April 21, 2017 USL Toronto FC II--Ottawa Fury FC vs Toronto FC II Match Preview (from OttawaFuryFC.com)
Match Preview Fury FC -v- Toronto FC II By OttawaFuryFC.com, 04/21/17, 9:30AM EDT Fury FC confident ahead of their first chapter of the battle of Ontario Match Day Info Ottawa Fury FC vs Toronto FC II Kickoff : Saturday April 22, 2017 – 2:00 p.m. (TD Place - Ottawa, ON) Live In-Game Stats : Click Here Fury FC 2017 Media Guide : Click Here Match-Notes-OTTvTOR-4.22.17 Broadcast Info TV: ROGERS TV | Channel: 22 (HD); 182 (HD) LIVE STREAM: USL Match Center ENGLISH RADIO: TSN 1200 FRENCH RADIO: http://www.fm1047.ca/webradio/ TWITTER: Follow @OTTAWAFURYFC for LIVE updates The Matchup After a three-game road trip to open the 2017 USL season, Ottawa Fury FC return home to TD Place for their much anticipated Home Opener against Toronto FC II Saturday afternoon as chapter one of the ‘Battle of Ontario’ is set to be written. Head coach Paul Dalglish and his players hope that the return home will give them an added boost as they look to collect a second straight win and continue to climb the USL standings. It's been six months since Ottawa played at TD Place. The club’s attendance averaged around the 5500 mark in 2016, as the average attendance for Fury FC continued to increase for another season. An anticipated crowd of 6000 energetic fans is expected for Saturday’s All-Canadian home opener. Saturday afternoon against TFC II, Paul Dalglish and his squad will be looking to feed off of the energy of the crowd to display a strong performance. Fury FC will be coming into their home opener with a lot of confidence after securing their first USL win last weekend when they defeated the Richmond Kickers 1-0 with Steevan Dos Santos scoring a spectacular goal from the halfway line. Even though Saturday’s fixture marks the first of three USL meetings this year between Ottawa and Toronto, Fury FC will also be looking to avenge the 2-1 loss that they suffered at the hands of TFC II in preseason action. Toronto comes into Saturday’s game after enjoying a bye week last weekend. TFC II are currently on a three-game winless streak (0W-1D-2L). After winning their season opener 1-0 against Phoenix Rising FC, they lost two in a row – against the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Orlando City B – before splitting up the points in a scoreless draw against the Rochester Rhinos two weeks ago. Following their home opener on Saturday, Fury FC will hit the road again next weekend with a fixture against the Charleston Battery scheduled for next Saturday, April 29th. Season tickets for the 2017 USL season are now on-sale at OttawaFuryFC.com, by calling 613.232.6767 X1 or in person at The Box Office at TD Place. What are they saying? Fury FC GM and Head Coach, Paul Dalglish: “We’ve got wonderful fans. They showed up in numbers last year when we had our rebuilding year and we want to repay them this year with quality performances. There’s no point in complaining about how hard it is to start the season on the road if you don’t make a statement on home games. We definitely want to make a statement.” Fury FC Goalkeeper, Callum Irving: “I’m super excited. Before I came here I was watching all the highlights videos from the games last year and just looking at all the fans in the stadium and thinking I can’t wait to play on that pitch. We have to keep the same work rate that we’ve had in the previous weeks. We can’t get complaisant after winning our first game. We need to keep improving and hopefully, we can get another good result Saturday.” Fury FC forward, Steevan Dos Santos: “We have to focus on Toronto now, the Richmond game is over. We need to move on and do our best to get another win. When I got here I heard about the rivalry between Ottawa and Toronto so I think we can use that as an extra motivation to get three points in front of our fans. We’re very excited. “ Players to watch: Steevan Dos Santos: He scored a spectacular goal from the halfway line last Saturday against Richmond – the goal was in the running for the USL Goal of the week – to give Fury FC their first USL win. On top of that, he has been one of Ottawa’s most dangerous player after three games this season, firing seven shots on goal. With the energy of the home crowd Saturday afternoon, you can expect a strong performance from the big man. Malik Johnson (Toronto): Malik Johnson is a talented young player who has been part of the Canadian National Team program (U17 and U20). He spent time training with Toronto FC’s First Team in the MLS. The 19-year-old forward has all the tools to become a dangerous striker in the USL. With the first team watching him closely, Johnson will want to impress Saturday against Fury FC.
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