Michael Magee (born September 2, 1984) is an American former

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 last played for

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

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 ...

as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. In the 2013 season with the Chicago Fire, Magee scored 21 goals and was named the

MLS MVP The Landon Donovan MVP Award is an annual award for MLS players. It is voted on by media, MLS players, and club management and is given to the player deemed the most valuable player in the league each season. From 1996 to 2007, the award was kno ...

Club career

MetroStars

Magee graduated from USSF's

Bradenton Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As t ...

he entered the

2003 MLS SuperDraft The 2003 MLS Superdraft was held January 17, 2003 in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the fifth annual SuperDraft held by Major League Soccer. Player selection Any player whose name is marked with an * was contracted under the Project-40 program ...

, where the MetroStars traded the previous year's third overall selection, Brad Davis, to acquire Magee with the fourth overall pick. With Metro coach

Bob Bradley Robert Frank Bradley (born March 3, 1958) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of Toronto FC. A native of New Jersey and graduate of Princeton University, Bradley coached in the American college game and Maj ...

familiar with Magee from his youth soccer days, the youngster quickly stepped into the Metro lineup, and played every game of the 2003 season except the meaningless finale. He became the youngest player in team history to start a game and score a goal. He scored seven goals, nearing the rookie record, which included a couple of game-winning and game-tying efforts. When the MetroStars signed a trio of foreign strikers before the 2004 season, Magee struggled for playing time early on. But he soon found a new niche as an attacking midfielder, as his skill on the ball, leadership, precise passing, and overall intelligence made him an important part of the Metro team. Magee ended up with three goals on the season, one of them in the 90th minute to give the Metros a 2-1 win over

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began play ...

. He scored five in 2005, adding five assists. Magee followed that with three goals in an injury-filled 2006. Magee's injury woes continued in 2007 as he was limited to 7 league matches. The 2008 season saw Magee receive significant playing time as an attacking midfielder, but it was apparent that he was not fully recovered from his injuries. He was then moved to his natural forward position and had a resurgence as he scored in 3 consecutive matches, helping the club to three straight wins. He ended the 2008 season scoring five key goals, helping the club reach the MLS Playoffs.

LA Galaxy

Magee was traded to

in January 2009 in exchange for a 2nd round pick in the

2010 MLS SuperDraft 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. In his first season with Los Angeles, Magee appeared in 23 league matches scoring 2 goals. During the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs Magee started all 4 of the team's playoff matches scoring two goals in helping lead the club to the MLS Cup Final. At the MLS 2009 Cup Final Magee scored the Galaxy's only goal but the team ended up losing during an overtime penalty shoot out. Magee made his first professional appearance as a goalkeeper on June 25, 2011, moving to the position in the 43rd minute of a match against

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

, after starting goalkeeper

Donovan Ricketts Donovan Ricketts (born 7 June 1977) is a Jamaican former professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and is currently an assistant coach for FC Tulsa in the USL Championship. Ricke ...

was injured and reserve goalkeeper

Josh Saunders Josh Saunders (born March 2, 1981) is an American former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He last played for Orlando City in Major League Soccer. Career College Saunders, the younger brother of Shawn Saunders, spent the f ...

received a red card for an elbow to the face of

Steven Lenhart Steven Lenhart (born August 28, 1986) is a former American soccer player. Career College and amateur Lenhart grew up in Yorba Linda, California, and attended Esperanza High School. He attended Point Loma Nazarene University for one year befor ...

. Magee made 4 saves, including a late stop on a 1-v-1 against Lenhart, preserving a clean sheet for the Galaxy in a 0-0 draw. It was the first time Magee had played in goal at any level of soccer. Magee had his most productive season during the 2011 campaign scoring 10 goals in all competitions for the Galaxy including 3 in the MLS playoffs, helping the Galaxy to capture the

2011 MLS Cup MLS Cup 2011, the 16th edition of Major League Soccer's championship match, was played between the Houston Dynamo and the Los Angeles Galaxy to decide the champion of the 2011 season. The soccer match was played at the Home Depot Center in Car ...

. Magee has become LA's "Mr. November" due to his repeated ability to deliver goals and in form clutch performances in the post-season, having scored 8 goals in his 15 playoff matches for the team.

Chicago Fire

On May 24, 2013, Magee was traded to Chicago Fire for the MLS rights to

Robbie Rogers Robert Hampton Rogers III (born May 12, 1987) is an American former professional soccer player. He played as a winger and as a left back. Rogers has also represented the United States men's national soccer team. In February 2013, Rogers came ou ...

. He made an immediate impact with the club, scoring 7 goals in his first 7 matches across all competitions. He won the June Player of the Month Award. The Fire missed the playoffs by three goals and Magee lost to

Camilo Sanvezzo Camilo da Silva Sanvezzo (born 21 July 1988) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga MX club Toluca. He is a Mexican naturalized citizen. Club career Corinthians Alagoano Camilo began his career in the youth ran ...

for the

MLS Golden Boot The MLS Golden Boot (currently commercially termed "Audi Golden Boot") has been awarded since the 2005 season to Major League Soccer's regular–season leading scorer. The award replaced the MLS Scoring Champion Award that was awarded since the le ...

. Camilo had 22 goals and 6 assists, while Magee had 21 goals and 4 assists. On November 20, Magee along with

Robbie Keane Robert David Keane (born 8 July 1980) is an Irish professional Association football, football coach and former Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Keane served as Captain (association football ...

and

Marco Di Vaio Marco Di Vaio (; born 15 July 1976) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, in his long club career, Di Vaio scored over 200 league goals while playing for several clubs, mainly in Italy, as ...

, was nominated for the MVP Award. On December 5, he was named the MVP of MLS. Magee became the first Chicago Fire player ever to win the award. In September 2014, Magee underwent a right hip surgery to address an injury of the labrum and to repair articular surface damage. He would miss eight months due to recovery. In May 2015, Magee was loaned to Chicago's USL affiliate,

Saint Louis FC Saint Louis FC was an American professional soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The team was founded in May 2014, and competed in the USL Championship. The team played their matches at West Community Stadium, a venue inside the World Wide ...

, to begin his on-field recovery from this injury.

Return to LA Galaxy

On January 14, 2016, the Galaxy announced that Magee would return after he became a free-agent.

International career

Magee has spent time with various

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

youth national Teams. He played in the 2003

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, scoring the game-winner against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. In November 2013, Republic of Ireland national team captain

revealed that he would recommend Magee to

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

as a possible call-up. Magee was called up by

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...

for the 2014 January Camp. However, he was left out of the lineup on February 1 against South Korea due to food poisoning.

Personal life

Magee spent some of his earliest years living in

Elmhurst, Illinois Elmhurst is a city mostly in DuPage County and overlapping into Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois, and a western suburb of Chicago. As of 2021, the city has an estimated population of 47,260. History Members of the Potawatomi Native A ...

before moving away, and has lived considerable time in South Barrington. He played AYSO; one year, his team name was the "Green Slimers". Magee and his wife, Kristen Pizzolato were married in 2012, had a daughter in 2010 and a son in 2015. In 2018, Magee became the owner of Sneaky Fox Spirits and Sneaky Clean Hand Sanitizer in 2020.

Career statistics

Honors

;Los Angeles Galaxy *

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

(2):

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

MLS Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 1 ...

(2):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

MLS Western Conference The Western Conference is one of Major League Soccer's two conferences, along with the Eastern Conference. As of 2023, the Western Conference contains fourteen teams. The conference has produced eleven Supporters' Shield champions and seve ...

Playoffs (3):

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Regular Season (3):

* MLS Player of the Month (1): March

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

MLS 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 ...

Player of the Week (2):

;Chicago Fire * MLS Player of the Month (1): June

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. Winners *Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season. Most appearances by a player The following players have appeared ...

(1): 2013 *

(1): 2013

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Magee, Mike 1984 births Living people American soccer players New York Red Bulls players LA Galaxy players Chicago Fire FC players Saint Louis FC players People from South Barrington, Illinois Soccer players from Chicago American people of Irish descent New York Red Bulls draft picks Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Major League Soccer MVPs USL Championship players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players Association football forwards Association football midfielders People from Elmhurst, Illinois