By Mike Woitalla I ask Brian Glanville how many books he’s written, and he answers, “Too many.” It’s actually about 60, more than half ofwhich are soccer books, fiction and non-fiction, from the man who started his sports journalism career as a teenager, has covered 13 World Cups, and at age 86 writes regularly for […]
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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A coach's life: Benjamin Ziemer combines backyard brotherhood experience with worldwide lessons
By Mike Woitalla Benjamin Ziemer, one of four brothers of the renowned Northern California Ziemer soccer family, serves as the Sacramento Republic’s boys Development Academy U-19 head coach and U-17 assistant, and is a founder and the president of NorCal Premier Soccer. Ziemer, who served as assistant to Hugo Perez on the U-14 and U-15 […]
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Werder Bremen 'delighted' to land 17-year-old Sargent
Josh Sargent, the 17-year-old St. Louis product who played in the U-20 World Cup earlier this year and is heading to the U-17 World Cup next month, will sign a pro contract withBundesliga club Werder Bremen when he turns 18 on Feb. 20. “It’s been very fun, travelingaround the world, looking at different clubs and […]
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A coach's life: MLS veteran Eric Quill returns to his Texas youth club and wins another national title
By Mike Woitalla Eric Quill played on the U-16 U.S. Youth Soccer 1994 national championship-winning Houston Texans team coached by legendary youth coachRoy Rees. During Quill’s nine-year MLS career, his coaches included Bob Gansler and Bob Bradley. After his playing career, Quillreturned to his childhood club and this summer guided Texans SC Houston to the […]
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Galaxy coach Brian Kleiban has the American Messi's back
By Mike Woitalla@MikeWoitalla Growing up in Southern California, the son of Argentine parents,Brian Kleiban admired Fernando Redondo, Ariel Ortega, Pablo Aimar, Juan Roman Riquelme and JuanVeron — creative Argentine players and predecessors to Lionel Messi. After Kleiban started coaching youth soccer, he made annual internship trips to FCBarcelona. Why couldn’t the USA produce players like […]
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Venerable Queens club BW Gottschee going strong thanks to Ben Boehm
By Mike Woitalla It’s a Sunday morning in Queens and Ben Boehm is smiling like a man about to spend a day doing what he really enjoys. For Boehm,that’s being at the soccer field. When he was a boy, to play pickup games at Highland Park, he would walk a mile and half to save […]
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USA youth teams are on a roll
By Mike Woitalla In March, the Tab Ramos-coached USA won the Concacaf U-20 Championship for the first time while qualifying for the 2017 U-20 World Cup. En routeto the regional title, it celebrated a 1-0 win over three-time defending Concacaf champion Mexico that marked the USA’s first U-20 win over El Tri at the Concacaf […]
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The timing's perfect for Gordon Jago's autobiography
By Mike Woitalla A crowd of 19,417 showed up to the Cotton Bowl on Sunday to watch youth soccer. As part of the triple-header on the opening day of Dallas Cup U-19 Gordon Jago Super Group play, FC Dallas beat Everton, 5-0, and Chivas Guadalajara downed Manchester United, 4-1. Among those in the stands, Gordon […]
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American teens see first-team action in Germany
By Mike Woitalla The international break created opportunities for three U.S. teenagers to see friendly game action with their Bundesliga clubs. WestonMcKennie and Nick Taitague made their first-team debuts at Schalke 04 in a 3-1 loss to second division Hannover, while McKinze Gaines saw first-team actionfor VfL Wolfsburg in a 1-1 tie with second division […]
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SA's Paul Kennedy to receive Colin Jose Media Award
Soccer America editor-in-chief Paul Kennedy has been awarded the National Soccer Hall of Fame’s 2016 Colin Jose Media Award. He will receive the award at the March 24 ceremonyat which U.S. women’s national team legends Brandi Chastain and Shannon MacMillan will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place atSan Jose’s […]