Mark Watson (Canadian soccer)

For the English football (soccer) player, see Mark Watson (English footballer).

Mark Watson

Personal information
Full name	Mark Stewart Watson
Date of birth	September 8, 1970 (1970-09-08)
Place of birth	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Defender (retired)
Youth career
	UBC Thunderbirds
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1990	Ottawa Intrepid	22	(0)
1991	Hamilton Steelers	24	(1)
1992	Montreal Supra	20	(1)
1993–1994	Vancouver 86ers	10	(0)
1993–1995	Watford	18	(0)
1996	Columbus Crew	14	(0)
1996	New England Revolution	4	(1)
1997	Seattle Sounders	21	(1)
1997–1999	Östers IF	24	(0)
1998–2000	Oxford United	58	(0)
2000–2001	Oldham Athletic	2	(0)
2001	DC United	11	(0)
2002–2004	Charleston Battery	70	(3)
2005	Vancouver Whitecaps	17	(0)
2006–2007	Charleston Battery	20	(0)
National team‡
1991–2004	Canada	78	(3)
Teams managed
2004–2008	Canada (Assistant Coach)
2006–2009	Charleston Battery (Assistant Coach)
2007–	Canada U-20 (Assistant Coach)
2010–	San Jose Earthquakes (Assistant Coach)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:47, 24 February 2007 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 December 2006

Mark Stewart Watson (born September 8, 1970 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a professional soccer player who has earned the second most caps in the history of the Canadian national team.

Playing career

Watson most recently played for the Charleston Battery of the USL First Division. He joined the Battery in 2006, after his third stint with the Vancouver Whitecaps, having played 10 games for the 86ers in the summer of 1993 when he was named an APSL First Team All Star, and 9 games in 1994.

Having played for the University of British Columbia, Watson was named a Canadian Soccer League All Star in his rookie professional season, with the Hamilton Steelers in 1991. He went on to play for Watford in the Football League First Division in 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons. In 1996, he played for the Columbus Crew and New England Revolution of MLS. In 1997, he played for the Seattle Sounders of the A-League and was named league First Team.

Watson played for Östers IF in Swedish First Division for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. He then played the next three seasons in the Football League's Second Division, 1998–99 and 1999-00 with Oxford United and the 2000-01 season with Oldham Athletic. He then returned to North America to play the 2001 MLS season with DC United. He then played the 2002, 2003, and 2004 seasons with the Charleston Battery of the A-League. He was named the league's Defender of the Year and to its First Team in 2002, and to the league's second team in 2004.

National team

For Canada, Watson has appeared 78 times for the 'A' national team during a 14-year span. He has played in four World Cup qualifying campaigns. and on the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup side that won the tournament. Watson scored the winning goal for Canada in the semi-final of the 2000 Gold Cup, a match Canada won 1-0 over Trinidad and Tobago.

Watson emerged as one of Canada's more quotable players.^{[citation needed]} Before a 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup match in Japan, he implied that Canada would be willing to employ their physical style by noting that the Japanese players "don't run so fast when they're lying on the ground."^{[citation needed]} He also once referred to English born-and-bred teammate Marc Bircham as a "plastic Canadian" in jest.^{[citation needed]}

International goals

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	31 July 1993	Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Canada	Australia	1-1	2-1	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	15 December 1996	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	El Salvador	1-0	2-0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
3	24 February 2000	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States	Trinidad and Tobago	1-0	1-0	CONCACAF Gold Cup

Coaching career

Watson served as assistant coach for Canada at the 2004 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament, served as one of Canada's assistant coaches when the team finished third at the 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualification Tournament. Watson returned to the Charleston Battery in 2006 in a player / assistant coach role; his fifth season with the Club. He was later hired as an assistant coach with the San Jose Earthquakes.

Honours

• CONCACAF Gold Cup: 1

2000

External links

• Profile of Mark Watson
• Player profile at CanadaSoccer.com
• Career stats - National Football Teams