Eric Alexander (soccer)

Eric Alexander (born April 14, 1988) is an American former professional soccer player.

Eric Alexander
Personal information
Full name Eric Alexander
Date of birth (1988-04-14) April 14, 1988
Place of birth Portage, Michigan, United States
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s) Midfielder
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2009 Indiana Hoosiers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006 Kalamazoo Kingdom 8 (2)
2007 West Michigan Edge 12 (1)
2008–2009 Kalamazoo Outrage 17 (4)
2010–2011 FC Dallas 39 (2)
2011–2012 Portland Timbers 30 (0)
2013–2014 New York Red Bulls 68 (6)
2015–2016 Montreal Impact 32 (0)
2015 → FC Montreal (loan) 1 (0)
2016–2018 Houston Dynamo 43 (1)
2017 → Rio Grande Valley FC Toros (loan) 1 (0)
2019 FC Cincinnati 6 (0)
2019 FC Dallas 0 (0)
Total 257 (16)
International career‡
2011–2014 United States 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of August 6, 2019
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of February 2, 2014

Career

College and amateur

Alexander attended Portage Central High School, where he was named NSCAA/adidas Boys High School National Player of the Year and Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year in 2005, before playing college soccer for the Indiana University Hoosiers from 2006 to 2009. He was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team in his first year, started all 22 matches and was named to the All-Big Ten first-team and the NSCAA/adidas Great Lakes All-Region second-team as a sophomore and a junior.

During his college years Alexander also played for Kalamazoo Kingdom, West Michigan Edge and Kalamazoo Outrage in the USL Premier Development League.[1]

Professional
Eric Alexander playing for FC Cincinnati of Major League Soccer in 2019.

Alexander was drafted in the third round (44th overall) of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas.[2] He made his professional debut on March 27, 2010, in Dallas's opening game of the 2010 MLS season against Houston Dynamo.[3] After initially receiving limited time in his first season, Alexander started eleven consecutive matches to close the 2010 season and was a key player during FC Dallas' nineteen-game unbeaten streak. In all he would appear in 17 league matches scoring two goals and assisting on three.

Alexander was traded to Portland Timbers on August 19, 2011, after making 22 league appearances during the 2011 campaign for FC Dallas in exchange for Jeremy Hall.[4] In his first full season in Portland, Alexander appeared in 24 league matches and recorded a team leading 6 assists.

On February 11, 2013, Alexander was traded to New York Red Bulls in exchange for allocation money.[5] Alexander was an important player for New York in his first year at the club as he appeared in all 34 league matches and scored 4 goals, helping the club to its first major title the 2013 MLS Supporters' Shield. During the 2014 season Alexander once again appeared in all 34 league matches scoring 2 goals and assisting on 9 others.

On January 27, 2015, Alexander was traded to Montreal Impact alongside Ambroise Oyongo, an international player roster spot and allocation money for Felipe and the 1st pick in the MLS allocation ranking.[6] After a season and a half with Montreal, Alexander was traded to the Houston Dynamo in exchange for general and targeted allocation money.[7]

In his first year with the Dynamo, Alexander made only 10 appearances, 3 of them starts. In 2017 he helped the Dynamo make the playoffs for the first time in 3 seasons, however Alexander suffered a MCL sprain on May 6 that caused him to miss 4 months. He was able to return to action on September 23 against New York City FC. Alexander appeared in all 5 of the Dynamo playoff games that season and got an assist on Mauro Manotas's goal that put the Dynamo up 2–1 against his former club the Portland Timbers in the Western Conference Semi Finals.[8]

Alexander was selected by FC Cincinnati in the 2018 MLS Expansion Draft.[9]

On August 9, 2019, Alexander returned to FC Dallas following his release from Cincinnati two days previously.[10][11] His FC Dallas contract expired at the end of 2019. Retired to finish college at Indiana University.[12]

International

On December 21, 2010, Alexander was called up to the United States national team for a friendly game against Chile. He made his debut on January 22, 2011.

On January 3, 2014, he was again called up, this time as part of a 26-man roster that trained in Carson, California and São Paulo, Brazil as coach Jürgen Klinsmann prepared the side for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[13]

Honors

FC Dallas

New York Red Bulls

Houston Dynamo

Career statistics

Club
As of match played October 29, 2018[8][14]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Playoffs[lower-alpha 1] Cup[lower-alpha 2] Continental[lower-alpha 3] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Kalamazoo Kingdom 2006 USL PDL 8 2 – – – 8 2
West Michigan Edge 2007 USL PDL 12 1 – – – 12 1
Kalamazoo Outrage 2008-09 USL PDL 17 4 – – – 17 4
FC Dallas 2010 MLS 17 2 2 0 – – 19 2
2011 22 0 – 2 0 3 0 27 0
Total 39 2 2 0 2 0 3 0 46 2
Portland Timbers 2011 MLS 6 0 – 0 0 – 6 0
2012 24 0 – 1 0 – 25 0
Total 30 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 31 0
New York Red Bulls 2013 MLS 34 4 2 1 2 0 – 38 5
2014 34 2 5 0 1 0 3 0 43 2
Total 68 6 7 1 3 0 3 0 81 7
Montreal Impact 2015 MLS 20 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 23 0
2016 12 0 – 2 0 – 14 0
Total 32 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 37 0
FC Montreal (loan) 2015 USL 1 0 – – – 1 0
Houston Dynamo 2016 MLS 10 0 – 0 0 – 10 0
2017 12 0 5 0 0 0 – 17 0
2018 21 1 – 2 0 – 23 1
Total 43 1 5 0 2 0 0 0 50 1
Rio Grande Valley Toros (loan) 2017 USL 1 0 – – – 1 0
Career Total 251 16 14 1 13 0 6 0 383 17
  1. Includes MLS Cup Playoffs and USL PDL playoffs matches.
  2. Includes U.S. Open Cup and Canadian Championship matches.
  3. Includes CONCACAF Champions Leaguematches.

References
  1. Eric Alexander USL stats Archived April 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine uslsoccer.com
  2. 2010 MLS SuperDraft Archived January 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine; mlsnet.com, January 2010
  3. Alexander makes FC Dallas debut Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine; stats.cbc.ca, March 27, 2010
  4. Timbers acquire Eric Alexander Archived August 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine; portlandtimbers.com, August 19, 2011
  5. Red Bulls acquire Eric Alexander; newyorkredbulls.com, February 11, 2013
  6. "L'Impact effectue une transaction majeure avec les Red Bulls". Montreal Impact. January 27, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  7. Brisendine, Steve (July 22, 2016). "Houston get Eric Alexander from Impact as Montreal continue summer deals". mlssoccer.com. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  8. "Eric Alexander". houstondynamo.com. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  9. "2018 Expansion Draft results: FC Cincinnati pick, trade big names". mlssoccer.com. December 11, 2018.
  10. "FC Dallas Signs Eric Alexander | FC Dallas". Archived from the original on August 9, 2019.
  11. "FC Cincinnati waive veteran midfielder Eric Alexander | MLSSoccer.com".
  12. Bogert, Tom (October 29, 2019). "FC Dallas announces roster update: Club picks up 10 contract options, declines three". mlssoccer.com.
  13. "U.S. names training camp roster". ESPNFC.com. January 3, 2014.
  14. "E. Alexander". soccerway.com. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
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