Kenny Cooper

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This article is about the currently active soccer player. For the elder, his father, see Kenny Cooper, Sr.. For the calypsonian, see Mighty Bomber.
Kenny Cooper
Kenny Cooper.jpg
Personal information
Full name Kenneth Scott Cooper, Jr.
Date of birth (1984-10-21) October 21, 1984 (age 28)
Place of birth Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current club FC Dallas
Number 33
Youth career
2003–2004 Manchester United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2004–2006 Manchester United 0 (0)
2004 → Académica Coimbra (loan) 10 (0)
2005 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 7 (3)
2006–2009 FC Dallas 90 (40)
2009–2011 1860 München 13 (2)
2010 → Plymouth Argyle (loan) 7 (0)
2011 Portland Timbers 34 (8)
2012 New York Red Bulls 33 (18)
2013– FC Dallas 3 (1)
National team‡
2007– United States 10 (4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 17, 2013.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of July 26, 2009

Kenneth Scott Cooper, Jr. (born October 21, 1984 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American soccer player who currently plays for FC Dallas in Major League Soccer.

Cooper began his football career with Manchester United in England, but he failed to break into the first-team and was sent out on loan to Académica Coimbra and Oldham Athletic before being sold to FC Dallas in 2006. He joined TSV 1860 München in 2009, but joined Plymouth Argyle on loan just six months into his 1860 Munich contract. On January 17, 2011, Portland Timbers completed a transfer for Cooper's services in the club's inaugural MLS campaign.[1]

Cooper married Molly Grimm in Charleston, South Carolina on January 7, 2012.[2]

Contents

Career [edit]

Youth [edit]

Cooper's father, Kenny Cooper Sr., played professional soccer as a goalkeeper in England before moving to the United States to play for Dallas Tornado of the North American Soccer League. Cooper was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and, under the mentorship of his father, he became an outstanding youth footballer.[3] After retiring from coaching professional soccer, Cooper's father had settled the family in Dallas, Texas, where Cooper attended high school at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. He was the Dallas area high school player of the year while playing, graduating in 2003. While playing with the Dallas Solar 85 Soccer Club in the Dallas Cup, an international youth tournament, Cooper caught the attention of several former NASL players who contacted Jimmy Ryan, Director of Youth Football at Manchester United. Ryan had also once played with Cooper's father when they were both with the Tornado. Ryan contacted the Coopers and invited Kenny to England for a trial. The fact that Cooper's father was a native of England helped grease the skids for Cooper as United did not need to acquire a work permit for him. Following a successful week-long trial, United signed him on a free transfer. At the time Cooper had intended to attend Southern Methodist University, but decided to forgo playing college soccer in order to pursue his professional career.[4]

Manchester United [edit]

During his time with Manchester United, Cooper was unable to break into the first team, spending his time with the reserve squad. As a result, the team loaned him to Académica de Coimbra of Portugal at the beginning of the 2004–05 season. However, the loan was terminated after half a season due to Cooper seeing very limited playing time. After a brief return to Manchester, the team loaned him again, this time to Oldham Athletic.[5] When it became obvious that Cooper had little chance of becoming a starter with Manchester United, the team released him midway through the 2005–06 season to allow him to pursue other opportunities.

FC Dallas [edit]

Cooper signed with FC Dallas on February 6, 2006 and made an immediate impact on the team. He made his first MLS appearance on April 1, 2006 and scored his first MLS career goal helping FC Dallas to a 3–2 victory against the Chicago Fire. Cooper made his first MLS start the following week against Real Salt Lake on April 8, 2006 scoring the teams first goal in a 2–1 victory. He finished his first MLS season tied for sixth in goals scored with 11 and made 31 appearances. At the start of the 2007 MLS Season, Cooper scored four goals in the first eight games before he suffered a broken right tibia in a 3–1 win against the Los Angeles Galaxy by a strong tackle from Tyrone Marshall that put him out for a majority of the season. This ended his hopes of playing in the 2007 Copa América and for the national team. Cooper ended the 2007 season with a total of 12 starts out of 14 appearances, four goals, and 2 assists.

Cooper was linked with a possible move to Cardiff City on July 27, 2008, after the club made a £2,000,000 bid.[6] Norway's Rosenborg bid more than that and also offered a salary of $1.2 million.[7] MLS ultimately rejected both bids and decided to keep him.

In the 2008 MLS season, Cooper led FC Dallas with 18 goals and started all 30 games. He was the only FC Dallas player to appear in all regular season games that year. Cooper finished the season tied for the league lead with four game-winning goals. 14 of Coopers 18 goals either tied or gave FC Dallas the lead, while the other four goals helped increase the team's lead. He was named to his first MLS All-Star First XI selection and MLS Best XI team. He earned back-to-back MLS Player of the Week honors for his two goal performances against the Los Angeles Galaxy (4–0 win) on July 27, 2008 and Toronto FC (2–0 win) on August 8, 2008. Cooper was also named the MLS Comeback Player of the Year for 2008.

1860 Munich [edit]

A brown-haired caucasian male in a blue and black training kit.
Cooper in his 1860 Munich training kit.

On July 31, 2009, FC Dallas announced that Cooper had been sold to German Second Division club 1860 Munich. As per league policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.[8] However, German teams do disclose the amounts of transfers, Cooper was sold for $700,000 in 2009[9] it is known that the contract ran for three years.[10] He scored his first goal for 1860 Munich in his debut on August 9, 2009.

Plymouth Argyle [edit]

On January 28, 2010, Cooper left Munich to return to England, signing for Plymouth Argyle on loan until the end of the 2009–10 season[11] with a view to a permanent move at the end of the season. However this option was not taken up by the club.

Portland Timbers [edit]

On January 13, 2011, TSV 1860 Munich announced that Cooper would not fulfill his contract which would run until June 2012 and would be joining Portland Timbers as a free transfer.[9][12] While Timbers technical director Gavin Wilkinson initially cautioned that a deal had yet to be struck,[13] on January 17, 2011 he announced Portland had finally completed Cooper's transfer and that he would be joining the team pending the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate.[1] He scored the first MLS goal for the Portland Timbers in a 3–1 loss on their MLS debut, against Colorado Rapids on March 19, 2011.[14] He scored his third goal of the season in a 1–0 win over Real Salt Lake. This marked the Timbers first shutout win and snapped Salt Lake's 18-game unbeaten streak.[15]

New York Red Bulls [edit]

On January 12, 2012, Cooper was traded to the New York Red Bulls for a first-round 2013 MLS SuperDraft pick and an undisclosed amount of allocation money.[16] He made his MLS regular season debut with the New York Red Bulls on Sunday, March 11, and scored his first goal for the Red Bulls against FC Dallas, his former team, at FC Dallas Stadium. Cooper was the top scorer for the team during the 2012 MLS Season.

FC Dallas [edit]

On February 4, 2013 Kenny Cooper signed for FC Dallas for the second time. [17]

Career statistics [edit]

Club Season League League Playoffs Domestic Cup Champions League Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Oldham Athletic 2005 7 3 - - - - - - 7 3
FC Dallas 2006 31 11 2 0 2 3 - - 35 14
2007 14 4 2 0 - - - - 16 4
2008 30 18 - - 2 1 - - 32 19
2009 15 7 - - 1 0 - - 16 7
1860 München 2009–10 6 1 - - - - - - 6 1
2010–11 7 1 - - 2 1 - - 9 2
Plymouth Argyle 2009–10 7 0 - - - - - - 7 0
Portland Timbers 2011 34 8 - - - - - - 34 8
New York Red Bulls 2012 33 18 2 0 2 1 - - 37 19
Career total 184 71 6 0 9 6 0 0 199 77

Statistics accurate as of match played July 15, 2012

International [edit]

After the retirement of Brian McBride, Cooper was considered to be a potential long-term solution at striker for the national team.[18] Cooper got his first cap and first goal for the national team on January 20, 2007, against Denmark where he scored a goal after coming on near the end of the game. He then appeared in a game against Guatemala, which was played in his MLS club's home stadium, Pizza Hut Park, as a second half sub. He was unable to take part in the 2007 Copa América after he was sidelined with a broken right tibia. On November 20, 2008, Cooper got his first World Cup Qualifying start and his first World Cup qualifying-round goal against Guatemala in the final game of the semifinal group stage. On July 18, 2009, Cooper took a boot to the chest from Roman Torres of Panama, resulting in a penalty kick which he took to put the USA through to the semifinal round of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.[19] Five days later, Cooper scored near the end of the match against Honduras to give the USA a 2–0 lead and to put them safely into the final of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[20] He has a total of 10 international appearances (caps) with 4 goals.[21]

International goals [edit]

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
01. January 20, 2007 Home Depot Center, Carson, USA  Denmark
3–1
3–1
Friendly
02. November 19, 2008 Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, USA  Guatemala
1–0
2–0
Q 2010 World Cup
03. July 18, 2009 Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, USA  Panama
2–1
2–1
2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
04. July 23, 2009 Soldier Field, Chicago, USA  Honduras
2–0
2–0
2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Honors [edit]

Individual [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b "Timbers Sign Forward Kenny Cooper". Portland Timbers. January 17, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  2. ^ http://www.koinlocal6.com/content/sports/timbers/story/Cooper-Red-Bulls-enjoy-new-union/aSr8UayTUkmVrdcO3N5WzA.cspx[dead link]
  3. ^ Carlisle, Jeff (April 26, 2006). "A breath of fresh air". ESPN. Retrieved March 25, 2012. 
  4. ^ Connolly, Marc (March 11, 2004). "Cooper thriving with Red Devil reserves". ESPN. Retrieved July 25, 2008. 
  5. ^ Seltzer, Greg (April 4, 2005). "Cooper gets another early call". ESPN. Retrieved July 25, 2008. 
  6. ^ Roberts, Simon (July 27, 2008). "Cardiff City are hoping that Cooperman will come to their rescue after a series of blows in the summer transfer market, writes Terry Phillips". Wales Online. Retrieved July 27, 2008. 
  7. ^ Mahoney, Ridge (July 29, 2008). "Scorers pushing MLS to the brink". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 29, 2008. 
  8. ^ Evans, Shane (July 31, 2009). "Cooper To Leave FC Dallas For TSV 1860 Munich". Goal.com. Retrieved August 3, 2009. 
  9. ^ a b "Kenny Cooper Jr.". transfermarkt. Retrieved March 25, 2012. 
  10. ^ "Löwen verpflichten US-Stürmer" (in German). transfermarkt.de. August 3, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2010. 
  11. ^ "Cooper wechselt nach Plymouth" (in German). TSV 1860 Munich. January 28, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2010. 
  12. ^ "Cooper verlässt 1860 München Richtung Amerika". Transfer Markt (in German). January 13, 2011. [dead link]
  13. ^ Arnold, Geoffrey (January 13, 2011). "Timbers Still Pursuing Kenny Cooper". The Oregonian. Retrieved March 25, 2012. 
  14. ^ "Rapids too strong, spoil expansion debut for Timbers". Major League Soccer. March 19, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2012. 
  15. ^ Oram, Bill (May 1, 2011). "RSL falls to upstart Portland". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved March 25, 2012. 
  16. ^ "Reports: Cooper traded to NY Red Bulls". Fox Sports. January 12, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2012. 
  17. ^ "FC Dallas acquires forwards Kenny Cooper and Eric Hassli". FC Dallas. February 4, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2013. 
  18. ^ Galarcep, Ives (January 8, 2007). "Plenty of opportunity in Bradley's first training camp". ESPN. Retrieved February 20, 2009. 
  19. ^ Hunt, Steve (June 10, 2007). "Cooper injury casts cloud over win". Retrieved February 20, 2009. [dead link]
  20. ^ "U.S. beats Honduras 2–0 to reach Gold Cup finals". FoxSports.com. Associated Press. July 24, 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2009. 
  21. ^ "2009 MNT Statistics". U.S. Soccer. Retrieved February 4, 2013. 

External links [edit]

United States squad – 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup Runners-up
United States
FC Dallas – current squad
  • Head Coach: Hyndman
  • Assistant Coach: Erwin
  • Assistant Coach: Ferruzzi
  • Goalkeeper Coach: Keeshan
  • Technical Director: Clavijo
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