Joseph Mattacchione (born August 15, 1975) is a Canadian former

soccer player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a defender.

Playing career

College career

Mattacchione began playing at the youth level with Dixie Soccer Club. He also played at the amateur level in the Toronto and District Soccer League with Mississauga United. He continued playing soccer with his local high school

Father Michael Goetz Secondary School Father Michael Goetz Secondary School (sometimes referred to as Goetz or abbreviated as FMG; Goetz pronounced as "Gates") is a Catholic school located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Founded by Ed King, it was established in 1987 (in its ori ...

in Mississauga, Ontario where he served as the team captain and was named the team MVP. In 1994, he received a scholarship to play

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

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established in 1936, the institution became a four-year campus in 1966 and a fully autonomous univ ...

. Throughout his tenure at Alabama, he was named to the First Team Rookie All-Conference in 1994 and was a 2-Time UAB Team MVP in 1996 and 1997. In 1997, he was also selected to the All-Conference team. In the winter of 1997, he was drafted by Montreal Impact's indoor team in the National Professional Soccer League amateur draft but wasn't offered a contract.

Toronto Lynx

After the completion of his college career, he was drafted by the

Toronto Lynx Toronto Lynx was a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1997, the team last played in the 2014 season of the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Great Lakes D ...

of the

USL A-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

in 1998. He officially began his professional career when he signed a contract with Toronto for the 1999 season. He recorded his first professional goal on May 30, 1999, against the

Jacksonville Cyclones The Jacksonville Cyclones were a professional soccer team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They played in the A-League from 1997 to 1999. The team originated as the Tampa Bay Cyclones, who played in Tampa, Florida from 1995 to 1996 before moving ...

in a 3-2 defeat. The following season, he helped Toronto qualify for the postseason for the second time in the club's history. He featured in the Conference finals against

Rochester Rhinos Rochester New York FC, formerly known as the Rochester Rhinos, are an American professional soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. Founded in 1996, as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, they changed their name to Rochester Rhinos t ...

where Toronto was eliminated from the playoffs by a score of 2-1 on goals on aggregate. Mattacchione re-signed with the Lynx for the 2001 and 2002 seasons. In his fourth season with the club, he received the Best Defensive Player award for his leadership. In 2005, he returned to Toronto for his sixth consecutive season and was chosen the team captain under head coach Hubert Busby, Jr. The following season he began to transition to the managerial side as he served as an assistant coach under

Duncan Wilde Duncan Wilde is an English soccer manager who is currently the manager of Blue Devils FC in League1 Ontario. Managerial career On May 15, 2003 at the Canadian Professional Soccer League press conference the Hamilton Thunder announced Wilde as th ...

. Throughout the 2006 campaign, he assisted Toronto in reaching the finals of the

Open Canada Cup The Open Canada Cup was an annual knock-out cup competition in Canadian Soccer. The competition was first held during the 1998 season as the CPSL League Cup. It was organized by the Canadian Soccer League (formerly the Canadian Professional So ...

where they were defeated by Ottawa St. Anthony Italia. The 2006 season marked his final year with the Toronto Lynx where he finished second in the rankings in the club's all-time match appearances.

Indoor career

After the conclusion of the 2000 A-League season, he signed with the Toronto ThunderHawks in the National Professional Soccer League. In his debut season in the NPSL, he assisted Toronto in securing a postseason berth. He returned to the indoor level in the 2002-03 season when he signed with Cleveland Force. He appeared in 31 matches and recorded two goals for Cleveland.

International career

In 1994, he made his debut for the

Canada men's national under-20 soccer team The Canada U-20 men's national soccer team (also known as Canada Under-20s or Canada U-20s) represents Canada in international soccer at this age level. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Canad ...

on August 24, 1994, against Costa Rica. He also appeared in three matches for the

Canada national beach soccer team The Canada national beach soccer team represents Canada in international beach soccer competitions and is controlled by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Canada. Current squad As of 13 February 2017 ...

for the

2005 CONCACAF and CONMEBOL Beach Soccer Championship The 2005 CONCACAF and CONMEBOL Beach Soccer Championship, also known as the 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for (CONCACAF and CONMEBOL), was the first beach soccer championship for the Americas, held in March 2005, in Rio de Janeiro, B ...

Managerial career

In 2006, Mattacchione along with Theo Zagar was the

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hun ...

for Toronto Lynx under

. In 2011, he was appointed the head coach for the U-11 girls' team for the Oakville Soccer Club.

Post career

After he retired from professional soccer, he became a teacher in the

Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 43 prior to 1999) is the separate school board that oversees 153 Catholic school facilities (125 elementary schools, 26 secondar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattacchion, Joe 1975 births Living people Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian men's soccer players Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Men's association football defenders Soccer players from Mississauga Toronto Lynx players UAB Blazers men's soccer players USL First Division players A-League (1995–2004) players Canadian soccer coaches Toronto Lynx coaches Cleveland Force (2002–2005 MISL) players Toronto ThunderHawks players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Canadian beach soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players