Brian Carroll (born July 20, 1981) is an American former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a defensive midfielder, notably appearing for D.C. United

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

and

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. He is the only player in MLS history to have won four consecutive Supporter Shields.

Youth and college career

While in high school, Carroll was th
''Washington Post'' All-Met Player of the Year
was twice named to th

All-American team, and led the West Springfield Spartans to the final of the Virginia state tournament in 1998. He played college soccer at

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

from 2000 to 2002. Named captain as a sophomore, Carroll tied the school record for most assists in a game with three and finished the year as a second-team All- ACC selection. As a junior, he was again team captain, an All-American, and was a finalist for the

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

. After his junior year, he signed a

Project-40 Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S ...

contract with MLS, completing his career at Wake Forest with 7 goals and 15 assists, having started all 61 games over the three years.

Club career

D.C. United

Carroll was selected 11th overall in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft by D.C. United. Unfortunately for him, coach Ray Hudson preferred a lineup dominated by veterans, and although he saw time in U.S. Open Cup competition, Carroll did not appear in any regular season games. Peter Nowak replaced Hudson following the 2003 season, and soon expressed incredulity that a player as talented as Carroll saw no playing time under Hudson. Carroll was a fixture in Nowak's lineup for the first game of the 2004 season, and would remain there all year long, appearing in all 30 of the team's games, starting 26 of them, earning his first MLS assist, and winning the

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

. In 2005, he led the team in minutes and games played, scored his first league goal, added three more assists, and led MLS in consecutive games played, at 62. Carroll was one of three players nominated for the 2005

MLS Fair Play Award The Fair Play Award in Major League Soccer was the award that was given to an individual player and a team who presented best overall sportsmanlike behavior in addition to receiving one of the lowest numbers of yellow Yellow is the color ...

. Carroll started 31 games for the club in 2006, with 1 goal and 3 assists. Carroll lost his starting role with United to fellow defensive midfielder Clyde Simms midway through the 2007 season, but still had a productive year, with 4 assists to his credit. It was announced on 27 November 2006 that Carroll was on trial with French club

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

with hopes for an eventual transfer. However, on 23 January 2007 it was announced that Carroll had re-signed with D.C. United.

Columbus Crew

On November 21, 2007, Carroll was selected as part of the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or sports franchising, franchises. This occurs mainly in Sports in North America, North American sports and closed leagues. O ...

to join the new

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

club. On November 26, he was traded to the

in exchange for Kei Kamara. In June 2010, Caroll signed a four-year contract extension with the Crew. On November 6, 2010, he missed the penalty which ended the Crew's playoff run, sending the ball over the crossbar.

Philadelphia Union

On November 22, 2010, Carroll was traded to

in exchange for a second-round draft pick and allocation money. Between 2004 and 2016 he made at least 21 appearances for 13 different seasons. Upon retirement he was praised for his professionalism and leadership.

International career

Carroll played on the Under-18, Under-20, and Under-23 national teams, including at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina and 2003 Olympic Qualifying. In his first game for the full national team (a World Cup qualifier vs.

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

on October 12, 2005), he was named Man of the Match. He ended his career with eight caps.

Personal life

Carroll is the brother of fellow former professional soccer players Jeff Carroll and Pat Carroll, both of whom have also played for D.C. United. He is a lifelong Catholic whose soccer career has been influenced by former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. Following retirement Carroll was planning to move to the

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

area to pursue a career in financial planning.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

D.C. United *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

* Eastern Conference (Playoffs):

* Supporter's Shield:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Columbus Crew * MLS Cup:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

* Eastern Conference (Playoffs):

* Supporter's Shield:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

*
Wake Forest bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Brian 1981 births Living people American men's soccer players Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer players D.C. United players Richmond Kickers players Columbus Crew players Philadelphia Union players Philadelphia Union II players Soccer players from Fairfax County, Virginia United States men's international soccer players A-League (1995–2004) players Major League Soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players D.C. United draft picks Sportspeople from Springfield, Virginia Men's association football midfielders West Springfield High School (Virginia) alumni