Eric Puls (born July 4, 1971 in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

) is a retired American soccer

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played two seasons in the German third division and nine in the

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

. He was the head coach of the

Reading Rage Reading United AC is an American soccer team based in Reading, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1995, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The club plays its home games at Don Thomas Stadium on the campus ...

in 2001 and 2002.

Youth

Puls grew up in

where he was a member of the 1988

Christian Brothers College High School Christian Brothers College High School (CBC High School) is a Lasallian Catholic college preparatory school for young men in Town and Country, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis and ...

Missouri State championship soccer team. That year, he was also selected as an All State soccer player. He then attended Syracuse University, playing on the men’s soccer team from 1989 to 1992. Puls holds the all-time record for most points as a freshman. In addition to his school teams, Puls also played club soccer with the Busch Soccer Club until his graduation from High School. He then played for the Scott Gallagher cup.

Professional

Following college, Puls moved to Germany to pursue a professional career. He signed with SV Darmstadt 98 in the second Bundesliga before moving to Rot-Weiß Waldorf of the Regionalliga where he played from 1992 to 1994. In 1995, he returned to St. Louis and signed with the St. Louis Knights in the USISL. In February 1996, the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, lat ...

selected Puls in the 12th round (112th overall) of the 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft. On March 25, 1996, the Rapids released Puls during a pre-season roster reduction.RAPIDS RELEASE THREE PLAYERS
/ref> He then moved to the

where he played from 1996 to 2003. He was 1999, 2000 and 2003 All League.

Coaching

In 2001, Puls became a player-coach with the Reading Rage. He held this position through the 2002 season. In 2003, he founded F.C. Revolution, a youth club in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. He played with the F.C. Reading Revolution men's team in the NPSL until 2011 in which he retired from playing soccer. Now, he spends his time as a coach and club president for Reading Rage. He has "revolutionized" soccer by introducing the "Funnel Offense". The Funnel Offense is a variation of the 4-3-3. The layout is shaped like a triangle where the 3 forwards form a point at the head of the offense. This revelatory game strategy has taken teams to a nationally ranked status.

References

External links

F.C. Revolution profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puls, Eric 1971 births Living people American expatriate men's soccer players American soccer coaches American men's soccer players National Premier Soccer League players Reading United AC players St. Louis Knights players Syracuse Orange men's soccer players Soccer players from Missouri USISL players USISL coaches Men's association football midfielders American expatriate soccer players in Germany Men's association football player-managers Colorado Rapids draft picks