Meet the Underdogs

Welcome to our continuing series of Meet the USASA features where we annually profile the clubs representing the United States Adult Soccer Association in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. Advancing from the four regional tournaments, these often unknown clubs have great stories to tell and each year, our goal is to allow fans to get to know them as they attempt to become this year’s Cinderella story.

Chicago’s soccer roots run deep.

With Britain, Europe, and Japan in shambles after World War II, steel fueled an economic boom throughout the 1950s and 60s in what came to be known as America’s “Rust Belt.” Like many formerly industrialized American cities, the Midwest’s metropolis attracted opportunity seekers from across Europe and Latin America to pursue a better life in the mills.

54 years ago, in a now little-known corner of Chicago – a neighborhood tucked into its southeast side near the heavy industry that once boomed there and in nearby Northwest Indiana – Croatian immigrants formed what would become one of America’s most storied amateur soccer clubs.

History

A member of Chicago’s National Soccer League (one of America’s oldest dating back to the 1920s), Croatian National Soccer Club Red White and Blue Adria, or C.N.S.C. RWB Adria, has operated continuously since 1959. Adria has amassed an impressive number of trophies over the years and is always a contender on the US amateur circuit.

The club has reached the US Open Cup semifinals twice in its history (1978, 1991), and has qualified for the tournament four times during the Modern Pro Era (1996, 2007, 2008, 2013). Recently, in 2011, Adria brought the National Amateur Cup home to Chicago.

According to its manager Ante Loncar, RWB Adria’s philosophy is to always “represent the club, the community, and win.”

Despite its overt Croatian-American ethnic identity, for many years Adria has called players from around the world its own – most notably the legendary Portuguese striker Eusebio, who in the 1970s made his way across North America playing for NASL and amateur teams alike.

“Unlike a lot of ethnic teams, once we hit our peak in the late 1970s, we never looked down,” says Loncar.

Indeed, Adria’s sustained on-field prowess can be traced back to its willingness to embrace diversity in its roster decades ago. Today, the club boasts players hailing from more than nine countries across three continents.

At the same time though, Adria has maintained its Croatian heritage when it comes to management and organization. Theirs is a unique, multi-ethnic American soccer success story.

Being RWB Adria

Operating a competitive amateur club is no easy task. It’s a collective effort that requires time, care, and work from volunteers. It also means providing incentives to the men who lace up their boots for Adria.

The club plays many games and enters numerous cup competitions during both the indoor and outdoor seasons each year. Thus due to the number of games it plays and the benefits it is able to afford players, Adria, says Loncar, is “definitely considered semi-pro.”

“To be competitive, you’ve got to find guys who are committed.” The only way to do that, he says, is to offer players benefits such as jobs and mortgage assistance.

In the case of its foreign players, the club also offers to help them settle in and assimilate to their new lives in America.

“You’ve got to be able to do a little bit of everything to make these guys feel comfortable,” says Loncar.

While a few players earn a bit of money, most are afforded other benefits that come with wearing the Adria badge. For example, manager Loncar employs five players, as well as its head coach.

Loncar’s cousin (and main sponsor) employs two players at the Wolcott Group, a Chicago real estate investment company. Wolcott buys the team’s uniforms and provides it with needed financial assistance for meals and travel.

“They really help us. They understand our needs,” says Loncar about Adria’s main benefactor.

Challenges: US Soccer and the US Open Cup

After a five-year absence from US Open Cup competition, Adria is excited to return during the 2013 Centennial year. “It’s an honor for us as amateurs to play any kind of pro team, to be in the Cup. Every amateur team should enjoy it,” Loncar believes.

But underneath his appreciation for the tournament and eagerness to have a shot at beating the pros lies frustration with US Soccer’s organization and administration of one of the world’s oldest domestic cup tournaments.

On Tuesday, May 14, Adria will take on USL Pro’s Pittsburgh Riverhounds in their new soccer-specific stadium in Station Square, a 52-acre entertainment complex located on the south shore of the Monongahela River that snakes through the Steel City. Adria learned of its first-round draw little more than two weeks before game day.

“I wish they’d give us more preparation time. For example, it’s very hard to organize twenty guys to get to Pittsburgh. It’s hundreds of miles away. You can’t drive, because guys would miss a lot of work. It’s really difficult. US Soccer must find a way to give teams like us at least three weeks’ notice before our first game.”

Loncar offers further insight into the hardships amateur and semi-pro teams face during the Open Cup:

“If we win – and that’s a big ‘if’ – we’ve only six days to organize ourselves for the second-round game. It’s a lot of work for an amateur team. The pros have paid staffs to handle these things, so it’s easier for them – especially the MLS teams.

“It’s expensive,” Loncar reveals. “You’ve got to pay roughly $10,000 up front (airfare, cars, hotel, per deim money, etc.) and then you get your money back from US Soccer, so you’ve really got to be financially prepared and stable to play in the US Open Cup. Again, if you win, you’ve got to front another $10,000, and so on. This is why we’ve seen NPSL teams drop out of the field. It’s because of the money.”

What lies ahead?

With decades of sustained success at the amateur level, would RWB Adria ever look to make the jump to a higher tier of US Soccer?

“Every year, we talk about joining NPSL or PDL,” says Loncar. But he claims it’s expensive to join the PDL and, moreover, equates it to a “glorified college summer league.”

Although the club has the funds to join NPSL, according to Loncar, the fourth-tier league is regarded by some in its ranks as “little more than an organized amateur league” similar to the one Adria already resides in (Chicago’s National Soccer League).

Loncar adds that joining USL Pro (third-tier) would be difficult. “Realistically, we’ll probably keep doing what we do. A lot of our guys like the indoor game, so our community might be able to support a move to PASL Premier, but we’re not fit for a move to USL Pro.”

Interestingly, Loncar implied that keeping the club’s ethnic name and identity might prove problematic with a move up US Soccer’s ladder. Adria’s manager thinks his club’s Croatianness might prove odd and unattractive to the casual soccer fan who might otherwise support a more conventional-looking club.

Nevertheless, Adria will not forego its heritage, name, badge, and colors for the sake of posterity. As long as its unique, tight-knit community has any say in the matter, RWB Adria will forever reflect its founders’ American and Croatian pride.