| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | June 29, 1969 | ||
| Place of birth | Saigon, Vietnam | ||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward / Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1984–1986, 1988 | UC San Diego Tritons | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1990 | San Diego Nomads | ||
| 1989–1991 | San Diego Sockers (indoor) | 26 | (1) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Thien Nguyen is a retired Vietnamese-American soccer player. He played professionally in the Western Soccer Alliance and Major Indoor Soccer League.
Born in South Vietnam, Nyguyen grew up in southern California. He graduated from Madison High School and attended UC San Diego where he played on the men's soccer team from 1984 to 1986 and again in 1988. In 1988, the Tritons went undefeated as they claimed the 1988 NCAA Men's Division III Soccer Championship. [1] Nguyen holds the Tritons career assists record with thirty-six and is sixth on the career points list with seventy-four.
In 1988, Nguyen played for the San Diego Nomads of the Western Soccer Alliance. He continued to play for the Nomads each summer until they withdrew from the league following the 1990 season. In 1989, the Nomads won the league title before falling to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the national championship. [2] In October 1989, Nguyen signed as a developmental player with the San Diego Sockers of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He played twenty-three games for the Sockers’ first team during the 1989–1990 season. The Sockers signed him again for the 1990–1991 season, but released Nguyen in November 1990 as he decided to pursue his graduate studies.
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.
Rob Ryerson is a retired U.S. soccer forward who played professionally, both indoor and outdoor soccer, for at least seven years. He last coached the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers men's soccer program before it disbanded in 2012.
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Paul Wright is a U.S. soccer forward who spent most of his career in the U.S. indoor leagues. He began his career with the San Diego Nomads in the Western Soccer Alliance, led the American Professional Soccer League in scoring in 1994 and played four seasons with the Kansas City Wizards in Major League Soccer. He currently plays for the San Diego Sockers of the Professional Arena Soccer League.
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The American Soccer League has been a name used by four different professional soccer sports league in the United States. In 1988, the third American Soccer League was created as an East Coast counterpart to the West Coast-based Western Soccer Alliance. The third iteration of the ASL lasted only two seasons, merging with the WSA in 1990 to form the American Professional Soccer League.
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.