22 Ryan Richter – An American centre-back/right-back with MLS experience, Richter was signed on loan from Toronto FC this summer. He has played with Nicki Paterson and Tony Donatelli on Charleston Battery, and is expected to provide a physical presence and speed in the back four.



Defensive Midfielders



#6 Richie Ryan – A tenacious left-footed Irish defensive midfielder, Ryan is the first captain in Ottawa Fury FC history. He brings a wealth of experience from England, with experience at Sunderland among other clubs, and Ireland, where he has won multiple trophies and accolades. He was vital with his precise distribution to the Fury’s passing-oriented game, while protecting the defense with his astute positioning and tough tackling.



#20 Mauro Eustaquio - A Portuguese-Canadian youth international central midfielder, Eustaquio has developed his skills in Portugal for the past decade before returning to Canada. He has been gaining more and more minutes as the season has progressed and has shown good technique in his playing time.



Attacking Midfielders



#8 Nicki Paterson – A Scottish central midfielder, Paterson was the first signing in Ottawa Fury FC history, and is one of two vice-captains of the club alongside Omar Jarun. He missed the majority of the spring season through injury; however, he has recovered since and is expected to play an important role in the midfield. Started at RCM next to Ryan and Sinisa Ubiparipovic in the season opener, showing good passing and box-to-box runs.



#10 Sinisa Ubiparipovic – This Bosnian-American attacking midfielder brings a wealth of MLS experience with New York and Montreal. He played an important role in the spring season as the main playmaker for the side, showing imaginative passing and great technique and contributing a number of assists during the season.



#14 Tony Donatelli – An American central midfielder who was drafted by Houston and brings significant USL First Division experience to the squad, Donatelli led the Fury in both goals and assists in the spring season, despite not starting the season as a regular starter. He showed great vision and composure in his play, as well as a fierce long shot. He was named to the shortlist for the NASL Player of the Month award for May/June.



Wingers



#11 Oliver Minatel - A Brazilian winger/striker known by his first name, with experience at the PSV Eindhoven academy and in the Portuguese league, Oliver has shown good passing and dribbling from the left flank, combining well with Ubiparipovic and Maykon/Soria. He was named NASL Player of the Week in Week 3 after a brace versus Carolina.



#15 Philippe Davies – A Canadian international winger/midfielder, Davies has shown more versatility than any other member of the squad, playing as a right winger and a right-back at different parts of the season. He has excellent technique and good crossing from the right flank, with numerous assists during the season.



#17 Carl Haworth – An English-Canadian winger/striker with Canadian youth international experience, Haworth started in a number of games as a right winger. Familiar to Ottawa footy fans from his time in the Ottawa Fury SC PDL side, Haworth displayed pace, aggressiveness and good teamwork wherever he played across the front three.



#21 Pierre-Rudolph Mayard - A left-footed Canadian winger with youth international experience, Mayard showed directness and significant pace on the left flank, mainly as a primary weapon off the bench. One of two Quebec natives on the squad, along with Davies, he sports a unique hairstyle not dissimilar to Argentinean striker Rodrigo Palacio.



Strikers



#9 Tom Heinemann – An American striker with MLS experience in Columbus and Vancouver, Heinemann is tall and physical, and plays the role of a classic target man. He missed much of the spring season through injury but made a triumphant return, scoring an injury-time winner vs. Edmonton in the NASL Canadian derby.



#28 Vini Dantas – A Brazilian striker with experience in the Norwegian league, Dantas scored the Fury’s first ever goal in the 50th minute versus Minnesota. He started the vast majority of the games as the central target man for the Fury and displayed good link-up play with the midfield and showed a good physical presence and determination.



Synopsis



The team that Dos Santos has built is strong with a lot of experience, especially in the midfield, but also has youth and good technique in other parts of the lineup. Their brand of a short passing-oriented game is very pleasing to the eyes of the spectator, as well a big selling point for players recruited by Dos Santos. The drive to make the 4-team playoffs will push the team hard throughout the season.



The move into TD Place at Landsdowne Park is welcomed by all those following the club, as it will showcase a much softer playing surface than their old home ground of Keith Harris Stadium, which contributed to a number of injuries among the Fury players, while the seating capacity will be the largest in the NASL, though the capacity may be reduced by covering one of the stands for league matches. There is, however, a good chance that the home opener against the New York Cosmos on July 20th will break the NASL attendance record of 13,151, and help write a new chapter in the history of football in the nation’s capital.