Sasha Gotsmanov (born September 19, 1982, in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

) is an

America 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 ...

n-Belarusian soccer player, who spent one season in the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional 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 sanctioned by the United ...

and two in the

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

. Sasha was born into a soccer family. His father, Sergey Gotsmanov was a member of the Soviet Union national team that were runners-up for the

1988 European Football Championship The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. France were the defending champio ...

. His mother, Olga, was the Belarusian national gymnastics coach. When Sasha was 15 his family moved from Belarus to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, so that Sergei could play for the

Minnesota Thunder Minnesota Thunder was an American professional association football, soccer team based in Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1990, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009. T ...

. Meanwhile, Sasha became a star player at the high school level. In 2001, he enrolled under scholarship at the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

where he would play soccer for the next four years. During his time with Rhode Island he played in 82 games, scored 35 goals and assisted on 19. He was named

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located mostly on the East Coast and Midwest of the ...

Player of the Year in 2004. On 8 April 2005 he signed with the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

as a developmental player. In 2005, he played most of the year with the Rapids Reserve team and was named the Reserves Most Valuable Player. He earned his lone MLS appearance on October 12 against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

. In the beginning of June 2006 he was loaned to the

but returned to the Rapids in July. At the end of the season, Gotsmanov was waived by the team. For the 2007 season, he signed up with the Thunder again, this time on a permanent deal. He has a younger brother,

Andrei Andrei, Andrey or Andrej (in Cyrillic script: Андрэй, Андрей or Андреј) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: * Andrei of Polotsk (–1399), Lithuanian nobleman *An ...

, who played for the

NSC Minnesota Stars NSC may refer to: Banking and investment * National Sort Code, an Irish bank code * Nomura Securities Co, an investment bank Computing * National Software Centre, an Irish organization * National Supercomputer Centre in Sweden * NetShow Cha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gotsmanov, Sasha 1982 births Living people Belarusian men's footballers Belarusian expatriate men's footballers Major League Soccer players Colorado Rapids players USL First Division players Minnesota Thunder players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Rhode Island Rams men's soccer players Colorado Rapids draft picks Men's association football forwards