The Canadian contingent at Ottawa Fury FC camp increased Tuesday with the addition of two new trialists.

Both Marco Lapenna and Shadrack Mmunga have represented Canada internationally at the U17 and U20 levels. Tuesday was their first day with the Fury after being brought on after the first round of cuts were made last weekend.

Defender Lapenna and Mmunga, a midfielder/winger, who both spent the last two years playing in Germany, were eager to make an early impression on coach Marc Dos Santos, his staff and the rest of the players.

Though he said Tuesday was a bit of a feeling out process to get reacquainted with the North American game after being in Europe, Lapenna was happy with his performance.

"It's more physical and it's different," he said. "I like it."

Lapenna said he's not going to try and reinvent his game now that's he in Ottawa.

"(I'll do) what I usually do: defend, attack," said the 20-year-old native of Montreal. "I'm a defender who goes up (the pitch) often and I want to try to bring my game here."

Mmunga looked good during a short scrimmage on Tuesday, getting involved in the play and getting his share of opportunities to finish. He too said the first day gave him a good idea of what the upcoming training schedule would be like.

"You have to adapt," he said in French after practice. "It's new, but it's a good group."

That said, he had a pretty good idea of the work ethic expected by Dos Santos.

"Each coach has his system, and the role of the player is to do what the coach asks," Mmunga, 20, who is of Congolese descent but move to Quebec as a young child.

Dos Santos said it was a good first day for the two players.

"They didn't look at all out of place," the coach said, though he said he didn't expect that, considering their previous experience. "It's two players that have a good potential when it comes to the youth national team, and now we're going to see if they're ready for the next level."

Veteran Nicki Patterson welcomed the new arrivals before training started Tuesday.

"I said 'enjoy it'," said Patterson. "There's no point in coming in here and being shy, you're never going to get on the team if you don't show what you've got.

"The two of them looked good."

FROM THE PITCH

The general consensus on Sunday's inter squad game was that it was a good start.

With only a little over a week in the books at camp, there is still tons to do.

"I liked the volume. I thought that tactically we're far from the idea of what we want, but my concern was pretty much the volume of play."

The guys ran hard and were vocal with each other while playing on a condensed pitch.

Playing on a modified field is just one of many factors the team will have to deal with over the course of the campaign.

"It changes the dynamic of the game but that's something you have to deal with on a game-to-game basis," said forward Tommy Heinemann. "If it's not the pitch, it's the rain, it's the sun, it's the wind. "You have to be able to adjust to the elements and be ready for anything."

He liked what he saw Sunday.

"It was good to get some touches and get into a live game atmosphere and get the legs going," Heinemann said. "The squad is still learning how we play, but it was still good to get out there and run about."

HEINEMANN A DANTAS FAN

As the wait continues for the team's last three foreign signings - Brazilian's Maykon and Vini Dantas, along with Ghanaian Hamza Elias - Heinemann had plenty of praise for the team's most recent signing.

"I have played with Vini a little bit," the veteran attacker said. "He's an excellent player but an even greater person."

The forward is staying in Seattle with family until his paperwork comes through, but Heinemann has an idea of what fans can expect from Dantas.

"He's an incredible talent. Great feet, good movement, good ball skills," he said. "It's going to be another awesome personality and guy to add to the squad."

SIDELINES

The Fury's head of human performance and fitness coach Kyle Thorne had the players wearing heart rate monitors throughout practice on Tuesday "¦ Heinemann said he's a "huge" St. Louis Blues fan and is thrilled to see the team on top of the NHL standings "¦ The team has three more days of training in Gatineau before playing their first exhibition match against the York Lions, which will also be at the Branchaud-Briere complex.

chris.hofley@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @chrishofley