Boris Bandov

Infobox Football biography
playername= Boris Bandov
fullname = Boris Bandov
nickname =


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1953|11|23
cityofbirth = Livno
countryofbirth = Yugoslavia
height = height|ft=5|in=10
currentclub = Retired
clubnumber =
position = Midfielder / Defender
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1974-1975
1976-1977
1977-1978
1979-1982
1983
1985
clubs = San Jose Earthquakes
Seattle Sounders
Tampa Bay Rowdies
New York Cosmos
Team America
Fort Lauderdale Sun
caps(goals) = 37 (8)
11 (2)
08 (0)
29 (1)
21 (0)
06 (0)
nationalyears = 1976–1983
nationalteam = United States
nationalcaps(goals) = 33 (2)
pcupdate = 22:33, 3 january 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate = 7 December 2006

Boris Bandov (born November 23, 1953 in Livno, Yugoslavia) was a Yugoslavian-American soccer player who currently coaches youth soccer. Bandov spent ten seasons in the North American Soccer League and one in the United Soccer League. While born in Yugoslavia, he became a U.S. citizen in 1976. He earned thirty-three caps, scoring two goals, with the U.S. national team between 1976 and 1983.

Youth

Bandov was born in Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He attended Silver Creek High School in San Jose, California, where he played on the school's boys soccer team. In 1972, he led the team to California's Central Coast Section high school championship game, which the team lost to Archbishop Mitty High School. ^{[http://www.cifccs.org/history/soccerboys.html]} After graduating from high school, he briefly attended San Jose State, playing on the school’s football team as a kicker. His longest was a 52 yard field goal in a game against Cal. ^{[http://soundercentral.com/museum/1976updates/boris_bandov.htm]}

NASL

Bandov began his professional U.S. soccer career with the San Jose Earthquakes of the North American Soccer League on May 5, 1974. He played two seasons with the Earthquakes as a forward/midfield winger before moving to the Seattle Sounders after the 1975 season. He spent most of 1976 on the Sounders reserve team, only making the first team after midfield winger Jimmy Robertson suffered a broken leg from a brutal tackle from Julio Navarro in a July 24, 1976 game against the Philadelphia Atoms. Bandov played 5 games with the Sounders at the start of the 1977 season before moving to the Tampa Bay Rowdies for the remainder of the season. In 1979 Bandov moved to the New York Cosmos. He played with them through the end of the 1982 season, including the two NASL championship teams of 1980 and 1982 as well as the 1981 NASL championship loss to the Chicago Sting.

National team

When Bandov became a U.S. citizen, he was almost immediately called into the national team for its first game of the year, a September 24th 1978 FIFA World Cup qualifying game with Canada. Bandov began his national team career with a bang, scoring the tying goal. Bandov went on to start every national team game in 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. In 1980, his appearances began to taper off, but he still played the only U.S. games in 1982 and 1983. The 1983 game, a 2-0 win over Haiti was his last with the team. Despite playing a total of 33 games with the team, he scored only once again after his first game, in a meaningless 3-1 win over Bermuda in October 1979.

In 1983, the U.S. Soccer Federation, in coordination with the NASL, entered the U.S. national team, known as Team America, into the NASL as a league franchise. The team drew on U.S. citizens playing in the NASL, Major Indoor Soccer League and American Soccer League. In April 1983, Team America announced it had signed Bandov from the Cosmos on a game by game basis. ^{[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E4DF1438F930A15757C0A965948260]} He played 21 games with the team during its single season in existence. When Team America finished the 1983 season with a 10-20 record, the worst in the NASL, USSF withdrew the team from the league.

End of a career

Bandov returned to the Cosmos, but was released on November 16, 1983 when Bandov refused to agree to a 20% pay cut. ^{[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E0DA1239F935A25752C1A965948260]} With the collapse of NASL, Bandov moved to the Fort Lauderdale Sun of the United Soccer League. He retired in 1986 and lives in Dobbs Ferry with his wife, a former Miss Oregon. He coaches for the FC Westchester U-17 boys and at various soccer camps and clinics.

Links

* [http://eteamz.active.com/FCWestchester/news/index.cfm?cat=217608 FC Westchester]