Thomas Eddy Rongen is a Dutch-American football coach who has spent the majority of his playing and coaching career in the United States. In December 2016, he was named Chief Scout of the United States men's national soccer team. Rongen won the MLS Coach of the Year award in MLS's inaugural season in 1996, leading the Tampa Bay Mutiny to the best regular-season record. His stint managing the American Samoa national team was covered in the 2014 documentary Next Goal Wins, and the 2023 biographical comedy-drama also called Next Goal Wins.
The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alliance. In 1989, it existed for a single year as the Western Soccer League before merging with the American Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League in 1990.
San Francisco Bay Blackhawks were a professional soccer team which came into existence in 1989 as a team in the Western Soccer League (WSL). The Blackhawks spent time in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL). In 1993, the team competed in USISL as the San Jose Hawks, but left organized competition at the end of the season.
The Miami Sharks were an inaugural franchise of the third incarnation of the American Soccer League in 1988. The team was renamed the Miami Freedom and joined the American Professional Soccer League in 1990 when the ASL merged with the Western Soccer League. The club played in the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.
Geoffrey"Geoff"Edward Ramer Aunger is a former Canadian soccer player. He played in various Canadian leagues and the lower tiers of the English leagues system before playing in the United States in the A-League and Major League Soccer. Aunger was also a member of the Canadian national soccer team member.
Portland Timbers, previously known as F.C. Portland, came into existence in 1985 as an independent U.S. soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. In 1989, the team adopted the name Portland Timbers. Portland was composed of both professional and amateur players. The amateur players largely came from local Portland amateur leagues. It played its games in Portland's Civic Stadium.
Shawn Medved is a retired American soccer forward and midfielder. Currently, he coaches youth soccer.
The Boston Bolts were a short lived U.S. soccer team which came into existence in 1988 as a member of the third American Soccer League (ASL). They played in Boston, Massachusetts at Nickerson Field. The team joined the American Professional Soccer League in 1990 when the ASL merged with the Western Soccer League.
Denis Hamlett is a Costa Rican-American former professional soccer player.
The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were an American soccer team established in 1988 as part of the third American Soccer League. In 1990, it moved to the American Professional Soccer League where it spent five seasons before folding in 1994. The Strikers won the 1989 ASL championship, as well as the 1989 National Pro Soccer Championship.
The Canadian Soccer League was a Division 1 professional soccer league that operated for six seasons between 1987 and 1992. It was a nationwide league that had teams in six provinces over the course of its history. It was the last top-division league in Canada until the Canadian Premier League began play in 2019.
Marcelo Carrera is an Argentine retired footballer who played both indoor and outdoor soccer in the United States for the nearly a dozen teams.
Ken Fogarty is a soccer coach. Fogarty was Head Coach and Technical Director of the Cayman Islands national team from 1993 to 1994 and from 1996 to 1998.
Overview of the 1990 American Professional Soccer League season. Although the Western Soccer League and the American Soccer League merged to form the American Professional Soccer League in 1990, the two leagues remained essentially independent leagues, linked by name alone. During this season, they ran separate regular season schedules with two different points systems. They each had their own playoff formats, had separate league MVPs and had their own All-League teams. The first game between the two leagues came in September when the Maryland Bays of the American Soccer League defeated the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks of the Western Soccer League for the American Professional Soccer League championship.
The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It was the first outdoor soccer league to feature teams from throughout the United States since the demise of the North American Soccer League in 1984.
The 1989 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season was the second season of the team in the new American Soccer League. It was the club's twenty-third season in professional soccer. The team finished in second place in the Southern Division, and made it through the playoffs and into the ASL Championship. They became the 1989 Champions. They also won the 1989 National Pro Soccer Championship which pitted the ASL Champions against the Western Soccer League Champions in a unification match to determine a national champion. Following the season, the American Soccer League merged with the WSL to form the American Professional Soccer League in 1990. The team would be absorbed into the new league and continue to play there.
The 1994 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season was the team's fifth and final year competing in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL), and it marked the club's twenty-eighth overall season in professional soccer. That year, the Strikers finished in fifth place in the regular season standings, failing to qualify for the playoffs. Financial difficulties and organizational changes across the league contributed to a difficult season for the team.
The 1993 Vancouver 86ers season was the club's eighth year of existence, as well as their first as a Division 2 club in the franchise model of U.S.-based soccer leagues. After their 1992 CSL season, the CSL folded and the Whitecaps joined the American Professional Soccer League for the 1993 season. They continued the tradition of excellence from the CSL capturing the Commissioner’s Cup but losing the playoff semifinal in a shootout to the Los Angeles Salsa.
The Professional Cup was an international soccer tournament that took place in 1992 and involved eight, professional clubs from three different leagues in North America; the American Professional Soccer League, the Canadian Soccer League, and the National Professional Soccer League. Although it was billed as "inaugural" this would be the only year that the tournament was played.
1989 National Pro Soccer Championship was the championship final for professional soccer in the U.S. in 1989. The match was contested on September 9, 1989. The WSL Champion, San Diego Nomads took on the ASL Champion, Fort Lauderdale Strikers in order to crown a national professional champion for the first time since 1984. The game was played at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California.
Joe Robbie 
