Rodney Michael (born 10 August 1999) is a

Sierra Leonean Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for

FK Mornar Fudbalski klub Mornar is a Montenegrin professional football club, based in the coastal town of Bar. They currently compete in the Montenegrin First League. History FK Mornar (''FC Sailor'') was founded in December 1923, as ''JSK Crnojević''. ...

of the

Montenegrin First League The First League of Montenegro ( Montenegrin: ''Prva crnogorska fudbalska liga'' — ''Prva CFL'' — ''1. CFL''; ) is the top football league in Montenegro. Founded in 2006, competition is headed by the Football Association of Montenegro. 10 tea ...

and the Sierra Leone national team.

Career

Youth

Michael played three seasons of high school soccer at Dunn School, been named 2016-17 California Gatorade Soccer Player of the Year and lead the Earwigs to the CIF Southern Section Championship in 2015 and 2017. Michael earned All-CIF honors all three seasons after scoring 74 goals and tallying 43 assists in his career. Michael also played club soccer for

USSDA The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league features youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's missio ...

side Santa Barbara Soccer Club from 2014 to 2017, helping the club to the 2016 U18 National Championship and earned Best-XI honors.

College

Michael attended the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

in 2017 to play

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 ...

. Over four seasons with the Gauchos, Michael made 59 appearances, scoring 23 goals and tallying 15 assists. During his time at college, Michael earned accolades including Big West All-Freshman Team, All-Big West First Team and Big West Freshman of the Year in 2017, All-Big West First Team and All-Far West Region First Team in 2018, Top Drawer Soccer All-America Second Team and United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region First Team in 2019. He didn't play a senior season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Professional

Michael was tipped to be drafted in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft, but wasn't one of the 86 picks. He spent time on trial with

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 ...

side

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American so ...

in April 2021, but wasn't signed by the team. Michael spent time with amateur

USL League Two 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 South Georgia Tormenta 2 before planning to play his senior college season later in 2021. However, South Georgia Tormenta's professional

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...

side opted to offer him a professional contract, and he signed with the club on 7 June 2021. He made his professional debut on 19 June 2021, appearing as a 56th-minute substitute during a 3–1 win over Greenville Triumph. He netted his first professional goal on 30 June 2021, scoring Tormenta's lone goal in a 2–1 loss to

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well as i ...

. On 22 March 2022, Michael was transferred from Tormenta to

side

Indy Eleven Indy Eleven is an American professional soccer team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 2013, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2014, before moving to the United Soccer League in 2018. The franchise plays it ...

. He left Indy Eleven following their 2022 season. Michael signed with

of the

in February 2023.

International career

Rodney was called up to the Sierra Leone national team for a set of

2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches will be organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the 34th edition of the international men's football champi ...

matches in September 2023.

References

External links

*
Footballdatabase Profile
*
Rodney Michael
at UCSB Athletics {{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Rodney 1999 births Living people Footballers from Freetown Sierra Leonean men's footballers Sierra Leone men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Indy Eleven players Sierra Leonean emigrants to the United States Sierra Leonean expatriate men's footballers Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in the United States Tormenta FC players UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer players USL League One players FK Mornar players Expatriate men's footballers in Montenegro