Carl Fletcher (Canadian soccer)

Carl Tadeus Fletcher (born 26 December 1971) is a former professional Canadian soccer defender who played in the Canadian Soccer League, USL A-League, and played at the international level appearing in several CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments and at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Club career

Fletcher began his professional career for the Toronto Blizzard of the Canadian Soccer League. He played for the Toronto Rockets in 1994, which was the club's sole season of existence. He spent the 1996 indoor season with Toronto Shooting Stars of the National Professional Soccer League. When the indoor season came to a conclusion he signed with Montreal Impact and played a total of 68 matches for the franchise. In 1999, he signed a contract with Hampton Roads Mariners and played two years with the team. Fletcher returned to the Montreal Impact in April 2001; after playing half a season with the Impact, he was sold to Rochester Raging Rhinos in August 2001. With Rochester he reached the postseason, and captured the A-League championship.

In 2002, Fletcher was transferred to the Atlanta Silverbacks, and spent two seasons with the organization – his best season with Atlanta was in 2002 reaching the first round of the playoffs. In 2004 Fletcher took a season off to pursue a broadcast career with TSN. A year after he decided to return to soccer and signed with his hometown club the Toronto Lynx. His signing was announced on March 31, 2005. He failed to make an appearance for the club due to sustaining an injury early in the season and was released halfway through the season.

International career

Fletcher made his first steps on the international scene at the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship which were held in Canada. He played in all three games there.

He made his senior debut for Canada in a July 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Jamaica and for a couple of years was the first-choice defender for the Canadian national team. He earned 40 caps, scoring twice. He represented Canada in 7 World Cup qualifiers.

His last international game was on 1 June 2003 against Germany.

International goals

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.