Alexander Lochian Wood (June 12, 1907 – July 20, 1987) was a Scottish American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

defender. Wood began his club career in the United States before moving to England in the early 1930s. He also played all three U.S. games at the

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, football's international governing body, selected Uruguay as host nation ...

. He is a member of the

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a private, non-profit institution established in 1979 and currently located in Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The Hall of Fame honors soccer achievements in the United States. Induction ...

Youth

Wood's parents moved the family to the United States in 1921 when Wood was fourteen years old. His family settled in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the ...

, where he attended Emerson High School and gained his U.S. citizenship a year later. He also worked for the local Union Drawn Steel Company.

Club career

Wood began his club career with Chicago

Bricklayers and Masons F.C. Bricklayers and Masons F.C., also known as Chicago Bricklayers, was a U.S. soccer team based in Chicago, Illinois which joined that city's Association Football League in 1914. Over the next twenty years, Bricklayers won two Peel Cups and was the ...

In 1928, the Bricklayers went to the

National Challenge Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. O ...

final before losing to New York Nationals. He then moved to Detroit Holley Carburetor. In 1930, Wood turned professional with the Brooklyn Wanderers of the American Soccer League. The Wanderers folded in 1931, and there is a gap in Wood's career for two years. In 1933 Wood moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to play with Leicester City. In 1936, he transferred to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

for one season before joined Colchester United in 1937. In 1938, he moved to Chelmsford City of the Southern League before retiring in 1939 and returning to the United States.

National team

Scotland youth

In 1921, Wood played once for Scotland in a junior team match against Wales before moving to the United States.

U.S. senior

Wood would then earn four caps with the U.S. national team in 1930. Three of the games came at the

. At that Cup, the U.S. won the first two games, over

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

by a 3–0 score in each game, they lost to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

6–1 in the semifinals. Following the cup, the U.S. played

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

on August 17, 1930, before returning to the U.S. That was Wood's last game with the national team.

Post soccer career

After retiring from playing professional soccer, Wood moved back to Gary, Indiana, where he worked for the

U.S. Steel Corporation United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countries ...

. He retired in 1970 and was inducted into the

in 1986.

Honors

Club

; Colchester United *

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

Winner (1): 1938–39

References

External links

*
1930 World Cup team photo
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Alexander 1907 births 1930 FIFA World Cup players 1987 deaths British emigrants to the United States American Soccer League (1921–1933) players American expatriate men's soccer players American men's soccer players Brooklyn Wanderers (1922–1931) players Chelmsford City F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Holley Carburetor F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players National Soccer Hall of Fame members Nottingham Forest F.C. players United States men's international soccer players Soccer players from Indiana Footballers from Lochgelly Men's association football defenders