John Doyle (soccer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Doyle
Personal information
Full name	John Doyle
Date of birth	April 16, 1966 (age 40)
Place of birth	, United States
Height	6 ft 3 in
Playing position	Defender (football)
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
1986-1990	University of San Francisco
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1989-1990 1990-1994 1994-1995 1995 1996-2000	San Francisco Bay Blackhawks Örgryte IS VfB Leipzig → Atlanta Ruckus (loan) San Jose Earthquakes	7 (0) 135 (11)
National team2
1987–1994	United States	53 (3)
Teams managed
2004-2006	San Jose Earthquakes (assistant)
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)

John Doyle (born April 16, 1966) is a retired U.S. soccer defender.

Doyle attended Washington High School in Fremont, California where he played on the boy's soccer team. The team won the league championship Doyle's senior year. At the end of his senior year, he held the school's scoring record and had been named All League each year he played. Doyle also played soccer with the Fremont City youth soccer club where he was a four-time state champion. After high school, he attended the University of San Francisco where he played college soccer. He earned All American honors as a defender.

In 1987, the U.S. Olympic team called in Doyle for a May 30, 1987 qualification match against Canada. The U.S. had lost 2-0 to Canada a week earlier and needed to win by that margin or greater to continue qualification. The team rose to the challenge and defeated Canada 3-0. Doyle continued to play with the Olympic team, including its three games at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. In those games, he scored a goal in the 4-2 loss to the Soviet Union. He would continue to play for the national team in 1989, when the U.S. began qualifaction for the 1990 FIFA World Cup

In 1989 and 1990, Doyle also played with the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks of the Western Soccer League (WSL) during the college soccer off-season. In 1989, he was named to the WSL All Star team.

In 1990, he moved to Europe where he signed with Swedish club Örgryte IS.

In 1994, he played for German First Division club VfB Leipzig. Leipzig had won promotion to the First Division in 1993, but lasted only one year there, finishing last in 1994 and being demoted to the Second Division for the next season.

With the demotion of Leipzig, Doyle signed with Major League Soccer (MLS). However, when the league delayed its first season to 1996, Doyle joined the Atlanta Ruckus of the A-League on loan from MLS for their inaugural season. The Ruckus developed their team around the team captain-Doyle led defense, which it rode to the league's championship game where the Ruckus lost to the Seattle Sounders. Doyle was selected to the league All Star team and was named the league Defender of the Year.

In order to ensure an initial equitable distribution of talent to each of the league's new teams, MLS allocated well known players. Doyle was allocated to the San Jose Clash. At the end of the A-League season, Doyle moved back to the Bay Area, becoming the first player, and first team captain, in the Clash's history in 1996. He was then named MLS's first Defender of the Year. John scored 11 goals and 15 assists in his time in the league.

After his retirement from the Earthquakes, John worked as TV and radio color commentator for the Earthquakes. In 2004 he was hired as assistant coach for the Quakes, replacing Dominic Kinnear who was promoted as head coach after Frank Yallop's departure to coach the Canadian national team. He stayed on with the Quakes until the franchise was relocated to Houston for the 2006 season.

Inducted into the University of San Francisco Hall of Fame in 1999.

	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