Joshua Cohen ( he, ג'ושוע "ג'וש" כהן; born August 18, 1992) is an American professional

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 ...

player who plays as a

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 ...

for

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

club

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

. Cohen is also an

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i citizen.https://www.footballdatabase.eu/en/player/details/286524-josh-cohen

Early and personal life

Cohen was born in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

, United States, to a family of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent. On December 12, 2019, he obtained his

temporary resident A temporary resident is a foreign national granted the right to stay in a country for a certain length of time (e.g. with a visa or ), without full citizenship. This may be for study, business, or other reasons. Various countries have their own rul ...

status. On February 20, 2021, Cohen acquired

Israeli citizenship Israeli citizenship law details the conditions by which a person holds citizenship of Israel. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the 1950 Law of Return and 1952 Citizenship Law. Every Jew in the world has ...

, with an Oleh Hadash status, on account of the State of Israel's

Law of Return The Law of Return ( he, חֹוק הַשְׁבוּת, ''ḥok ha-shvūt'') is an Israeli law, passed on 5 July 1950, which gives Jews, people with one or more Jewish grandparent, and their spouses the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Isra ...

for the Jewish diaspora.

Club career

Cohen played four years of

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 ...

at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

between 2010 and 2013, graduating with a degree in

bioengineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number o ...

and

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

. He appeared in 51 games in his collegiate career. In 2012, he started 12 games and led the entirety of

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

in goals against average (0.397) and save percentage (0.898), earning a place on the Daktronics All-America Second Team. In 2013, he started 22 games and earned NSCAA All-America First Team honors. In early 2014, Cohen was invited by the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

to a one-week trial from January 25 through February 1.

Burlingame Dragons

After college, Cohen appeared for

USL PDL 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 syste ...

side

Burlingame Dragons Burlingame Dragons FC was an American soccer club based in Burlingame, California. Founded in 2014, the team played in the Premier Development League (PDL). The team was owned by Nick Swinmurn, founder of Zappos.com and a minority investor in the ...

in 2015, making 11 appearances with a goals against average of 0.636.

Orange County

Cohen signed with

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

club

Orange County Blues Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home games ...

on August 10, 2015, where he started one game in the 2015 season. He returned to the team for the 2016 season.

Phoenix Rising

Cohen spent the 2017 season with Phoenix Rising where he won the starting goalkeeper role, making 28 starts on the season. He earned the September 2017 Player of the Month Award with a 0.37 GAA and 88.9% save percentage over the course of the month.

Sacramento Republic

Cohen signed with

Sacramento Republic FC Sacramento Republic FC is an American professional soccer team based in Sacramento, California, that plays in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second level in US soccer. Co-founded by Warren Smith and Joe Wagoner in 2012, the ...

of the

USL Championship 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 ...

on January 16, 2018, with a club option for 2019. He played every minute of the 2018 USL Championship season, conceding 32 goals in the 34 games of the regular season, and earning twelve clean sheets. Cohen was named a finalist for USL Goalkeeper of the Year and was selected to the USL All-League Second Team. He returned to Sacramento for the start of the 2019 season and made 16 appearances, allowing just 17 goals, before his transfer.

Maccabi Haifa

On July 19, 2019, Sacramento Republic and

agreed to a transfer of Cohen to the

club in advance of their 2019–20 season. Cohen made his first start on September 25, 2019, where he was in net for a 3–0 victory over

Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Netanya F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי נתניה, ''Football Club Maccabi Netanya'') is an Israeli football club based in Netanya. Established in 1934, the club was a founding member of the Israeli League in 1949. Afte ...

. He returned to the starting line-up on October 26, 2019, for another 3–0 victory, this time over

Hapoel Kfar Saba Hapoel Kfar Saba F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל כפר סבא, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Kfar Saba'') is an Israeli football club based in Kfar Saba. The club competes in the Liga Leumit and plays home matches at Levita Stadiu ...

. He then started every game until the season's eventual postponement. In that time, he conceded only 15 goals in his 21 games, saw out 12 clean sheets, and helped lead Maccabi Haifa to a second-place finish at the end of the first stage of the regular season. Cohen was named the Israeli Premier League's Player of the Season in 2020–21, leading Maccabi Haifa to their first league championship since their last one in 2010–11.

Honors

Maccabi Haifa *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 * Israel Toto Cup ( Ligat Ha'Al): 2021–22 *

Israel Super Cup The Israel Super Cup, also known as the Champion of Champions ( he, אלוף האלופים, Aluf HaAlufim), is an Israeli association football club competition played as a single match between the winner of the latest Israeli top league champio ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual * Israeli Footballer of the Year:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Josh 1992 births Living people American soccer players Association football goalkeepers UC San Diego Tritons men's soccer players Burlingame Dragons FC players Orange County SC players Phoenix Rising FC players Sacramento Republic FC players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players USL League Two players Israeli Premier League players People from Mountain View, California Soccer players from California Sportspeople from Santa Clara County, California American people of Jewish descent American Israel Public Affairs Committee Israeli American Israeli people of American-Jewish descent American people of Israeli descent Israeli people of Jewish descent Israeli footballers Jewish footballers American emigrants to Israel Citizens of Israel through Law of Return Israeli Footballer of the Year recipients