PREVIEW: Armada Hosts Canadian Foe Ottawa Fury FC at 5 p.m. This Saturday

Armada FC Public Relations | July 21, 2016

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Armada returns home at 5 p.m. Saturday to take on Ottawa Fury FC after two fixtures on the road last week.

The Armada entered last week at second place on the Fall Season table and came out on the short end of both contests. Last Wednesday, Jacksonville fell 3-0 at the hands of Fall Season leaders, the New York Cosmos despite creating multiple chances. The defeat snapped the Armada's club record five-match unbeaten streak.

Jacksonville had 10 shots on the night, five of which came from close range inside the box. New York goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer saved two of the attempts – a point-blank header from Kevan George in the 34th minute and another from Junior Sandoval in second half stoppage time.

Last Saturday, the Armada had a gutsy performance in Miami after going a man down after defender Beto Navarro was shown a red card in the 11th minute (earliest red card in club history) for taking down Miami FC's Jaime Chavez on a breakaway.

Jacksonville denied everything Miami FC sent its way through the 90th minute, and then with a stroke of luck in the second minute of stoppage time, Miami FC found the back of the net. Chavez had a blocked Ariel Martinez shot roll right to him and was able to finish.

Ottawa, which has not won since it defeated the Armada 1-0 on May 22 at TD Place Stadium, is 0-1-5 since then and is coming off a 1-0 loss to FC Edmonton last Sunday in Edmonton.

Although the Eddies were reduced to 10 men for the match's last half hour, FC Edmonton got a strike from Nik Ledgerwood in the 82nd minute. Fury FC had double the shots and chances of FC Edmonton, but Ottawa could not break through the best defensive side in the NASL.

In Jacksonville and Ottawa's May 22 meeting in Ottawa, the contest was a stalemate until the Armada had an unlucky moment in the 88th minute. A Marcel De Jong cross from the endline deflected off a diving Miguel Gallardo and into the goal, giving Fury FC all it needed for the win.

Below is a breakdown of the teams and the matchup.

WHEN & WHERE
Saturday, July 23 at 5 p.m. ET | Community First Park
Buy Tickets | Weather

THE TEAMS
Jacksonville Armada (1W-1D-2L, 4 pts., 9th NASL Fall, 2W-5D-7L, 11 pts., 10th NASL Combined)
Ottawa Fury FC (0W-0D-3L, 0 pts., 12th NASL Fall, 2W-3D-8L, 9 pts., 11th NASL Combined)

THE COACHES
Jacksonville Armada – Tony Meola, 1st season
Ottawa Fury FC – Paul Dalglish, 1st season

SERIES HISTORY
Ottawa leads, 3-1-0

LAST RESULT 
Fury FC 1, Armada 0 - 5/22/16 in Ottawa, Ontario | Recap | Final Stats

CLUB QUICK LINKS
Armada: News | Roster | Schedule | Season Stats
Fury FC: News | Roster | Schedule | Season Stats

WATCH
 - CW17 in Jacksonville – Cole Pepper – PXP and David Hayes – Color
- beIN Sports nationally – Chris Wittyngham – PXP and Thomas Rongen – Color

LISTEN
- Live on Project 106.9-FM | Stuart Webber – PXP and Pat Cannon – Color
- Also streamed live on iHeart app or project1069.iheart.com

READ
- Live Twitter updates on @ArmadaFCgameday – #JAXvOTT
- Live stats on ArmadaFC.com

POTENT NOTABLES

- Jacksonville has gone with 12 different lineups this season and has had the same back-to-back starting 11 just twice (June 4 at Carolina, June 11 vs. Tampa Bay; July 11 vs. Puerto Rico FC, July 14 at New York Cosmos).

- Saturday's match was originally scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff but was moved up to 5 p.m. to partner with local Arena Football League team, the Jacksonville Sharks, on a special fan promotion. The Armada is 0-1-1 this year in daytime matches.

- Jacksonville's pair of Swedish midseason break signings, Alex Andersson and Nicklas Maripuu, started training with the Armada on Monday and are expected to get thrown into the mix immediately.

Andersson, a 30-year-old striker, comes to the Armada after six seasons with Swedish second division side Degerfors IF, where he scored 22 goals in 100 matches, including 34 starts. Andersson also saw action in seven Swedish Cup matches.

Prior to Degerfors IF, Andersson scored a total of 12 goals with Swedish side KB Karlskoga from 2009-10 and netted 12 strikes in 2008 with Swedish side Åtorps IF.

Maripuu, a 24-year-old midfielder, comes to Jacksonville after playing 31 matches, including 16 starts, over 2015 and 2016 with Swedish second division side IK Sirius. In 2016, he scored two goals in 10 contests.

A former member of the Swedish U-17 and U-19 National Teams, Maripuu joined the academy of Swedish first division club AIK in Stockholm when he was five-years-old and moved up through the youth ranks. In 2009, he began his professional career for AIK and was loaned out to partner club AFC United (formerly known as Vasby United) from 2009-10, where he played 40 games and made 26 starts. Maripuu played a total of 16 games, including two starts, for AIK from 2010-12.

Maripuu spent 2012 on loan with Swedish third division side Umeå FC, starting in 12 of 13 appearances. In 2013, he played 28 games, including 13 starts, on loan for Swedish second division side GIF Sundsvall and scored a goal. In 2014, he returned to AIK but did not see any action.

- Kevan George leads the NASL with 35 tackles. Junior Sandoval is fifth with 30. George's total accounts for 15 percent of the Armada's 234 tackles this season. George has also won 89 duels (64 percent success rate) and is the only Armada player to have completed more than 200 passes in the opposition's half of the field (225).

- Tyler Ruthven is one of four players with at least ten blocks in league play this year. He ranks fourth in the NASL with 10 blocks.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 – The number of goals Jacksonville has scored on Ottawa in six all-time meetings.

27 – The number of shots by Junior Sandoval, tied for third in the NASL.

54 – The number of crosses attempted by Junior Sandoval, eighth-most in the league.

69 – The number of clearances for defender Tyler Ruthven, currently tied for fourth in the NASL.

164 – The number of total shots the Armada has taken this season, fifth-best in the NASL.

INJURY WATCH
- Many have been eagerly awaiting the debut of Finnish international Pekka Lagerblom since he went down with an Achilles injury in the preseason. He has been training in full with the team since June and was in the 18 against Miami FC last Saturday but did not see the field.

- Forward Alhassane Keita participated in full in this week's training after being out the last week with a hamstring injury.

- After going down with an elbow injury in the 21st minute against the New York Cosmos on July 14, Alex Dixon is out approximately six weeks.

CLUB CONNECTIONS
Ottawa defender Rich Balchan and Armada midfielder Kevan George played together at MLS side Columbus Crew in 2012 ... Ottawa defender Eddie Edward and Armada defender Anthony Wallace played a season together with FC Dallas in 2010 ... Ottawa defender Onua Obasi and Armada forward Alex Dixon were teammates at USL side Rochester Rhinos in 2014 and 2015 ... Obasi, Dixon and Ottawa midfielder Lance Rozeboom played together on Rochester in 2014 ... Ottawa midfielder Mozzi Gyorio and Dixon trained together at the Houston Dynamo Youth Academy in 2007-08, where they were coached by Ottawa head coach Paul Dalglish ... Gyorio and Armada midfielder Pascal Millien were teammates at FC Tampa Bay (now Tampa Bay Rowdies) in 2011, where they were coached by Dalglish ... Ottawa defender Kyle Porter, Ottawa midfielder Julian de Guzman (most capped player in Canadian history) and Armada defender Karl Ouimette played together on the Canadian national team from 2013-15 ... Ouimette also played with Ottawa defender Mallan Roberts on the Canadian national team in a World Cup Qualifier against Dominica on June 17, 2015 ... Ouimette and de Guzman also were also on the Canadian national team roster in a World Cup Qualifier against Honduras on Nov. 14, 2015 ... Ouimette, de Guzman and Ottawa midfielder Jamar Dixon also were also on the Canadian national team roster in an international friendly against the USMNT on Feb. 6, 2016 ... Ouimette, Armada defender Mechack Jerome and Ottawa midfielder Maxime Tissot were teammates at MLS side Montreal Impact in 2013 and 2014 ... Ottawa forward Dennis Chin, Armada goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo and Armada Jerome played together at Orlando City SC (USL) from 2011-12, winning a league title and regular season championship ... Chin, Gallardo and Armada defender Bryan Burke also played together for the Lions from 2013-14, winning a league title and regular season title ... Chin and Armada defender Tyler Ruthven played together at Arizona United SC (USL) in 2015.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Armada will take on the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in a road Coastal Cup battle at 7 p.m. next Saturday, July 30.