USL PRO Feature
Monday, August 26, 2013
When Joseph Ngwenya joined the Richmond Kickers at the start of the USL PRO season, he went in with the same aim as he had during his time in Major League Soccer.
Win something with your new club.
The 32-year-old Zimbabwean had found success at his previous stops, even winning a PDL Championship with the Cape Cod Crusaders in 2003 before joining the Los Angeles Galaxy a year later and being part of the side that won both MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup in 2005. Two years later, another MLS Cup title arrived as part of the Houston Dynamo, and now he and his current side stand two wins away from adding the USL PRO Championship to their regular-season title.
“When I was in MLS, I wanted to win something wherever I would go, and I did with Houston in the MLS Cup, and with the Galaxy with the MLS Cup and Open Cup, so I want to win something here as well,” Ngwenya said by phone.
If the Kickers do go on to claim the championship, Ngwenya will likely have played a key role. After leading the team with nine goals in the regular season, the attacking midfielder scored the decisive goal in a 1-0 win against the Dayton Dutch Lions on Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the USL PRO Playoffs. While the Kickers only suffered one defeat on their way to the regular-season championship, the challenge they received from No. 8-seed Dayton illustrated the difference between the regular season and the playoffs, particularly to Ngwenya.
“In the playoffs it’s one game, win or go home, so every team is fighting for its life,” Ngwenya said. “You have to concentrate for all 90 minutes, you know, and that’s something that they taught us in that game. I’m glad we managed to get the win and were able to move on.”
The Kickers’ path is unlikely to get any easier this Saturday as they host the Charlotte Eagles at City Stadium (7 p.m. ET, USLNation.com) for a place in the championship game. Ngwenya wasn’t on the field the last time the two teams met at City Stadium, a 3-3 draw on May 4 that saw Richmond score with almost the final kick of the game to grab a point from the Eagles. The veteran was impressed with the Eagles then, and remains so, calling them a “very underrated team.”
“They never give up,” he added. “That’s the thing with Charlotte, they just keep coming and coming and if we do concede an early goal to them it’s going to be really hard to come back, so we have to be ready. Charlotte has a lot of good players; both of their leading scorers, they scored in the last game, so they’re going to be dangerous going forward, and that’s something we have to worry about as well. It’s going to be a tough game.”
Richmond, though, is equipped to deal with the threat the Eagles possess. D.C. United loanee Andrew Dykstra has been spectacular in goal, leading the league with a 0.863 goals-against average while recording a crucial save to deny Dayton a late equalizer in Saturday’s quarterfinal. Add in the additions of forward Michael Seaton (five goals) and defender Conor Shanosky, both also on loan from the Kickers’ MLS affiliate, and the veteran core that has made Richmond a perennial playoff contender, and Ngwenya is confident that the Kickers can move on to host the championship game.
At the same time, though, he’s taking nothing for granted. While the regular season title was an affirmation of the side’s consistency throughout the season, winning the USL PRO Championship is the only thing Ngwenya and the rest of the Kickers squad are focused on now.
“People aren’t going to remember who exactly won the regular season, they’re going to mainly remember who the champions are,” Ngwenya said. “Our aim is definitely to go on and win it all.”
If Ngwenya and the Kickers achieve their goal, the opportunity may then come for the veteran to make his way back into MLS. Whether that happens or not, however, Ngwenya is going to be happy to play, and find success at, wherever the game takes him.
“At every level, I think wherever you play, if you play to win something, and then start winning something, then opportunities open up,” Ngwenya said. “I would be willing to take that opportunity, but if nothing else opens up then I’m just going to be happy to continue to play soccer as long as I can. At the end of the day, it’s a profession that you can’t do for the rest of your life, so you have to enjoy it while it lasts.”
Should the season end with the Kickers hoisting the USL PRO Championship trophy, Ngwenya will be among those who will have left an impression that lasts a long time.