United Soccer Leagues (USL)

“Expecting the game was headed to overtime I was standing behind the goal with my newborn son in my arms and I looked up at the clock and there were 10 seconds left. Then Armas sent the ball in to Gio and he scored and I looked up and it said five on the clock. The place went crazy and the team was celebrating and I didn’t know what to do because I had my son in my arms yet I wanted to be with the team.”

That was the conclusion of 1995 season for Long Island Rough Riders General Manager Jim Kilmeade, who was largely the architect behind the scenes of the team’s quest for the title that year – from the signing of Tony Meola during the offseason to the sell out crowds and first nationally televised USL championship.

“It was one of those special things right down to the coach. Everyone had a lot to prove. Chris Armas was a real unknown that we thought was brilliant. Meola had been written off and coach Alfonso Mondelo was unknown outside of the area. It was one player after the next that until that team were not known.”

Heading into the team’s second season of existence after a highly successful inaugural run that saw the team go 13-5 and reach the semis, most teams would have made a few adjustments to go the extra step, but the Rough Riders went outside the box with the signing of 1994 US World Cup goalkeeper Tony Meola.

“I remember in about February or March Lou Ederer, the other co-owner of the team, telling me that we could sign Meola and it seemed like a far-fetched idea at first, but the more we looked at it, the more sense we thought it made,” said former Rough Riders owner Chuck Jacob, who now operates the PDL Brooklyn Knights and W-League Long Island Lady Riders.

Meola, at the time, was done with soccer. He had essentially retired from the game and was trying out for the National Football League’s New York Jets as a place kicker and was dipping his toes into the acting realm in an off-Broadway production.

“When I was with Mitre as a rep Tony was sponsored by Mitre and the English ownership did not rate him as a keeper, so he quit to try out for the Jets,” said Kilmeade. “As a Jets fan I went over and found Tony at the tryouts and the more we talked about him playing for the Rough Riders, the more he warmed up to it.”

They would go on to meet with his agent and although Meola was hesitant, he decided to give the game another shot when the Jets didn’t work out, practicing with the club while still acting off-Broadway.

“It was a real feeling out process for him coming back from Italy with 100,000 fans at a game to our 5,000. He never used the conditions as an excuse. He was always the first at practice and was great in the community. The Rough Riders players around him were blue collar, but they felt they were just as good as him and in a short period of time they were all equals. He raised the entire level of play on the team.”

“Our goalkeeper Chico Mieles from the year before was very good too, but he understood having a national team goalkeeper come into the team was an opportunity the club had to take,” said Jacob about some of the changes Meola’s presence had on the team.

“With every significant first there comes a jolt in the system,” said USL founder and President Francisco Marcos. “Meola’s case brought everyone publicity while being realistic that it was not going to be permanent.”

Meola’s presence did just that, whether it be via the throngs of fans it brought out to watch USL soccer on Long Island and wherever the team went on the road, or through the exposure the other players received through it.

“It gave the team credibility that it was making moves in winning a championship,” said two-year Rough Riders player Giovanni Savarese, who went on to a star role in MLS. “Tony coming back from the World Cup inspired the players to push to get better. It was important for the other players too in getting looks because people were coming to see Tony play. He gelled very quickly because he was a New Jersey native and already knew some people, guys he already had played with locally.”

Off the field, Meola was a superstar as the most recognizable figure from the 1994 US World Cup team with Kilmeade describing the situation as like touring with Elvis and Jacob relating it to being like the Beatles.

“Everywhere we went it was the opposition’s biggest crowd of the season by far,” said Jacob. “It was a bit of a mob scene as fans tried to speak to Tony or get his autograph. It was a lot of fun for me as I tried to get to all the road games as well as home games because the atmosphere was amazing.”

“We also had a great job with coaching with Alfonso Mondelo,” added Savarese. “He got the players to come together, and with passion. It was tough because there were always a lot of guys.”

Mondelo was the first Rough Riders coach and like many of the players, moved onto MLS in 1998, joining the MetroStars (now New York Red Bulls) and leading the squad to a 14-17-0 record in his lone season with the team. He later also had a stint in Tampa in 2001 before becoming the Director of Player Programs for MLS in 2005.

“It was a lively group to manage. Not a bunch of choir boys,” said Kilmeade. “I look at the dynamic between myself, Mondelo and the assistant coach and take pride in that we created an environment that fostered competition, yet was absolutely fair. It brought out the best of each other although it wasn’t always pretty. Culturally, it was a classic metropolitan team with a northeastern composition that was very passionate. There was a common theme of respect as it was a performance-based group as good as their last game.”

“He and I were both watching the recent Red Bulls-DC game while chatting on the phone a few weeks back and we agreed that we both underrated what we were able to put together back in 1995. He had a lot of people who had dreams and he helped them realize them. Nobody really knew who he was outside of the area and now look what he’s doing.”

The 1995 season was part of an important year in American soccer history as Major League Soccer was launching in 1996 and players everywhere were trying to showcase their talents across the landscape in USL and the then independent A-League, now USL First Division.

“There was no other local team,” said Savarese. “All the (A-League) teams were outside the NY/NJ area and I tried out for some of the others, but I liked what the Rough Riders were offering better.”

His decision proved wise, along with other future MLS players such as Chris Armas, Jim Rooney and Kevin Anderson, as he went on to capture the Pro League Most Valuable Player honors in 1995.

“I played mostly as a midfielder or defender the first year and the following year as forward for me, I just wanted to make sure it was a good year, make sure it was an amazing year. I did not expect to score as many goals as I did, but I wanted to have a big year, especially with MLS being started the following year.”

“Playing for the Rough Riders was key for me, especially as a foreign player. Getting a spot in MLS with the limit on foreign players was not easy to accomplish, especially as a local. What I did with the Rough Riders was important as they were looking at players. Being the MVP was an important factor in my move up.”

Savarese went on to play five seasons in MLS, the first three with the MetroStars, where he became a star of the league with at least 13 goals each season and finishing with 51 in his MLS career along with 15 assists. Since retiring, he has remained in the game as a youth coach and is the Director of Youth Soccer and Player Development for the Red Bulls, overseeing, in part, the club’s USL Super Y-League teams.

“I think its great to be back with a team that I played for, the MetroStars as it used to be, to direct the whole youth system for them with teams in a league that is very important and builds good competition that is important for us. I never thought in 1995 I would be coach and director of teams playing in something like the Super Y-League which is in USL, the same league I was in.”

“I think (the game) has changed a lot, considering the whole structure,” added Savarese. “It’s a better system. It provides younger, less experienced players a chance to get better on good teams. There are a lot of players, like in Rochester, that could easily be part of MLS. I think being able to sign a player like Romario is great. It’s like Pele signing with he NASL back then, major credibility for the league.”

While Savarese’s career has changed directions to the coaching side, Meola recently earned his 100th cap with the US and is still an MLS star despite going through another drought where he spent much of the 2005 season unsigned by any club before returning to New York, where he spent his first three years before joining the Kansas City Wizards.

The veteran US international career revival on Long Island led to an ongoing 10-plus year MLS career that includes five All-Star selections, the league’s longest shutout streak (681 minutes) and the all-time league lead in five statistical categories, including shutouts. In 2000 he earned League and MLS Cup MVP honors among several other awards while with the Wizards.

Armas’ career also took off after his time with the Rough Riders, becoming a standout in MLS with the Chicago Fire and a regular with the US National Team, earning 66 caps from 1998-2005 while helping the US qualify for two World Cups.

“Armas was on the outside of the U23 pool looking in at the time,” said Kilmeade. “We were really trying to help him prove that he was the real deal and that he deserved to be playing in the midfield for the Olympic team.”

“The final that year was notable because in addition to the Rough Riders players, you had the Minnesota Thunder guys such as Tony Sanneh, Amos Magee and the Lagos brothers, who went on to MLS,” said Jacob. “So that USL final was a preview of things in a lot of ways. It was also one of the most exciting games I’ve seen at any level with Savarese scoring the game-winner with only a few seconds left in the game. It was really incredible. We had a packed house and everything fell into place.”

That memorable game featuring a pair of 19-1 teams in front of a sell-out crowd of 4,118 fans at Mitchel Park September 4 saw Armas give the Rough Riders a 1-0 lead a minute before the break and Magee provide an equalizer three minutes into the second half. Then Armas found Savarese for the shocking winner from six yards out on national television.

“The place went nuts,” said Savarase, who was hoisted on the shoulders of his team after the game. “We ran around and partied. It was well deserved after so much work that season.”

During USL's celebration of its 20th Anniversary this season, USLsoccer.com will regularly feature stories and interviews about its history, including looks back at the greatest games and teams.