Michael Thomas Burns (born September 14, 1970, in Marlborough, Massachusetts) is a retired American soccer player and is the current Director of Soccer for the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer (MLS). During his playing career he played for Danish club Viborg FF, several MLS teams, and the United States national team.

[edit] Youth

Burns was born and grew up in Marlborough, Massachusetts. At age six he began playing soccer in the local rec leagues, never joining a club team. When he reached high school, he played for Marlborough High School boy's team, being named the 1987 Massachusetts High School Player of the Year. While he loved playing soccer, he had no intention of pursuing it as a career. When it came time to select a college, he did so more on its location than on its soccer program. This led to his attending Hartwick College from 1988 to 1991.^[1] When he graduated from Hartwick, there were few opportunities for playing soccer professionally in the United States, but Burns continued to play with the U.S. Olympic team as it prepared for the 1992 Summer Olympics. By this time he was no stranger with the national team program, having played in the 1987 U16 FIFA World Cup and 1989 U-20 FIFA World Cup. The 1989 team took fourth place in the tournament.

[edit] Professional

In 1995, MLS began a process of building its new teams. An integral part of this process was ensuring that each of the teams in the league had an equitable amount of recognized players. In the allocation process, MLS assigned Burns to the New England Revolution. However, in August 1995, MLS loaned Burns to Viborg, which he joined four games into the 1995-1996 season. Burns played for the New England Revolution from 1996 through the first eight games of the 2000 season. In 1998, Burns earned a place on the MLS All-Star team. In the 1999 off season, he made several attempts to move back to a European club, trying out with Utrecht, Bolton and Hearts. None of the clubs expressed interest and Burns returned to the Revolution. In June 2000, the Revolution traded Burns, Dan Calichman and a first round draft pick to the San Jose Earthquakes for Mauricio Wright. Burns finished the 2000 season with the Earthquakes, playing the last eighteen games with them. However, he did not remain with the team as it traded him in March 2001 to the Kansas City Wizards in return for conditional picks in the 2002 draft. Burns played two seasons with the Wizards, 2001 and 2002, before retiring. In 2002, he was selected to his second All-Star team.

[edit] National team

For the United States national team, Burns competed in a major tournament on every level: in the U-17 World Championship in 1987, the World Youth Championship in 1989, the Olympic Games in 1992, and the FIFA World Cup, where he was a non-playing squad member in 1994 and then played in 1998.

[edit] Director of soccer

On April 10, 2005, Burns was named as the Revolutions' Director of Soccer.^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• USSoccerPlayers.com bio
• Sams Army bio
• MLS Statistics
• Danish Superliga Statistics

v • d • e United States squad – 1992 Summer Olympics 1 Friedel • 2 Rast • 3 Lalas • 4 Burns • 5 Imler • 6 Brose • 7 Washington • 8 Lapper • 9 Snow • 10 Reyna • 11 Allnutt • 12 Dayak • 13 Moore • 14 Jones • 15 Ibsen • 16 Lagos • 17 Huwiler • 18 Feuer • 19 Henderson • 20 Onalfo • Coach: Osiander

v • d • e United States squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Meola • 2 Lapper • 3 Burns • 4 Kooiman • 5 Dooley • 6 Harkes • 7 Pérez • 8 Stewart • 9 Ramos • 10 Wegerle • 11 Wynalda • 12 Sommer • 13 Jones • 14 Klopas • 15 Moore • 16 Sorber • 17 Balboa • 18 Friedel • 19 Reyna • 20 Caligiuri • 21 Clavijo • 22 Lalas • Coach: Milutinović

v • d • e United States squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Friedel • 2 Hejduk • 3 Pope • 4 Burns • 5 Dooley • 6 Regis • 7 Wegerle • 8 Stewart • 9 Moore • 10 Ramos • 11 Wynalda • 12 Agoos • 13 Jones • 14 Preki • 15 Deering • 16 Sommer • 17 Balboa • 18 Keller • 19 Maisonneuve • 20 McBride • 21 Reyna • 22 Lalas • Coach: Sampson