Inside the Fury Academy

A few months ago I had the opportunity of sitting down and interviewing Marc Dos Santos for my “Inside the Fury Transfer Market” feature, and this time I have sat down with his brother, and Fury technical director Phil Dos Santos to bring you inside the Ottawa Fury Academy system, and their outlook for La Première ligue de Soccer du Québec.  It will be a big year for the academy as both the U19 and U17  squads embark on new adventures in the PLSQ system, while the likes of Mohamed Dagnogo try to break into the first time.

Photo Courtesy Fury FC

The Ottawa Fury academy has grown in leaps and bounds since the Dos Santos’ brothers started building Fury FC from the ground up in 2013.   It is now a very structured and organized system, and  from the grassroots program bringing young children in to play the beautiful match all the way to the u19 team preparing young footballers to become professionals, Fury are giving Ottawa youth a chance to play soccer and dream big.

This year Phil Dos Santos will be coaching the U19 Fury squad in La Première ligue de Soccer du Québec (PLSQ), while fellow academy coach Darko Buser will lead the U17 squad in the PLSQ reserve league.   It will be a massive year for both the club and the Fury academy players, as they will now be playing in the Division 3 PLSQ which allows the youth a chance to experience a regular schedule in an organized league, including travel, that will help them adapt to playing the game at a top level.

Phil Dos Santos’ believes the added competition for the Fury academy is essential to the players development, saying  “It was important for us to find a competition that would put our players in maximum difficulty and challenge week in and out. Playing against talented senior teams with players who have once represented provincial programs,  national teams and even professional clubs will provide us with those type of games.”

The PLSQ is the perfect fit for the Ottawa Fury Academy as it limits the travel time for away matches, gives the U19 players a chance to develop their game and get into a regular schedule.  “The PLSQ is a league that keeps growing year after year”   Dos Santos said,  “not only in a business stand point but also in the quality of their competition, the length of the competition and the fact that our players would experience both home and away games with consistency was also a factor”

With most of the away matches taking place in and around Montreal,  the PLSQ is ideal for a squad travelling from Ottawa, with Dos Santos saying “The proximity with Montreal and surroundings also allows for reasonable travel times. The Coaching staff and players will now have the chance to work with a steady micro-cycle with 4-5 training sessions a week without being conditioned by too much travelling.”

Ottawa Fury will play their PLSQ matches between Carleton and TD Place while the FIFA Women’s World Cup is occupying many of the training facilities across town, and they will move into Algonquin as their full time home grounds mid July.    They play 10 home matches, all of which will be free to fans and supporters groups to attend.

Ottawa Fury PLSQ Schedule 

When I asked Phil about the importance of having fans and supporters groups show up to the PLSQ matches he replied “Young players need to feel that support and understand the importance of representing our jersey well for the fans, it’s part of their development process.”  Dos Santos went on to add “The support from the Ottawa Fury FC fans and supporters group are huge for us. We want to build a culture in the club, an  identity, every time our fans come to support the NASL and Academy teams it “boosts” our players, it makes us understand who we are  and how important it is for us to represent our team and city well.”

Not only is it important for the young players to understand the importance of the jersey, to get a hold of travelling, and playing a regular schedule; but it is also important for the young players to learn the clubs mentality and prepare for the chance of one day playing for the Fury first team.  Dos Santos’ has said that his U19 team will play with the same mentality and under the same vision as the NASL squad does, meaning they will usually play in the attacking 4-3-3 formation we are used to seeing Marc’s team play.

On the topic of tactics  and coaching Phil said “The club philosophy is clear, the variation of systems used by the pro team will be the one used by the Academy team. We have a well-defined “Matrix” in the club, one based one principles and behaviours rather than a fixed system. Yes, you will see the Academy teams play in a 4-3-3 most of the time but more important are the principles and behaviours adopted. Not only do we share those with the first team but we also share the coaching methodology and training approach. This is a very important component for the club, a unified vision and the exact same language and ways approach to the game.”

Dagnogo enters the game vs FC Montreal

Academy player Mohamed Dagnogo has worked his way into training with the first squad and even featured for the Fury in the preseason.  On April 4th, due to a player shortage, Dagnogo was added to the Fury NASL roster and could one day become the first Fury player to make the jump from academy to NASL, which would be a massive step for both him and the club.   Phil suggested that like Mohamed, there may be other players that are nearly ready to start training with the first team, but they are in not rush with the youngsters.  “We believe that 3-4 other players could be called to train regularly with the pro’s, specially once school is over. Mohamed is a talented player that has a lot to learn, we are happy to see him with the NASL team but this is just another step in his development. We will make sure that players who move up are ready to cope with the demands of the high level game”

The future is bright for the Ottawa Fury FC Academy, especially in the hands of technical director Phil Dos Santos.  Alongside Marc,  The Dos Santos Brothers have been fantastic architects of the clubs mentality and identity, and with the support from the fans and the community, their hard work will help build the beautiful game in the city of Ottawa.

The academy has come a long way since John Pugh introduced it over a decade ago, and it is now at the point where it is developing players to go straight from the academy into professional soccer, and hopefully to sign with the Ottawa Fury.   A strong foundation is key to a successful club.   Make sure you check out a Fury Academy match this summer and support local soccer and youth development!