It’s a known fact among only select soccer circles, but Philadelphia has a rich – and deep – soccer history on the world stage. During the month that is the FIFA World Cup, philadelphiaunion.com in conjunction with Philly Soccer Page will highlight one player from either the Greater Philadelphia region or that has ties to the Union that has been a part of the world’s greatest sporting event.
We’ve already kicked off with a pair of local connections in Robert Millar, Bert Patenaude, Jimmy Gallagher and James Gentle that were instrumental in the United States' third place finish in the 1930 FIFA World Cup.
Today, we introduce another local legend, Elmer Schroeder.
Elmer Schroeder had a phenomenal soccer background.
Schroeder was manager of the Philadelphia German Americans club.
But he was best known as manager of the United States World Cup team in 1934 along with the ’28 and ’36 Olympics.
Schroeder, who played soccer at the University of Pennsylvania, was also the first American-born president of the United States Football Association, according to ussoccer.com.
Schroeder was manager of the Philadelphia German Americans team from 1932-37, including its American Soccer League title in ‘35 and U.S. Open Cup victory in ‘36. He was also president of the ASL from 1939-42 and was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in ‘51.
The Philly Soccer Page noted that the management team of the ’34 U.S. World Cup team had major Philadelphia ties.
Schroeder was part of a pair of Penn teams in 1919 and ’20 which won national titles.
The ’34 U.S. World Cup was full of veteran players, making it an ideal team to be managed by Schroeder. But the U.S. fell to eventual champion Italy, a dominant team in that World Cup.
Contact Union writer Andy Jasner at andy.jasner@yahoo.com
