Preston Goldfarb’s final soccer team didn’t return from the 2023 Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires with any medals to display.
But the mettle they displayed?
Well, that made Goldfarb as proud as he’s ever been during a storied career.
In his finale as a soccer coach on January 3, Goldfarb’s United State Men’s Open team defeated Argentina – the eventual gold medalists – 3-2.
A glance at the box score shows the Americans jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first 21 minutes thanks to goals from Yaniv Bazini, Yoni Sorokine and Jake Rozhansky.
But that hardly tells the whole story.
Due to a rash of injuries, Goldfarb’s club had only nine field players available for the match. Argentina was down a man due to a red card, but the USA team was still outnumbered.
Not only that, many of the players who were able to participate were injured.
“You had to be there to witness my proudest moment in coaching,” Goldfarb said. “We wound up with nine players on the field against Argentina – not because of a red card – but because we had injuries and I didn’t have any subs. One player had a hamstring injury and all he could really do was stand there at midfield. We had a body out there that could at least get in the path of a pass or something.
“Fortunately, they got a player ejected for a handball, but we were still playing nine versus 10 against a very good team.”
Having played four games in a short time window, the Americans were dealing with exhaustion as well as pain. And the whistle didn’t blow after 90 minutes.
“It was mind-boggling,” Goldfarb said. “For them to play the way they did was just remarkable. After 90 minutes were done, the referee added 12 minutes of stoppage time. And it turned into 20 minutes, and then more minutes were added. So, our guys, despite all the injuries, and having to play all those additional minutes, still managed to win.”
The celebration was short-lived, as the USA found out quickly they had failed to qualify for the Final Four after losing a convoluted tiebreaker to Brazil.
“Even if we had qualified for the Final Four, we only had six healthy players after the Argentina match,” Goldfarb explained. “We basically had seven field players and two keepers. Physicians ruled nine players out for the fifth-place game and we refused to play it because we simply didn’t have enough players. The organizers didn’t like that, but I wasn’t going to endanger the health of my guys.”
The trip was a trying one for Goldfarb, with personnel issues starting to pile up before the plane ever left for Buenos Aires.
And things didn’t get much better after he and his team arrived.
“Sometimes the best laid plans fall flat,” Goldfarb said. “We had three players that dropped out before we left, and we had three more players who were nursing injuries that I didn’t know about. One was my best player, Evin Nadaner, and he only played 20 minutes in the first game and got a concussion in the second game.
“He was the link between our defense and our midfield and losing him threw everything off.”
Goldfarb said his team had roughly 20 minutes of practice time before opening the round robin tourney against Mexico – a 3-1 loss.
“When I tell you the field was a postage stamp, it was smaller than that,” Goldfarb joked. “The goals – I measured them – were 7×20, and they’re supposed to be 8×24. And the posts were these little sticks. Of course, both teams played on it and it’s not an excuse, but other teams had gotten there earlier and practiced on it.
“Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina go year-round, and we had guys on our team who were still trying to learn each other’s names.”
And despite occasions where the Americans got off the bus and had to walk a mile to the stadium (and a mile back to the bus after the match), they still managed to log round robin victories against both Uruguay and Argentina.
There were plenty of frustrations along the way, but Goldfarb was able to end his time on the sidelines with one of his most memorable results.
“I didn’t go out with a medal, I went out with beating Argentina,” he said. “So, we didn’t win gold, we won platinum on effort and what those kids did. The parents who were there couldn’t believe what we did and what we accomplished in that game. To see that moment, with those players knowing they did everything with heart against the team that went on to win it, was my proudest moment as a coach. They were ecstatic until the bubble was burst and we found out we didn’t qualify for the Final Four.
“To be on the bench, watching those kids literally crying through pain to play, was something I’ll never forget as long as I live. That moment in time is indelibly painted in my mind forever.”
Aside from Bazini, Sorokine, Rozhansky and Nadaner, the USA roster featured Benjamin Ziegler, Richard Shapira, Nadav Zarmi, Aaron Olson, David Abidor, Stephen Elias, Ryan Hepp, Jack Beer, Sam Friedman, Eric Hepp, Joshua Ziarno, Gabriel Einhorn, Alec Weiss and Gaston Becherano.
Ryan Jones was Goldfarb’s assistant.
“On paper I had a great team – no question – but we were missing so many key players and had so many injuries it just changed the complexion of everything,” Goldfarb said. “But those things happen, and it just made it a crazy tournament. But regardless, we came home with platinum.
”For a complete recap, go to prestongoldfarb.blogspot.com.