FC Cincinnati hits the road for the fourth time in 2018 when they resume USL regular season action north of the border this Saturday when they travel to face Ottawa Fury for a 2pm kickoff at a lovely TD Place Stadium.
After twice coming from behind last Saturday against Pittsburgh to take a point, the Orange & Blue will be looking to halt a three-match winless streak in Canada this weekend in a location where they've yet to find much success. But with performances improved in the last two outings, the odds of finding it this time around seem a bit more stacked in our favor.
If you're among those not making the trip to the Canadian capital city this weekend, you'll still be able to follow the action live by tuning your Cincinnati-based television to Star 64 (WSTR), or you can catch the USL stream of the action on ESPN+ -- if you're still fuzzy on the league's move to the new platform, details can be found here.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
If there was ever a time to look for our first win at Ottawa, this is as about as good as it gets.
The Fury have had a tough start to 2018, finding themselves bottom of the USL Eastern Conference table in 16th after starting the campaign with a 0-1-4 record. They're also sporting a conference-worst -9 goal differential, and have only found the back of the net twice this season themselves. That said, if the Ottawa faithful are looking for any silver linings, it's that they took their first point of the season last Saturday in a 1-1 draw against North Carolina FC.
As for 6th-placed FCC and as mentioned above, while our start to the season has been better, the Orange & Blue are entering the Saturday's fixture having failed to win in each of their last three matches. But with the team showing an attacking verve absent for much of this year in the final 45 minutes against Pittsburgh
-- twice showing they have the steel to keep themselves in it -- there's plenty to be optimistic about.
As for the team's previous meetings, it's been a pretty even split. The sides have met twice before in regular season action, both in 2017 in Ottawa's debut season in USL, with each side lodging a decisive victory at home. The first was a 3-1 victory for the Orange & Blue in August, with goals coming from König, McLaughlin and Sem de Wit. The Fury got their revenge, however, with a 4-0 win at TD Place in our second to last regular season match of 2017. And if you want to get technical, FCC and OFFC also met once in preseason play last year too, with the spoils being split over a 1-1 draw.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Last weekend's match saw four changes from the previous match at Bethlehem, and a two-goal output provides some evidence that the changes were effective. And with a flurry of games fast approaching for FCC, don't be surprised if we again see some rotation in Coach Alan Koch's XI against Ottawa.
Many will be curious to see if new arrival Michael Lahoud will make his debut in the midfield. And after a positive first week of training in Cincinnati under his belt, it wouldn't be at all shocking to see him at least get a few minutes of action in Ottawa. Lahoud could be competing for minutes with Irishman Richie Ryan, who will be making a homecoming return to the Fury after spending the 2014 and 2015 seasons in Ottawa.
The Fury, meanwhile, will likely be looking for any spark they can to get their first victory of the campaign. And yet oddly, they've been a fairly predictable side to this point.
In three of their four matches this season, Ottawa have set up in a 4-3-3 formation -- the only other shape they've deployed was a 4-5-1 in a disastrous 0-5 loss at Tampa Bay Rowdies at the beginning of the month. They also attack almost exclusively down the flanks, with a preference towards their right. So be sure to keep an eye on midfielder Kévin Oliveira (#88) and forward and captain Carl Haworth (#9), the latter of whom tallied twice against us the last time we visited TD Place.
But with offensive production being at an extreme premium this year for Ottawa, a shake-up by caretaker manager Julian Guzman wouldn't be unexpected. The question is, do they have that production hidden somewhere else in their squad?
