Mickey Cohen brings a world of experience to the Monroe College program. He has been coaching goalkeepers from youth to professional level for four decades. .
His extensive soccer career as a player began in 1964 at Francis Lewis HS in Queens N.Y. Mickey is a lifelong New Yorker. The first team he coached was Boys HS of Brooklyn. He coached there from 1968 until 1976.
He began his goalkeeping career at LIU Brooklyn, N.Y. His coach was the incomparable Joe Machnik.
At LIU, Mickey captained the team to two NCAA final four appearances. This accomplishment ranks as the most successful soccer team in LIU’s distinguished history.
Mickey was a two sport athlete at LIU. He played three seasons as a catcher on the baseball team. In 1968, the Blackbirds were 22-2 and Ranked #1 amongst college division teams.
Mickey's first international playing experience began with his selection as goalkeeper and captain of two American teams at the 1969 and 1973 Maccabiah Games In israel. His teammate was Shep Messing and they began a lifelong personal and professional relationship.
Mickey began his professional playing career in 1972. He played in the ASL (American Soccer League) and the NASL (North American Soccer League). His NASL team included two world class players Eusebio and Simoes from Benfica and Portugal.
He also coached in the MISL (Major Indoor Soccer League) . The MISL Team, the NY Arrows played at the Nassau Coliseum. The new professional indoor league played in hockey style arenas hoping to increase the scoring in each game. The rules and the style of this new league presented new challenges for the goalkeepers. Mickey worked with Zoltan Toth and Shep Messing, two of the most accomplished and talented goalkeepers in US professional soccer. The NY Arrows won the first 4 MISL championships.
In 1988, Coach Mickey received his USSF coaching license from former US National coach and FIFA master coach Dettmar Cramer, the man responsible for establishing the US national soccer licensing system for coaches.
From 2000-2010 he coached at MLK HS in NYC. MLK won nine NYC championships. It was here that Coach Mickey met Coach Marcus Dibernardo. Mickey’s first goalkeeper at MLK was Bouna Condoul (National GK Senegal ) and his last was Jean Carlo Perez ( 2011 NJCAA 1st team All American )
I have trained the GKs at Monroe College since 2011. It is always a challenge to prepare GKs for a new season. It is especially challenging at the JUCO level.
We are preparing, again, to reach the NJCAA final and we want to win the final for the Monroe soccer program and for the school.
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