Paul Bravo
Encyclopedia
Paul Bravo is a former American soccer midfielder
Midfielder
A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

 and forward
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...

 who played six seasons in Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

, two in the American Professional Soccer League
American Professional Soccer League
The American Professional Soccer League is a former professional men's soccer league which featured teams from both the United States and Canada. It was the first outdoor soccer league to feature teams from throughout the United States since the demise of the original North American Soccer League...

 and two in the USISL. He also earned four caps, scoring one goal, with the United States men's national soccer team
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...

. After his retirement from playing, Bravo served for several years as an assistant coach in both Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

 and the NCAA and is currently the Technical Director for the Colorado Rapids
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...

.

Youth

Bravo played two years of college soccer at Foothill Community College and winning State Championships and while at Santa Clara University and helped his team to the NCAA co-championship in 1989. While he left college early, he continued to work on his education and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Santa Clara in 1993.

Professional

In 1991, Bravo signed with the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks
San Francisco Bay Blackhawks
San Francisco Bay Blackhawks was a professional soccer team which came into existence in 1989 as a team in the Western Soccer League . The Blackhawks spent time in the American Professional Soccer League and the United States Interregional Soccer League...

 of the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). He earned Rookie of the Year honors that season as the Blackhawks took the APSL championship. In 1993, the Blackhawks ownership moved the team to the lower division USISL and renamed the team the San Jose Hawks. Despite the reduced team costs, the Hawks folded at the end of the 1993 season. Bravo then remained in the San Francisco area with the San Francisco Greek-Americans
Greek-American A.C.
Greek-American was a semi-professional soccer club from San Francisco, California that played in the San Francisco Soccer Football League. They are the most successful team in the league's history with 16 titles to their credit.-Early years:...

, winning the U.S. Open Cup in 1994. In 1995, he moved to the Monterey Bay Jaguars. The San Jose Clash
San Jose Earthquakes
The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....

 of Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

 (MLS) drafted Bravo with the eighth overall pick of the MLS Inaugural Player Draft
1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft
The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer's initial 1996 season, distributed players who had already graduated from college to the league's ten inaugural teams. The draft occurred on February 6 and 7, 1996...

. Bravo spent just a season with San Jose, and, despite the presence of Eric Wynalda
Eric Wynalda
Eric Boswell Wynalda is a retired American soccer player, and former sports broadcaster. He was the co-host of Fox Football Fone-In on Fox Soccer Channel and is currently employeed as the president of international operations at Mexican third division club Murcielagos.Wynalda scored the first goal...

, led the team with thirteen goals. He was an MLS All Star this year. On December 15, 1996, the Clash traded Bravo and Rafael Amaya to the Colorado Rapids
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...

 for Dominic Kinnear
Dominic Kinnear
Dominic Kinnear is a Scottish-born American former soccer player. He is currently the head coach of Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer.As a player, he began his professional career with Scottish club St...

 and a second round pick in the 1998 MLS Supplemental Draft
1998 MLS Supplemental Draft
The three-round 1998 Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft was held on February 1, 1998 at the Airport Hilton in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.-Format:Major League Soccer held a professional player combine in Fort Lauderdale the last week of January 1998. On Saturday, January 31, 1998, the league held...

. Bravo spent the next five years with Colorado, and would retire with a club record 39 league goals (he added five in the playoffs). In November 2001 the Rapids waived Bravo, but as no team chose to offer him a contract, he retired from playing professionally. In his six-year MLS career, Bravo scored 52 goals and added 27 assists. He repeated as an All Star in 1998 and 1999.

After his retirement, Bravo continued to play for the amateur Hollywood United F.C.
Hollywood United F.C.
Hollywood United is an American amateur soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1988, the team plays in Region IV of the United States Adult Soccer Association, a network of amateur leagues at the fifth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid.-Origins:Hollywood United...

 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

.

National team

Bravo earned four caps for the United States national team
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...

. His first cap came in a December 11, 1994 tie with Honduras
Honduras national football team
The Honduran national football team, nicknamed Los Catrachos, La Bicolor or La H, is the national team of Honduras and is controlled by the Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras...

. He did not play again until April 22, 1995, a 1-0 loss to Belgium. In 1999, Bruce Arena
Bruce Arena
Bruce Arena is a former coach of the United States men's national soccer team as well as a former professional soccer and lacrosse player...

 called up Bravo for the 1999 Confederations Cup. He started the July 30, 1999 game against Germany, then earned his last cap in the third-place 2-0 victory against Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia national football team
Saudi Arabia national football team is the national team of Saudi Arabia and is controlled by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation...

. The U.S. won that game on the strength of goals from both Bravo and Brian McBride
Brian McBride
Brian Robert McBride is a retired American soccer player who finished his career for Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer , but spent the majority of his time in MLS playing for the Columbus Crew. For much of his career he played in Europe, notably for Fulham in the English Premier League...

.

Coach

After retiring as a player, Bravo went into coaching. He began as an assistant with the Colorado Rapids
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...

 in 2002. In 2004, UCLA hired Bravo as an assistant to its men's soccer team. On June 15, 2006, he became an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Galaxy
Los Angeles Galaxy
The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second...

 of MLS. On August 24, 2007, he became the Galaxy's Director of Soccer and on January 10, 2009, he was named as the Technical Director for the Colorado Rapids
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...

.

As of August 8th, 2011 he is rumored to be the next head coach of the Montreal Impact, the newest franchise in the MLS next year.
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