Imad Baba (born March 15, 1974) is a former 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 ...

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 ...

. He spent seven years in

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(MLS) with the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

and

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, la ...

. He was also a member of the American squads at the 1989 U-16 World Championships, 1993 U-20 World Cup and the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Baba earned one

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with the senior

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Club career

Early career

Baba's father moved to Texas from

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. Baba was born and raised in Texas. In 1990, he was given a trial at

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, but failed to impress. He was the 1992 Texas High School Player of the Year and a four-time

Parade Magazine ''Parade'' was an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers in the United States until 2022. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., ''Parade'' had a circulation of 32 million and a readership of 5 ...

high school All-American, the only player to earn that honor four times. After high school, he attended the

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

where he played on the men's soccer team for three seasons from 1993 to 1995. A varsity starter as a freshman, Baba elected to skip his last season in order to turn professional.

Professional career

On March 4, 1996, the

selected Baba in the second round (16th overall) of the

1996 MLS College Draft The 1996 Major League Soccer College Draft was held on March 4, 1996, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. History As Major League Soccer prepared for its first season, the league began stocking teams with players. As the teams were being created at the s ...

. Baba spent five seasons with the Revs. He became a free agent on December 21, 2000. The Revs traded him to the

for

Matt Okoh Matthew Nwabueze Okoh (born May 19, 1972) is a former U.S.-Nigerian soccer player and currently assistant coach of the DSU Hornets Women. His playing career spanned eight years and took him from the United States to Brazil, Germany and Portugal ...

, the rights to Alan Woods and a second round draft pick on March 19, 2001. Baba spent the next two seasons with the Rapids before announcing his retirement on June 13, 2002.
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International

Baba entered the national team program with the U-16 team as it went through qualifications for the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship, 1989 U-16 World Championship. The U.S. easily qualified only to go 1-1-1 in group play and fail to make the second round. However, Baba scored the lone U.S. goal in its victory over Brazil, the first U.S. goal of the tournament. Baba went on to play for the U.S. at the 1993 U-20 World Cup in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Baba scored a goal in the 6-0 victory over Turkey in the first U.S. game of the tournament. Once again this was the first U.S. goal of the tournament. The U.S. again went 1-1-1 in group play, but this time it advanced to the second round where the team met Brazil. This time the results were not so favorable to the U.S. as it fell 3-0 to Brazil. In 1995, Baba again played with the U.S., this time as part of the U-23 national team at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

. In this tournament, he started two of the three U.S. games as the U.S. crashed out with an 0-3 record. He was a member of the Olympic soccer team at the

. The U.S. went 1-1-1 yet again, but this was not good enough to qualify for the second round. Baba earned his only

with the senior

on January 24, 1999, in a scoreless tie with

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when he came on for

Eddie Lewis Edward Lewis may refer to: Politicians * Edward Lewis (Devizes MP) (1650–1674), British MP for Devizes, 1669–1674 * Edward Lewis (Radnor MP), British MP for Radnor, 1761–1768, 1769–1774 and 1775–1790 * Edward Parke Custis Lewis (1837–1 ...

in the 75th minute.

External links

Sams-Army profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baba, Imad 1974 births Living people American soccer players Soccer players from Texas People from Humble, Texas American people of Palestinian descent Parade High School All-Americans (boys' soccer) United States men's international soccer players Clemson Tigers men's soccer players New England Revolution players Colorado Rapids players Olympic soccer players of the United States Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Major League Soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players Pan American Games competitors for the United States Footballers at the 1995 Pan American Games New England Revolution draft picks Association football midfielders