Roberto Lonardo is a Uruguayan former

footballer 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 le ...

who played as a defender and

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Lonardo came to the United States in 1965 after playing with

Racing Club de Montevideo Racing Club de Montevideo is a football club from Montevideo in Uruguay. It currently participates in the Uruguayan Segunda División Profesional following their relegation at the end of the 2019 season. Racing CM is known as "La Escuelita" (Th ...

. In 1967, he played in the

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...

with

Dallas Tornado The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons. ...

. In 1969, he played in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

with

Kansas City Spurs The Kansas City Spurs were an American professional soccer team who played in the North American Soccer League, based in Kansas City, Missouri. They played their home games at Kansas City Municipal Stadium, former home of the Kansas City Chiefs, ...

. In his debut season with Kansas he assisted in securing the division title. During the NASL offseason in 1969 he played in the Greater Los Angeles Soccer League with

San Pedro Yugoslavs The San Pedro Yugoslavs was a soccer team based in San Pedro, Los Angeles that played in Greater Los Angeles Soccer League. History The club, which represented the community Yugoslav of San Pedro , the district of Los Angeles , had joined the Gr ...

. In 1970, he returned to play with San Pedro Yugoslavs. In 1971, he signed with league rivals Rochester Lancers after the folding of Kansas. In his debut season with Rochester he was selected for the Third NASL All-Star team. He played with Rochester for four seasons, and played with the indoor team in 1971.

Managerial career

In 1978, he was the assistant coach for the

Buffalo Blazers Buffalo Blazers was a soccer team in Buffalo, New York. They competed in the National Soccer League in 1976–1978 and 1980. They were one of only four American teams ( Detroit Besa, Detroit Canadians, and Detroit Vardar) to have competed in th ...

in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

. In June 1978, he succeeded Sam Buscarino as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for Buffalo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lonardo, Roberto 1943 births Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguayan football managers Dallas Tornado players Kansas City Spurs players Rochester Lancers (1967–1980) players United Soccer Association players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Canadian National Soccer League players Canadian National Soccer League coaches Living people