Antonio Michael Meola (/miˈoʊlə/; Italian: [ˈmɛːola]; born February 21, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper.
[2] He learned his love for the game from his father, Vincenzo, who played for Italian second division club Avellino before immigrating to the U.S. Meola was All-State both as a goalkeeper (1985) and a forward (1986).
In 1999, Meola was named by The Star-Ledger as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1980s.
He gained his first start when he replaced the injured Perry Digweed and promptly won man of the match honors.
[9] Meola attempted to become a placekicker with NFL's New York Jets in July 1994 but didn't pass the try-outs and was cut.
[10] Although Meola signed with the Buffalo Blizzard of the NPSL on December 14, 1994, for the 1994–95 indoor season and became the team's starting keeper, he left in mid-February 1995, as he had taken a lead role in the off-Broadway play Tony and Tina's Wedding and needed to join the cast.
[citation needed] In February 1995, Meola joined the Long Island Rough Riders for its upcoming 1995 USISL season.
Upon the creation of Major League Soccer, he was allocated to the NY/NJ MetroStars, for whom he played between 1996 and 1998, starting almost every game.
Meola was traded to the Kansas City Wizards (with Alexi Lalas for Mark Chung and Mike Ammann) in 1999, but missed most of his first year in the midwest due to injury.
Bo Oshoniyi took over the goalkeeping position, although Meola recorded a shutout in the Wizards' U.S. Open Cup final win over the Chicago Fire, and Meola was not asked back for next season, instead stuck with Oshoniyi as the starting goalkeeper.
At the time, David Vanole was the main goalkeeper of the U.S., but over the previous month, he had fought with the U.S. Soccer Federation over a contract dispute and traded his place on the field with Meola to get his burgeoning weight under control.
[12] This bad performance led Gansler to drop Vanole, who never again played for the U.S., thus making Meola an undisputed starter between the sticks.
After the U.S. loss to Brazil in the second round of the World Cup, Meola informed the U.S. coach Bora Milutinović that he intended to pursue a professional American football career as a placekicker.
In a 2024 interview with CBS, Meola claimed that this lack of callback was actually related to leave he took for family reasons and that an unnamed USSF official effectively told him he was being blackballed as a result.
On November 24, 2015, Meola was hired for his first coaching position in the NASL with Jacksonville Armada FC.
[13] Meola recorded his first managerial victory in the club's home opener against Miami FC on April 15, 2016.
[15] Meola's non-soccer ventures include appearing Off-Broadway in Tony and Tina's Wedding in 1995, and running his own mortgage firm.
Meola now lives in Toms River, New Jersey[17] and has three children, Jon, Kylie, and Aidan.