ANDY HOWARD on the soccer pitch.

Howard wins gold medal at Pan Am Maccabi Games

By Deborah Moon

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Andy Howard’s homecoming to Portland couldn’t get much sweeter.

Over the past half year, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, took his first trip to Israel with the birthright program, landed a soccer marketing job at Adidas America and helped the United States open men’s soccer team win its first gold medal in the 11th Pan Am Maccabi Games.

“It was the first time the U.S. men’s soccer team won a gold at the Maccabi Games,” said Howard. “We beat Argentina 2-0 in the final. It was quite exciting.”

Held every four years, the Pan Am Maccabi Games are a regional competition for Jewish athletes. Nearly 5,000 athletes from 20 countries participated in 17 sports Dec. 26-Jan. 2 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Pan Am Games alternate with the Maccabiah Games held in Israel every four years. The Israel games, which meet again in 2009, rank among the five largest sports gatherings in the world and are considered Regional Games by the International Olympic Committee.

Howard, a member of Temple Beth Israel and the son of Lucy Kivel and Scott Howard of Portland, called playing in the international competition “a nice capstone to my soccer career.” Howard played defender both at the University of Pennsylvania and on the Maccabi team.

He said he was invited to join the team after he was named to the Jewish Sports Review’s 2006 All-America team. By the time he went on a birthright Israel trip in June, he had already accepted the invitation.

“Learning the history of the games (while touring Israel) revved up my excitement,” he said. “Seeing so much history made me more excited to represent my sport, my country and my religion.”

“Seeing how the Israelis reacted when I said I was going … they knew it was such a big deal,” he added. “When I was in Israel I got an idea how big a deal it was for international Jewry. … It’s a great symbol of Jewish solidarity throughout the world.”

Howard said the team’s victory was especially impressive considering they bested three of the world’s perennial soccer powerhouses—Brazil, Mexico and Argentina—after practicing together for just five days before the tournament.

“The amount the team was able to gel and play together was a tribute to the coaches,” he said. “The coaches really emphasized to do whatever we needed to do to win. I attribute it (the victory) to team unity and people stepping up and working hard. There was a lot of selflessness.”

After beating Columbia in their first game, half the team came down with food poisoning and missed their second game where they lost to Argentina. They rebounded and beat Chile, taking them to the semi-finals against Mexico from the other bracket. After winning that game on penalty kicks, the U.S. team had a rematch against Argentina in the finals.

“The 10 minutes after the whistle blew in the final and realizing we had accomplished what no other men’s team had done—beating Argentina in Argentina,” said Howard when asked about the highlight of the games. “Celebrating on the field after winning a major international tournament … is a pretty cool feeling.”