Florida Soccer

Dr. Josef Schulz, founder of the Ft. Lauderdale Schulz Academy and a major figure in South Florida soccer, has died at the age of 61, losing his battle with cancer. To many, he is best known as the man who discovered and developed current U.S. MNT striker Jozy Altidore…..Weston FC has announced that former University of Miami Women’s head coach Tricia Taliafero has been hired as the Player Development Coordinator, overseeing the U8-U10 girls PDP program. Taliafero. who [show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’]has served as assistant U.S. Soccer U-17 Girls National Team coach, is currently the director of coaching at the Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami…..The 2013 Florida Youth Soccer’s Annual General Meeting and Workshop will be held August 2-4 at the Omni Hotels & Resorts, Championsgate-Orlando. The Annual AGM awards will be presented during this weekend. Details are available online at www.fysa.com …..All-time leading international goal scorer Abby Wambach is coming to Florida on Nov. 9. Her appearance will be at the XL Soccer World in Orlando, FL. Wambach, a five-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, has launched a fundraiser to benefit Florida’s TOPSoccer program. Players who raise $250 for the FYSA TOPSoccer program can attend the event with a parent or guardian and have lunch with Wambach. The top 10 fundraisers will sit with Wambach during lunch, and the top two will sit next to her. Wambach was a first-team collegiate All-America at the University of Florida….Eli Martinez, a member of Weston FC’s U18 Premier Black club team, has been selected to the U-20 Honduras National Team, which will begin qualifying matches for the 2014 U20 Women’s World Cup to be held in Canada…..Jacksonville University men’s head coach Ryan Pratt is bringing in six recruits for the 2014 fall season, including local goalkeeper Mark Darling (Mandarin HS). Also signed is Shenaldo Parkes, a sophomore transfer from Concordia College who is from Mandeville, Jamaica. Two Georgia natives are also joining the Dolphins, Joseph Fitton (Roswell) and Evan Peterson (Rome) along with Miami’s Christian Hernandez, a transfer from Niagra University.