The Journey: Illal Osmanu

At the age of 18 what would you have been willing to do to pursue your dreams? Could you have imagined getting on a plane, traveling for almost 27 hours, traversing across three continents, and showing up in the middle of the night, with no cell phone, in a place you’ve only heard of recently? In 2016, that was what it took for Union Omaha defender Illal Osmanu to continue to pursue his soccer dreams. Recently I chatted with Illal about his soccer journey to learn more about what led him to become an Owl. 

Every player’s journey starts with the first kick of a ball, and Illal remembers first playing soccer around the age of six with his friends in the yard in Accra, Ghana. During his childhood, his favorite player was Zinedine Zidane and he loved wearing his blue #10 France kit around the house and even to bed.

His first organized play was for Strong Tower FC, in Accra, a club he would be a part of for almost ten years. Due to his love for Zidane, he started out playing forward, but his love of aggressive play and hard slide tackles led his coaches to move him to the backline. He first played right back before settling in as a center back around the age of 14, a position he currently plays for Union Omaha. 

Growing up a part of Strong Tower FC, Illal played with two players currently in the Ghanian national team player pool: Mohammed Kudus (Ajax) and Majeed Ashimeru (Red Bull Salzburg). It was with those budding superstars that Illal would run 20 laps around the field after losses. Illal recalled that the laps would need to be run if the team did not play hard enough, and that the punishment was a vital part of him learning to play hard at a young age. So when you are admiring Illal’s workrate for the Owls be sure to thank his coaches at Strong Tower FC.

At the age of 16, Illal joined the Rising Stars of Africa Academy (RSA) in Accra. To date he remains one of their most impressive success stories. Having begun playing center back full time a few years before, he played center back at the RSA. It was at there that Illal honed the skills in the classroom that he would later put to use in becoming an Academic All American at Marshall. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

According to their website RSA is a “sports development charity whose vision is to offer coaching, education and financial support to talented young people in Ghana and ultimately to give them the chance to fulfill their sporting potential and to unify their local communities through sport.” At the RSA they seek “to create sporting and educational opportunities for those individuals who may otherwise be limited by circumstance.”

At RSA, Illal played alongside future pros such as KingLord Safo (FC Vizela) and Abu Sanunu (Kokkolan Palloveikot). A highlight of this stop on his journey was the first time he left Ghana. The RSA team traveled to a tournament in Benin to play against older opponents. Although they would go on to lose in the final, the two weeks spent hearing a different language and eating different food left a mark on Illal.

Due to RSA’s close relationship with University of Charleston head coach Chris Graisse, Illal became the first RSA graduate to receive a scholarship offer to continue his education in the United States. So, armed with no cell phone, Illal packed his belongings in a suitcase and flew from Accra to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Atlanta, and Atlanta to Charleston, West Virginia, all the while hoping that when he arrived in the middle of the night, someone would miraculously be there to pick him up. 

Thankfully for him, and us, someone was. In Charleston, Illal enjoyed a fantastic freshman season at D-II powerhouse soccer program, University of Charleston. Playing with future Pittsburgh Riverhound Thomas Vancaeyezeele, Illal played left back and of course, his usual center back. In his freshman season, University of Charleston made it all the way to the D-II championship game to face off against another Union Omaha favorite, Elma Nfor. 

Illal recognized Elma as soon as he arrived at practice because “Elma looks exactly the same,” but acknowledged that he had grown a bit since 2016. Elma’s Wingate University won a national title that December day outside of Kansas City, but the success on the pitch led Coach Grassie to Marshall University. Upon Coach Grassie’s return to the school where he had been a grad assistant and received his masters degree, he brought one player with him from University of Charleston: Illal Osmanu.

Illal’s three years at Marshall were capped by a sensational senior season in which the club went 16-3-3, won the regular season Conference USA title, won the Conference USA tournament, earned an eleven seed overall in the NCAA soccer tournament, and had a delicious first round matchup against regional rival West Virginia. That 2-1 victory for the Thundering Herd was Illal’s favorite memory of his time in Huntington, WV.

During his last two collegiate summers, Illal played in USL2. In the summer of 2018, Illal played nine games for the mighty Flint City Bucks and memorably won a game 14-1 at Derby City Rovers. In 2019, Illal was interning for West Virginia Alliance FC as part of earning his sports management degree when he was pressed into service at the end of the season to play center back for six games as other players drifted home for the summer. 

Illal piled up many accolades at Marshall. Of note, a 2019 United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America Team award, and a 2019 All-Conference USA First Team award as well. Finishing his senior season with such recognition and such success should not diminish his whole career, though. At Marshall, Illal missed only two matches and started 58-of-59 matches during his career, playing an average of 88 minutes and 24 seconds per game. For those curious who the next star from Marshall may be, Illal spoke highly of rising senior Pedro Dolabella as a player to watch for the Thundering Herd next season. 

Obviously, the next stop on Illal’s journey was Union Omaha. So how did he get here? After signing with an agent, Union Omaha was the first place that offered Illal a trial. He arrived and immediately impressed everyone. At one point while scouting Union Omaha during their first intrasquad scrimmage at the Omaha Sports Complex, the Creighton coaching staff expressed amazement that he was not already signed to a contract. Illal signed a contract on return from the team’s preseason trip to Utah, and has started all three regular season games at right center back for Los Buhos. Three starts into his professional career, Illal is anchoring the best backline in League One. It is safe to say we should expect big things to come from Illal.

As for what is next, Illal told me he doesn’t like setting anything more than short term goals. So what are those goals? To win as much as possible right now and focus on winning a championship. His theory is that the better you do as a team, the more folks are watching you and the more opportunities will emerge. Anyone who has watched Illal play at Union Omaha knows we’re just one stop on what is sure to be a much longer journey full of successes.