Crow, who starred at San Diego State, played for the Ron Newman-coached San Diego Sockers during the NASL’s final twoseasons of 1983-84, and for the Major Indoor Soccer League Sockers through 1992, winning seven MISL titles. He spent the next decade of his career as a business manager outside of soccer beforebecoming general manager of […]
Mike Woitalla
Soccer America Executive Editor Mike Woitalla has written freelance articles about soccer for more than 30 media outlets in nine nations. The winner of eight United Soccer Coaches Writing Contest awards, he is the author of two books. He coaches and referees youth soccer, and is a "Soccer Without Borders" volunteer.
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Rising U.S. star Naomi Girma on prepping for postponed U-20 World Cup, virtual team-building, and falling in love with soccer with a free-play start
As a young girl, being inside the house didn’t stop Naomi Girma from playing soccer. She and her older brother, Nathaniel, kicked around frequently in theliving room. Since then, the20-year-old played in the 2016 U-17 World Cup and the 2018 U-20 World Cup. She co-captained the 2019 NCAA College Cup champ Stanford and captained the […]
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U.S. Soccer's role in youth soccer will change dramatically. For better or worse?
The future of the Girls Development Academy was already in doubt, pre-coronavirus, because of the defections of major clubs to the ECNL. Now the Boys DA is on very shaky ground. As of Tuesday,April 14, U.S. Soccer had yet to cancel the remainder of the 2019-20 Development Academy season. The pandemic may have created too […]
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New Yorker Joe Barone on life in Italy and running a Serie A club amid COVID-19
Last summer, New Yorker Rocco B. Commisso acquired ownership of Italian Serie A club ACF Fiorentina and named Joe Barone, who had also immigrated to New York as achild, club CEO. Barone, who was senior vice president of Commisso-owned New York Cosmos, had served as chairman of the NPSL from 2013 to 2018. Commisso and […]
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New U.S. U-15 boss Gonzalo Segares on his path from Costa Rica to the USA, and shifting from pro player to youth coach
Gonzalo Segares, who went straight into youth coaching upon retiring from a decade-plus professional playing career, became the U.S. U-15 boys national team head coach in January. TheCosta Rican came to the USA to play for Virginia Commonwealth University in 2001 and played more than 200 MLS games for the Chicago Fire. The defender’s 19 […]
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SA Trivia: MLS teams that changed their nicknames
Four MLS teams — all founding members of 1996 — changed their monikers, and one of them did so twice. Can you recall the original nicknames? FC Dallas1996-2004 Dallas Burn New York RedBulls1996-2005 New York/New Jersey MetroStars Sporting Kansas City1997-2010 Kansas City Wizards1996 Kansas City Wiz San JoseEarthquakes1996-98 San Jose Clash More SA MLS Trivia: […]
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Rio Grande Valley's young talent trove is finally provided with a pathway
I knew that a variety of people contributed to the unique soccer program that’s providing unprecedented opportunities for young talent in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. I didn’t expect that meeting one of them would lead me to a Natal Intensive Care Unit. After Rio Grande Valley Toros’ Youth AcademyDirector Rafael Amaya gave me a tour of […]
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VfB Stuttgart hires American Pellegrino Matarazzo as head coach
New Jersey-born Pellegrino Matarazzo, who played college ball at Columbia University, is the new head coach of VfB Stuttgart, which is aiming to return to the Bundesliga firstdivision after being relegated last season. Matarazzo replaces Tim Walter, who arrived at this season’s start. Although VfB Stuttgart is in third-place, the club that had beenin the […]
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U.S. Soccer set to tackle ref abuse — and our suggestions
After collecting data by surveying current and former referees, the Referee Working Group of U.S. Soccer’s Youth Task Force has determined the need for U.S. Soccer to launch a campaign to combatreferee abuse. TheRefereeing Working Group, one of the six groups that comprise the Task Force created in 2018, launched a formal study to confirm […]
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Barry Pauwels on U.S. Soccer's Belgian-Dutch leadership, Raphael Wicky's expertise, and the Youth Task Force
Barry Pauwels, who arrived from Belgium, has been U.S. Soccer’s Director of Coach Education for nearly two years. He succeeded Nico Romeijn, the Dutchman whoafter serving in that role since 2015 became U.S. Soccer’s Chief Sport Development Officer. Pauwels also served as an assistant coach along with Canadian Ante Jazic to SwissRaphael Wicky during the […]