Manuel Oliveira “Youngie” Martin (born December 29, 1917 in Bristol, Rhode Island; died September 5, 1997 in Fall River, Massachusetts) was an 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 ...

player. He earned seven caps with the U.S. national team between 1947 and 1949 and was a member of the U.S. soccer team at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

. In 1947, the United States Soccer Federation selected the amateur Ponta Delgada S.C. team from Fall River, Massachusetts to represent the U.S. at the

1947 NAFC Championship The 1947 NAFC Championship was the first association football championship for the North American Football Confederation (NAFC). The first tournament came soon after the founding of the NAFC. Cuba hosted the tournament which included the host nat ...

. At the time, Ponta Delgada was the reigning

National Challenge 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. O ...

and National Amateur Cup champions. As a member of the National Cup champions Delgada, Martin traveled to Cuba for the NAFC Championship in July 1947. The U.S. lost both matches, 6-0 to Mexico and 5-2 to Cuba. In 1948, he again played in both U.S. games, also losses, this time to Norway and Ireland. He was the captain of the game with Norway. That year, he traveled to London for the

. However, the U.S. lost to Italy in the first round of the single elimination tournament. In 1949, he continued to be a stalwart for the U.S. as he started all five U.S. games that year. Four of the games came in the

1949 NAFC Championship The 1949 NAFC Championship was the second edition of the association football championship for the North American Football Confederation. In 1949, the NAFC Championship served both as a regional championship as well as the regional qualification ...

. The U.S. took second place which guaranteed them a place in the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

. However, Martin was not selected for the World Cup roster. After retiring from playing, Martin continued his involvement in the sport and began to coach, including time as the assistant coach of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth women’s soccer team. He was inducted into the New England Soccer Hall of Fame in 1983.

References

External links

Soccer Hall of Fame eligibility bio
1917 births 1997 deaths People from Bristol, Rhode Island Sportspeople from Bristol County, Rhode Island United States men's international soccer players Ponta Delgada S.C. players Olympic soccer players for the United States Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics American soccer coaches Soccer players from Rhode Island American men's soccer players Men's association football defenders American people of Portuguese descent {{US-footy-defender-stub