Damian Silvera

Damian Troy Silvera (July 27, 1974 – June 14, 2010) was a U.S. soccer midfielder who was a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic soccer team. He also spent a season and a half in Major League Soccer.

Silvera grew up in Huntington, New York and attended Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, New York where he played on the boys soccer team. In his junior and senior years, he was named as an All-American high school player. After graduating from high school, Silvera attended the University of Virginia where he played as a midfielder on the men's soccer team from 1992-1995. He was part of three NCAA championship teams as the Cavaliers took the title in 1992, 1993 and 1994. In 1994, he was the NCAA tournament Offensive MVP and a second team All-American. He graduated as Virginia’s all-time leader in assists.

While in college, he was called up to the U.S. B-Team. In the early 1990s, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) signed players to national team contracts. These players formed the A-Team. Fringe or up and coming players were part of the B-Team, those members of the national team pool not under contract. The B-Team also served as the core for the junior national teams. In 1994, Silvera began playing with the B-Team. This led to selection for the U.S. team at the 1995 Pan American Games.

As Major League Soccer began preparations for its first season, it signed known players to contracts. From this pool of players, the league allocated four to each team in order to ensure an initial equitable distribution of talent. On February 5, 1996, MLS allocated Silvera to the MetroStars. Eddie Firmani, coach of the MetroStars had requested Silvera based on his standout performances with the University of Virginia and the U.S. B-Teams. Firmani saw Silvera growing into the role of creative midfielder with the MetroStars.

During the middle of the 1996 season, Silvera left the MetroStars to join the U.S. team for the 1996 Summer Olympics. The U.S. went a disappointing 1-1-1 and failed to make the second round. Silvera then rejoined the MetroStars where it was becoming apparent that he would never become a creative force on the team. Silvera seemed to have difficulty adapting to the professional game and the burden of pre-season expectations wore on him. By the end of the season, the MetroStars coaching staff had moved him to defensive midfielder, but he never adapted to this role either.

On February 3, 1997, the MetroStars traded Silvera to the Kansas City Wizards for Mike Sorber and the first round pick in the 1998 MLS College Draft. However, he appeared in only three games, one as a starter and the Wizards released him. He never played professionally after that. There were later rumors that he had mental health issues.[1]

In 2001-2002, Silvera coached Soccer Alley, a team in the Second Division of the Atlanta District Amateur Soccer League.[1]