Jeff Cassar (born February 2, 1974) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 ...

coach and former

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

who last coached

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

Playing career

Cassar played

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 Kingd ...

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

, where he was roommates with

Steve Ralston Steve Ralston (born June 14, 1974) is an American retired soccer player and manager who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his playing career in Major League Soccer with the Tampa Bay Mutiny and the New England Revolution, retiring in 2010 ...

. Following his graduation, he was selected eighth overall in 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 ...

by the Dallas Burn. Although Cassar made the team, Mark Dodd took firm hold of the starting position, and Cassar only appeared in two games that season. After spending all of the 1997 season injured with a torn ACL, Cassar was selected tenth overall in the

1997 MLS Expansion Draft The 1997 MLS Expansion Draft was held November 6, 1997. Two teams participated, the Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion F.C., both expansion Major League Soccer clubs starting play in the 1998 season. Format Each team in the league made ten players, in ...

by the

Miami Fusion The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best seas ...

. Cassar started much of the Fusion's inaugural season, appearing in twenty-one games, all starts, and compiling a GAA of 1.95. After splitting starting duties with

Garth Lagerway Garth Lagerwey (born December 12, 1972) is a retired American soccer player who played five seasons in Major League Soccer as a goalkeeper. He became the general manager of Real Salt Lake in 2007 and stayed with the club before departing in 2015 ...

in 1999, Cassar lost his job to

Nick Rimando Nicholas Paul Rimando (born June 17, 1979) is an American retired soccer player who last played as a goalkeeper for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer and the United States national team. He holds the Major League Soccer records for career ...

, and would start just ten games for Miami in 2000 and 2001. Upon Miami's contraction at the end of the 2001 season, Cassar was again selected by the Burn in the

2002 MLS Dispersal Draft The 2002 Major League Soccer SuperDraft was held on February 10, 2002 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. One month earlier, MLS had contracted two clubs: Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion. In conjunction with the contraction, the league conducted bo ...

, but failing to make the team, went looking for work overseas. Cassar found a job as the backup for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

in England, and would remain with the team from March to June 2002. Cassar returned to the United States at the end of the English season, and signed with the

Atlanta Silverbacks The Atlanta Silverbacks FC were an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1998 as Atlanta Ruckus, the club played in many leagues over the years before folding after the 2015 season. The team played its home game ...

of the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

, for whom he appeared in six games. Cassar joined Dallas for a third time the next year, signing on as a backup for D.J. Countess following

Matt Jordan Matt Jordan (born October 13, 1975 in Aurora, Colorado) is a former soccer goalkeeper. Youth and college Jordan graduated from Overland High School in Aurora, and played college soccer at Clemson University from 1994 to 1997, for whom he starte ...

's departure for Europe. Cassar appeared in seven games for the Burn in 2003, doing a passable, if unexceptional, job for the team. Following the 2003 season, the Burn brought in a new coach, Colin Clarke, who traded away Countess and replaced him with

Scott Garlick Scott Garlick (born May 29, 1972 in Phoenix, Arizona) is an American retired soccer goalkeeper who played 10 seasons in Major League Soccer from 1997 to 2006. Garlick went on trial to Waterford United in 1994. Initially for a month he stayed f ...

. Although Garlick began the season as the team's starting goalkeeper, an injury midseason gave Cassar the opportunity to seize the position, which he did with a series of impressive performances; he ended the season as the club's starting goalkeeper, having made nineteen starts. Following the 2006 season, Cassar retired.

Coaching

Cassar was appointed by new head coach Steve Morrow, Clarke's replacement, as the team's goalkeeper coach. In May 2007, he became the goalkeeper coach for

. However, he also spent time at the end of the season as an assistant with the

Puerto Rico Islanders Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

of the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

. Jeff was called on as a goalkeeper coach for the US Men's National Team in September 2013 during their world cup qualification bid against Mexico. On December 18, 2013, Cassar was named the new head coach of

, replacing

Jason Kreis Jason Clarence Kreis (born December 29, 1972) is an American soccer coach and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach for MLS club Inter Miami CF and as head coach of the United States under-23 team. He coached Orlando City S ...

after the latter became head coach of

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 ...

. After serving as the head coach of

for three full seasons in

, Cassar was dismissed on March 20, 2017, following an 0-2-1 start to the 2017 MLS season. Cassar's assistant coach Daryl Shore was appointed interim head coach on the same day.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassar, Jeff 1974 births Living people American soccer players American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom American soccer coaches Atlanta Silverbacks players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Charlotte Eagles players FC Dallas players Miami Fusion players Association football goalkeepers Major League Soccer players A-League (1995–2004) players FIU Panthers men's soccer players Soccer players from Michigan Sportspeople from Livonia, Michigan United States men's under-20 international soccer players FC Dallas draft picks Real Salt Lake coaches Real Salt Lake non-playing staff FC Dallas non-playing staff American people of Maltese descent