There is a lot of excitement and anticipation going into the Ottawa Fury’s inaugural NASL season and deservedly so. This will be the highest level of soccer in the capital since the Ottawa Intrepid/Pioneers were one of the first teams to fold from the Canadian Soccer League in 1989. Despite this, soccer has always been strong in region, including most recently with Capital FC being a top team in the CPSL, the Gloucester Celtic and the Ottawa Carleton Soccer League being one of the top men’s amateur setup in the country. 


Spearheading the drive of putting Ottawa on the soccer map has been the Fury. I’m happy it’s them who are in charge of this venture and not some corporate non-soccer entity that was talked about when Ottawa was potentially in the market for a MLS club. 




For those who don’t know the history of the Fury, they been involved in high level North American development in soccer since 2005 running a PDL team which included four regular season league titles and a Women’s team who have dominated the W-league since 2003. They also have youth teams participating in the USL development league which is the highest standard available. 




With this history, I expected the club to put a major emphasis on player development. As an exercise I put a list of players who I thought the club would sign and was happy when a number of them included players with Canadian National Team potential. What I wasn’t expecting when the venture was announced is the ambition the club has shown in signing more established players both from pro leagues in North America and from foreign leagues. However, if you look at the management this also shouldn’t be a surprise.




Manager Marc Dos Santos ran a successful two year campaign in the CPSL at the Trois-Rivieres and was head coach of the Montreal Impact when they were a USL/NASL club - another club who showed great ambition when they played at this level. He also coached in Brazil which means his awareness of players is probably greater than not only most NASL coaches but MLS as well. 




The Ottawa Fury also brought in Martin Nash as the Assistant Coach, who as a player played 400+ pro games, 38 games with the Canadian National Team and his most success, at least where he had the most impact, was at this level of play, winning two A-league championships with the Rochester Rhinos, and two USL First Division titles with the Vancouver Whitecaps.




The players they have brought in adds to this experience, depth and potential, although they are also one of the younger teams in the league with an average age around 25 years of age.




Goalkeeping




Certainly on paper the Fury’s goalkeeping raises the greatest concern with American Devala Garrick being the only one who has previous pro experience, although this was in weaker divisions arguably below NASL standard in Thailand and the Swedish Third Division. He does have a good size at 6’3 and won himself a position through a trial.

The other keepers are two relatively unproven Canadians in 22 year old Marcel DeBellis and 19 year old Chad Bush. DeBellis was on the books for a couple of lower division Italian clubs but never got a first game, while Bush was the starting keeper for the Fury 2013 PDL club and only allowed one goal in ten games.

I expect DeBellis to be the eventual starter unless the Fury decides to upgrade and if him or Bush can work out it will certainly improve their stature with the Canadian National Team. However, with a number of keepers attached to MLS clubs, maybe bringing someone in on loan to add depth can be an additional option.




Full Backs




RNO readers are familiar with the projected starting Fullbacks, although prior to this winter I don’t think many thought they would be playing in Ottawa. Both Canadian National Team players Andreas Fresenga and Mason Trafford have been on the RNO radar for a number of years and talked about certain signings and failures for doing so for all three Canadian MLS clubs.

Trafford came on the soccer radar as early as 2004 when he joined UNLV playing Soccer at a NCAA Division 1 level. He then played for his home club Whitecaps but wasn’t part of their MLS play so he moved to and was a key starter both in Finland and in China, finally getting his first Canada appearance in 2013. Now 27, Trafford is expected to be a key contributor for the Fury this season either at left back or centre back.

Meanwhile, Andres Fresenga, although still only 21, is part of the great future hopes of the Canadian National Team. Born in Toronto andspent time developing in Uruguay where he played with both Nacional and Racing Montevideo academies since 15 years of age, although was not a regular with the first team. Many fans and scouts will be watching how he performs and a successful season could see him playing in MLS or a bigger league by 2015.

If Trafford is to play centre back I would expect Brazilian Maykon to play on the left. Similar to Toronto FC’s Jackson, Maykon’s skill set allows him to play a number of positions. The 29 year old started out as a full back in the Portugal Super Liga playing for Belenenses, Pacos, and Leiria before transferring to AEL in Cyprus where he played a more offensive role. I feel he can be useful in both positions for Ottawa depending on how Dos Santos wishes to play them, with even the options of Maykon and Fresenga bringing in a system and style not utilized in North America.




Centre Back




Ottawa brought in another potential CMNT player for the future at Centre Back in Drew Backie. The 23 year old 6’1 defender was drafted 28th overall by Columbus in the 2013 MLS draft after a successful colligate career at Denver. The Regina native has represented Canada at U17, U20, U23 levels but needs games at a competitive level to prove he is an asset.

Competing with Trafford and Beckie for the centre back roles will be Omer Jarun and Ramon Soria. Juran is 6’5 and has experienced playing for the Palestine national team and clubs in Poland, and most recently Belgium. The 30 year old was born in United States and played in the NCAA Division 1 and at the USL level, including with the Whitecaps in 2008, so he should be accustomed to the style of play in the NASL.

Sora is a 25 year old Spaniard who started in the Villareal academy, played a number of games with the RCD Mallorca B squad in the Spanish Third Division and he also played for the Spain’s U16 and U19 national youth team. Soria is only listed at 5’8, although most of his games in Spain were at centre back and could be a good small/big backline combo with Juan, Trafford or Beckie which has worked for LA Galaxy in the MLS. 




Defensive Midfield




With Ottawa being an expansion team it’s presumptuous to assume what formation they will use. However, if Ottawa wishes to use either one or two defensive midfielders in their formation they have players who have experienced in this role, including the vastly experienced Richie Ryan as well as two younger Canadians, who have experience at this level, in Philippe Davies and Kenny Caceros.

Ryan is an Irish midfielder who was part of the Sunderland academy in 2001. The 29 year old made two EPL appearances as a sub before moves throughout the lower divisions in England, Scotland and playing 120 games in the League of Ireland. He also won 4 cups in Ireland and was the 2010 PFAI Player of the year, which was an accomplishment for a defensive minded player.

Davies and Caceros are two players who I thought would have joined the club as both were playing at this level for the past couple of seasons. Davies can play both defense and midfield professionally he started with the Whitecaps, was part of the MLS club but didn’t play with the first team. The last couple of years he played at Richmond in USL Pro. He also has played for Canada at all levels including his first senior cap against Denmark last January.

Caceros is from the Ottawa area and was part of the Fury’s youth system. He later joined Syracuse in NCAA division 1 while playing PDL with Fury. After college he joined FC Edmonton before moving to Harrisburg and playing games in the CSL. Both Kenny and Philippe are both 6 feet tall and can work hard to provide the Fury great depth, but could also be potential starters. 




Midfielders




Following the history of successful teams at this level, Ottawa has recruited an experienced midfield who can help both the offense and defense, but almost as importantly, understand what is needed to be successful at this level of soccer.

Leading the Fury is their first signing in Nicki Paterson. The 29 year old has played professional soccer in Scotland but also played in US College at UNLV and a number of season in the lower division of United States. What has made him a high profile target is his last three season with the Charleston playing 72 games scoring 23 goals including 4 from direct free kicks, 10 assists and 68 shots on target, and also helping the Battery to championship in 2012.

Paterson most likely will be teaming up with Tony Donatelli and Sinisa Ubiparipovic. The 29 year old Donatelli is becoming a legend at this level of the American game playing for Vancouver, Montreal, Rochester, Charleston and Tampa Bay before joining Ottawa with a record of scoring 28 goals and 20 assists in 203 games. While Ubiparipovic has played 82 games in the MLS spent with the New York Red Bulls and Montreal Impact. He also played with the Impact in the NASL in 2011 where he showed more offense than he did at the higher level.

See also: RNO Interview Series - Sinisa Ubiparipovic

The other midfielders are young, but do have some promise including Zakaria Messoudi who is on loan from the Montreal Impact. The others include Hamza Elias, a 20 year old Ghanaian who played for the U17 Ghana team and was recruited by European clubs, and 21 year old Canadian Mauro Eustaquio who has represented Canada at youth level and trained in Portugal. All three should become fan favourites with Fury fans providing excitement off the bench.

Forwards

Ottawa have brought in a forward combination that will be familiar for those who follow Canadian soccer closely, as well as a couple of Brazilians with professional experience. As I mentioned in my overlooked MLS players I hope Canadian forward Carl Haworth gets an opportunity to prove he’s capable of playing at a higher level.

Haworth's College and PDL statistics were some of the best at that level scoring 35 goals and 21 assists in NCAA and 48 goals and 19 assists in PDL, although he’s never got a chance at a higher level, mostly due to being undersized at 5’7. Having a familiarity with the Fury hopefully means he’ll get the minutes to at least prove himself.

The other recognizable forward is former Vancouver Whitecap Tom Heinemann, who has great size at 6’4 and likes to use his strength when the opportunity presents itself. Heinemann played 45 career MLS games scoring 4 goals and also played with Charleston, Harrisburg and Carolina at this level, including winning the 2010 championship game MVP. Not pretty to watch, although scrappy goals count the same as skilled ones.

However, both Haworth and Heinemann could be playing backups to the two Brazilian signings in Dantas and Oliver. Dantas is 24 years old, 6’ feet tall, played professionally in both Norway and Finland and last season he was the leading goal scorer with his Finnish club FC Lahti. Meanwhile, Oliver is 21 year old who plays more on the wing. He participated in PSV Eindhoven’s academy in Holland before joining Portuguese side CD Nacional playing 11 games in the Superliga.

The Fury also have Canadian ex-youth international Pierre Mayard, whose best position is probably also on the wing. The 24 year old started his career with Dos Santos with Trois-Rivieres before playing games with Montreal, Charleston and Rochester and provides the Fury greater depth. 




Synopsis




As you can probably tell I’m very high on Ottawa, although I will give a word of warning that when Toronto FC joined MLS in 2007 they recruited bigger name talent as well, opposed to the traditional expansion route of a slow build, and arguably these early expectations hurt the club in their overall development.

This being said, I expect Ottawa to compete for honors in the NASL this season. I also feel when they are ready to move into TD Place, an MLS worthy stadium, if the people of Ottawa are willing to support the team with the same ambition as management, both on and off the field, there is a very good opportunity that we could see Canada’s capital as a future MLS destination.