Richard Steele (born March 30, 2004) is a

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory and Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States consistin ...

association footballer 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 ...

who currently plays for the

Park–Gilbert Buccaneers Park University is a private university in Parkville, Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1875. In the fall of 2023, Park had an enrollment of 6,389 students. History The school which was originally called Park College was founded in 1 ...

and the Northern Mariana Islands national team.

Career

Youth

As a youth Steele played for MP United for over ten years and won the top scorer award in local leagues multiple times. He was part of the MP United squad that won back-to-back U12 division titles in 2014 and 2015. Through 2016 he also played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and won the Golden Gloves Award for the U12 division that season. In 2017 he was tied for fourth in scoring in the

Northern Mariana Islands Football Association The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association (NMIFA) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in the Northern Mariana Islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. It was founded in 2005 by US Attorney Peter Coleman to replace the n ...

U14 division. That year he also competed with MPU in the Pacific Ocean Cup in

Numazu is a city located in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 189,486 in 91,986 households, and a population density of 1,014 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Numazu is at the n ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In 2019 he won the Golden Boot of the under-15 league with twenty three goals. Following the 2019 season his family moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

where he competed with the Pirates of

Santa Ynez Valley Union High School Santa Ynez Valley Union High School (SYHS) is a public high school in Santa Ynez, California, that serves students in grades 9–12 in the Santa Ynez Valley. As of the 2017–18 school year, 908 students were enrolled at the school. History San ...

. He was named the team's Best Offensive Player after his first season as the team's top scorer with five goals. While in California he also played club soccer for Kickers Soccer Club in Los Olivos. He was also the club's U16 top scorer that season, scoring twelves times.

Early club

After one year in California Steele returned to the Northern Mariana Islands and resumed playing with MP United and the national team player pool. In 2021 he moved to Teen Ayuyu of the

M-League The Malaysian League, also known as the M-League ( Malay: ''Liga Malaysia'' or ''Liga-M''), is a terminology used to describe the professional football league in Malaysia. The terminology was mainly used to describe the league and its divisions ...

. Following the season he was one of sixteen players named to the league's All-Star team that competed against the Northern Mariana Islands national team in the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...

. In 2022, Steele joined Eleven Tiger FC. In the club’s first season in the Marianas League, it defeated Tan Holdings 4–2 in the final to win the league title. He scored two goals in the match en route to the upset victory.

College

In February 2022, as a senior at

Mount Carmel School Mount Carmel School (New Delhi) is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day students located in Delhi NCR, India with branches at Anand Niketan, Dwarka and Gurugram. Mount Carmel School was founded by Late Dr. Vijay K. Willia ...

, Steele committed to play

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for the Wolves of

Walla Walla University Walla Walla University is a private Adventist university in College Place, Washington. The university has five campuses throughout the Pacific Northwest. It was founded in 1892 and is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The ...

, a member of the NAIA. However, later that year it was announced that Steele instead opted to join the

beginning with the 2023–2024 season. He was joined in the squad by national teammates Jeremiah Diaz and Dev Bachani.

International career

Steele was a member of the national under-18 player pool. He made his senior international debut on 19 February 2022 in a friendly against

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

. As part of the same trip, he scored for the national under-20 team in a 4–1 victory against the Guam national under-17 team. Later in 2022, Steele was named to the under-20 squad again for

2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification The 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification was an international men's under-20 football competition which was held to decide the participating teams of the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup. It was held as under-20 tournament for the first time after rebrand ...

held in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

International career statistics

References

External links

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Park-Gilbert Buccaneers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Richard 2004 births Living people Men's association football forwards Northern Mariana Islands men's footballers Northern Mariana Islands men's international footballers Santa Ynez Valley Union High School alumni Soccer players from California Filipino emigrants to the United States 21st-century American sportsmen