Earnie Stewart

Earnie Stewart ( born March 28 1969 in Veghel, Netherlands) is an American football player who played from 1990 to 2004 as a midfielder for the national team of the United States.

Biography

Stewart, a son of African-American soldiers Earnie Stewart and his Dutch wife Anne Mien grew up in the Netherlands and started his professional career in 1988 at the VVV Venlo. He spent two years in the Eerste Divisie club before joining Willem II in 1990. He had his first game for the national football team of the United States against Portugal in late 1990.

In his first season at Willem II he was with 17 goals the third best scorer in the Eerste Divisie. This was followed by 49 goals in six years. Meanwhile, he became the starting players for the U.S. National Team in 1994 and played all four games of the FIFA World Cup from the start. In the match against Colombia, he scored the 2-1 winning goal for the U.S., the first victory in a World Cup game in the USA since 1950. Late scorer of the own goal by the Colombians, the defender Andres Escobar was murdered shortly after his return to Colombia because of this gate.

In 1996, he played six seasons long while NAC Breda. The club was relegated to the second division in 1999, but Stewart helped the club back into the Premier League in 2000 to ascend. During his time at NAC, he also played in all matches of the U.S. team in the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups. Thus, it is one of only five U.S. men who played in three World Cups.

In January 2003, he left the Netherlands to play in Major League Soccer. He was due to the Draftings D.C. United allocated, where he won the MLS Cup in his second season. He scored only four goals in the regular season and a playoff goal in the MLS. He left DC after the 2004 season and returned to Holland and his first club in Venlo, where he became the technical director after his retirement from professional sport in 2005.

Stewart is one of eight U.S. players, who made his 100th international match in the World Cup 2004 ( qualifier against Grenada). His 111 goals as a professional in the Netherlands make him the greatest American scorer in international club games. He was named 2001 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year.

On 14 May 2006 he was Technical Director at NAC Breda. Since June 2010 he has been Technical Director at AZ Alkmaar.