By Michael Lewis
FrontRowSoccer.com Editor
Ontario Fury forward Franck Tayou Saturday was named the Major Arena Soccer League for the fourth time.
And the sun also rises.
Tayou completed yet another stellar season as he led the league in scoring again, recording 47 goals and 18 assists for 65 points.
“I just want to take a moment to say how humble I feel on winning this year’s MVP award,” Tayou told Greg Ponte Suttie. “This is my fourth MVP in five years and fifth straight scoring title. None of this would be possible without all of my teammates and coaches from Las Vegas Legends, Soles de Sonora and Ontario Fury that helped push and guide me. I want to thank my mentor Patrick Lawrence for his unconditional love and support to both my brother and I. Special thank you to my family, friends and all my supporters. I hope we can all get back to playing soon. Be safe. Peace and love.”
Tayou, whose father is a king in his native Cameroon, was more frustrated about the regular season ending due to the COVID-19 pandemic because the Ontario Fury was on a late-season surge, winning eight of its final nine games to clinch a Western Conference playoff spot.
The 29-year-old scoring star said it was “very, very frustrating, especially for us.” He probably would trade in his latest individual title for a chance at MASL glory.
“We really found momentum towards the end of the season,” Tayou told this writer in a recent interview. “That’s always a good way to head into the postseason. As we went on that little run and as we started winning games and putting together good performances our confidence built up and we started believing we could do something special in the postseason. To see it cut short like that, it was heartbreaking.”
That burst boosted Ontario from a rather undistinguished 4-8 mark to a 12-9 record and a third-place standing with three matches remaining in its regular season.
Given that two tough sides in the Monterrey Flash (20-2) and San Diego Sockers (15-6) finished one-two in the West, Tayou realized the Fury had its work cut out, but he was confident the team’s momentum had the potential for a deep run in the playoffs.
“Exactly,” he said. “I’ve said it a couple of times before and I’m going to say it again. It doesn’t matter what you did in the regular season. You can have one bad night and your season is over and no one is going to remember your record. They only remember one team at the end of the season and that’s the champion. For us playing the way we’ve been playing and putting the type of performance that we’ve put and just adjusting to any type of tactical obstacle that other teams were throwing our way, was impressive for a young team that had just gotten together.
“Obviously the goal for any team at the beginning of the season is to make the playoffs. Once you do that you want to be able to win one of the two games and push. Anything can happen. So we thought we were on the right track. We thought at home we played well, only lost only three games at home [8-3 record]. We were going to be a tough team at home. If we can win that game, anything can happen. But unfortunately, we haven’t got to that part. I hope we can get a chance to do so.”
“It wasn’t me saying that that I am best in the league or the king of the league,” he said. “It wasn’t really that. The blogs and the fans started running with it. I guess my performance over the years sort of backed up the nickname. I just go with it.”
While he has established a sterling reputation for filling the net, Tayou’s said his most memorable moment wasn’t necessarily connecting for one, but helping the Fury deny another team one.
That came on Feb. 7, when Ontario blanked the Mesquite Outlaws at home in a rare arena soccer shutout, 7-0. As it turned out, Tayou tallied only once in that encounter, but set up three other scores.
“We were struggling closing out games and we struggled just playing good defense,” he said. “We allowed very, very easy goals on very, very immature mistakes. Once we shut out Mesquite and playing great football, we scored good goals. I thought at that point I realized we are a good team and we can score goals and we can defend as well. So, that shutout gave us a boost defensively. It changed our season completely.”
Even before the Fury kicked out its first goal, the 6-1, 200-lb. Tayou realized it was going to be a transition scene for himself. After all, he played the previous three seasons for Mexican clubs, Monterrey last season and Sonora for the previous two prior campaigns.
“I knew it was going to be a tough season, especially coming playing under the same coach for four years, to come into a different coach and obviously role playing,” he said. “In Mexico, they play a different style of soccer over there as opposed to here, where its more traditional indoor soccer. tactical and stuff like that. In Mexico it was all about getting organized defensively. Coach would just let players be creative on the offensive side of the ball. It was just a matter of getting used to your teammate and knowing his tendencies.
“Here, I had to adjust to a whole different system and find a way to score some goals. I think over the course over the last five years I’ve scored quite a few goals. There was never any doubt that I was going to score goals, but how was going to be able to get my team involved and get results. The goals that I was scoring was the toughest challenge for me. Even when we were losing games, I was still scoring. It was finding ways to win. Chances were far and between because they doubled and tripped me. So, the coach came up with a good strategy for me to get everybody involved. That’s when our season changed, when the team knew how to get around me and play off of me. It was very very difficult for teams having a game to take Franck out. If you look at the stats, I think I had 18 assists. This is the most I’ve had in my entire career. I was always about scoring. I knew I had to evolve and sort of like expand my game a little bit. I did that and I couldn’t be any happier.”
Tayou was quite proud of his 18 assists, three more than his previous personal best of 15 with Sonora in 2016-17.
“Just creating chances and keeping teams on their heels, keep the momentum going for us,” he said. “Once I figured out how to get everybody else involved and once we figured how to make the runs around me and make sure we fine-tuned the timing, that’s when we became impossible to play with. If you were worrying about Franck, then someone else is going to punish you. After two or three quarters of not scoring, all of a sudden I had a hat-trick in the fourth quarter just because the game opened up.”
As for personal success, Tayou also was proud of the fact he found the net at least once in every game he played. In the Fury’s stretch run, the Cameroonian native recorded hat-tricks in five of six final matches.
“That really set the tone moving forward,” he said. “One thing that really kept the momentum going for me is the fact I scored a goal every single game. When I was able to move that up to three goals a game, I thought it just took my game and confidence to another level. I knew i had three goals in me. It was just a matter of when it was going to happen, not if was going to happen.”
For the time being, Tayou isn’t playing any soccer matches, only the waiting game, like the rest of us, waiting to get the green light and go outside as often as we would want and mingle with the rest of the world.
He has roomed with his brother, Uzi, a defender on the Fury this season. Tayou said they are “as best as we can be to be honest. It is something that no one has had around. It’s almost as if life has stopped for a little while. We are taking it one day at a time and slowly adjusting.”
Tayou has limited his time away from his home.
“I’ve tried to keep my outings very, very limited to short workout sessions, to kill time and not to lose fitness completely,” he said. “I like to stay active. When I can I go on walks, when I can go on jogs. Stuff like that to make sure my body remains active.
But avoiding other people as much as possible.
“Absolutely,” he said. “You don’t want to take any chance.”
To while the time away, Tayou has watched many MASL matches, especially when he played for the Monterrey Flash and Sonora Soles.
“Trying to learn a bit more about myself, sort of figuring out ways on how I can expand my game a little more and being more unpredictable,” he said. “I am watching a couple of more shows on Netflix and Hulu and just studying and finding ways to invest and work on my businesses.”
He would like to get into real estate after the pandemic ends, to set himself up after he retires as a player.
Tayou had a message for MASL fans during these difficult times.
“Well, you know we’ve come a long way in terms of promoting and growing this game. We had a lot of ups and downs,” he said. “But we also had a lot of great games and great moments and historic celebrations for some teams. I think now more than ever it’s time to stay locked in in those moments and praying for those moments to come back so that when they do come back, we can enjoy it a little more.
“It’s a beautiful sport, great entertainment. I can honestly speak on behalf of all the players that we are delighted to be part of it. We can’t wait to get out there and put a good show on for the fans. So, as much they are frustrated that the season was cut short, we are as well. But we have to stay positive and hope that the best is yet to come.”
Given what Franck Tayou has accomplished over the past five years, the league has discovered that his best has been tough to overcome. That’s why he is MVP again.
