By Michael Lewis
FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

So, how does a soccer player stay in shape during the offseason?

Easy.

Play more soccer.

That’s what Bledi Bardic will be doing this fall while waiting for the Cosmos to return as a National Premier Soccer League pro team.

Bardic, who led Cosmos B with 12 goals this past NPSL, said Tuesday will be play with the Cedar Stars for the Cosmopolitan Soccer League fall season.

The 6-1, 175-lb. Bardic said he was going to play in the CSL “to stay fit and stay sharp it will help me for 2019 season.”

Bardic was enjoying a stellar season until he suffered a hamstring injury during a 4-2 victory over the Elm City Express in NPSL playoffs. He earned All-Conference honors.

The 26-year-old forward played a vital role in Cosmos B’s success as it finished the regular season with a 10-0-0 mark. He scored one-tenth of the team’s 40 goals prior to the postseason.

This won’t be Bardic’s first time in the CSL.

After emigrating to the U.S. from Montenegro in 2011, Bardic hooked up with the Clarkstown SC, with which he tallied 84 goals in 64 matches in the CSL and when the team played in the NPSL. Most of his goals were scored in the CSL as he is Clarkstown’s all-time leading goal-scorer.

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.