Zach Loyd and Bobby Warshaw will be representing FC Dallas at “Soccer Night in Newtown” – an event organized for Newtown, Conn. residents affected by the mass shooting at a local school in December.
Loyd and Warshaw are just two of the 30 MLS players, who along with US Soccer men’s and women’s legends, will play mini-matches and spend time with the children and families of Newtown on January 7, 2013.
For FCD defender Zach Loyd, the event is personal.
“I have a son that’s five years old,” Loyd said. “I can’t imagine getting a phone call that he’s been shot.”
Loyd said he immediately wanted to help out with the event once he heard about it.
“If you can do anything to help people in need, if we can help in any way, I want to be a part of something like that,” Loyd said.
The Soccer Night event was organized by Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti, who is from Guilford, Conn. Canetti reached out to the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team, who worked with youth soccer officials in the area like the Connecticut Football Club to make the event a reality.
FCD midfielder Bobby Warshaw said it was a “no brainer” for him to be a part of Soccer Night.
“There was no question you wanted to do this one. If you can do anything to help you can,” Warshaw said. “I think it’s really awesome of the league to do this.”
Both Loyd and Warshaw have the same goal – to bring some brightness to people’s lives, even if it’s just for a few hours.
“I hope we can go there and bring some happiness,” Loyd said. “Let them know we’re here for them.”
“There’s no goal here other than to make people happy,” Warshaw said. “Go up and do some soccer stuff and hope that makes them feel good.”
Participating players:
FC Dallas
Zach Loyd, Bobby Warshaw
Columbus Crew
Ethan Finlay
Houston Dynamo
Corey Ashe, Brad Davis, Brian Ching, Ricardo Clark, Tally Hall
LA Galaxy
Landon Donovan, Sean Franklin, Rafael Garcia,
New England Revolution
Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Ryan Guy, Matt Reis, Clyde Simms, Chris Tierney, Bobby Shuttleworth
New York Red Bulls
Kenny Cooper, Heath Pearce, Ryan Meara
Philadelphia Union
Chris Albright, Ray Gaddis
Real Salt Lake
Kwame Watson-Siriboe
San Jose Earthquakes
Marcus Tracy
Seattle Sounders
David Estrada, Josh Ford
Vancouver Whitecaps
Brad Knighton , Omar Salgado, Matt Watson
US Men’s Legends
Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas, Eric Wynalda, Mike Burns, Tony Meola
US Women’s Legends
Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Christie Rampone