What we saw was a Fury team that was reinvented. A phoenix had risen from the ashes of a heavy Cup defeat. The Fury went from a team that was routinely getting picked apart to the staunchest defensive side in NASL. And, ironically, that was most clear in the league games against the Eddies. The Eddies scored six times in two Cup games against the Fury; in three subsequent league games against Ottawa, no Edmonton shot entered the Fury’s goal.

The new issue, out today, features a vintage shot from the World Cup qualifier which saw Canada qualify for the 1986 World Cup. And what can you find inside the issue?

After years and years and years and years of Canadian Championship heartbreak, the Vancouver Whitecaps finally exorcised their demons by taking the Voyageurs Cup in 2015

What a swan song for Marc Dos Santos, who has announced he will leave the Ottawa Fury at the end of the NASL season in order to secure a USL/MLS job in 2016. As we enter the stretch run of the NASL’s fall season, his team sits at the top of the league table. After a disappointing spring campaign and early elimination from the Amway Canadian Championship, MDS and his team have rebounded. In this Q and A, Dos Santos talks about NASL, the future of the Fury and his skepticism over a rumoured all-Canadian pro league...

We are working to prepare the autumn issue of Plastic Pitch. And, as has become custom, we prep for the launch of the issue by previewing one of our stories on The 11. We present an abridged version of the Q and A we did with Ottawa Fury coach Marc Dos Santos.

Montreal’s four-on-two was a comedy of errors. It should be shown to atom-age players as a lesson on how not to attack.

Is FC Edmonton the wild card of coincidence when it comes to soccer in Canada?

FC Edmonton is developing a tragic history of giving up late goals to lose Amway Canadian Championship ties. Last year, it was a 96th-minute Patrice Bernier penalty that gave the Montreal Impact a last-gasp semifinal win over the Eddies. On Wednesday, Whitecap substitute Matias Laba rolled the ball across the goal line in the 96th minute of the semifinal’s second …

“For us, it we sit back in the 18-yard box, it is inevitable what will happen,” said FCE coach Colin Miller. “Our game plan worked to a T at BC Place, save for the last six minutes. And, I think we can score, I feel that way about every game we play, and that we need to score. But we are in a position where we’re not chasing the game, so there’s no need to do anything stupid.”

Late in the game, after intercepting a pass, Eddies’ central defender Mallan Roberts lingered on the ball rather than making the simple play and hoofing the ball out of danger. San Antonio’s Billy Forbes, who scored earlier in the game, nicked the ball off of Roberts’s feet and then went in alone on goal. He finished neatly, giving the Scorpions the late winner.