AS Blainville takes on Ottawa Fury FC in Canadian Championship second round

LAVAL, Que. —

Having dispatched the Oakville Blue Devils, AS Blainville looks to take down Ottawa Fury FC and earn a semifinal showdown with defending champion Toronto FC in the Canadian Championship.

The Quebec league champions host the United Soccer League’s Fury on Wednesday in the first leg of the second qualifying round at the Centre Sportif Bois-de-Boulogne. The return leg is June 27 in Ottawa.

Blainville advanced with a 3-1 aggregate win over League 1 Ontario champion Oakville.

“They’re very good,” Ottawa head coach Nikola Popovic said in a statement. “The frustrating part in soccer is that these players are very good but sometimes you don’t have the high-level stage to showcase their abilities.

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“And we have a few players over there who have had a taste at higher levels like Nazim (Belguendouz), (Abdoulaye) Sylla and others. We expect they’re going to be a very difficult opposition.”

Blainville’s Belguendouz has already made a name for himself in futsal, earning Canadian player of the year honours in 2017. Sylla is a former Canadian under-17 and under-20 international.

Blainville leads the Quebec standings at 4-0-3. Ottawa stands 12th in the USL Eastern Conference at 4-3-6.

The Blainville-Ottawa winner faces MLS champion Toronto in a two-game semifinal starting July 18. The other semifinal, which opens the same day, pits the Montreal Impact against the Vancouver Whitecaps in an all-MLS matchup. 

The Canadian Championship winner hoists the Voyageurs Cup and earns a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.

The Canadian Press