Shep Messing

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Personal information
Shep Messing
Full name	Shep Messing
Date of birth	October 9, 1949 (age 57)
Place of birth	Bronx, New York, United States
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
1968-1971	Harvard University
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1973-1974 1975-1976 1976-1977 1978 1979 1978-1984	New York Cosmos Boston Minutemen New York Cosmos Oakland Stompers Rochester Lancers New York Arrows	9 (0) 27 (0) 30 (0) 25 (0) 29 (0)
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)

Shep Messing (born October 9, 1949 in Bronx, New York) is a former American soccer goalkeeper and current broadcaster.

Messing attended high school at The Wheatley School in Old Westbury, New York. He graduated from Harvard University in 1973 after playing four years on the school's mens soccer team. He was a two-time second team All-American. He joined the U.S. national team that played in the 1971 Pan American Games and 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. After the Olympics, Messing received offers from teams in Mexico and Germany, but was invited to play for the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League (NASL), alongside prominent teammates Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia. He made his debut with the Cosmos in a May 20, 1974 exhibitation game with Irish club Finn Harps. He would remain a backup for most of his career with the Cosmos. In 1973 and 1974, Jerry Sularz held the starting job. He moved to the Boston Minutemen for a season and a half. The Cosmos brought him back during the 1976 season after starter Bob Rigby was injured. Messing then played the 1977 season with the Cosmos before moving to the Oakland Stompers. When he signed with the Stompers for $100,000 per year, he became the highest paid American in the NASL.^[1] The Stompers lasted only a single season and Messing moved to the Rochester Lancers.

When the Major Indoor Soccer League began its first season in 1978-1979, the New York Arrows were essentially the Rochester Lancers in different uniforms. As such, Messing became the starting Arrows goalkeeper through the team's six years of existence. Messing became the league's dominant keeper, being named to the MISL All Star team in 1979, 1980 and 1981. He was the championship MVP in 1979.

After his retirement, Messing was briefly part-owner of the ill fated New York Express which played the first half of the 1986-1987 MISL season before folding. Messing has been a soccer broadcaster for sixteen years. He began as an analyst for the Major Indoor Soccer League games on ESPN. He broadcast the 1986 FIFA World Cup from Mexico, the 2002 FIFA World Cup from Japan/South Korea, and the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany for ESPN. He has also been the lead analyst for the MetroStars and the re-branded New York Red Bulls for several years. He can be easily recognised while calling games by his trademark "......wow" following a dramatic incident, as well as his thick Bronx accent. He is a member of the New York Sports Hall of Fame and the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and the author of a book on soccer, while appearing in several films on the sport.

He achieved a measure of notoriety by posing in the nude for a photospread in the December 1974 issue of Viva Magazine. For this he was paid $5000. He joked that these photos gave the New York Cosmos more "exposure" than they'd ever received from the media up to that time.

In 2006, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame.