Earnie Stewart

Earnest "Big Ern" Stewart (born 28 March 1969 in Veghel, Netherlands) is a Dutch-American soccer player who was a regular midfielder for the U.S. national team from 1990s until his retirement in 2005.

Early life and career

Stewart, the son of an African American U.S. Air Force airman Earnie Stewart, and his Dutch wife Annemien Stewart, grew up in the Netherlands, and began his professional career in that country in 1988 with VVV. He spent two years at the Dutch First Division (second-level) club before moving to Eredivisie side Willem II in 1990. By the end of 1990, he made his first appearance for the U.S. national team against Portugal.

In his first season at Willem II, he finished third on the goal-scoring list for the Dutch First Division, with 17. He went on to score 49 goals in six seasons there. In the meantime, he developed into a regular for the U.S. national team, starting all four games that the U.S. played in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Most notably, he scored the goal that gave the U.S. its winning margin against Colombia in group play, the first World Cup game won by the U.S. since 1950. That game, sadly, would be more remembered for the own goal scored by Colombian defender Andrés Escobar, which led to Escobar's murder shortly after his return to Colombia. That goal was caused by an attempt to deflect a John Harkes shot away from Stewart, his intended target.

By 1996, Stewart had moved to NAC Breda, eventually spending more than six seasons at NAC. The club was relegated in 1999, but Stewart helped the club win the First Division in 2000, thereby earning promotion back to the Eredivisie. During his years at NAC, he also played in all of the U.S. team's matches at the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups, becoming one of only five U.S. men to play in three World Cups.

In January 2003, he left the Netherlands to play in Major League Soccer, and was allocated to D.C. United, where he won the MLS Cup in his second season. His scoring numbers did not equal his earlier high standards, as he tallied just four regular season goals and one playoff goal in MLS. He left DC after the 2004 season, coming back to the Netherlands and his original club, VVV-Venlo, where he became technical director following his retirement in 2005.

Stewart became the eighth U.S. man to make his 100th international appearance in a 2004 World Cup qualifier against Grenada. His 111 goals as a professional in the Netherlands makes him the highest-scoring American in international club play. He was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 2001.

He was named technical director of NAC Breda of the Dutch Eredivisie on May 14, 2006.

Earnest Stewart was appointed as AZ’s new Director of Football in June 2010. The 41-year-old American succeeds Marcel Brands, who has left AZ for PSV. Stewart leaves his post as Technical Director at NAC Breda by mutual consent. . Stewart long-term ambition is to return to United States soccer in an executive role: "One ambition I do have is to go back to the United States and to be of importance to soccer."

Career statistics

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	June 13, 1993	Chicago, Illinois	Germany	2–4	3–4	1993 U.S. Cup
2	August 31, 1993	Reykjavík, Iceland	Iceland	1–0	1–0	Friendly
3	June 22, 1994	Pasadena, California	Colombia	2–0	2–1	1994 FIFA World Cup
4	March 25, 1995	Dallas, Texas	Uruguay	2–0	2–2	Friendly
5	March 16, 1997	Palo Alto, California	Canada	3–0	3–0	1998 World Cup qualifying
6	May 24, 1998	Portland, Oregon	Kuwait	1–0	2–0	Friendly
7	June 3, 2000	Washington, D.C.	South Africa	4–0	4–0	2000 U.S. Cup
8	July 23, 2000	San Jose, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	1–1	1–2	2002 World Cup qualifying
9	August 16, 2000	Foxboro, Massachusetts	Barbados	7–0	7–0	2002 World Cup qualifying
10	November 15, 2000	Bridgetown, Barbados	Barbados	2–0	4–0	2002 World Cup qualifying
11	February 28, 2001	Columbus, Ohio	Mexico	2–0	2–0	2002 World Cup qualifying
12	March 28, 2001	San Pedro Sula, Honduras	Honduras	1–0	2–1	2002 World Cup qualifying
13	June 20, 2001	Foxboro, Massachusetts	Trinidad and Tobago	2–0	2–0	2002 World Cup qualifying
14	September 1, 2001	Washington, D.C.	Honduras	1–0	2–3	2002 World Cup qualifying
15				2–3
16	July 6, 2003	Columbus, Ohio	Paraguay	2–0	2–0	Friendly
17	July 26, 2003	Miami, Florida	Costa Rica	2–2	3–2	2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup

U.S. National Team Appearances/Goals

^[1]

References

1. ↑ "Earnie Stewart – U.S. Soccer Media Guide". 2013 USMNT Media Guide. Retrieved December 23, 2013. 

External links

• Stewart to Join NAC Breda
• Moneyball comes to AZ Alkmaar

United States Squad v t e United States squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Meola (c) 2 Lapper 3 Burns 4 Kooiman 5 Dooley 6 Harkes 7 Pérez 8 Stewart 9 Ramos 10 Wegerle 11 Wynalda 12 Sommer 13 Jones 14 Klopas 15 Moore 16 Sorber 17 Balboa 18 Friedel 19 Reyna 20 Caligiuri 21 Clavijo 22 Lalas Coach: Milutinović v t e United States squad – 1995 Copa América Fourth Place 1 Friedel 2 Lapper 3 Berhalter 4 Burns 5 Dooley 6 Harkes 7 Moore 8 Stewart 9 Ramos 10 Sorber 11 Wynalda 12 Sommer 13 Jones 14 Klopas 15 Bliss 16 Kirovski 17 Balboa 18 Keller 19 Kerr 20 Caligiuri 21 Reyna 22 Lalas Coach: Sampson v t e United States squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Friedel 2 Hejduk 3 Pope 4 Burns 5 Dooley (c) 6 Regis 7 Wegerle 8 Stewart 9 Moore 10 Ramos 11 Wynalda 12 Agoos 13 Jones 14 Preki 15 Deering 16 Sommer 17 Balboa 18 Keller 19 Maisonneuve 20 McBride 21 Reyna 22 Lalas Coach: Sampson v t e United States squad – 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place 1 Friedel 2 Hejduk 3 Berhalter 4 Fraser 5 Brown 6 Harkes 7 Lewis 8 Stewart 9 Moore 10 Kirovski 11 Bravo 12 Agoos 13 Jones 14 McKeon 15 Williams 16 Llamosa 17 Balboa 18 Keller 19 Olsen 20 McBride Coach: Arena v t e United States squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Friedel 2 Hejduk 3 Berhalter 4 Mastroeni 5 O'Brien 6 Regis 7 Lewis 8 Stewart 9 Moore 10 Reyna (c) 11 Mathis 12 Agoos 13 Jones 14 Cherundolo 15 Wolff 16 Llamosa 17 Beasley 18 Keller 19 Meola 20 McBride 21 Donovan 22 Sanneh 23 Pope Coach: Arena v t e United States squad – 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Cannon 2 Hejduk 3 Berhalter 4 Mastroeni 5 Vanney 6 Cherundolo 7 Lewis 8 Stewart 9 Kirovski 10 Donovan 11 Mathis 12 Bocanegra 13 Martino 14 Armas 15 Convey 16 Califf 17 Beasley 18 Howard 19 Hahnemann 20 Twellman 21 Cunningham 22 Klein 23 Gibbs Coach: Arena v t e United States squad – 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup Third Place 2 Hejduk 3 Vanney 4 Bocanegra 6 Gibbs 7 Lewis 8 Stewart 10 Reyna 11 Mathis 12 Califf 13 Mulrooney 15 Convey 17 Beasley 18 Keller 19 Ralston 20 McBride 21 Donovan 24 Brown 25 Mastroeni Coach: Arena