Brian Bliss
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Brian Boyer Bliss | ||
| Date of birth | September 28, 1965 | ||
| Place of birth | Webster, New York, United States | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1983–1986 | Southern Connecticut State University | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1987–1988 | Cleveland Force (indoor) | 51 | (4) |
| 1989 | Albany Capitals | 5 | (0) |
| 1990 | Boston Bolts | ||
| 1990–1991 | Energie Cottbus | 13 | (1) |
| 1991 | Chemnitzer FC | 12 | (0) |
| 1992–1996 | FC Carl Zeiss Jena | 83 | (1) |
| 1996–1997 | Columbus Crew | 31 | (2) |
| 1997 | MetroStars | 16 | (0) |
| 1998 | Kansas City Wizards | 3 | (0) |
| 1999 | Connecticut Wolves | 22 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 1984–1995 | United States | 44 | (2) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1999 | Connecticut Wolves | ||
| 2000–2006 | Kansas City Wizards (assistant) | ||
| 2006–2007 | Kansas City Wizards (interim) | ||
| 2012– | United States U-20 (assistant) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Brian Boyer Bliss (born September 28, 1965, in Webster, New York) is a retired American soccer defender and former coach of the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer. He played professionally in Europe and the United States including the original Major Indoor Soccer League, American Soccer League, American Professional Soccer League and Major League Soccer. He earned forty-four caps, scoring two goals, with the U.S. national soccer team and was part of the U.S. team at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
He currently serves as technical director of the Columbus Crew and as an assistant with the United States U-20 national team.
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[edit] Early career
Bliss attended Webster Schroeder High School in Webster, New York. After high school, he attended Southern Connecticut State University from 1983 to 1986. On December 2, 1984, Bliss earned his first cap in a 2-2 tie with Ecuador. He would not play again until 1987 when he would play two of the three U.S. games. That year, the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) drafted Bliss with the top pick. He would play a single season with the Force in 1987-1988. In 1988, he played in the Summer Olympics. In 1989, Bliss played five games with the Albany Capitals of the American Soccer League. However, by that time he was a regular with the national team, playing nearly every game in the team's qualification campaign for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He played only one of the team's three games in that cup, as a substitute in the loss to Austria. In 1990, he was on the roster of the Boston Bolts of the American Professional Soccer League.[1]
[edit] European career
After the World Cup, Bliss went to Germany to play with Energie Cottbus of the 2. Bundesliga. He later went on to play for Chemnitzer FC and then FC Carl Zeiss Jena. Bliss was cut from the final 1994 FIFA World Cup roster when he tore cartilage in his knee.[2]
[edit] Major League Soccer
As Major League Soccer prepared for its first season, it began a process of equitably distributing known players to each of the league's teams. As part of this process, Bliss was allocated to the Columbus Crew. He played a season and a half for Columbus, being traded 12 games into the 1997 season to the MetroStars for A.J. Wood. Bliss finished the 1997 season with the MetroStars, but was traded by the team to the Kansas City Wizards for a first round college draft pick during the 1998 off-season. He played only three games of the 1998 season. In 1999, he finished his career with the Connecticut Wolves.
[edit] Coaching
After retirement, he went on to coach the Connecticut Wolves of the A-League in 1999. The next year, Gansler selected him again, this time to be the assistant coach for the Wizards. On July 19, 2006, Gansler stepped down as head coach, allowing Bliss to become interim head coach for Kansas City. In March 2007, Curt Onalfo replaced Bliss as the Wizards head coach, and Bliss joined Kansas Youth Soccer as State Director of Coaching. He also coached the JV squad at Olathe Northwest Highschool where he coached Andy Cockrum who went on to play for La Masia, which is FC Barcelona's academy team.
[edit] Coaching Positions
- Connecticut Wolves (1999)
- Kansas City Wizards (2006)
- Kansas Youth Soccer (2007)
- Columbus Crew Technical Director (2008-present)
[edit] Personal life
Bliss now lives in Columbus and serves as the Technical Director for the Columbus Crew.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ 1990 APSL Stats
- ^ U.S. Roster Selected For the World Cup (June 2, 1994). New York Times
- ^ http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3586579 Appointed club's first-ever technical director
[edit] External links
- Biography at Kansas City Wizards' Official Site
- USSoccerPlayers.com bio
- Kansas Youth Soccer Staff
- FIFA: Brian Bliss
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- 1965 births
- Living people
- 1990 FIFA World Cup players
- Albany Capitals players
- American expatriate soccer players
- American expatriate sportspeople in Germany
- American Professional Soccer League players
- American soccer coaches
- American Soccer League (1988–1989) players
- American soccer players
- Boston Bolts players
- Chemnitzer FC players
- Cleveland Force (original MISL) players
- Columbus Crew players
- Connecticut Wolves players
- Expatriate footballers in Germany
- FC Carl Zeiss Jena players
- FC Energie Cottbus players
- Association football defenders
- Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Kansas City Wizards coaches
- Kansas City Wizards players
- Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players
- MetroStars players
- Olympic soccer players of the United States
- People from Monroe County, New York
- Soccer players from New York (state)
- Southern Connecticut Fighting Owls men's soccer players
- United States men's international soccer players
- USISL coaches
