Abe Osman to lead OSU League1 women

—By Ottawa South United Force Academy

The Head Coach for Ottawa South United Soccer Club’s new League1 Ontario Women’s Team will be OSU veteran and multi-champion coach Abe Osman.

Abe started playing youth soccer overseas in Europe and the Middle East. Since his father was a diplomat, his family moved around a lot. Wherever he went, he impressed local coaches, and as a result, he gained significant experience playing academy football in various pro clubs in Turkey and elsewhere.

His extensive journey eventually brought him to Ottawa, where he is most known for having played and captained the Ottawa Wizards, who played in the Canadian Professional Soccer League from 2001-2003. Abe is proud to say “that they won everything they could win.” Rightly so, as he captained the side two out of three years, and won the league’s MVP title twice.

Abe doesn’t only understand soccer though. In fact he is a multi-talented athlete. When he came to Canada, he taught himself how to play basketball while already in high school.

Despite getting into the sport relatively late, he made Algonquin College’s competitive basketball team. But it didn’t stop there. He went above and beyond, as he always does and became a hall of fame athlete. He remains their 2nd highest all-time scorer and they have even retired his number.

Abe became a soccer coach for OSU in 2003 and has vast coaching experience both on the boys and the girls side. Most recently, he has won three OPDL championships including last year’s with the 2003 Girls.

Abe says that he is ready to take on the challenge of coaching a League 1 team that typically consists of older more established players. He is thankful for having been given the opportunity.

Abe is enthusiastic that “OSU can now provide opportunities for female players in the region, who have always thought there was not a complete pathway for them. The League 1 team provides a bridge to the next step of their careers, whether that is playing at the college or university level, or even playing professionally.”

OSU adds UEFA ‘A’ License Coach David Hannah to Academy

David joins us from most recently being Manager and Sporting Director of PS Kemi in Finland’s Veikkausliiga. As a player, he enjoyed a highly successful career that was spent mostly with Celtic Football Club and Dundee United of Scotland.

David has coached previously in a short-term role with OSU and we know his experience within the club will allow him to hit the ground running as we prepare for a busy upcoming season.

With the hiring of Coach Hannah, OSU is now pleased to announce our coaching assignments for the upcoming 2019 provincial seasons in the OPDL and League1 Ontario:

-David Hannah, UEFA A License Coach (U13, U14 & U15 Girls)
-Abe Osman, Canada Soccer National B License Coach (U16 Girls, U17/18 Girls, League1 Ontario Women)
-Simon Wilshaw, UEFA B License Coach (U13 & U14 Boys)
-Samir Karaga, UEFA B License Coach (U15 & U16 Boys: Samir Karaga)
-Peter Mapendere, UEFA B License Coach (League1 Ontario Men)

Support Roles:

-Paul Harris, UEFA A License Coach (Technical Director)
-Jon Eden (High Performance Coordinator)
-Jay Bhindi (League1 Ontario Assistant Coach)
-Marco Romozzi (Team Assistant Coach)
-Juan Monge (Team Assistant Coach)
-Julian White (Team Assistant Coach)

The coaching staff blends an impressive mix of individuals who possess the necessary experience, qualifications and driven mentality to nurture development in our players and continue our collective success.

We look forward to a successful upcoming 2019 season!

OSU Alumni Zoom Langwa signs with CPL’s Halifax Wanderers

The Halifax Wanderers of the new Canadian Premier League recently announced the signing of OSU product Ndzemdzela Langwa.

Because of his pace down the left side, Langwa is known as ‘Zoom’ instead of his Cameroonian first name (pronounced ‘zem’zella).

He’s also earned the moniker ‘The Wall’ due to his reputation of not letting many attacking players get past him.

“I thought Langwa would bring a very dynamic sort of element to our squad considering his athleticism and his speed,” explained Wanderers general manager and head coach Stephen Hart. “When I watched N’sa, he had a good sense of his positional play and he read the game quite well.”

Left full-back Langwa, from Ottawa, is coming back to kick-start his career in his home country after spells in the leagues of Italy and Spain.