Desmond Armstrong

Desmond Armstrong

Personal information
Full name	Desmond Kevin Armstrong
Date of birth	November 2, 1964 (1964-11-02)
Place of birth	Washington, D.C., United States
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Defender / Midfielder
Youth career
1982–1985	University of Maryland
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1986–1988	Cleveland Force (indoor)	93	(14)
1988–1989	Baltimore Blast (indoor)	19	(5)
1991	Santos
1991	Maryland Bays
1994	Charlotte Eagles
1995	Washington Warthogs (indoor)
1996	Charlotte Eagles
National team
1987–1994	United States	81	(0)
Teams managed
1999–2006	Montreat College
2010	Rocket City United
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Desmond Kevin Armstrong (born November 2, 1964) is a retired American soccer defender and midfielder, who was a member of the United States national team from 1987 to 1994. He played three seasons in Major Indoor Soccer League, part of one in the Brazilian First Division, two in the American Professional Soccer League and two in USISL. He currently coaches the Rocket City United in the National Premier Soccer League.

Player

Youth

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. 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. 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.

Professional

Armstrong 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 transferred 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 American Professional Soccer League. That year, the Bays made it to the league semifinals before falling to the Albany Capitals. In 1994, he played for the Charlotte Eagles of the USISL. In 1995, he moved to the Washington Warthogs of the Continental Indoor Soccer League. He returned to the Charlotte Eagles for the 1996 season. That year he was selected to the USISL All Pro League Team. He retired at the end of the season.

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. He made a total of 81 appearances for the national team, though he never scored a goal at this level.

Coach

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 FA). In 2000 he was named as the national coaching director for the program Soccer in the Streets. In the mid 1990s he coached the USA Hurricanes club level soccer team in Charlotte, NC. 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 '85 HFC Vipers of Asheville, North Carolina from 2000-2004. After leaving Montreat, Armstrong joined the youth club, Bethesda Roadrunners, as its head coach. He also created another section of Heroes FA, in Maryland and is currently their head coach and technical director. He is also the Director of Recruiting in Ohio for Brad Friedel's Premier Soccer Academies. He was named technical director of Rocket City United on December 11, 2009.

Broadcaster

Armstrong has worked for ABC Sports. During the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Armstrong was an ESPN studio analyst. Armstrong provided commentary for all Cleveland City Stars home games. The games will be aired on SportsTime Ohio. The City Stars play in the USL First Division.

On May 11, 2007, he was inducted into the Maryland Soccer Hall of Fame.

External links

• USA Soccer players.com
• Montreat College
• MISL stats