Sixty-five seconds into Wednesday night’s Amway Canadian Championship match, it appeared as though Ottawa Fury FC had turned a corner. Brazilian winger Oliver had just popped home a loose ball off of a corner, and Ottawa led rivals FC Edmonton in the first leg of a crucial cup tie in the second minute.
Sixty-three minutes into Wednesday night’s match, all seemed to be well in-hand for Marc Dos Santos’ Ottawa side. Oliver’s goal held up as the lone one in a then-1-nil match, and French goalkeeper Romuald Peiser had just denied FCE super-sub Lance Laing on a penalty.
But as the whistle went for full-time, the scoreboard read FC Edmonton 3, Ottawa Fury FC 1, and questions need to be asked.
Fury FC Suffer Worst Loss in Club History
Three FCE goals in the span of thirteen minutes all but sealed the fate of Fury FC in the Amway Canadian Championship, as the team will have to make the long trek to Edmonton needing to reverse a two-goal deficit.
Lance Laing entered the match for Colin Miller’s FCE side in the 59th minute, and the substitution paid immediate dividends for the Eddies. Laing’s pace on the left flank created all sorts of problems for Ottawa, and he would finish the night with a goal and an assist.
The match seemed so secure, so safe. Ottawa led through 82 minutes, and Romuald Peiser had only been truly called into question twice in those first 82 minutes. But something went wrong, very wrong.
FCE substitute Daryl Fordyce drew his side level on 83 minutes, somehow finding himself unmarked in front of the Ottawa goal to tap home Tomi Ameobi’s rebound.
Laing would then steal the ball from a sleepy Rafael Alves in the 88th before slotting past Peiser to shock the small but vocal crowd in attendance in Ottawa.
The nail in the coffin of Marc Dos Santos’ side came in the 95th minute, when Laing sprinted down the left flank before Tomi Ameobi unmarked at the back post. Ameobi smashed home from short-range, and FCE’s bench erupted, elated at their quick turnaround.
Ottawa boss Marc Dos Santos was surprisingly vocal in his criticism of the referee Geoff Gamble in his post-match presser, openly questioning his honesty.
“I’m a very honest guy,” said the emotional Fury FC manager, “and I doubt the credibility and honesty of some people.”
Dos Santos and his team believed that referee Gamble missed a, “clear,” handball late in the match which would have given Ottawa a penalty, though Fury FC defender Ryan Richter’s 63rd minute handball was distinctly more visible on replay.
Perhaps Dos Santos’ outburst was meant to deflect the blame away from his players, or perhaps it was merely an emotional moment and he will regret it in the morning. Regardless, blaming officials in a match which saw his team give up three goals in the span of thirteen minutes seems slightly misdirected. At best, the theoretical penalty would have made it 3-2 for the Albertan visitors – hardly a scoreline to write home about.
FCE super-sub Lance Laing had himself a night to remember on the pitch, but was also involved in an altercation with Dos Santos near the Ottawa bench at the full-time whistle, and apologized afterwards.
“I want to apologize to them, Marc and the coaching staff,” said the Eddies’ Jamaican international. “Marc Dos Santos is a very good coach and has treated me very well in the years I have played against him, and I wanted to apologize for maybe starting that.”
Numerically, this is not the worst loss in club history. That occurred back on July 26th of last year, when Ottawa was pumped 3-nil by Carolina at WakeMed Park early in the 2014 Fall Season.
However when one considers the weight of expectation this year, the genuine belief that the club could get a result against FCE at home and maybe just move on to face MLS side Vancouver in the second round, this loss stings harder than any other. The fashion of defeat – a dominating sixty minutes, wasted by a defensively incapacitated thirteen – makes it hurt all the more.
For all intents and purposes, this first round Canadian Championship fixture is over. Conceding three away goals, and trailing by two goals period, after a home leg is simply too large a mountain to overcome.
The frustrating thing for Fury FC supporters will be the fact that Ottawa had multiple opportunities to put the Eddies away. Striker Andrew Wiedeman missed a glorious opportunity towards the end of the first half, and many other half-chances were not fully grasped. At one point, Ottawa led 9-0 in shots. To see their club fall apart in the span of thirteen minutes against a team that hadn’t posed any kind of offensive threat for the first hour of the match, must have been crushing.
It has been a middling start to the campaign for the sophomore club. A dominating victory against NASL title contenders Minnesota United shines brightly on the early season schedule, while 3-1 losses against Carolina and Edmonton represent black marks, especially the Edmonton one.
With three fixtures in seven days ahead, Marc Dos Santos will have some serious thinking to do regarding his selections and tactics.
