Langwa Lands In USL2 With Ocean City Nor’easters

Former Halifax Wanderers defender Ndzemdzela ‘Zoom’ Langwa has landed at his next club after departing from the east coast Canadian Premier League team in 2019.

After trial stints in Romania, Spain, and Germany, the 23-year-old has now signed with the Ocean City Nor’easters in USL2. The semi-professional side had once housed another explosive CPL athlete, Jordan Murrell, in 2013.

Back in the inaugural CPL campaign, Langwa had looked to be in the midst of a very solid debut season with the Halifax Wanderers before the latter half of it was stymied by sideline drama following a touchline blow-out with head coach Stephen Hart. After that, the former Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps, and Ottawa Fury academy product found himself mostly unselected in the closing stages of the campaign before he was ultimately released.

Still, his player statistics looked good: he had made 24 appearances for the Wanderers across all competitions, with the east coast side conceding 1.08 goals per game with him on the pitch versus 1.8 goals per game when he was off it (a figure perhaps skewed by a 6-2 blowout loss to York9 FC which took place without Langwa).

The young defender had been tipped to join Canadian Premier League expansion side Atletico Ottawa for the 2020 season, but the move ultimately fell through in its latter stages, prompting Langwa to state that he had been put on a proverbial blacklist by all eight CPL teams.

Following trials last year in the Romanian second division with Pandurri, Spanish fourth division with Alhaurin de la Torre CF, and Bundesliga side Schalke 04 (where he played a full scrimmage against several members of the first team), it’s fair to say that Langwa has now landed much closer to home with the Ocean City Nor’easters.

Based out of Ocean City, New Jersey, the USL2 side has had a penchant for underdog victories against professional sides, accumulating six US Open Cup victories against professional opponents – the third-most for a semi-professional side behind the Flint Cinty Bucks (where Austin Ricci used to play) and the Des Moines Menace.

This spring has also seen former Atletico Ottawa athlete Malyk Hamilton jump to USL One side North Carolina FC, while Wanderers standout Aboubacar Sissoko signed for USL Championship side Indy Eleven. With the Canadian Premier League still awaiting a season start date, CPL athletes who remained north of the border have now gone over seven months without competitive action.

All-told, it seems clear that Langwa has what it takes to play at the professional level on the pitch, so the move downwards to USL2 will garner a lot of curiosity, perhaps moreso regarding how he gels with the team. If Langwa proves to be a coup for the side at the USL2 level, it’d be a clear springboard for the former Wanderer to jump back into professional action.

The Ocean City Nor’easters will kick off their 2021 USL2 campaign against Real Central New Jersey on Wednesday, May 12.