Lothar Osiander

Lothar Osiander (born November 8, 1939) is a German soccer coach who has served as head coach to the U.S. national and Olympic teams as well as the Atlanta Ruckus, Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Clash.

Osiander moved to the United States with his family in 1958, settling in the San Francisco area.

He attended Mission High School.

After graduating from high school, he first attended the City College of San Francisco, then the University of San Francisco where he played on the men's soccer team under legendary coach Steve Negoesco.

By that time he had become a U.S. citizen, gaining his citizenship in 1965.

Osiander was an assistant coach with the California Surf of the North American Soccer League (NASL).

Osiander eventually returned to San Francisco, becoming a waiter at Graziano's, a local restaurant, while playing and coaching in the city's highly competitive soccer leagues.

In 1966, the Dons won the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship.

Osiander graduated with degrees in physical education and Spanish in 1968.

Back in 1974, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) had hired Osiander as part of its coaching staff.

At the time Walter Chyzowych was the U.S. head coach and in that capacity would travel the country putting on coaching clinics.

Osiander traveled as part of Chyzowich's team and became known as an excellent teacher and coach.

In 1978, the U.S. Olympic committee inaugurated a National Sports Festival, hiring Osiander as the West team soccer coach.

He continued in this position for the next ten years.

In 1985, he coached a semi-pro club, the San Francisco Greek-Americans, to the National Challenge Cup title.

By that time, Osiander was well known on the national coaching scene.

By 1986, Osiander's success with the Olympic Festivals and the Greek Americans led Chyzowich, now head of USSF, to hire Osiander to replace fired Alkis Panagouliasas as the head coach of the U.S. national team.

The team was in the middle of rebuilding following its failure to qualify for the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

On May 30, 1987, Osiander's team rose to the challenge and shutout Canada, while scoring the three needed goals.

The U.S. went on a tear in the second round, going undefeated against Trinidad and El Salvador, outscoring its opponents 13 to 4, and winning a spot in Seoul.

In those games, the U.S. underachieved, running to a 1–1–1 record and failing to make the second round.

As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed countries outside of Europe and South America to field their full national teams in the Olympics, Osiander turned his attention to qualification for the 1988 Summer Olympics to be held in Seoul, South Korea.

The qualification campaign nearly ended as soon as it began when Canada defeated the U.S. 2–0 in the first leg of their home and away first round series.

At the time, series winners were decided on goal differential with away goals counting for two points and home goals only one.

In other words, the U.S. needed to win the follow-up game 3–0.

If it let Canada gain even one goal in the game in the U.S., then the score would need to be 5–1 for the U.S. to make the next round.

After the 1988 Olympics, USSF began signing U.S. players to national team contracts.

These players formed an A team while fringe or up and coming players spent time with the B Team.

Additionally, the IOC had decided to make the Olympic soccer tournament an U-23 competition.

On January 16, 1989, USSF released Osiander when it announced the hiring of Bob Gansler as the full-time national team coach.

By this time Osiander had set the U.S. national team back on track.

In addition to the marvelous Olympic qualification campaign, Osiander led the team through a successful first round of World Cup qualification with a scoreless away tie with Jamaica followed by a 5-1 crushing of the Reggae Boyz.

Osiander compiled a 13–7 record with the team in full internationals during his tenure as coach.

While he left the senior national team in 1989, Osiander continued to coach the U.S. B Team and eventually the U.S. U-23 national team.

In 1991, Osiander coached the U.S. U-23 team to a gold medal at that year's Pan American Games, held in Cuba.

That year, Osiander also began preparing the team for the 1992 Summer Olympics to be held in Barcelona, Spain.

The team easily ran through qualification and had high hopes for success in Spain.

In one of the many inexplicable moments in U.S. soccer history, Osiander benched his leading scorer, Steve Snow, for the team's first Olympic match.

Snow had led the U.S. team at the Pan American games with four goals, then bagged eleven more in nine games of Olympic qualifying.

However, Osiander did not fail to mask his dislike for Snow, calling him a "cocky twerp".