Mike Ammann

Mike Ammann

Personal information
Date of birth	(1971-02-08) February 8, 1971
Place of birth	Orange, California, United States
Height
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1990-1993	Cal State Fullerton Titans
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1989	Los Angeles Heat	2	(0)
1993	East Los Angeles Cobras
1994-1996	Charlton Athletic	30	(0)
1996-1998	Kansas City Wizards	60	(0)
1999-2000	MetroStars	46	(0)
2001	D.C. United	19	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mike Ammann (born February 8, 1971, in Orange, California) is a retired American soccer goalkeeper who played professionally in England and Major League Soccer.

Youth

In 1989, Ammann, younger brother of Bob Ammann, played for the Los Angeles Heat in the Western Soccer League. In 1990, Ammann graduated from Mater Dei High School. He entered Cal State-Fullerton where he played on the men's soccer team from 1990 to 1993. In 1993, the Titans went to the NCAA Final Four. That year, he also played for the East Los Angeles Cobras in the USISL.

Professional

In 1994, Mike Stevens, the director of Charlton Athletic F.C. saw Ammann play in the NCAA Final Four. He contacted Ammann and offered him a trial with Charlton. Ammann played for Charlton Athletic from 1994 to 1996. When Major League Soccer started in 1996, Ammann signed with the then-Kansas City Wiz late in the inaugural season. In 1997, he set a league record (since broken) of twenty-one wins. Before the 1999 season, Ammann was traded to the MetroStars with Mark Chung for Tony Meola and Alexi Lalas. That season the MetroStars squad finished with the worst record in league history. However, Ammann played well despite the lack of success.

The 2000 season was Ammann's best as the Metros went through a rebirth. Ammann was selected to the 2000 MLS All Star game and starting in goal for the Eastern Conference. However, Ammann missed the last five weeks of the season after an incident involving Mamadou Diallo. In a game against the Tampa Bay Mutiny, Diallo stepped on the Metro goalie, breaking three ribs, puncturing his lung, and giving him a concussion. The incident, which was dubbed Crime of the Century by Metro teammate Mike Petke, saw Diallo receive no punishment. Ammann, on the other hand, had to miss the rest of the regular season, returning for the playoffs and shutting out the Chicago Fire 2-0.

With the emergence of Tim Howard for the MetroStars, Ammann was traded to D.C. United for Richie Williams and an allocation before the 2001 MLS season. Injuries dogged him, however, and he retired after not playing a minute in 2002. Ammann's doctor had never performed the procedure prior to operating on Ammann and left him permanently disabled. Ammann suffers disabilities in his right and left arms and hands. Dr. Hazel was found guilty by a jury of Malpractice in D.C. Courts. Although Ammann received a favorable decision, his fees outweighed the verdict adding another hardship to his removal from the game. He has since been outspoken about some of the problems of MLS.

Post-soccer career

From 2003 to Present, Ammann has been working in IT and currently is the Director of Channel Sales at Tintri. Ammann has previously worked for Hitachi, ViON and EMC. In 2010, Ammann launched Twenty-Four Seven Goalkeeper, Mike Ammann's Premier Goalkeeper Academy in the Northern Virginia area where they work with goalkeepers of all ages both boys and girls. Mike then merged 247GK with GK Icon and is the founder of GK Icon USA (www.gkiconusa.com) GK Icon is continually adding to their offerings and has the top of the line gloves at very affordable prices. They are continuing to add coaches across the US.

External links

• Q&A with Metro great Mike Ammann
• MLS: Mike Ammann