United States
Parker Cleveland is a soccer writer, his work has been called "interesting" by randos on Twitter. He loves MLS because it is so bad it is good in the way that Fast and the Furious or Bachelor in Paradise balances complete trash and compelling narratives and characters. He covers MLS, Atlanta United, the North Carolina Courage, the United States Men's and Women's National Teams, and International Soccer. He also writes freelance articles on a variety of subjects and topics about soccer from lower league men's games to women's college soccer.
Primarily, Parker is an editor and contributor for the SB Nation blogs Stars and Stripes FC and Dirty South Soccer. His work has been published in Howler magazine and other online publications as well.
BA: History, Georgia State University c/o 2007
MS: International Affairs, Georgia Tech c/o 2014
It's always satisfying to beat Orlando City, but beating them in the only thing they conceivably have to play for or could compete to win during the year is all the sweeter. I mean did you see how hard they were trying?
One question that has hounded the US Men's National Team since the team began being relevant in soccer again is - When will the US produce a Pele? or Messi? Or Ronaldo? (Notice it's never a Maradona, our heroes must come uncomplicated and unflawed or at least have a massive PR effort hiding those flaws and multi-billion dollar corporations ignoring them to keep brands like CR7 running).
The USA and the Netherlands met on a hot evening in Lyon with a chance to emerge as world champions on the line. For the Americans, it was expected that they would be here and would win, the Dutch meanwhile have shown what is possible in women's soccer with the right mix of talent and support from their national federation.
SB Nation Soccer Articles
Dane Brekken "Brek" Shea... He is perhaps the most surprising signing in Atlanta United history. That the team needed some help at left back was well known. Chris McCann was taking up a lot of salary cap space and Greg Garza was often injured so the team parted ways with them.
Major League Soccer has a sort of strange reputation. On one hand, people often claim it's "hard to watch" and "overly physical" due to lacking players with "technique" and "talent". On the other hand, teams keep scoring 70 goals a year in the league. No, not every game is fun to watch.
As the 2018 World Cup gets underway, it seems like there are an ever expanding number of ways that American fans can experience the tournament. They can look on in embarrassment or anger at the fact that the USMNT didn't qualify for the tournament while paging through Bruce Arena's new book.
Freelance Articles
Day 15 During the World Cup, Howler will feature a different writer each day sharing thoughts on the day's action. Today, Parker Cleveland can't help noticing that the World Cup resembles a league near and dear to each of our hearts. A reporter once asked Bastian Schweinsteiger if he would help the Chicago Fire ...
It isn't often that an American gets a chance to manage a national team outside of the United States. Of course, Bob Bradley helmed the Egypt team that nearly qualified for the World Cup as the Arab Spring swirled, but for the most part Yanks experience in the international scene is managing in the U.S.
Interview with Penn State midfielder Emily Ogle discussing her youth preparation, time with the US Women's National Team youth set up, and career at Penn State.
Audio Appearances
Listen to Five Stripe Final: Atlanta United FC Analysis & Commentary episodes free, on demand. Following each Atlanta United FC match, Joe Patrick, J. Sam Jones and the Dirty South Soccer staff offer their commentary and read your feedback after the whistle.