Eric Alexander (born April 14, 1988) is an American former professional soccer player.

Career

College and amateur

Alexander attended Portage Central High School, where he was named NSCAA/adidas Boys High School National Player of the Year and Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year in 2005, before playing

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United K ...

for the Indiana University Hoosiers from 2006 to 2009. He was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team in his first year, started all 22 matches and was named to the All-Big Ten first-team and the NSCAA/adidas Great Lakes All-Region second-team as a sophomore and a junior. During his college years Alexander also played for

Kalamazoo Kingdom Kalamazoo Kingdom were an American soccer team, founded in 1996. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2006, when the team left the league and th ...

West Michigan Edge West Michigan Edge was an American soccer team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1995, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2008, when the fra ...

and Kalamazoo Outrage in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

Professional

Alexander was drafted in the third round (44th overall) of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft by

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

. He made his professional debut on March 27, 2010, in Dallas's opening game of the 2010 MLS season against Houston Dynamo. After initially receiving limited time in his first season, Alexander started eleven consecutive matches to close the 2010 season and was a key player during FC Dallas' nineteen-game unbeaten streak. In all he would appear in 17 league matches scoring two goals and assisting on three. Alexander was traded to Portland Timbers on August 19, 2011, after making 22 league appearances during the 2011 campaign for FC Dallas in exchange for Jeremy Hall. In his first full season in Portland, Alexander appeared in 24 league matches and recorded a team leading 6 assists. On February 11, 2013, Alexander was traded to

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

in exchange for allocation money. Alexander was an important player for New York in his first year at the club as he appeared in all 34 league matches and scored 4 goals, helping the club to its first major title the 2013

MLS Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since ...

. During the 2014 season Alexander once again appeared in all 34 league matches scoring 2 goals and assisting on 9 others. On January 27, 2015, Alexander was traded to Montreal Impact alongside

Ambroise Oyongo Ambroise Oyongo Bitolo (born 22 June 1991) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for the Cameroon national team. Club career Coton Sport Ambroise Oyongo began his career with Moussango FC of Yaoundé in 2008. His ...

, an international player roster spot and allocation money for Felipe and the 1st pick in the MLS allocation ranking. After a season and a half with Montreal, Alexander was traded to the Houston Dynamo in exchange for general and targeted

allocation money Allocation money, in Major League Soccer, represents an amount of money that teams may use to sign players and/or allocate to their salaries to get under the salary cap. Reasons for obtaining MLS teams receive general allocation money for these r ...

. In his first year with the Dynamo, Alexander made only 10 appearances, 3 of them starts. In 2017 he helped the Dynamo make the playoffs for the first time in 3 seasons, however Alexander suffered a MCL sprain on May 6 that caused him to miss 4 months. He was able to return to action on September 23 against

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned b ...

. Alexander appeared in all 5 of the Dynamo playoff games that season and got an assist on

Mauro Manotas Mauro Andrés Manotas Páez (born 15 July 1995) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga MX club Atlas. Club career Uniautónoma Manota was the top scorer at the 2013 Colombian U20 championship with 200 goals, a ...

's goal that put the Dynamo up 2–1 against his former club the Portland Timbers in the Western Conference Semi Finals. Alexander was selected by

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team succeeded the lower-division team of the ...

in the 2018 MLS Expansion Draft. On August 9, 2019, Alexander returned to

following his release from Cincinnati two days previously. His FC Dallas contract expired at the end of 2019. Retired to finish college at Indiana University.

International

On December 21, 2010, Alexander was called up to the United States national team for a friendly game against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. He made his debut on January 22, 2011. On January 3, 2014, he was again called up, this time as part of a 26-man roster that trained in Carson, California and

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

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 ...

as coach

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...

prepared the side for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Honors

* Major League Soccer Western Conference Championship (1): 2010

(1):

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Houston Dynamo *

US Open 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. Op ...

(1):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

Career Statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Eric 1988 births Living people People from Portage, Michigan American expatriate soccer players United States men's international soccer players Association football midfielders Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players Kalamazoo Kingdom players West Michigan Edge players Kalamazoo Outrage players FC Dallas players Portland Timbers players New York Red Bulls players CF Montréal players FC Montreal players Houston Dynamo FC players Rio Grande Valley FC Toros players FC Cincinnati players Soccer players from Michigan Expatriate soccer players in Canada FC Dallas draft picks USL League Two players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players American soccer players