Upon hiring Earnie Stewart as general manager for the men’s national team, U.S. Soccer announced that Stewart would be in charge of instilling and supervising a style of playvision. Stewart recently described his style of play vision as: “It has everything to do with the values that we have as Americans. What we think is […]
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.
Posted inStory
Remembering Ron Newman, the delightful American soccer pioneer
It’s impossible to put a number on how many people Ron Newman inspired in American soccer, but I’m one of them. Newman coached the first professional soccer game Isaw in person and ran the first soccer camp I attended. Ron Newman (1934-2018) Photo courtesy of Jon van Woerden Photography At age 6, living in Dallas in […]
Posted inStory
Nico Romeijn and Ryan Mooney on U.S. Soccer coaching education: the Federation's intentions and its capabilities and capacity
Soccer is unique among American sports in many ways. One is that the USA has a governing body, the U.S. Soccer Federation, which regulates who may coach at the which levels, depending on the licensesit grants through its coaching schools. We spoke with U.S. Soccer’s Nico Romeijn (Chief Sport Development Officer) and Ryan Mooney (Chief Soccer […]
Posted inStory
Phil Murphy, Governor of New Jersey, on his love for soccer and the richness of its diversity
Last November, Phil Murphy was elected Governor of New Jersey, succeeding Gov. Chris Christie. Gov. Murphy is also the majority owner of New Jersey’s NWSL club SkyBlue FC, and is a former board member of the U.S. Soccer Foundation. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 2009 to 2013. SOCCER AMERICA: Are you the […]
Posted inStory
Joe Machnik on watching every World Cup game and assessing the performances of referees such as Mark Geiger
How do you watch every game of the World Cup and play a role on how it is presented to a vast TV audience? You sit in a room at the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Moscowwith a few screens and video operators and when cued by a producer you analyze and explain how […]
Posted inStory
From Gre-No-Li to Granqvist: 10 things to know about Sweden
After missing the last two World Cups, Sweden heads into the round of 16 with hopes of recalling its glory years. The Swedes, which won Group F and face Switzerland in the round of 16 on Tuesday, havereached the World Cup semifinals four times (1938, 1950, 1958, 1994) and boast an Olympic gold medal from […]
Posted inStory
The Bruce Arena Book: Why it's worth reading despite the T&T ending
The Bruce Arena book is so good it’d be ripe for a screenplay, if only it had a Hollywood ending. TriStar Pictures turned the strikeout by Bernard Malamud‘s Roy Hobbs into a Robert Redford home run in “The Natural.” But the Arena book, the entertaining and informative memoir from America’s greatest soccer coach, is non-fiction. […]
Posted inStory
Remembering the great Walter Bahr (1927-2018)
I’m thinking about when I was fortunate enough to spend time with Walter Bahr. In 2005, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Bahr during an advance media screening of “The Game of their Lives,” about the USA 1950 World Cup team on which Bahr played, which beat England, 1-0, in one of sports’ […]
Posted inStory
World Cup Retro 1982: Five names to have at your fingertips
Here are five names to have at your fingertips about the 12th World Cup, hosted by Spain and won by Italy. Armando Betancourt. Despite its success at the club level, Spain had underachievedat the World Cup. But even hosting the tournament — which had been expanded from 16 to 24 teams — didn’t bring better […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Bobby Moffat on life in American pro soccer in the 1970s, the charm of Pele, and the NASL's legacy
In 1975, during Bobby Moffat‘s fifth season with the Dallas Tornado, he played against Pele in the Brazilian great’s debut game for the New York Cosmos. It wassomething Moffat couldn’t have imagined during his early years in the old NASL after leaving England at age 24 for the Tornado’s 1970 season. Moffat, whose jobs to […]