By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

Whither Queensboro FC?

Good question, because we have to wonder if they care.

You might remember Queensboro FC.

They came to life in November 2019 as a USL Championship franchise with plans for a temporary stadium at York College in Queens and then hopefully a permanent home somewhere in the borough. Former Spanish international and New York City FC star striker David Villa joined the club as a part owner.

Since then things changed and that is putting it mildly.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the team to put off its start until 2022.

Fair enough. The pandemic did plenty of damage throughout the U.S. and the world.

Hmmm. Let’s look at the calendar. Hey, it’s Aug. 23, 2022!

On April 27, 2021, Queensboro held a big press conference at York College about building a soccer specific stadium for the 2022 season.

Since then?

Silence.

And the sounds of silence certainly is not good for the brand.

Villa has been caught up in sexual allegations when he was playing in MLS and has not been used as a rallying point by the club.

The club has teams in the United Premier Soccer League (Queensboro FC II) and the USL W League and an Academy team.

But no team at the top of the team’s pyramid.

Slowly, but surely, other wheels of the USL Championship team’s proverbial wagon have come off.

On June 8, head coach Josep Gombau left the team to become a coach of a team in India.

On July 16, technical director Luis Gutierrez jumped ship to become the Real Madrid reserve assistant coach.

I have asked the club for a comment.

Silence.

I have asked to talk to someone from the league.

Nothing.

BTW, as of this morning, Aug. 23, photos and bios of Gombau and Gutierrez are still on the website.

Sometimes the silence (and neglect) by a team or organization will say a lot.

If no one gets back to the media, that tells me a lot. What are they hiding? Do they care? Are they still around?

Will we really care?

 

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.