MATCH RECAP: OTTAWA FURY FC @ HALIFAX WANDERERS FC
By Ottawa Fury FC, 07/10/19, 9:30PM EDT
Fury FC steal Wanderers' spotlight in an entertaining 3-2 road win
Ottawa Fury FC entered the 2019 Canadian Championship – the Battle of the North – on Wednesday evening when it faced the Halifax Wanderers in the third qualifying round of the championship. In the first of a two-legged series, Fury FC battled its way to a high energy 3-2 win over Halifax.
After a few minutes seeing both sides figuring each other out, Ottawa scored a first ever so important away goal off the left foot of Thiago De Freitas, his first goal with Fury FC, in the 23rd minute. Halifax pushed Ottawa back and levelled the score on a shot from the penalty mark after Fury FC's goalkeeper Irving aggressively shut down the Wanderers' run. Three short minutes later, Ottawa's Brazilian midfielder De Freitas would strike again to give his side a 2-1 lead going into the break. The hometown club came back halfway in the second frame on an unfortunate own goal by Ottawa. Barely five minutes before entering the game, Gatineau native Maxim Tissot put Ottawa back on top with a stellar strike in the upper left corner. This Tissot goal would turn out to be the go-ahead goal that secured the 3-2 win against Halifax.
Regularly featuring Canadian talent in its formation, Ottawa started five Canadians for this first leg of the Championship series, with 3 more entering the game as substitutes.
Fury FC's firepower on Wednesday came from two players fresh off injuries, and all on left-footed strikes.
Midfielder Thiago De Freitas scored twice in his fourth match since returning from an ankle injury.
Defender Maxim Tissot scored Ottawa's 3rd goal only 5 minutes after coming into the match, his second only after being kept off the field for a year following a knee injury.
Ottawa dominated the stats line across most categories, including possession (77%), shots (14) including 6 on target, and 10 corners. Fury FC also won the passing battle with 434, 243 of which came in the first half when they had almost double their opponent's number.
Ottawa will now have to wait two weeks before concluding this round of Canadian Championship. Halifax will visit TD Place on Wednesday, July 24 for the return leg. The winner of the two-legged series will face reigning champion Toronto FC in the semi-final.
POST-GAME COMMENTS
Head Coach Nikola Popovic
"First off, Canadian soccer should be proud of what took place tonight. A fantastic atmosphere, a fantastic crowd, two teams who played football at a very good level… Congratulations to all."
"We were always able to control and dominate the game. I think we had the ball more, we had more passes, we had more shots on goal, and we scored more goals than Halifax so I think at the end the score shows a fair result."
Defender Maxim Tissot
"(Scoring) it's huge. It was just little over a year ago that I got injured in the Canadian Championship a few minutes after coming in the game, and now a few minutes after coming in I score and it ends up being the game winner. So I'm very happy. It's been a year of hard work to come back on the field, to be back with these guys, so I couldn't have imagined making my return in the Canadian Championship in a better way."
Ottawa Fury FC (4-3-3): Irving; Obasi, Barnathan, Meilleur-Giguère, Haworth © (71' Dixon); de Freitas (62' Tissot), Ward, Mannella; Gagnon-Laparé, Oliveira (89' Mutambala), François
HFX Wanderers (4-2-3-1): Williams ©; Langwa (74' De Carolis), Arnone, Schaale, Bona; Simmons (74' N'sa), Rampersad; Kourouma, Garcia, Iida
23' – OTT De Freitas (Mannella)
32' – HFX Perea (PK)
35' – OTT De Freitas (Haworth)
62' – HFX (OTT Barnathan OG)
67' – OTT Tissot (François)
Caution Summary
31' – OTT Irving
39' – HFX Garcia
58' – OTT Obasi
63' – HFX Simmons
70' – OTT Barnathan
70' – HFX Perea
72' – HFX Bona