USMNT great DaMarcus Beasley announces plans to retire after the MLS season
Even the ageless have to call it a career at some point. On Monday, U.S. soccer living legend DaMarcus Beasley announced that his 20th professional season will be his last.
Beasley, 36, will hang up his boots following the the end of the the Houston Dynamo’s 2019 campaign.
“I appreciate all the love, cheers and jeers throughout these past 20 years,” Beasley wrote on his social media channels. “Being on the pitch has fulfilled every dream I ever imagined.”
Beasley made his pro debut with the Chicago Fire in 2000. Over the next two decades, the skinny kid from Fort Wayne, Indiana established himself as one of the greatest players in the country’s history.
His 126 appearances for the U.S. national team rank seventh all-time. In 2014, Beasley became the first American male to play in four World Cups and narrowly missed out on another: Had the USMNT qualified for Russia 2018, there’s a good chance he would’ve become just the fifth player in the history of the event to make five World Cup squads, joining Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon, Germany’s Lothar Matthaus and Mexican pair Rafael Marquez and Antonio Carbajal.
At club level, Beasley served as an ambassador for his homeland. A year after leaving the Fire in 2004, he helped PSV Eindhoven reach the Champions League semifinals. He moved to Manchester City in 2006 before stops in the top leagues in Germany (with Hannover), Scotland (Rangers) and Mexico (Puebla). Beasley returned to MLS with the Dynamo after the 2014 World Cup, where he played every minute of the Americans’ four games at left back after being converted from the wing spot he manned perviously for club and country.
Beasley isn’t the only U.S. great planning to make this season his last. Earlier this year, longtime national team goalkeepers Tim Howard and Nick Rimando also revealed their intentions to move on following the current MLS season.
Doug McIntyre covers soccer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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