PREVIEW | Surging Canadian Sides Clash With The Eddies Visiting Fury FC

FC Edmonton heads on the road to face league-leading Ottawa Fury FC on Oct. 4 at TD Place. The fourth-place Eddies will be aiming to extend their win streak to four matches as they aim for a berth in the NASL postseason.

Playing their best soccer of the season, the Eddies find themselves sitting in fourth-place in the NASL Combined Standings. The team has registered a league-best six clean sheets through 15 matches of the Fall Season and has not allowed an open-play goal in over five matches. Goalkeeper Matt VanOekel has proven full value throughout the Fall, while forward Daryl Fordyce has found the back of the net in three of the last four matches. Edmonton has also seen midfielder Lance Laing return to form in recent weeks, registering a goal and assist in the past two matches to lead the team in both goals (8) and assists (7).

Ottawa has gained momentum throughout the Fall Season to emerge as the league’s top team. The Eddies’ Canadian rival is currently riding a seven-game undefeated streak (4-3-0), posting victories in their previous three matches against Fort Lauderdale Strikers, New York Cosmos, and Carolina RailHawks. Scoring has come throughout the lineup for Fury FC, with Tom Heinemann leading the way with seven goals and four assists. Heinemann was the recipient of this week’s NASL Player of the Week after a two-goal performance against RailHawks FC.

This is the fifth and final meeting between the two sides in 2015 across both NASL and Amway Canadian Championship competition. The Eddies swept Fury FC in the Canadian Championship earlier this season by identical 3-1 scores, before playing to a scoreless draw late in the Spring. Fury FC captured victory in the most recent meeting after registering a late goal at SMS Equipment Stadium in early August to win 1-0.

“I thought some time ago that this would turn into a significant 90 minutes for us,” FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller said. “That has definitely turned out to be the case. Ottawa have been fantastic in this Fall Season, have been very difficult to beat and have been lethal on the counterattack. We are well aware of their strength and weaknesses and we’re playing well also. It has the makings of a fantastic game of football.”