GLEN BURNIE, Md. 鈥� Zima is back.
That鈥檚 one big story on Monday afternoon at Christos Discount Liquors, situated on the sliver of land between BWI Marshall Airport and Interstate 97, right on the border of Glen Burnie and Ferndale. The other story is the amateur soccer team that bears the store鈥檚 name; the group of weekend players that has earned the conspicuous row of trophies and medals that line the top shelf of the north end of the store, behind the priciest liquors; the group responsible for one of the best local sports tales of the year.
It鈥檚 that team, Christos FC, a group of Baltimore-area kids who grew up with but never grew out of soccer, who will play David to D.C. United鈥檚 Goliath, meeting the MLS squad in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at the Maryland SoccerPlex Tuesday night. How they came to find themselves there is a story of friendship, community and love of the game that鈥檚 enough to inspire even the most disillusioned of sports fans.
Christos FC first came into existence in 1997 when a few college players graduated and decided they wanted to keep playing competitive soccer in Maryland鈥檚 amateur circuit. They had worked as students at Christos, so when they found themselves in need of the $1,000 entry fee to join Maryland Major Soccer League鈥檚 second division they asked the store-owning Christopoulos family if they would sponsor the club. A partnership was born, one that would spawn a number of amateur champion teams.
But at the end of 2015, everything went to another level. Christos joined with the Maryland Bays, another successful local club that was struggling to keep its membership up. It was a merger that made sense and paid immediate dividends, as Christos FC won a pair of national titles, the U.S. Adult Soccer Association Amateur Cup and the Werner Fricker Open Cup.
Just winning the amateur title was only good enough to get Christos FC into the preliminary qualifying rounds of the Open Cup. From there, they faced a tough test against D.C. area side Aegean Hawks, who pushed them to overtime. Pete Caringi III, the team鈥檚 leading scorer who had to coach for his job over at UMBC that day, raced to the field to try to get there in time to join in as a late sub, only to arrive to find Christos celebrating a 3-1 OT victory.
In their next qualifier, Christos drew Pennsylvania鈥檚 West Chester United and eeked out a hard-fought, 1-0 victory to advance to the first official round of the Open Cup. They jumped all over Fredricksburg FC to the tune of a 3-0 victory, setting up a much more interesting test on the road against United Soccer League side Richmond Kickers, a second-tier pro team.
Before facing Christos FC, Kickers players casually talked about the opportunity to get 鈥渢hree or four goals in the back of the net,鈥� seemingly expecting to cruise to a win.
鈥淭hey think that we鈥檙e all just big, fat guys that literally just drink seven days a week and somehow we got here,鈥� said Caringi, who was selected in the MLS SuperDraft out of college and played one year in the USL before going into coaching.
The Kickers got none. But late in the game, midfielder Geaton Caltabiano scored for Christos. They snagged a 1-0 win and advanced to play Chicago FC United, a Professional Development League team, two weeks ago 鈥� in Chicago. They raised $8,000 through a GoFundMe to help pay for expenses, but ended up paying for the trip through their play.
An early goal put Christos up early and they held on for another 1-0 victory. Three wins, three shutouts, and as the amateur side advancing furthest in the competition, a cool $15,000. Oh, and a date with D.C. United.
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Catching up with members of Christos FC isn鈥檛 as easy as simply dropping in on practice, though. Because they don鈥檛 do that. Practice, that is.
As a team full of working adults, there simply isn鈥檛 any time to get everyone together. There are professional obligations and family obligations, so games are the only official events. How then, you might ask, can they be any good at playing together?
鈥淎 lot of the guys played with each other in college, or against each other, and then after college we鈥檝e all been playing with or against each other, so everyone knows each other real well,鈥� said Chris Taylor, chatting during a break from his job at an audio/video equipment distributor in an office park in Timonium, Maryland.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all pretty much best friends, so even without soccer we all see each other all the time. Even if we weren鈥檛 playing, we鈥檇 still be hanging out and seeing each other.鈥�
Many of the relationships go back even further, to high school or even middle school. Taylor, 30, attended Archbishop Curley, then Loyola Maryland, where he was captain of the men鈥檚 soccer team his junior and senior year. Taylor was with the Bays until 2015 鈥� now he鈥檚 at center back for Christos FC on Sundays, when he鈥檚 not traveling for work. The partnership between his old club and new one made perfect sense to Taylor.
鈥淚 think we were both competitive as it was, and we were all friends with each other 鈥� our coaches were best friends,鈥� he said.
Across town on the Under Armour campus, Christopher Ports, 30, is enjoying the moment. Walking the sidewalks between the company buildings, a coworker waves from across the street.
鈥淚 think they鈥檙e setting up an autograph session for you later!鈥� he shouts at Ports, jokingly.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been pretty crazy to see this thing kind of snowball and take on a life of its own,鈥� said Ports.
A John Carroll and York University graduate, Ports is a sales manager for the Eastern Region for a few of Under Armour鈥檚 sports, including soccer. When he can make the games, he鈥檚 a midfielder.
Both Ports and Taylor missed the game in Richmond because of work. But they were each determined to make it to Chicago. Ports was in Texas on business, but caught a flight from Austin that landed just a couple hours before kick, then rushed straight to the park to get ready. He started and played 60 minutes. Taylor traveled with the team to Chicago, but had to bail first thing the following morning, flying into Philly at 6 a.m. to make it to trade show on time.
They鈥檝e pieced it together, working around everyone鈥檚 work schedules, winning the whole way. On Tuesday, it鈥檒l be all hands on deck.
鈥淚 think this one we鈥檝e got our full squad showing up, so it should be exciting,鈥� said Taylor.
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Amateur teams have a less than storied history in this tournament. In 2004, the first year USASA teams qualified for the Open Cup, seven of the eight went down in the first round. Dallas Roma made the fourth round in 2006, beating MLS side Chivas USA before being defeated by LA Galaxy. No local qualifier has made it as far or beaten an MLS team since, and few have even had the chance.
Christos won鈥檛 be sneaking up on Ben Olsen鈥檚 crew, but the matchups seem like they might wipe out some, if not all, of D.C.鈥檚 advantages. United has struggled to score this year, going scoreless in five of their last six games. They鈥檒l likely field a starting 11 of reserves, who haven鈥檛 seen a ton of game action together. And the crowd could turn this 鈥渉ome鈥� game into anything but.
鈥淚t seems like everyone鈥檚 kind of rallying behind us,鈥� said Taylor. 鈥淚t should be a great atmosphere, one of the best we鈥檝e played in in quite a long time.鈥�
That might be an understatement. As of Monday night, for a 6,500-person capacity venue. There are at least five buses of Christos FC supporters coming from the Baltimore area, including one full of Ports鈥� coworkers at Under Armour. Christos FC will hope to lean on that support and their familiarity with one another to perhaps pull their biggest upset of all.
鈥淐hemistry-wise, I think we鈥檙e better than any team we face,鈥� said Caringi.
But as confident as the team is, they鈥檙e realistic about what they鈥檙e up against.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e probably going to be 鈥� no, they鈥檙e not probably 鈥� they鈥檙e definitely going to be more fit than we are,鈥� said Taylor. 鈥淭hey may be a little bit better skilled, but not that much of a gap. So we鈥檙e just going to go out and play them straight up and not really change anything up.鈥�
Why would they change anything now? Everything has worked out just fine so far for Christos FC. And the worst that can happen Tuesday night is that they walk away with the story they鈥檒l have for the rest of their lives.
鈥淕etting to step on the field with D.C., that鈥檚 pretty special,鈥� said Ports. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a lot of fun and something we鈥檒l be able to hold onto for a long time.鈥�
