“The mentality we have is that we want to play high-level soccer, but we don’t attract the guys who are going to take it too seriously,” said Davidson, who’s benefitted from what Fowler sees as an “amateur team run like a professional team.”
We’d like it if you scored a hat-trick every game, but it’s more about being a good person,” added Davidson.
Fowler’s vision is taking root. Faking it early on, the club is making it now. For real. And in the Open Cup, they’re right at home in a tournament built on dreams and underdog romance.
Making Vision Reality
“We’re just showing up and loving the footie,” added Davidson. “Every time I step on the field it’s more than I thought I would get [as a player] and it’s what’s making this Open Cup run so cool.
“It’s hard not to get romantic about it,” the goalkeeper added. “We’re a bunch of guys getting out there because we love it. We’re banding together and seeing results.”
Fowler's vision, lofty and fun and not taking itself too seriously, survived a recent mortal threat. In July, after Fowler moved to the East Coast, the club was on the verge of folding.
To the founder’s great delight, his players stepped up.
“The players seized the means of production,” laughed Fowler, now owner/facilitator-at-large for the club he founded. “They had their own little socialist revolution. They said: We value this, we like it here. We want to keep it. So they divided the work and kept it going.”
Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on Twitter.
