By Jay Mwamba
Special to FrontRowSoccer.com

It’s crack Cosmopolitan Soccer League coach Austin Friel vs. Eric Wynalda – scorer of the first ever Major League Soccer goal — when Lansdowne Bhoys meet the former U.S. legend’s LA Wolves in the Final Four of the U.S. Amateur Soccer Association Cup in Milwaukee Friday.

A former Finn Harps player in the League of Ireland top flight, Friel steered Lansdowne past six clubs to take the Yonkers Irish side to the semifinals of the competition.

Against the Wolves, Friel’s three-time CSL champions face a de facto professional side coached by the National Soccer Hall of Famer and one of the best U.S. strikers in history. LA competes in the United Premier Soccer League.

“Austy is looking forward to pitting his wits against Eric and will, as usual, respect the opposition but not fear them,” said Lansdowne president William McGrory, hailing Friel as the youngest and most talented coach in the country.

The Bhoys blanked Philadelphia-based Lone Stars 3-0 in the USASA Region I final in Horsham, Pa, last June to reach the Final Four. The Lansdowne-Wolves winner meets either Kickers FC or Bavarian SC for the USASA national amateur title.

Friday’s clash is the first of two national semifinals Lansdowne play this month. The second is in the Werner Fricker Cup Aug. 18 in Michigan against the Region III winner.

“It has been a goal of ours for several seasons now to compete for national honors so to win both Region I titles giving us two cracks at it is very exciting and well deserved with the hard work that has gone before,” McGrory said.

Despite being denied a fourth consecutive CSL championship in June, the Bhoys continue their national quest on a high.

“We’ve had another trophy laden season with our firsts winning the CSL division [regular season] title, the Manning State Cup,” McGrory said. “New York and Region I U.S. Amateur Cups; New York and Region 1 Werner Fricker cups — not forgetting the Irish Consulate Cup.

“Our reserves, who were managed by Keith St. Ledger and Sean Kelly, brilliantly, I might add, won the New York [D’Arpino] State Cup and were runners-up in their division and in the league cup final. This was their third state cup final won on the trot and they also won the Irish Consulate Cup.”

Additional Lansdowne success was recorded by the club’s Metro Division team that went 7-0 in in the second half of the season. They lifted the Strumpf Cup, a New York State competition.

“Again, a massive effort from joint managers Dave Brady and Gene O’Driscoll and the players,” McGrory said.

Lansdowne rolled out an Over-30 side for the first time, with coach Damian Mescall bringing the team close to making the playoffs.

“On top of all that we have continued to build our youth program with 22 teams currently,” McGrory said.

Lansdowne’s partnership with Scottish giants Celtic FC sees them sending its Under-12 side and four coaches to Glasgow Aug. 11-20th for games against Celtic and Scottish academy teams.

On the home front, the club has renewed sponsorship deals with Emerald Tile and marble, Webster Bank, Coyle Contracting, MC Electric, Concept Mechanical, Rosemount Painting and Irelands 32.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.