Team News

The USMST started 2018 with the second annual Physicians Soccer Summit, an incredible weekend of soccer, CME and friendship that took place from February 9-11, 2018 in Long Beach, California.  Over 60 physicians from around the country attended and in addition to multiple soccer training sessions and three full soccer games at Long Beach State University,  they took part in the 2018 USMST Congress on Health and Sport.  The Congress, co-sponsored by UC-San Diego, was comprised of outstanding talks from the physician attendees, and was chaired by Dr. Suraj Achar, a USMST player and attending physician at UCSD, and took place at the Renaissance Hotel-Long Beach.  Overall, the weekend was outstanding and brought new players into the fold and allowed USMST veterans a chance to rekindle old friendships .   Coaches Kenn Schmidt Nielsen and Roger Silveira were able to evaluate players in various game situations and also hold dedicated training sessions designed to incorporate tactics to be used in the Open and Masters tournaments this year at the World Medical Football Championships.   Next year’s PSS is sure to continue our organizational growth and be an outstanding venue to recruit and reunite.

The US Medical Soccer Team had the honor of competing in the 2017 World Medical Football Championships in Leogang, Austria.  Teams from 22 countries competed in this weeklong Physicians World Cup.  The setting was incredible, with the Alps in the backdrop and amazing wellness hotels providing a relaxing setting for the team and their families.  Both the Open and Masters team competed hard and exceeded expectations.  New coaches Kenn Schmidt Nielsen (Open team) and Roger Silveira (Masters team) provided expert guidance and fostered team growth, both on and off the pitch.  The weather was a challenge, with frequent rain (and lightening!) disruptions, but the setting was incredible and the friendship of the Austrians made this tournament the best WMFC to-date for the USMST.   The team played a friendly with the Canadian team prior to the start of the tournament, which led to a successful week of fun and friendship.  Team members Suraj Achar, David Machado, Alan Shahtaji and Felipe Lobelo all presented at the 2017 Global Congress on Medicine and Health in Sport, the academic conference running concurrently with the soccer championships.    

The US Medical Soccer Team organized and hosted the first ever Physicians Soccer Summit from February 10-12, 2017 in Long Beach, California.  This incredible event brought together 45 physicians from around the country for a weekend of soccer, medical education and friendship.  An outstanding medical conference, “The USMST Congress on Health and Sport”, included talks by our physician participants on topics as varied as sleep, optimal  hydration, fitness devices, injury prevention and pain management.   The CME conference was sponsored by UC-San Diego and kicked off each morning at the Renaissance Long Beach with stimulating academic interactions.  Following the conference, the physicians came together for a competitive round robin soccer tournament with outstanding coaching, with four full matches in 3 days, including a samba band on Saturday for added motivation!  Needless to say, the evening social gatherings were a welcome reprieve from an active, fun weekend.  The team looks forward to 2018 and hopes to grow this amazing event with even more physicians!

USMST competed in the 2016 World Medical Football Championships in Barcelona, Spain from July 9-16, 2016. The weeklong event featured an outstanding international soccer tournament pitting physician teams from 22 countries at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, practice home of FC Barcelona. USMST competed mightily, finishing 4th in the Masters bracket but finding the competition much stiffer in the Open bracket, playing hard in the consolation rounds. Overall, the matches were competitive and USMST left Barcelona optimistic about finishing even stronger in the 2017 Championships in Leogang, Austria. Five physicians from the team gave well-received presentations at the 2016 Global Congress on Medicine and Health in Sport. Felipe Lobelo’s presentation was awarded as one of the best in the Congress, though all the talks made the weeklong medical conference truly outstanding. Here are the presentations: Felipe Lobelo, MD PhD: Effectiveness of Brief Counseling and an Exercise Referral Among Hypertensive Patients: The Exercise is Medicine Cluster Randomized Pragmatic Trial David Machado-Aranda, MD: The Michigan Surgical and Health Optimization Program (MSHOP). Taking Control of your Surgery. Suraj Achar, MD: Abuse of anabolicandrogenic steroids in athletes Gautam Nayak, MD: Exercise is Medicine. But What is the Optimal Dose? Ricardo Vasquez-Duarte: A Conclusive Methodologic Approach to Ultrasound of the Piriformis: A Pilot Study                                     The Closing Ceremony brought everyone together for one last hurrah to re-visit the incredible Barcelona experience and plan for next year’s WMFC in Leogang, Austria! A big highlight of the trip included the first ever children’s soccer matches, with WMFC kids from around the world having the incredible opportunity to play together on Messi’s practice fields! Needless to say, these games were the true highlight for the kids and their parents!

From Friday, April 29th to Sunday, May 1st, 2016, the USMST had a fantastic practice weekend in preparation for this year’s World Medical Football Championships in Barcelona, Spain.  The weekend starting in terrific fashion with a “Healthy, Fit and Smart” outreach event run in collaboration with the United Nations Women chapter of Houston.  Helping the USNC-UN Women kick off their Global Healthcare Summit with events at Hartman Middle School and Jones Futures Academy brought us together for a unique and fun event.  A highlight of the weekend was a Black Tie Gala sponsored by the UN Women.  The practices were competitive, with growth achieved on the pitch and optimism abounding for this summer’s championships.

The US Medical Soccer Team was privileged to host the 2015 World Medical Football Championships and Global Congress on Medicine and Health in Sport in Long Beach, California from June 27 to July 4, 2015. Over 500 physicians from 18 countries participated in the weeklong soccer tournament and medical conference, making this year’s Championships the largest to-date. Over two years of planning culminated in a terrific week of soccer, medical education, community service and most importantly, friendship. The US Medical Soccer Team put their best foot forward in representing our nation and the result, while not perfect, was an incredible display of innovation, practicality, and fun. This team video captures the spirit of the team and this amazing event: The week started with the Opening Ceremony at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. The outdoor venue provided the perfect backdrop for catching up with old friends and making new ones. Welcome addresses were given by Congressman Alan Lowenthal of California’s 47th Congressional District along with Adrian Hutber from the American College of Sports Medicine and President of Exercise Is Medicine. The evening officially kicked off with the usual array of team video presentations. The tournament draw took place indoors in the beautiful Terrace Theater, where Paulo Carvalho and Kirt “Teach” Caton from USMST dazzled the crowd with their humor and wit as they emceed the festivities while the musical backdrop was provided by DJ extraordinaire Kris Tropicana.     The soccer tournament, fondly known as “The Physicians World Cup” started on Sunday, June 28th at the George Allen Field at Long Beach State University. The venue was perfect for the large soccer tournament, allowing all teams to play in the same location all week, which provided a perfect opportunity to foster friendship and develop close ties off the pitch. This year, the second ever Masters tournament joined the regular Championships, with eight teams comprised of players over 45 years of age. The competition on the pitch for both tournaments was fierce, with a week of incredible play. In the end, Czech Republic took home the Morell Cup as champions of the regular tournament and Ukraine took home the Vogel Cup as champions of the Masters tournament. This year’s tournament highlighted the return of the most unique aspect of the WMFC.  The post-game questions were included in the rules in the early years of the tournament to ensure fair play in a soccer tournament designed for medical professionals.  Per the official rules, each team is allowed to challenge two players of their choosing from the opposing team at the conclusion of the game to ensure they are truly physicians.  These players are then required to take and pass a simple medical examination.  Issues related to language and country-specific training were obvious challenges with 18 teams from around the world in attendance, but USMST embraced the opportunity to honor this unique tradition.  This year, Dr Brett Lorber from USMST developed an exam that was specialty-based and could be given regardless of language, specialty, or level of training.   With descriptive cards encompassing basic medical images, Dr Lorber was able to administer the exam to anyone, regardless of language, with the use of teammates (blinded to the questions) as translators when necessary.  The experience was fun for (just about) everyone and ensured an equal level of play in this amazing event! The 2015 Global Congress on Medicine and Health in Sport brought our physician cohort together each evening for a few hours of education covering such topics as sports medicine, concussion and head injury, exercise physiology and the global obesity epidemic. Each session was moderated by luminaries including Dr Bert Mandelbaum (US Mens National Team physician and LA Galaxy Team physician), Dr Vernon Williams (Concussion specialist for the LA Lakers and LA Dodgers), Dr Christopher Cooper (Exercise Physiology professor from UCLA), and Dr Nicole Mihalopolous (Obesity expert from University of Utah). Numerous outstanding presentations were given by the physician soccer players from around the world, and the highly selected program enriched the week and laid a great foundation for future Congresses. While the soccer and medical education brought us all together, community service brought meaning to the World Medical Football Championships. On Wednesday, July 1, USMST in partnership with the Long Beach Boys and Girls Club hosted the first ever “Healthy, Fit and Smart” Kids Day at Long Beach State University. Over 200 local youth participated in a fun morning devoted to promoting the importance of nutrition, fitness and education. The program utilized USMST’s outreach toolkit “Healthy, Fit and Smart” to lay a foundation for the children at a time when lifetime habits are often formed. The kids, along with our team and international colleagues, had a blast! A mid-week tour of Hollywood and Los Angeles gave everyone a great opportunity to socialize off the pitch. Sunseekers Tours of Long Beach provided the transportation and tour guides, and everyone had an amazing time checking out the more iconic sites of Southern California. The week concluded with the Closing Ceremony at the Long Beach Convention Center. Music by DJ Kris Tropicana provided a great backdrop for the awards ceremony and dinner. The Grand Ballroom was an amazing venue for this last chance to get together, exchange jerseys, and simply enjoy the experience before next year’s tournament in Barcelona. People danced late into the night, once again confirming that the Americans can hold their own on the international stage of soccer, medicine and friendship. We can’t wait until next year!

Representative Todd C. Young of Indiana gave USMST official recognition in the Congressional Record on August 1, 2014.  As co-chair of the Congressional Soccer Caucus, Rep Young provided Congress with details of our organization, encouraged us on the pitch, and highlighted the upcoming 2015 WMFC in Long Beach, California.  USMST is honored and humbled by Rep Young’s gesture.  They would also like to thank Monte Ward and the ACSM for all their efforts in coordinating our Congressional meetings in Washington, DC last spring!  

On Feb 6, 2015,  the US Medical Soccer Team convened in Long Beach, California to begin its preparation for this summer’s World Medical Football Championships.  As hosts to this year’s event, team USA was focused on an efficient and productive weekend of practice.  With many newcomers attending this first practice (a record 38 physicians in attendance), Coach Stephen Merriwether ran an amazing, highly competitive training session over the three days (Feb 6-8,2015) on the campus of Long Beach State University.  Coupled with a large outreach event for their “Healthy, Fit and Smart” program to two Boys and Girls Clubs in Long Beach, the team started 2015 in amazing fashion.                  

The US Medical Soccer Team embarked on their first ever International Friendly weekend October 24-26, 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico. As guests of the newly formed Mexican Medical Soccer Team, team USA met in Mexico City to participate in two soccer matches and connect with our North American colleagues. From the moment we walked out of airport customs, our guests demonstrated the most gracious hospitality any of us have ever experienced. Many of us got a first-hand tour of the city as we were given rides to the hotel by the Mexican team members. As it turned out, we had a roster of 14 for the back-to-back matches in the altitude of Mexico City (7350 feet), which of course made us all the more determined. On Saturday, October 25th, USMST met for breakfast and developed a workable strategy for the two games with the players available. Everyone agreed that with only three subs (including Milo, who valiantly took to the field as well as playing incredibly well in goal) in altitude playing against a well-organized Mexican squad that practices weekly, we had our work cut out for us. Positions were less critical and flexibility based on who was fresh and who was gassed would turn out to be our calling card for the weekend matches. We played a 4-4-2 throughout the weekend, with a diamond configuration (stopper/sweeper) in back. Paulo and Milo handled the goalkeeping duties, with Gautam, Rolando Celis, Brett and Amir Saz in back. Mike Daines and Shawn Taheri played a combination of either outside backs and outside midfield, based on team need. Garrett Hyman, Jerry Sterkowicz, Farnoosh Tinoosh, and Mauricio comprised the midfield, with Sammy and Afshin up front. This line up turned out to work well. Game 1 was incredible. Our Mexican hosts pulled out all the stops and had an emotional ceremony prior to the game. Enrique Martinez, the team captain, initially met Ferran Morrell 15 years ago, and the first match was a culmination of his dream and hard work over the ensuing years to pull a team together. After the national anthems and flag exchange, the game started with us making some great runs on offense. Unfortunately, Mexico scored two quick goals within a 5 minute span on counter attacks. We started the game quite unsure of how we would handle the altitude and playing without a practice together. The first half of the first game reflected this. Down 3-0 at halftime, we regrouped. In the second half, Mexico scored a goal in the first couple minutes after a failed clearance from the back, but for the remaining 38 minutes, the game was even. A handball gave them a penalty kick and a trip in the box gave us a penalty kick (which Afshin converted with an unstoppable shot to the upper right corner), but overall, the second half proved to give us quite a bit of confidence. We made crisper passes, maintained control of the ball, distributed to the outside and moved the ball down the sides, and maintained our defensive shape despite steady pressure from a very offensive-minded Mexican squad. This would bode well for the next day. In the end, however, it’s hard to take away tons of positives from a 5-1 loss, but my sense is that we learned a ton and it was good to bounce back with a solid second half.   fter the game, we traveled to Xochimilco (pronounced “socheemeelko”), a borough of Mexico City with a series of ancient canals that house gondola-like boats carrying local partiers and curious tourists. The boats are always lively and well-decorated, and along with our Mexican hosts, we cruised the canals enjoying friendly company with our new friends, great Mariachi music, amazing food from mobile kitchens on small canoes, and local beverages. After an exhausting soccer game, our relaxing and fun trip to Xochimilco was tremendous. That night, the Mexican team graciously hosted us at a team dinner in the hotel, which gave us an opportunity to catch up and interact with the Mexicans off the pitch.   The next morning, Game 2 of the series saw us come out with more energy and a more defensive posture initially. We found significant running room down the sides, and were able to take advantage of a younger Mexican line-up that was even more offensive-minded than the day before. Towards the end of the first half, Rolando won the ball in the back, distributed to the midfield where Farnoosh maneuvered brilliantly to put the ball on the feet of a running Garrett down the right sideline. Garrett advanced about 30 yards with the ball before crossing into the center where a streaking Mauricio beat his defender and crushed a goal home past their helpless keeper. It was one of the most amazing USMST goals I’ve seen in that we took possession in the back and worked the ball all the way forward, finishing in incredible fashion. Unfortunately, we had another giveaway on our side of the field with a rapid counterattack a few minutes later, resulting in a goal for Mexico. The score at halftime was 1-1, and this score would hold by game’s end. We played very well in the second half, completely neutralizing Mexico’s attack on defense (Amir and Brett were simply tremendous — nothing was getting past them) and Paulo and Milo both contributing huge saves. Special mention also goes to Rolando, who was a force in the back and made some great runs with the ball at his feet. In the midfield, Jerry, Garrett and Farnoosh held very strong in the middle of the field, with Mauricio keeping Mexico honest with runs down the line and Shawn and Mike combining to make some nice passes. Up front, Sammy and Afshin were relentless. While they did not score in the second game, their constant pressure with the ball created tons of chances and changed the complexion of the game, especially in the first half. This was a

The US Medical Soccer Team had the incredible opportunity to play soccer in Brazil this summer during the 2015 World Medical Football Championships in Natal, Brazil. While the FIFA World Cup wrapped up in southern Brazil, medical soccer teams comprised of physicians from around the world converged on Natal to compete in “The Physicians’ World Cup”. The tournament week was spirited and competitive, but highly rooted in friendship and fair play. For team USA, the week was up and down, but as the team looks back on the week in total, it is clear that USMST took a huge stride forward. The week started out with a fantastic victory over South Korea. The match took place on the same practice pitch used by the US National Team prior to their historic victory over Ghana in Natal a few weeks prior. USMST played a complete game with two goals in the first half and two goals in the second half and a solid defensive effort despite giving up an early goal. Terrific goals by Pasha Hakimzadeh and Puya Hosseini however were too much for our Korean friends to overcome. The second game in the group stage came against defending champion Germany. The game was evenly matched for over 70 minutes, with both teams garnering good play on both the offensive and defensive sides. The momentum was in Germany’s favor for much of the second half, and late in the game, they scored on a cross and header, eventually holding on for a 1-0 victory. While USMST took some consolation in playing tough with the defending champions until the end, the loss was tough to swallow given the opportunities USMST had to secure at least a draw and perhaps, with some luck, a victory. In any case, there was little time to dwell on the loss as Czech Republic awaited. The team from Czech Republic, in their first year in the tournament last year, made it all the way to the finals, losing to Germany on penalty kicks in the Championship game. This year, they would also make it to the Championship, coming up short against host Brazil. USMST played them strong in the first half of the final Group stage game. In the second half, USMST made some critical errors and like any fantastic team, the Czechs made them pay, with two quick goals to go up 3-0, eventually securing a 4-1 victory against the Americans. Jeremy McClure scored on a nice goal late in the second half, but this was the only opportunity USMST was able to capitalize on. It was a fun game against a worthy opponent, but confirmed that team USA still had some work ahead of them to compete against the class of the medical soccer community. The consolation bracket was mostly disappointing, with a loss on penalty kicks to Russia (highlights included two great goals by Brian Blair and a fantastic late header goal on a set piece by Roy Thomson from Teach Caton in the final minute to send the game to PKs), and a loss in the final game to perpetual nemesis Lithuania (no highlights to report, other than it was the final game on a “challenging” pitch, played in a monsoon). The highlight game of the week, however, occurred in our game versus Austria. The first half started out shaky, with Austria scoring two relatively easy goals early on. USMST bounced back with a goal of their own by Puya Hosseini, only to give up a third goal shortly thereafter. Down 3-1, things looked quite bleak for USMST. The tournament was winding down, the team was playing in the consolation bracket, injuries were mounting, and it would have been easy to just pack things up. The team hadn’t truly played well since the first half of the Czech Republic game in the Group stages, and now, another loss seemed imminent. But like he always does when it comes to off the field logistics, Mauricio Pleitez (aka “El Santo”) came through with arguably the biggest goal of the tournament for USMST. His low, corner shot from the top of the 18 yard box with less than a minute remaining in the first half gave USMST a huge boost and confidence heading into the second half. The team played strong defense, and pressured well on offense, eventually tying the game on a set piece goal following a brilliant kick by Felipe Lobelo to the foot of Sammy Becdach, who crushed home a goal. With clear momentum on their side, it was not a matter of if, but when USMST would finally take the lead. With only a few minutes left in the game, a long, high pass over the head of the forwards deep in the Austrian end seemed destined for the hands of the keeper or possibly even a goal kick. The indomitable Sammy Becdach, however, had other thoughts, as he pressured the last defender out of nowhere, stole the ball off his foot, and then put home a perfect shot into the low far corner from the right side. Game. Over. And an inspiring comeback victory towards the end of an amazing week. Overall, the week in Natal, Brazil was phenomenal. USMST learned to deal with adversity on the pitch, whether it was a challenging pitch, hot, humid weather, or the usual array of injuries. At the same time, there were many highs and lows, and through it all, USMST grew closer and played better collectively than at any point in the short history of the team. While the results were not what they hoped for, everyone left Natal excited for what awaits the team moving forward. Playing international soccer in storied Brazil (during the FIFA World Cup no less!) was an incredible adventure that will live in our hearts the rest of our lives. Building on this experience will be critical as USMST looks to fulfill a great opportunity as hosts in 2015!     Check out all the goals from