Update: The summer of Cleveland continued, as it were, with AFC Cleveland’s Saturday evening victory over the Sonoma County Sol in the NPSL championship game.
The final score came in at 4-2, but the game was tied 2-2 as the clock crept toward the 90-minute mark. AFC Cleveland’s Antonio Manfut changed all that in the 87th minute with a nifty shot to put the hometown boys up 3-2.
Fast forward to the 2:02:00 mark for that goal below in the video below.
Ryder Bell added an insurance goal in stoppage time at the 92nd minute.
#WAMPUS
(Incidentally, it looks like a nice crowd came out for the game at Independence high school. Remember that and the trophy when AFC Cleveland’s next season rolls around.)
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Cleveland has a soccer team. You may not have been aware of that. Yes, they play outdoors. No, they don’t have quite the same following the Force and Crunch once did. Yes, you should be rooting for them. Now — specifically Saturday night — is a good time to start.
AFC Cleveland is playing for the National Premier Soccer League championship at Independence High School at 7 p.m. that night. (The NPSL is basically a 4th tier of professional soccer in the U.S. Lots of players on AFC Cleveland are from the area and the league serves as a developmental stop in between college seasons.)
AFC Cleveland, which has been around for five years now, won the Midwest Region and now look for one more victory against the Sonoma County Sol. Coming on the heels of the Lake Erie Monsters Calder Cup victory, the Cavs, and Stipe Miocic grabbing the UFC heavyweight championship, the summer of Cleveland can continue.
Tickets are $6 if you get ’em before gameday and $9 at the gate. #WAMPUS.
This article appears in Aug 3-9, 2016.
The AFC in the team name stands for “A Fans’ Club”. The region actually has a rich heritage in outdoor soccer, which began in the early 1900’s through a vast network of amateur clubs and leagues. In the early 1960s, the pro game came to Cleveland through the International Soccer League — a summer short-season featuring clubs from Mexico, Europe and South America — the forerunner of the International Champions Cup.