CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Skill matters, as the best soccer teams often show.
Attitude might be just as important, and that -- along with undeniable skill -- has launched the Cleveland Soccer Club into the National Premier Soccer League national semifinals.
“All of our players buy into our mentality,” coach Ryan Osborne says, “the mentality that we are very hard to beat, and that we have a ‘never say die’ attitude.”
Third-seeded Cleveland SC will play a national semifinal game against second-seed Miami FC at 7 p.m. Saturday (July 27) at Florida International University in Miami. The first-seed New York Cosmos and fourth-seed ASC San Diego will meet in the other semifinal, in Uniondale, N.Y.
The winners will play for the national championship on Aug. 3 in a game to be hosted by the higher seed.
Every player on Cleveland’s roster is from Ohio or played or is now playing collegiately in the state.
NPSL Eastern Conference champion Cleveland demonstrated its relentless comeback approach in its Midwest Regional wins at Detroit. The club rallied from a two-goal deficit in its semifinal victory over Rochester (N.Y) last Friday (July 19), and again in its 3-2 regional championship win over Detroit City FC on Sunday (July 21).
Cleveland tied the title game, 2-2, on second-half goals by Tom Beck (Youngstown Cardinal Mooney High School) and Antonio Manfut (St. Vincent-St. Mary).
Neither Cleveland nor Detroit could find the net through two overtime sessions, with Cleveland playing stout defense in front of its standout goalkeeper, Marijo Musa (Eastlake North).
Both teams made three of their first four penalty kicks before Vinny Bell (Valley Forge) netted the game winner.
“Coming back twice from being behind 2-0, we know that no matter what, it can be done,” Bell said. “There’s two left to win, so we’re pretty excited about it.
“We have a really diverse group. Everybody is from different backgrounds, has different personalities and different playing styles. We all bring something different to the table. We’re all good friends and enjoy being around each other. It’s fun and makes for a great atmosphere," Bell said.
Other top players include Boban Cancar (North Royalton), Corban McAvinew (Canal Fulton Northwest), Mike Derezic (Lakewood), Alec Nagucki (Akron Archbishop Hoban), Danny Koniarczyk (home-schooled) and Coletun Long (Kent Roosevelt).
The nucleus of the team was together in 2016, when it was known as the AFC Cleveland Royals, with AFC standing for “A Fan’s Club.” That season, the Royals won the NPSL championship with a 4-2 win over the Sonoma County (Calif.) Sol before a raucous, standing-room crowd of 2,205 at Independence High School.
The team‘s name was changed to Cleveland SC under the new ownership of Sam Seibert prior to the 2018 season. Its home games are played at Baldwin Wallace University.
Osborne, 29, is from Leeds, England. He came to the United States in 2009 and played soccer at the University of Charleston (W.Va.). Also an assistant coach at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, this is his second season as Cleveland SC’s coach. His assistant coaches are Atti Toth and Lewis Dunne.
“The coaching staff knew we had a good team,” he said. “It plays together very well. Our guys all enjoy each other on and off the field. I think that they believe that when the game is on the line, they’ll go the extra mile for each other.”