Roy Wegerle
Encyclopedia
Roy Wegerle is a South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 former soccer player, who played for the United States
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...

 in the 1994
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...

 and 1998
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final...

 World Cups
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

. He is one of two players who played in both the NASL
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...

 and MLS
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...

; the other is Hugo Sánchez
Hugo Sánchez
Hugo Sánchez Márquez , popularly nicknamed Pentapichichi, or Hugol, is a Mexican football coach and former striker. He played for four European clubs, including Real Madrid. Sanchez is considered the first highly talented Mexican player. He was also a member of the Mexico national team, and...

.

Early career: South Africa

Wegerle's football career began at Waterkloof Primary School in Pretoria. Surrounded by teammates Clifford Rostowsky, renowned Sacramento, CA attorney Deon Stein and David Kroser (now living in Sydney, Australia), Wegerle's talents developed rapidly. He soon earned an invitation to join the local adult club, Arcadia Shepherds F.C.
Arcadia Shepherds F.C.
Arcadia Shepherds are a South African football club based in Arcadia, Pretoria that currently plays in the Vodacom League.-History:The club was founded in 1903, and was briefly renamed to Arcadia United in the seasons from 1963-68...

, where his brothers Geoff Wegerle
Geoff Wegerle
Geoff Wegerle is a retired South African soccer forward who played professionally in Europe, South Africa and the North American Soccer League....

 and Steve Wegerle
Steve Wegerle
Steve Wegerle is a former professional soccer player.Wegerle was voted Player of the Year is South Africa in 1974. He then joined Coventry City F.C. in 1975, but made no first team appearances...

 had enjoyed long, successful careers.

Early career: U.S.

Although born in South Africa, and having a trial with Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 in 1980, Wegerle chose to play college soccer
College soccer
College soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...

 in the United States. He spent two season with the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...

 in 1982 and 1983 and holds the school's single season scoring record with 21 goals. The Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...

 drafted Wegerle in the first round of the 1984 NASL college draft. He would play 21 games and score 9 goals, adding 17 assists, during the last year
1984 NASL Season
The 1984 NASL season was the 72nd season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 17th with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, as well as the 17th and final season of the North American Soccer League...

 of the NASL's existence in 1984, being named league's Rookie of the Year. More significantly, Rodney Marsh
Rodney Marsh (footballer)
Rodney William Marsh is an English retired footballer. He was named after HMS Rodney by his father, who served on the battleship. He played for Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, Manchester City, the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the England national team. Lately, he has been a pundit and a commentator on the...

 coached him at Tampa Bay. This association would be integral to Wegerle's future move to England. When the league folded, Wegerle moved indoors with the Tacoma Stars of the Major Indoor Soccer League
Major Soccer League
The Major Indoor Soccer League, known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League, was an indoor soccer league in the USA from 1978 to 1992. After the folding of the North American Soccer League in 1984, the MISL was the Division I soccer league for the United States...

 for two seasons.

At the University of South Florida, Wegerle came under the professional instruction of ex-Chelsea striker and European champion Derek Smethurst, who grounded him and got him ready for his professional career.

England

In 1986, Marsh, a former Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...

 star, worked his contacts in England to get Wegerle a tryout. While QPR passed on Wegerle at the time, Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...

 were sufficiently impressed to offer Wegerle a contract. However, Wegerle never played consistently for the Chelsea first team and on March 24, 1988, Chelsea loaned Wegerle to Swindon Town
Swindon Town F.C.
Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...

 for the last 7 games of the season.http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/ForceFrames.htm?http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/Person.asp?PersonID=WEGERLER At the end of the season, Chelsea sold Wegerle to Luton Town
Luton Town F.C.
Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...

 for £75,000. In his time with Luton, Wegerle became the team's leading scorer and was sold in December 1989 to Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...

 for £1 million.http://www.lutontownyears.com/years/1986-1990starplayers.htm He finished the 1990–91 season third on the First Division's scoring table, including having the honour of receiving the ITV 'Goal of the Season' award for that season (against Leeds at Elland Road). Wegerle continued to thrive at QPR until the arrival of new manager Gerry Francis
Gerry Francis
Gerald Charles James Francis is an English former footballer and manager, now working as First Team coach at Stoke City.-Playing career:Francis made his debut for Queens Park Rangers v Liverpool in March 1969...

 who had little use for Wegerle and sold him in March 1992 to Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....

 for £1.1 million – a joint record fee to be paid by a Second Division club. He helped Blackburn reach the new FA Premier League
FA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...

 as Second Division playoff winners in May 1992, but his first team chances were then dented by the arrival of Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer OBE, DL is a retired English footballer. He played as a striker in the top level of English league football for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and for the England national team...

 at Ewood Park
Ewood Park
Ewood Park is a football stadium in the English town of Blackburn, Lancashire, and is the home of Blackburn Rovers Football Club — one of the founder members of the Football League and Premier League. Rovers have played there since they moved from Leamington Street in the summer of 1890. The...

.

The 1992–93 season saw yet another transfer for Wegerle as Blackburn sold him to Coventry City
Coventry City F.C.
Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are a professional English Football league club based in Coventry...

 in March 1993 for £1 million after only 22 games. Despite a series of injuries, Wegerle played 53 league games for Coventry, scoring nine goals, until his contract expired at the end of the 1994–95 season.

MLS

In 1996, Wegerle signed with 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). At the time, the newly established league was signing known players and allocating them to each of the league's teams in order to ensure an initial parity of talent. As part of this process, MLS allocated
1996 MLS Inaugural Allocations
The Major League Soccer Inaugural Allocations were signed by the league in 1996 and distributed to the ten initial teams prior to the beginning of the first MLS season...

 Wegerle 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...

. However, he enjoyed little success in MLS. He played a season and a half for Colorado before the team traded him to D.C. United
D.C. United
D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. 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 since its inception, in 1996.Over the...

 for Steve Rammel
Steve Rammel
Steve Rammel is a retired U.S. soccer forward. He spent five seasons in the U.S. and German lower divisions before playing two seasons in Major League Soccer. After retiring from playing in 1997, he served for many years as both an assistant and head coach for both college and professional teams...

 14 games into the 1997 season. Aside from scoring all of 4 goals over 36 games with the Rapids, Wegerle also served a single game as caretaker head coach
Caretaker manager
In association football, a caretaker manager is someone who takes temporary charge of the management of a football club, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caretaker may also be appointed if the regular manager is ill or unable to attend to his...

 after Bobby Houghton
Bobby Houghton
Robert Douglas Houghton , commonly known as either Bob Houghton or Bobby Houghton, is an English football manager and former player, Houghton was most recently the head coach of India. His career has spanned over 30 years and 10 different countries...

 was fired. When Wegerle arrived in D.C., he joined a team on its way to the league championship. While his scoring pace increased slightly, 5 goals over 19 regular and post-season games, Wegerle failed to produce as United coach 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...

 expected. As a result, Wegerle became part of what is considered the most lop-sided trade in league history, when D.C. sent him to the Tampa Bay Mutiny
Tampa Bay Mutiny
The Tampa Bay Mutiny was a charter franchise of Major League Soccer active from 1996 - 2001. They initially played in Tampa Stadium and were immediately successful, winning the first MLS Supporters' Shield behind MLS MVP Carlos Valderrama and high-scoring forward Roy Lassiter, whose 27 goals in...

 for Roy Lassiter
Roy Lassiter
Roy Lassiter is a retired American soccer striker, and Major League Soccer's record holder for goals scored in a season, with 27 in 1996.-Early life:...

 on April 26, 1998. Lassiter was MLS's all-time leading goalscorer; Wegerle played the rest of the 1998 season for the Mutiny, scoring a single goal, then retired.

U.S. national team

Wegerle gained his US citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...

 in 1991, after being eligible through his American wife. He made his national team debut on May 30, 1992 against the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....

, and would go on to record 41 caps and score 7 goals for his adopted country. On January 8, 1994, Wegerle injured his knee and underwent numerous arthroscopic surgeries, but he was able to recover in time to become a key player for the U.S. in the 1994 FIFA World Cup
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...

. By 1998, his repeated injuries had hobbled Wegerle. He enjoyed a brief resurgence leading up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final...

, but never became the key player he had been in 1994.

Personal life

Roy has a son who was born in 1987 whose name is Joelen. Since his retirement, Wegerle has been trying to make it as a professional golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

er. He had a brief stay as a co-host of MLS Extratime
MLS Extratime
MLS ExtraTime was a Major League Soccer highlight show that aired on ESPN2 in 2000 and 2001. Rob Stone co-hosted first with Roy Wegerle, then with Alexi Lalas, in 2000 and with Dave Dir in 2001...

on ESPN2
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American sports cable television network owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross,...

.

External links

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