Brian Boyer Bliss (born September 28, 1965) is a retired 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 ...

defender and front office executive. He also serves as an assistant coach for the United States U-20 national team. Bliss played professionally in Europe and the United States, including the original Major Indoor Soccer League, American Soccer League, and

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

. He earned forty-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 U.S. national soccer team and was part of

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

squad.

Playing career

Early career

Bliss attended

Webster Schroeder High School Webster Schroeder High School is a public high school located in Webster, Monroe County, New York, U.S.A., a suburb of Rochester, and is one of two high schools operated by the Webster Central School District. History In Fall 1972, the school was ...

in Webster, New York. After high school, he attended

Southern Connecticut State University Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply Southern) is a public university in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it was founded in 1893 and is g ...

from 1983 to 1986. On December 2, 1984, Bliss earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in a 2–2 tie with

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. He would not play again until 1987 when he would play two of the three U.S. games. That year, the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League drafted Bliss with the top pick. He would play a single season with the Force in 1987–1988. In 1988, he played in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. In 1989, Bliss played five games with the

Albany Capitals The Albany Capitals joined the third incarnation of the American Soccer League in 1988. The team joined the American Professional Soccer League in 1990 when the ASL merged with the Western Soccer League. The club played in Albany, New York. Afte ...

of the American Soccer League. However, by that time he was a regular with the national team, playing nearly every game in the team's qualification campaign for the

. He played only one of the team's three games in that cup, as a substitute in the loss to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In 1990, he was on the roster of the Boston Bolts of the

European career

After the World Cup, Bliss went to Germany to play with

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

of the 1990–91 NOFV-Oberliga. He later went on to play for

Chemnitzer FC Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V. is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club competes in Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football. The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 193 ...

and then

FC Carl Zeiss Jena FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. Formed in 1903 and initially associated with the Carl Zeiss AG factory, they were one of the strongest clubs in East Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s, winning the DDR-Obe ...

. Bliss was one of the last cuts from the final

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

roster when he tore cartilage in his knee.

Major League Soccer

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 ...

prepared for its first season, it began a process of equitably distributing known players to each of the league's teams. As part of this process, Bliss was allocated to the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

. He played a season and a half for Columbus, being traded 12 games into the 1997 season to the MetroStars for A.J. Wood. Bliss finished the 1997 season with the MetroStars, but was traded by the team to 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 ...

for a first round college draft pick during the 1998 off-season. He played only three games of the 1998 season. In 1999, he finished his career with the

Connecticut Wolves The Connecticut Wolves were an American soccer club that was founded by the Clifton Onolfo, the Onolfo Family, and several investors including Tony DiCicco. The Club's inaugural match was attended by 5,200 plus fans and competed in the United Socc ...

Coaching career

After retirement, he went on to coach the

of the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

in 1999. The next year, Gansler selected him again, this time to be the assistant coach for the Wizards. On July 19, 2006, Gansler stepped down as head coach, allowing Bliss to become interim head coach for Kansas City. In March 2007,

Curt Onalfo Curt Onalfo (born November 19, 1969) is an American former soccer player and coach who currently serves as technical director of Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. As a player, he played two seasons in France, two in the USISL, ...

replaced Bliss as the Wizards head coach, and Bliss joined Kansas Youth Soccer as State Director of Coaching. He also coached the JV squad at Olathe Northwest Highschool where he coached Andy Cockrum who went on to play for La Masia, which is FC Barcelona's academy team. Bliss served as the technical director of the Columbus Crew for six seasons, helping the Crew earn two

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 19 ...

and one

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 ...

. He served as interim head coach for part of the 2013 season following the dismissal of

Robert Warzycha Robert Warzycha () (born 20 August 1963) is a Polish former professional association football player. Warzycha had a long career in Europe, playing for teams in Poland, Hungary and England with Everton in the Premier League. He won two Polish ...

, but he was not retained as head coach and departed for Chicago following the hiring of

Gregg Berhalter Gregg Matthew Berhalter (, ; born August 1, 1973) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is also the current head coach of the United States men's national soccer team. Berhalter previously coached Columbus Crew SC in Major League Soc ...

. On September 20, 2015, Bliss was named interim coach of the Chicago Fire, while retaining his technical director duties at the club. He joined

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

as Director of Player Personnel in January 2016.

Career statistics

References

External links

Brian Bliss
at USSoccerPlayers.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bliss, Brian 1965 births Living people 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1995 Copa América players 2. Bundesliga players Albany Capitals players American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Germany American Professional Soccer League players American soccer coaches American Soccer League (1988–89) players American soccer players Boston Bolts players Chemnitzer FC players Cleveland Force (original MISL) players Columbus Crew players Columbus Crew coaches Connecticut Wolves players Expatriate footballers in East Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany FC Carl Zeiss Jena players FC Energie Cottbus players Association football defenders Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Sporting Kansas City coaches Sporting Kansas City players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls players Olympic soccer players of the United States People from Webster, New York Soccer players from New York (state) Southern Connecticut Fighting Owls men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players A-League (1995–2004) players Columbus Crew non-playing staff Major League Soccer coaches Sporting Kansas City non-playing staff DDR-Oberliga players Chicago Fire FC coaches