Home NASL & USL Ottawa Fury Extreme Makeover: Ottawa Fury edition

Extreme Makeover: Ottawa Fury edition

By Steven Sandor
Posted on October 23, 2018
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Jamar Dixon PHOTO: CANADA SOCCER/STEVE KINGSMAN

After a USL season that saw the Ottawa Fury miss the playoffs and struggle to find the back of the net, the club announced that sweeping changes are being made.

As of right now, there are only five players set to return for the 2019 season; Canadians Jamar Dixon, Nana Attakora and Maxim Tissot, plus imports Onua Obasi and Kevin Oliveira. Tissot is looking to come back from injuries that basically ruined his 2018 season.

The team also announced Tuesday that it is in contract negotiations with five other Canadian players; Carl Haworth, Eddie Edward, Chris Mannella, Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare and keeper David Monsalve.

Monsalve will be the only one of the three Fury keepers to return. Maxime Crepeau enjoyed a standout season for Ottawa, setting the league record for most clean sheets in a season. But even that wasn’t good enough to drag his team into the playoffs. But Crepeau was on loan from the Montreal Impact. The Fury confirmed that keeper Callum Irving will not be back.

All of the players outside of the five returnees and those on the negotiation list won’t be back next season. That’s a total of 15 players off the roster, which also includes Canadian national-team defender David Edgar and domestic forward Daniel Haber.

With 15 players released, that means Ottawa will be aggressive in the marketplace, looking for players. We’ll have to see how this impacts Canadian Premier League teams looking to sign players, as agents will know the Fury, which had previously announced its plans to remain in USL for at least the 2019 season, have a lot of holes to fill. Will players commit to CanPL or hold out for an offer, or at least some interest from Ottawa?

But, critics of the Fury will no doubt note that if some of the team’s reasons for not joining the CanPL were to protect its roster and that it couldn’t possibly squeeze its 2018 roster of players into a projected CanPL salary cap, well, they’re going to note that the team just severed ties with 15 players on Tuesday, anyway. We’ll leave that for you all to argue about on the message boards.

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4 Comments

  1. Initial B

    October 26, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    It’s pretty obvious the Fury are now going to sign for talent rather than nationality. Expect to see a lot more American and international players on the roster next year. Popovic has one more transfer window to get it right or he’ll be seen as the problem instead of the solution. His old team at Swope Park was in the top half of the league this year. Ottawa, well, I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves:
    – Last in Shots in the entire USL
    – Second Last in Goals
    – Second Last in Passes
    – Second Last in Passing Accuracy
    – Sixth in Fouls Conceded
    – Seventh in Red Cards

    The team was hot garbage with no 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, or 11. Except for Crepeau in net and he hardly got any support.

    • Colin Freebury

      October 26, 2018 at 3:03 pm

      Same for JDG, wouldn’t you think? After all, it was his idea to stock the team with Canadian players; in fact, he was even boastful about it. He also stressed commitment, implying rather rashly in my view, that last year’s imports had lacked in that regard. I think he got the commitment part; the players gave 100% in my view. But the quality wasn’t there. It’s probably up to him as much as Popovic to recruit replacements and, incidentally, stay within budget.

  2. Tommi

    October 23, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    Ottawa Fury opting to stay in the foreign USL, a minor league of the foreign MLS, is a very disappointing decision by them. Hopefully they see the error of their ways and move to the Division 1 Canadian Premier League and help build Canada’s league up. The supporters group and fans should let the Fury front office know of their displeasure and boycott them until they join the CPL.

  3. Colin Freebury

    October 23, 2018 at 11:06 am

    Well, can’t say that De Guzman isn’t decisive. He’d better have a good idea of where he’s going to find affordable Canadian players good enough to compete and win in the USL. (Assuming that he’s sticking with his priority to field a largely Canadian team.) Not to mention the quality international goal-scorer that he announced he would be seeking in his post-season press conference. Otherwise, the Fury are doomed to finish at or near the bottom of the league again, and the fan base they’ve been trying to grow will diminish.

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