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|Largest loss = {{fb|United States}} 1 – 7 {{fb-rt|Germany}}<br />([[California]], [[United States]]; August 26, 1984)
|Largest loss = {{fb|United States}} 1 – 7 {{fb-rt|Germany}}<br />([[California]], [[United States]]; August 26, 1984)
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'''Team America''' was a professional version of the [[United States men's national soccer team]] which played as a franchise in the [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|North American Soccer League]] (NASL) during the 1983 season. The team was based in [[Washington, D.C.]], played its home games at [[RFK Stadium]], and was intended by the NASL and the [[United States Soccer Federation]] to build fan support for the league and create a cohesive and internationally competitive national team. However, the team finished in last place and drew only 12,000 fans per game.
'''Team America''' was a professional version of the [[United States men's national soccer team]] which played as a franchise in the [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|North American Soccer League]] (NASL) during the 1983 season. The team was based in [[Washington, D.C.]], played its home games at [[RFK Stadium]], and was intended by the NASL and the [[United States Soccer Federation]] to build fan support for the league and create a cohesive and internationally competitive national team. However, the team finished in last place and drew only 13,000 fans per game.


A "Team America" also played an unofficial exhibition match against [[England national football team|England]] in 1976, to commemorate the bicentennial of [[American Independence]]. The players were drawn from North American Soccer League clubs and included [[Pele]] and [[Bobby Moore]]. The match was played in [[Philadelphia]], and finished 3–1 to England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/MatchRsl/MatchRslUnoff.html |title=England's Unofficial Matches |author=England Football Online |date=February 2008 |work= |publisher= |accessdate=February 26, 2012 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122110105/http://www.englandfootballonline.com/MatchRsl/MatchRslUnoff.html |archivedate=January 22, 2011 |df= }}</ref>
A "Team America" also played an unofficial exhibition match against [[England national football team|England]] in 1976, to commemorate the bicentennial of [[American Independence]]. The players were drawn from North American Soccer League clubs and included [[Pele]] and [[Bobby Moore]]. The match was played in [[Philadelphia]], and finished 3–1 to England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/MatchRsl/MatchRslUnoff.html |title=England's Unofficial Matches |author=England Football Online |date=February 2008 |work= |publisher= |accessdate=February 26, 2012 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122110105/http://www.englandfootballonline.com/MatchRsl/MatchRslUnoff.html |archivedate=January 22, 2011 |df= }}</ref>

Revision as of 18:11, 3 July 2018

Team America
Full nameTeam America
Nickname(s)Team America
Founded1983
Dissolved1983
GroundRFK Stadium,
Washington, D.C.
Capacity55,677
ChairmanRobert Lifton
ManagerAlketas Panagoulias
LeagueNorth American Soccer League
198310–20, Last Place

Team America was a professional version of the United States men's national soccer team which played as a franchise in the North American Soccer League (NASL) during the 1983 season. The team was based in Washington, D.C., played its home games at RFK Stadium, and was intended by the NASL and the United States Soccer Federation to build fan support for the league and create a cohesive and internationally competitive national team. However, the team finished in last place and drew only 13,000 fans per game.

A "Team America" also played an unofficial exhibition match against England in 1976, to commemorate the bicentennial of American Independence. The players were drawn from North American Soccer League clubs and included Pele and Bobby Moore. The match was played in Philadelphia, and finished 3–1 to England.[1]

History

Origins

The origins of Team America came with the ascension of Howard Samuels to the positions of president and CEO of NASL on June 25, 1982. At the time, the league was on the verge of collapsing. The league had 21 teams at the end of the 1981 season, but began the 1982 season with only 14. Attendance was dropping and the league had lost its television contract.[2] To reverse these trends, Samuels proposed turning the league’s focus away from international stars to domestic players in order to create a larger fan base.[3] Samuels’ concept dovetailed with a desire on the part of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to build a more successful national team program. In order to fulfill the twin objectives of nurturing new U.S. talent to reach a greater fan base while feeding that talent into the national team, Samuels and the USSF decided to enter the national team into NASL as a franchise.[4] At the time, U.S. players found it difficult to compete for roster spots against the foreigners who stocked most of the league’s teams. In theory, Team America would only feature U.S. players who would train with each other, fostering a sense of team cohesion which would pay dividends when the U.S. played international games.[3][5] The name Team America was a reference to both the U.S. national team as well as the 1976 Team America, a team which combined U.S. national team players with the addition of several NASL international stars, which played in the 1976 U.S.A. Bicentennial Cup Tournament.[2]

Creating the team

Samuels brought in Robert Lifton as the team owner, and in coordination with Lifton and USSF secured RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. as the team’s home field.[6] In January 1983, the NASL and USSF invited 39 players from the NASL, American Soccer League (ASL) and Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) to tryouts for the 20 available roster spots.[7] However, several top U.S. players, including Rick Davis, Jimmy McAllister, Winston DuBose, David Brcic, and Juli Veee, refused to leave their teams to play for Team America.[8][9] This forced the NASL and USSF to turn to recently naturalized players -- ten of the 21 on the roster (see below) had been born outside the US, including Alan Green, who was still a British subject in 1983 (he finally gained American citizenship the fiollowing year).[10][11] Several top U.S. players did join the club, including Chico Borja, Jeff Durgan, Arnie Mausser and Perry Van der Beck.

Season

Wearing a red, white and blue uniform with a horizontally striped jersey,[12] the team began well, going 8–5, but lost 15 of its last 17 games, finishing at the bottom of the standings with a 10–20 record. (Lack of scoring punch was the biggest problem: they scored just 33 goals on the season, barely one per game and easily the worst in the league.) None of the players were named to the league's All Star team. As the team stumbled through the regular season, Samuels and Lifton became desperate.[13] On July 27, 1983, they announced that they had approached the owners of the other NASL, as well as MISL, teams about loaning U.S. players to Team America on a game by game basis when the players' regular teams had an idle game day.[14] However, MISL refused the NASL/USSF request for player loans, citing the NASL policy forbidding teams in that league from loaning its players to MISL.[15] Lack of success on the field led to tensions among U.S. national team players. Some, such as Jeff Durgan, publicly criticized Rick Davis and Steve Moyers for choosing to remain with the Cosmos rather than signing with Team America.[16] Mark Peterson, the North American Soccer League's player of the year in 1982, began the season with the Seattle Sounders, but joined Team America during the 1983 season after receiving severe criticism from other U.S. players.[17]

Demise

The team's initial attendance figures were decent enough: an average of 19,952 through the first seven home matches.[18] (This was a little misleading, however: the figure includes the 50,108 who attended a match vs. Fort Lauderdale that featured a free Beach Boys concert; the other six matches averaged just 14,926.) As the losses piled up, though, the fans stopped coming to RFK: barely 55,000 showed up for the last eight home games combined, lowering Team America's average to just 13,002 for the entire 1983 season.[19] This was actually third-best in the rapidly-fading 11-team NASL, but it wasn't enough to avoid severe financial losses, especially when coupled with the USSF's inability to finalize several potential marketing deals. At the end of the season, Robert Lifton pulled the plug on the franchise; afterwards, he, Commissioner Samuels and the USSF engaged in much public rancour and wrangling over who was most responsible for this fiasco.[20]

Roster

[21]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK United States USA Arnie Mausser
2 DF United States USA Bruce Savage
3 DF United States USA Tony Bellinger
4 DF United States USA Jeff Durgan
5 DF United States USA Dan Canter
6 MF United States USA Alan Merrick
7 MF United States USA Perry Van der Beck
8 MF United States USA Boris Bandov
9 MF United States USA Andrew Parkinson
10 MF United States USA Rudy Glenn
11 MF United States USA Sonny Askew
No. Pos. Nation Player
12 FW United States USA Rob Olson
13 DF United States USA Tony Crescitelli
14 MF United States USA Hernan "Chico" Borja
15 FW United States USA Mark Peterson
16 DF United States USA Pedro DeBrito
17 DF United States USA Hayden Knight
18 MF United States USA Ringo Cantillo
20 FW United States USA Greg Villa
28 DF United States USA Alan Green
99 GK United States USA Paul Hammond

Year-by-year

Year League W L T Pts Reg. Season Playoffs
1983 NASL 10 20 — 79 4th, Southern Division Did not qualify

See also

References

  1. ^ England Football Online (February 2008). "England's Unofficial Matches". Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b Litterer, Dave (August 15, 2012). "The Year in American Soccer – 1982". sover.net.
  3. ^ a b A Dream Comes True: Team America is Born Archived March 21, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Litterer, Dave (August 17, 2011). "The Year in American Soccer – 1983". sover.net.
  5. ^ Bell, Jack (September 27, 2006). "The Long, Hard Struggle to Mold an American Team". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Gammon, Clive (March 7, 1983). "Red, White, Blue And New". Sports Illustrated.
  7. ^ "Team America Has Field of 39". The New York Times. January 26, 1983.
  8. ^ "Team America's Plight". The New York Times. April 21, 1983.
  9. ^ Falla, Jack (August 22, 1983). "Red, White, Black And Blue". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on May 4, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2017. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Transactions". The New York Times. April 23, 1983.
  11. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; Reluctant Guests". The New York Times. January 28, 1983.
  12. ^ "Team America". nasljerseys.com.
  13. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; Soccer Complaint". The New York Times. August 3, 1983.
  14. ^ "Help for Team America". The New York Times. July 27, 1983.
  15. ^ "M.I.S.L. Ignores Team America". The New York Times. United Press International. May 12, 1983.
  16. ^ STEVE MOYERS
  17. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; Star to Team America". The New York Times. August 9, 1983.
  18. ^ Red, White, Black and Blue Archived 2014-05-04 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ 1983 NASL attendance
  20. ^ Hutcherson, J. "NASL: The Last Commissioner". ussoccerplayers.com.
  21. ^ "NASL Team America Rosters". nasljserseys.com. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
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