View source for Mike Sorber

{{short description|American soccer coach and former player (born 1971)}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name= Mike Sorber
| fullname =  Michael Steven Sorber
| image =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1971|5|14}}
| birth_place = [[St. Louis, Missouri]], United States
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=10}}
| position = [[Midfielder]]
| collegeyears1 = 1989–1992
| college1 = [[Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer|Saint Louis Billikens]]
| years1 =  1994–1996   | clubs1 =  [[Club Universidad Nacional|UNAM]] | caps1 =  51      | goals1 =  1
| years2 =  1996        | clubs2 =  [[Kansas City Wizards]]            | caps2 =  22      | goals2 =  4
| years3 =  1997–1999   | clubs3 =  [[MetroStars]]                     | caps3 =  74      | goals3 =  4
| years4 =  2000        | clubs4 =  [[Chicago Fire SC|Chicago Fire]]   | caps4 =  19      | goals4 =  1
                                                                       | totalcaps = 166  | totalgoals = 10
| nationalyears1 =   1992–1998
| nationalteam1 =   [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]]
| nationalcaps1 =    67
| nationalgoals1 =   2
| manageryears1 =  2001–2006  | managerclubs1 =  [[Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer|Saint Louis Billikens]] (assistant)
| manageryears2 =  2007–2011  | managerclubs2 =  [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]] (assistant)
| manageryears3 =  2012       | managerclubs3 =  [[Montreal Impact (MLS)|Montreal Impact]] (assistant)
| manageryears6 =  2017–2021  | managerclubs6 =  [[Los Angeles FC]] (assistant/Director of Soccer Operations)
| manageryears7 =  2022–2023     | managerclubs7 =  [[Toronto FC]] (assistant/Technical Director)
| medaltemplates = 
{{Medal|Country|{{Flagu|United States}}}}
{{Medal|3rd|[[CONCACAF Gold Cup]]|[[1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup|1996]]}}
{{MedalSport|Men's [[Association football|Soccer]]}}
}}

'''Michael Steven Sorber''' (born May 14, 1971) is an American [[soccer]] coach and former player. He most recently served as an assistant head coach for  [[Toronto FC]] in [[Major League Soccer]]. He played professionally in the United States and Mexico and was a member of the U.S. national team at the [[1994 FIFA World Cup]].

==Youth and college==
Sorber was born and raised in [[Florissant, Missouri]] in the [[St. Louis]] area, where his father Pete Sorber was the head coach of the [[St. Louis Community College|St. Louis Community College-Florissant Valley]] men's soccer team for 30 years.  During those years, he led the college to 10 National Junior College Athletic Association national championships.<ref>[http://www.stlshof.com/pete-sorber/ Pete Sorber (soccer) &ndash; St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.] Retrieved January 16, 2020</ref>

Under his father's tutelage, Mike developed into a polished youth player.  He played boys' soccer at [[St. Mary's Parish, Bridgeton, Missouri|St. Thomas Aquinas-Mercy High School]] where he was part of two Missouri state championship teams in 1985 and 1988.  His senior year, he was honored as part of the All-Great Midwest Conference team and was the North MVP at the St. Louis North-South High School Senior All-Star Game.<sup>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071010192715/http://mac-stl.org/allstarsmain.php]</sup>

After graduating from high school in 1989, Sorber played [[NCAA]] soccer with the [[Saint Louis University]] men's soccer team.  He was part of the Billikens’ 1991 Final Four appearance in the NCAA tournament and was a 1992 [[Hermann Trophy]] finalist.  He ended his career at St. Louis with 13 goals and 29 assists.  While he finished his college playing career in 1992, Sorber continued to work on his college education and graduated in 1994 with a [[Bachelor of Arts|bachelor's degree]] in communications with a minor in criminal justice.

==Mexico==
After spending two years contracted to the U.S. national team leading up to the 1994 World Cup, Sorber moved to Mexico to play [[Mexican Primera División|first division]] soccer with [[Club Universidad Nacional|UNAM]]. He played two seasons with Pumas.

==MLS==
In 1996, Sorber signed a contract with the newly established [[Major League Soccer]] (MLS). MLS [[1996 MLS Inaugural Allocations|allocated]] Sorber to [[Kansas City Wiz]]. However, he played only a single season with the Wiz before being traded to [[MetroStars]] for [[Damian Silvera]] on February 1, 1997.

Sorber played three years with MetroStars but the team made the playoffs only in 1998. MetroStars waived Sorber on February 21, 2000. He was claimed by [[New England Revolution]] but then traded to [[Chicago Fire Soccer Club|Chicago Fire]] during the 2000 preseason for a fourth-round pick in the [[2001 MLS SuperDraft]]. Sorber played only one year with Chicago, helping the club win the Central Division title and reach the [[MLS Cup 2000|2000 MLS Cup]] final. In five years in the league, he scored nine goals and added 17 assists, plus a goal and five assists in the playoffs.

==International career==
Sorber earned his first [[Cap (sport)|cap]] with the [[United States men's national soccer team|national team]] in a January 25, 1992 loss to the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] team. He would go on to earn a total of 67 caps, scoring 2 goals with the national team.

Sorber played in the [[1994 FIFA World Cup]] held in his home country. Following the tournament, national team coach [[Bora Milutinović]] stated "When you analyze the World Cup, Sorber was probably our MVP. It is difficult for me to explain what I feel about him. He is disciplined and intelligent." He earned his final cap in a 1998 friendly against [[Paraguay national football team|Paraguay]].  Although named as an alternate for the [[1998 FIFA World Cup]] team, he was not chosen for the final roster.

==Coaching==
Sorber retired in February 2001 and returned to his alma mater, Saint Louis University, where he joined the Billikens as their assistant coach.

Sorber was an assistant coach for the U.S. men's national team. He was named to the position by head coach [[Bob Bradley]] in May 2007.

On October 5, 2011, MLS expansion side [[Montreal Impact (MLS)|Montreal Impact]] announced that Sorber had joined the club as an assistant coach.  In January 2013, following the departure of head coach Jesse Marsch, the Montreal Impact announced that it will not retain the services of Mike Sorber for the 2013 season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.montrealimpact.com/News/News.aspx?language=EN |title=News |accessdate=May 8, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100508033110/http://www.montrealimpact.com/News/News.aspx?language=EN |archivedate=May 8, 2010 }}</ref>
On February 1, 2014, Sorber was hired by the Philadelphia Union of MLS as an assistant coach.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/union/Union-hire-Mike-Sorber-as-assistant-coach.html|title=Sources: Union hire Mike Sorber as assistant coach|publisher=|accessdate=January 12, 2018}}</ref> He was named the Director of Soccer Operations for [[LAFC]] in 2017.

On January 19, 2022, Sorber joined Toronto FC as an assistant coach/Technical Director, reuniting with Bradley after the latter had been named the club's head coach and sporting director.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.torontofc.ca/news/sorber-and-stalteri-join-toronto-fc-coaching-staff-for-2022-season|title=Sorber and Stalteri join Toronto FC coaching staff for 2022 season &#124; Toronto FC|website=torontofc|accessdate=August 7, 2023}}</ref> On June 26, 2023, following the dismissal of Bradley, TFC announced that Sorber would not remain with the team.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.torontofc.ca/news/toronto-fc-announce-coaching-changes|title=Toronto FC Announce Coaching Changes &#124; Toronto FC|website=torontofc|accessdate=August 7, 2023}}</ref>

==Career statistics==
===International goals===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
| 1. || September 3, 1992 || [[Canada Games Stadium]], [[Saint John, New Brunswick]], Canada || {{fb|CAN}} || 0–2 || Win || [[Friendly match|Friendly]]
|-
| 2. || April 16, 1994 || [[Sam W. Wolfson Baseball Park]], [[Jacksonville, Florida]], United States || {{fb|MDA}} || 1–1 || Draw || [[Friendly match|Friendly]]
|-
| colspan="15"|<small>''Correct as of October 7, 2015''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/intldetails/1992nca.html|title=International Matches 1992 – North and Central America and Caribbean|website=[[RSSSF]]|accessdate=January 12, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/intldetails/1994ic1.html|title=International Matches 1994 – Intercontinental, January–April|website=[[RSSSF]]|accessdate=January 12, 2018}}</ref></small>
|-
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Navboxes
|title= United States squads
|bg= #002868
|fg= white
|bordercolor= #BF0A30
|list1=
{{United States squad 1993 Copa América}}
{{United States squad 1994 FIFA World Cup}}
{{United States squad 1995 Copa América}}
{{United States squad 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorber, Mike}}
[[Category:1971 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American expatriate men's soccer players]]
[[Category:United States men's international soccer players]]
[[Category:Club Universidad Nacional footballers]]
[[Category:Sporting Kansas City players]]
[[Category:New York Red Bulls players]]
[[Category:Chicago Fire FC players]]
[[Category:Liga MX players]]
[[Category:American expatriate sportspeople in Mexico]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico]]
[[Category:Saint Louis University alumni]]
[[Category:Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer players]]
[[Category:American soccer coaches]]
[[Category:Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer coaches]]
[[Category:Soccer players from St. Louis]]
[[Category:1993 Copa América players]]
[[Category:1994 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:1995 Copa América players]]
[[Category:1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players]]
[[Category:Major League Soccer players]]
[[Category:Philadelphia Union non-playing staff]]
[[Category:CF Montréal non-playing staff]]
[[Category:Men's association football midfielders]]
[[Category:American men's soccer players]]
[[Category:Los Angeles FC non-playing staff]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]