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Brian Bliss
	Brian Bliss
Personal information
Full name	Brian Boyer Bliss
Date of birth	September 28, 1965 (age 44)
Place of birth	Webster, New York, United States
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Defender
Youth career
1983-1986	Southern Connecticut State University
Senior career1
National team
Teams managed
1999; 2006-2007	Connecticut Wolves; Kansas City Wizards (interim)
	1 Senior club appearances and goals; counted for the domestic league only.; * Appearances (Goals)

Brian Boyer Bliss (born September 28, 1965, in Webster, New York) is a retired American soccer defender and former coach of the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer. He played professionally in Europe and the United States including the original Major Indoor Soccer League, American Soccer League, American Professional Soccer League and Major League Soccer. He earned forty-four caps, scoring two goals, with the U.S. national soccer team and was part of the U.S. team at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

[edit] Early career

Bliss attended Webster Schroeder High School in Webster, New York. After high school, he attended Southern Connecticut State University from 1983 to 1986. On December 2, 1984, Bliss earned his first cap in a 2-2 tie with Ecuador. 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 (MISL) 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. In 1989, Bliss played five games with the Albany Capitals 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 1990 FIFA World Cup. He played only one of the team's three games in that cup, as a substitute in the loss to Italy. In 1990, he was on the roster of the Boston Bolts of the American Professional Soccer League.^[1]

[edit] European career

After the World Cup, Bliss went to Germany to play with Energie Cottbus of the 2. Bundesliga. He later went on to play for Chemnitzer FC and then FC Carl Zeiss Jena. Bliss was cut from the final 1994 FIFA World Cup roster when he tore cartilage in his knee.^[2]

[edit] Major League Soccer

As Major League Soccer 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. 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 for a first round college draft pick during the 1998 off-season. He retired after playing only three games of the 1998 season.

[edit] Coaching

After retirement, he went on to coach the Connecticut Wolves of the A-League 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 replaced Bliss as the Wizards head coach, and Bliss joined Kansas Youth Soccer as State Director of Coaching.

[edit] Coaching Positions

Connecticut Wolves (1999)
Kansas City Wizards (2006)
Kansas Youth Soccer (2007)
Olathe Northwest High School JV Coach (2007)
Columbus Crew Technical Director (2008-present)

[edit] Personal life

Bliss now lives in Columbus and serves as the Technical Director for the Columbus Crew.^[3] He has two children, a son and a daughter.

[edit] References

^ 1990 APSL Stats
^ U.S. Roster Selected For the World Cup (June 2, 1994). New York Times
^ http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3586579 Appointed club's first-ever technical director

[edit] External links

[0] 1990 APSL Stats

[1] U.S. Roster Selected For the World Cup (June 2, 1994). New York Times

[2] ttp://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3586579 Appointed club's first-ever technical director

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