Mark Chung (born June 18, 1970) 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 ...

midfielder who played ten seasons in

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 ...

. He also earned twenty-four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

, scoring two goals, with the US national team.

Youth

Chung was born in Toronto to

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

Chinese Jamaican Chinese Jamaicans are Jamaicans of Chinese ancestry, which include descendants of migrants from China to Jamaica. Early migrants came in the 19th century; there was another moment of migration in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the descendants of ea ...

parents. His family moved from Toronto to

Pembroke Pines, Florida Pembroke Pines is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located 22 miles (35 km) north of Miami. The population of Pembroke Pines is 171,178 as of the 2020 census. It is a suburb of and the fourth-most populous c ...

, when Chung was twelve. These moves created a choice for Chung when he received invitations to play from three national teams, the

United States 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. He ultimately elected to play for the US. After graduating from Cooper City High School, Chung attended the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

where he studied finance. He also played on the men's soccer team from 1988 to 1992, finishing his collegiate soccer career with twenty-five assists. Chung is the cousin of the Jamaican international footballer

Craig Ziadie Craig Ziadie (born 20 September 1978 in Pembroke Pines, Florida) is a Jamaican-American soccer player, who last played right back for the MetroStars of Major League Soccer. Youth and College Although he was born in Florida, Ziadie grew up ...

Professional

In 1995, Chung played with the

San Diego Sockers San Diego Sockers may refer to: *San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) The San Diego Sockers were a soccer and indoor soccer team based in San Diego, California. The team played in the indoor and outdoor editions of the North American Soccer League ( ...

of the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

(CISL). He scored twenty-nine goals en route to being named the league's Rookie of the Year. Chung was drafted in the first round (sixth overall) by the

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the team clubhouse and ...

in the

MLS Inaugural Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer's initial 1996 season, distributed players to the league's ten inaugural teams. The Inaugural Player Draft occurred on February 6 and 7, 1996 after each team was allocated four marq ...

, and finished 1996 with eight goals and nine assists. Chung would be a mainstay at Kansas City for the next two years, was named to his first

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 ...

in 1997, and would lead all of MLS in games played at the end of its first three seasons, with 97. After 1998, Kansas City traded Chung to the MetroStars, with

Mike Ammann Mike Ammann (born February 8, 1971) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper in England and Major League Soccer. Youth Ammann was born in Orange, California. The younger brother of Bob Ammann, he played for t ...

in exchange for

Tony Meola Antonio Michael "Tony" Meola (; ; born February 21, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He represented the United States national team at the 1990, 1994, and 2002 World Cups. From 1996 to 2006, he p ...

and

Alexi Lalas Panayotis Alexander "Alexi" Lalas ( el, Αλέξης Λάλας; born June 1, 1970) is an American retired soccer player who played mostly as a defender. Lalas is best known for his participation with the United States men's national soccer te ...

. He would play with the MetroStars for the next three seasons, but was greatly underused by Metro coach

Octavio Zambrano Octavio Zambrano Viera (born February 3, 1958) is an Ecuadorian football coach. He is a former player with international coaching experience. Zambrano has coached in North America, Latin America, and Europe. He holds a UEFA "A" diploma and a USS ...

. Chung called the role he played with the Metros an "idiot left wing". He was traded again before the 2002 season, this time to the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

in exchange for a draft pick. Chung was very successful with the Rapids, making

's in both 2002 and 2003. However, with a coaching change to

Fernando Clavijo Fernando Caetano Clavijo Cedrés (January 23, 1956 – February 8, 2019) was a Uruguayan-American soccer defender and former head coach of the New England Revolution and Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. He played three seasons in the Am ...

in 2005, he became unhappy, and requested a trade. The wish was granted, as Chung was sent to San Jose for an

allocation Allocation may refer to: Computing * Block allocation map * C++ allocators * Delayed allocation * File allocation table * IP address allocation * Memory allocation * No-write allocation (cache) * Register allocation Economics * Asset alloca ...

. In ten years of MLS league play, he scored 61 goals and added 76 assists. Chung retired after the Quakes moved to Houston after the 2006 season. Upon his retirement, he had played in 278 league matches. In 2008, he played one game with the Treasure Coast Galleons of the Florida Elite Soccer League.

National team

Despite a significant amount of success in MLS, Chung never had a significant role in the US national team. Chung made his first appearance April 4, 1992 against his ancestral country,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, but in total made only 24 appearances, and scored only two goals.USA - Details of International Matches 1995-1999
/ref> He was the first of two Chinese-American players to play for the US, the second being

Brian Ching Brian Ching (born May 24, 1978) is an American former professional soccer player who played for twelve years in Major League Soccer and represented the U.S. national team for eight years. Ching's professional career began when he was the 16th ...

References

External links

*
MetroStars player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chung, Mark 1970 births Living people American soccer players Canadian emigrants to the United States Jamaican people of Chinese descent American people of Chinese descent Hakka sportspeople Canadian sportspeople of Jamaican descent Colorado Rapids players Continental Indoor Soccer League players Florida Elite Soccer League players Sporting Kansas City players New York Red Bulls players Soccer players from Toronto San Diego Sockers (CISL) players San Jose Earthquakes players Soccer players from Florida South Florida Bulls men's soccer players Treasure Coast Galleons players United States men's international soccer players University of South Florida alumni Major League Soccer All-Stars Major League Soccer players Canadian sportspeople of Chinese descent Sportspeople from Pembroke Pines, Florida 1993 Copa América players Association football midfielders