Miloš Kocić

Miloš Kocić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милош Koцић; born June 4, 1985) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Serbian White Eagles in the Canadian Soccer League.

Miloš Kocić
Kocić in 2012
Personal information
Date of birth (1985-06-04) June 4, 1985
Place of birth Leskovac, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
2001–2004 Dubočica Leskovac
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005 St. John's Red Storm
2006–2008 Loyola Greyhounds
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004 Radnički Jugopetrol 35 (0)
2005 Železnik[1] 0 (0)
2009 D.C. United 4 (0)
2010–2012 Toronto FC 37 (0)
2010 → Serbian White Eagles (loan) 20 (0)
2013 Portland Timbers 2 (0)
2014–2015 Győr 10 (0)
2019 Serbian White Eagles 1 (0)
National team
2003 Serbia and Montenegro U19
2003–2004 Serbia and Montenegro U21
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 October 2019

Career

Youth and college

Kocić was born in Yugoslavia prior to the country's breakup. He began playing soccer in the Serbian League East, and was part of the youth system of his home town team Dubočica Leskovac[2] before coming to the United States in 2005.

He played college soccer at St. John's University and at Loyola College in Maryland alongside compatriot Rade Koković. Kocić red-shirted during his first year in the US at St. John's before transferring to Loyola. At Loyola, he struggled at first – in 2006, he was the second goalkeeper and only found time in two matches the entire season. However, he made great strides the next two years and in 2008 (his final season at Loyola) he was named First Team All-MAAC as well as being named to the All-North Atlantic Regional Team and the All-American second team. He was named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 40th Anniversary Men’s Soccer Team on September 1, 2020.[3]

Professional
Miloš Kocić signing autographs in 2009.
Miloš Kocić in 2010.

Kocić was drafted in the second round (21st overall) of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft by D.C. United,[4] but did not sign with the team immediately; after several offers with clubs in his native Serbia, including Red Star Belgrade,[5] he eventually decided to sign a developmental contract with Major League Soccer.

Kocić made his professional debut for DC on April 22, 2009, in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup against FC Dallas.[6] He made his MLS debut the following week, on May 2, 2009, also against FC Dallas.[7]

Following the 2009 season, Kocić was released by United and was initially without a team after a failed trial with Toronto FC until a second trial period, after which the club ended up signing him for the 2010 season.[8] He made his debut for Toronto in the Canadian Championship against the Vancouver Whitecaps June 2, 2010.

He spent most of 2010 on loan with Serbian White Eagles, wearing the number 1, where he was voted the 2010 CSL goalkeeper of the year.[9]

Kocić made his CONCACAF Champions League debut with Toronto FC on August 24, 2010 against Árabe Unido of Panama. More than a month later he made his debut in the league for Toronto on October 16, 2010 versus Columbus Crew in a 2–2 home draw after teammate Jon Conway was shown a red card in the 72nd minute. A week later Kocić made his first start in the league for Toronto in the last game of the year versus his old club D.C. United on October 23, 2010.

Kocić made his 2011 season debut on July 27 in a 2–1 home victory over Real Esteli. during Champions League play.[10] A few weeks later on August 13 Miloš played in his first league match of the season with Stefan Frei sustaining a minor injury in practice that week, the game against Real Salt Lake ended in a 1–0 home victory.[11] During that game Kocić made an impressive save in the 90th minute of play from a Will Johnson volley that later earned Miloš MLS Save of the Week Honours.[12]

At the start of the 2012 season there was much doubt over who the starting keeper would be, after Frei started the first game against Los Angeles Galaxy in the first leg of the Champions League quarter finals. Kocić started in the return leg with a stand out performance, a week later Frei sustained a broken fibula during training requiring surgery expected to keep him out for six months.[13][14]

Kocić, along with Ryan Johnson, was traded to the Portland Timbers on December 12, 2012 for the third overall selection in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft, Joe Bendik and allocation money. "With the addition of Miloš, we felt it was important to add another experienced goalkeeper to strengthen our depth in that position," said Timbers technical director Gavin Wilkinson.[15] In 2014, he signed a three-year contract with Győri ETO FC in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I.[16]

On January 25, 2014, Kocić announced through his Twitter feed that he had started a goalkeeping academy in Toronto and had retired from soccer for family reasons.[17][18][19][20] In 2019, he returned to play in the Canadian Soccer League with the Serbian White Eagles.[21]

International

In 2003, Kocić played for the Serbia and Montenegro U19 side coached by Miodrag Martać and from 2003–2004 for the Serbia and Montenegro U21 side coached by Red Star Belgrade legend Vladimir Petrović.[5]

Personal life

Kocić graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a degree in International Business. His surname is often misspelled as Kočić.[22]

Honours

Club
Toronto FC

Individual

References
  1. Dekisa (2005). "FK Železnik - profile" (in Serbian). Retrieved 2011-12-16.
  2. http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20090210&content_id=217074&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=t103%5B%5D
  3. "MAAC Announces 40th Anniversary Men’s Soccer Team," Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), Tuesday, September 1, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020
  4. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/ThePitch/20090423-Not-bad-not-bad-at-all-43537162.html%5B%5D
  5. Vujcic, Djuradj (2012-03-11). "Milos Kocic RedNation Online Interview". Red Nation Online. Retrieved 2012-03-11.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2009-12-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-05-06. Retrieved 2009-05-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. http://www.torontofc.ca/news/2010/04/toronto-signs-milos-kocic
  9. Rocket Robin (2010-10-31). "October 31, 2010 CSL - Hamilton Croatia vs. Brantford Galaxy (by Rocket Robin)". Retrieved 2011-06-23.
  10. "Plata Paces Toronto To Victory". Toronto FC. 27 July 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  11. "Plata & Kocic Star In TFC Victory". Toronto FC. 13 August 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  12. "Kocic Wins MLS Save Of The Week". Toronto FC. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  13. "TFC's Frei out 8-10 weeks with broken leg". Rogers Sportsnet. 24 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  14. "Toronto FC Goalkeep Stefan Frei to Miss Six Months". National Post. 4 April 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  15. Firchau, Nick. "Timbers deal again, this time for TFC's Johnson, Kocić," Major League Soccer, Wednesday, December 12, 2012.
  16. Győr, ETO FC. "Milos Kocic 3 évre az ETO-ban! | Hírek". ETO FC Győr (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  17. ""Milos Kocic Goalkeeping Academy" Accessed Jan 24, 2014". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  18. "Kocic announces Academy" Twitter Jan 24, 2014.
  19. "Former TFC keeper Milos Kocic opens Toronto academy". Toronto Star. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  20. "Milos Kocic retires from professional soccer". Waking the Red. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  21. Adamson, Stan (October 3, 2019). "SERBIAN WHITE EAGLES, HAMILTON CITY WEDNESDAY WINNERS – Canadian Soccer League". Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  22. United moves closer to Open Cup return Archived 2010-12-05 at Archive.today
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