Interview by Mike Woitalla Ben Gucciardi is the founder of Soccer Without Borders, which isentering its second decade of providing soccer programs for under-served youth in the USA and abroad. Also known as Futbol Sin Fronteras, SWB started in Oakland, California, and its year-roundprograms in the USA serve more than 1,000 children in Oakland, Baltimore, […]
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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Reyna and Fuentes strike for U.S. U-15 boys in Croatia
The U.S. U-15 boys national team, coached by Dave van den Bergh, fell to host Croatia (2-1) and Serbia (2-0), and beat Montenegro (1-0) at a four-team tournament in Zagreb. Giovanni Reyna (NYCFC) scored the decider against Montenegro. Gilbert Fuentes of Northern California’s Ballistic United scored the consolation goal againstCroatia. The U-15s had won their […]
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Tony DiCicco on the high school ban, coaching education and the future of girls soccer
Interview by Mike Woitalla Tony DiCicco, who coached the U.S. women to the 1996 Olympic gold medal, the 1999 Women’s World Cup title and the 2008 U-20 Women’sWorld Cup crown, spoke with us about the changing landscape of girls soccer in the USA. The U.S. Soccer Federation is launching a Girls Development Academy in 2017. […]
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License-mania — aggrandizing the coach in a player's game
By Mike Woitalla It’s not easy to become a USSF-licensed elite soccer coach: “You must pass six licenses. … The failure rate is high — I haven’t had time to check this data but it’s often well above 30 percent of license-seekers who are told, ‘No. Come back again when you’re ready.’ It’s difficult to […]
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Birth-year registration: The transition is upon us
By Mike Woitalla Will my child be changing teams? Will she be playing “up” if she stays with her current team? Will he move to what had been the “younger” team? Willmy 12th grader even have a club team during her senior year of high school? When U.S. Soccer (USSF) last August announced a change […]
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Andres Cantor on Hispanic support for the USA, MLS, women's game and his toughest assignment
By Mike Woitalla@MikeWoitalla Andres Cantor has inked a multi-year contract extensionwith Telemundo, which sets him up to do play-by-play for the next two World Cups. For TV and radio, Cantor’s has already covered seven World Cups, after his first as a print journalist.A career he couldn’t have imagined when as a teen he described moving […]
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Thank goodness for 'Rock 'n' Roll Soccer'
By Mike Woitalla@MikeWoitalla One of my favorite soccer memories: I was 13, sitting next to my grandfather who was visiting us from Germany, in Aloha Stadium watching Team Hawaii play the Las Vegas Quicksilvers. I noticed that Opa, not a man prone to demonstrating excitement, was practically giddy. “Michael, that’s Eusebio!” he said. “The world’s […]
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Youth leaders react to change to soccer's registration cutoff date
By Mike Woitalla On Monday, U.S. Soccer announced to twoinitiatives that will be mandated by August 2017. One was the standardization of small-sided games through age U-12. Fewer players on age-appropriate fields — that has been the trend in Americanyouth soccer for quite a while now. It is the second initiative that greatly alters the […]
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U.S. Soccer mandates major changes, altering birth-year registration and standardizing small-sided format
By Mike Woitalla U.S. Soccer has mandated a significant alteration in how American soccer will be organized — changing the birth-year registration from an August-July format toJanuary-December. The current cutoff date in American youth soccer is Aug. 1. The summer date has been common in U.S. youth sports, inspired by its correlation to the academic […]
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U.S. Soccer OKs caps for refs
By Mike Woitalla Kudos to the U.S. Soccer Federation, which has announced its approval for referees to wear caps. Previous wording in U.S. Soccer’s“Advise to Referees on the Laws of the Game” stated that, “Hats or caps are not part of the officially accepted uniform …” Recent reporting by Soccer America referee columnist Randy Vogt […]