Alex Skotarek

Last updated
Alex Skotarek
Personal information
Full name Alexander Skotarek
Date of birth (1949-04-02) April 2, 1949 (age 74)
Place of birth Sindelfingen, Germany
Position(s) Defender
College career
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1968 Michigan State Spartans
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1971–1972 MVV Maastricht 14 (1)
1973–1975 Diepenbeek VV 53 (8)
1975–1977 Chicago Sting 66 (2)
1978–1981 Tulsa Roughnecks 68 (0)
1979–1980 Tulsa Roughnecks (indoor) 12 (1)
International career
1975–1976 United States 10 (0)
Managerial career
1978 Tulsa Roughnecks
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alexander Skotarek (born April 2, 1949) is a retired German American soccer defender. He played in both Europe and the North American Soccer League during the 1970s and early 1980s. He also earned ten caps with the U.S. national team in 1975 and 1976. His parents are from Poland.

Contents

Player

College

Skotarek attended Michigan State University where he played on the men's soccer team. He is tied for seventh on Michigan State's season assists list with nine in 1968. [1] That season, Michigan State and Maryland were declared co-champions in the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship after the game remained tied at 2-2 after two overtimes.

Club career

Following college, Skotarek pursued a professional career in Europe. He spent at least the 1971 and 1972 seasons with Dutch First Division club MVV Maastricht. [2] [3] Prior to the 1973 season, he was transferred from MVV to a Belgian club from Diepenbeek. [4] [5]

In 1975, he returned to the U.S. and signed with the Chicago Sting of the North American Soccer League (NASL). He spent three seasons in Chicago before being traded to the Tulsa Roughnecks. He then played with the Roughnecks from 1978 through 1981. However, in 1981, he saw time in only one game and retired from playing professional soccer.

National team

Skotarek played ten times for the U.S. national team in 1975 and 1976. Skotarek's first game with the national team came on August 19, 1975, in a 3-1 loss to Mexico. He played one more game that year, another loss to Mexico six days later. His next eight games all came in 1976, five of them were first-round qualification games for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. However, the U.S. was eliminated after losing 3-0 to Canada in a tiebreaker game played in Haiti. [6] Skotarek was also on the Team America roster for the USA Bicentennial Cup which pitted a mixture of U.S. national team players and NASL stars against the national teams of England, Brazil and Italy.

Coach and general manager

In 1978, Skotarek was the interim head coach of the Tulsa Roughnecks during part of its inaugural season. In July 1982, he became the team's general manager. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American Soccer League (1968–1984)</span> Defunct major soccer league in the United States and Canada

The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It was the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the United States. The league final was called the Soccer Bowl from 1975 to 1983 and the Soccer Bowl Series in its final year, 1984. The league was headed by Commissioner Phil Woosnam from 1969 to 1983. The NASL laid the foundations for soccer in the United States that helped lead to the country hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the set-up of Major League Soccer (MLS) in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984)</span> Defunct American soccer club

The Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) were a North American Soccer League (NASL) team from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It played its home games at Skelly Stadium on the campus of the University of Tulsa. The team, previously Team Hawaii, moved to Tulsa after the 1977 season. In 1983, Alex Skotarek became general manager and led one of the lowest-budgeted teams in the NASL to a championship, defeating Toronto, 2–0, at Soccer Bowl '83.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Kicks</span> Defunct American soccer club

The Minnesota Kicks was a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL). Initially known as the Denver Dynamos, the team relocated and became the Minnesota Kicks in 1976. The Kicks quickly became one of the league's more popular teams, with an average attendance of 23,120 fans per game in 1976. The Kicks won their division four years in a row from 1976 to 1979. The Kicks drew over 23,000 fans in each season from 1976 to 1979, with attendance peaking at 32,775 in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallas Tornado</span> Soccer club

The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Brand</span> German-Canadian soccer player

Jack Brand is a Canadian retired professional soccer goalkeeper. He holds the record for most shutouts in a season in the North American Soccer League with 15 in 1980. He was born in Braunschweig, West Germany. In 2008, Jack was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame

Winston DuBose is an American former soccer goalkeeper who spent eight seasons in the North American Soccer League, four in the American Professional Soccer League and one in the American Indoor Soccer Association. He also earned fourteen caps with the United States men's national soccer team.

Mike Connell is a former professional footballer who spent most of his career as a defender. He played professionally in his native South Africa as well as in the North American Soccer League (NASL), mostly with the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Billy Gazonas is a former U.S. soccer midfielder who won the 1977 Hermann Trophy as the top collegiate soccer player of the year. He played four seasons in the North American Soccer League and several in Major Indoor Soccer League.

Njego Pesa is a former American soccer forward who played in the North American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League. He earned seven caps with the U.S. national team.

Don Droege is a former U.S. soccer defender who played seven seasons in the North American Soccer League and three seasons in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He also earned eight caps with the U.S. national team between 1977 and 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Bradley</span> English-American association football player

Gordon Bradley was an English-American soccer midfielder born and raised on Wearside who played several seasons with lower-division English clubs before moving to play in Canada at the age of 30. During the Canadian off-season, he played and coached in the U.S.-based German American Soccer League. In 1971, he became a player and head coach for the New York Cosmos. In addition to coaching the Cosmos, he has coached the U.S. national team and at the collegiate and high school levels. Bradley also earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1973. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Cohen</span> American professional soccer player (born 1955)

Neil Cohen is a former U.S. soccer defender. He played eight seasons in the North American Soccer League and six in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He also earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1976. In 2008, Neil was elected to the FC Dallas, "Texans Credit Union Walk of Fame" for his contributions to soccer in Texas.

Bruce Rudroff was a U.S. soccer defender. Rudroff played three seasons in the North American Soccer League and four in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He also earned two caps with the U.S. national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janusz Kowalik</span> Polish footballer

Janusz "John" Kowalik is a Polish former association football striker who scored prolifically in both the European leagues and the North American Soccer League. He was the 1968 NASL MVP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Mitchell (footballer)</span> Scottish American soccer player and coach

Charlie Mitchell is a Scottish American former soccer defender and coach. He played ten seasons in the North American Soccer League from 1970 to 1979.

Victor "Vic" Moreland is a retired professional footballer from Northern Ireland who began his career in Northern Ireland, spent two seasons in the Football League before moving to the United States. He then played six seasons in the North American Soccer League, seven in the Major Indoor Soccer League as well as several seasons in several lower division indoor and outdoor leagues.

Delroy Allen is a retired Jamaican-American soccer goalkeeper who played professionally in the North American Soccer League, American Soccer League and United Soccer League.

Kevin Handlan is a retired American soccer defender who played professionally in the North American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League. He currently works for the McInnis Group.

The 1978 NASL Skelly Invitational was a four-team indoor soccer tournament held in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Tulsa Assembly Center on the first weekend of March 1979.

Tibor Molnar is a Hungarian former footballer who played as a midfielder in the North American Soccer League, the Canadian National Soccer League, and the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1970s and early 1980s.

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2007-07-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ "FC Twente - wedstrijden". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
  3. ↑ "MVV deelt winst met FC Groningen" (in Dutch). Nieuwe Leidsche Courant. 1972-05-15. Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  4. ↑ "CONTENTdm". digital.la84.org. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  5. ↑ "Eredivisie klaar voor seizoen 1973" (in Dutch). Nieuwe Leidsche Courant. 1973-08-11. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  6. ↑ "USA - Details of International Matches 1970-1979". Rsssf.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  7. ↑ "Inside Oklahoma". The Daily Oklahoman. July 24, 1982.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.