Desmond Armstrong

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Desmond Armstrong
Personal information
Full name	Desmond Armstrong
Date of birth	November 2, 1964 (age 42)
Place of birth	Washington, D.C., United States
Height	6 ft 0 in
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
1982-1985	University of Maryland
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1986-1988 1988-1989 1991 1991-1993 1994-1996	Cleveland Force Baltimore Blast Santos Maryland Bays Charlotte Eagles
National team2
1987–1994	United States	81 (0)
Teams managed
1999-2006	Montreat College
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 May 2006. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 22 June 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Desmond Armstrong (born November 2, 1964 in Washington, D.C.) is an American former soccer defender and midfielder, who was a member of the U.S. national team from 1987 to 1994.

Contents 1 Early years 1.1 College 2 Club career 3 National team 4 Post-retirement 5 References

[edit] Early years

Armstrong was born and raised in Washington, D.C. When he was 11, a local youth soccer coach spotted Amstrong playing soccer and recruited him into the coach's youth team. From that point on Armstrong moved into high school, college, and national team soccer. He attended Howard High School in Ellicott City, Maryland.

[edit] College

Armstrong's college career was spent at the University of Maryland, where he was first team All ACC in 1984 and 1985 and second team All ACC in 1983. He played in a total of 78 games for the university, tallying 24 goals and 18 assists.

[edit] Club career

In 1986, he was part of the Fairfax Spartans club which won the National Amateur Cup, defeating St. Louis Busch 3-0. The Spartans featured other national team players John Kerr, Bruce Murray and John Stollmeyer in addition to Armstrong.

He played two seasons for the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1986 to 1988. At the end of the 1987-1988 season, he transfered to the Baltimore Blast. However, on January 14, 1989, he broke his leg mid way through the season. In February 1991, he signed with Santos of the Brazilian First Division. However, later that year he was back in the U.S. playing for the Maryland Bays, in the APSL. That year, the Bays made it to the league semifinals before falling to the Albany Capitals. He spent two years with the Charlotte Eagles of the USISL before retiring from playing professionally in 1996.

[edit] National team

His first appearance for the United States national team came in 1987 in a match against Egypt. He was also a member of the Olympic team in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. His performance with the Olympic team made him a mainstay on the national team through the early 1990s, playing in all three of USA's games of the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Although he never scored a goal in international competition, he remains one of the team's all-time cap leaders with 81 total appearances.

[edit] Post-retirement

Since his retirement from international soccer, he has remained active in coaching and community initiatives. He has spent time organizing for inner-city Christian Ministries programs such as Soccer Beats (now Heroes FC). In 2000 he was named as the national coaching director for the program Soccer in the Streets. In 1999, he became the head coach of the Montreat College Cavaliers in Montreat, North Carolina which play in the NAIA. He remained in this position until his retirement in 2006. Armstrong also coached the youth team HFC Vipers of Asheville, North Carolina during 2000-2002. After leaving Montreat, Armstrong joined the youth club, Bethesda Roadrunners, as its head coach.

Armstrong has worked for ABC Sports. During the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Armstrong was an ESPN studio analyst.

[edit] References

• USA Soccer players.com
• Montreat College

	United States squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup
1 Meola | 2 Trittschuh | 3 Doyle | 4 Banks | 5 Windischmann | 6 Harkes | 7 Ramos | 8 Bliss | 9 Sullivan | 10 Vermes | 11 Wynalda | 12 Krumpe | 13 Eichmann | 14 Stollmeyer | 15 Armstrong | 16 Murray | 17 Balboa | 18 Keller | 19 Henderson | 20 Caligiuri | 21 Covone | 22 Vanole | Coach: Gansler