Cesare Maldini coached his son Paolo for Italy at the 1998 FIFA World Cup™. The Italians were eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Zlatko Kranjcar coached his son Niko Kranjcar for Croatia at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. “During the World Cup, Niko is not my son,” Zlatko said. “The team needs Niko, his team¬mates have full confidence in him.”

Seventeen-year-old Filippo Mancini made his Inter Milan debut for his father, coach Roberto Mancini, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3-0 Italian Cup round-of-16 win over Reggina on 17 January 2008. But Filippo did not play against Juventus in the quarter-finals. “No, no. Absolutely not,” Mancini was quoted as saying by Reuters. “He played too little to say how he did,” Mancini added. “But it was important for him to make his debut like all the youngsters.”

Chalfont St Peter assistant manager Lawrence Richardson will coach an Anguilla side that includes his 18-year-old son James in their two-leg tie against El Salvador in the first CONCACAF qualifying round for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

When Michael joined the MetroStars (Bob was coach then) in 2004, it obviously raised more than one eyebrow, especially when fans claimed Michael played due to nepotism. Slowly but surely Michael improved. Perhaps the defining moment of the 2005 season occurred two weeks after Bob was fired as coach. In a must-win situation to guarantee a play-off berth, Michael marked his 30th appearance by scoring his first professional goal in the final game of the regular season, helping his team to a 2-0 victory over Chivas USA.
As an 18-year-old, Michael moved to Heerenveen in the Dutch Eredivisie in January 2006, becoming the youngest ever MLS player to be transferred.
Michael has emerged as a key player for Heerenveen. As of 1 February 2008, he had scored 11 league goals and 15 overall for the club, both records for an American player performing in Europe.
Ihis is quite surprising since he forged his reputation as a defensive or holding midfielder, not as someone who regularly finds the net.
“It’s been nice because the movement of our team has been good,’ he says. “I’ve been able to see the right times to get forward, whether it’s been coming into the box a little bit late or running harder to get up as one of the first guys.”
There has been talk of interest from at least one German club and Blackburn Rovers sent a scout to watch Michael play. He would like to move on some day.
“When I look back on my career, I want to say that 1 played for big clubs, that I was successful, that I was able to win medals,” he says. “That’s what I’m trying to do. It’s not something I’m worried about or spend a lot of time thinking about it. The minute you start doing that, your performances on the field suffer.”

Michael therefore had the ultimate personal coach – his father. No one influenced Michael more as a player as he grew up talking, living, eating, breathing and sleeping football.
“The way I look at the game, the way 1 play, it’s all been influenced through things that we experienced together,” he says. “I speak to him every day and I always have. I speak to him about training, about the game. Some people ask, ‘Do you ever get tired talking about soccer?’ No. No. Soccer for us is what we love to do. When I was little, we’d go out and play together, he’d work on things with me. He was always coming to watch my practices, the games. Even now when I’m not physically close to him, he and my mom watch the games on the internet when they can. They watch the highlights. I’ll speak to him and we’ll talk about the game as though we were sitting next to each other. Everything I do, the way I talk about soccer and the way I look at it and they way I play, it’s come from him.”
According to Bob, other people have influenced him as well, including respected youth coach Manfred Schellscheidt, former US midfielders Chris Armas and Jesse Marsch and ex-Poland midfielder Peter Nowak (now coach of the US U-23 team).
“Since Michael was young, he’s been around the game,” says Bradley Sr. “He’s been around good soccer people and good soccer environments. For a young kid growing up in the United States, he has had the experience of being around the game and being around good people.”
Bob does not like talking about his son the player publicly, leaving it for writers and the media to comment. When asked about Michael’s development as a player, he speaks in general terms.
“There are good starting points, a good mentality, good understanding of the game,” he says. “A true sense of trying to be a guy to help his team. From there … it’s trying to make steady progress in every situation you’re in. Trying to make sure you’re called in, you earn the respect of the guys you play with every day. When you get the chance to play, you try to do the things on the field to help your team. That’s how it is for all young players.”
Two years ago, however, Bob gave Michael some public praise after he went to Heerenveen.
“I am happy for him,” he said. “To go to a club in Europe and to establish yourself very quickly, earn the respect of the coaches and your team-mates, so that you’re playing and starting in the most important games of the season, that says a lot.”
“He’s got a strong mentality, understands the game. He plays well beyond his years.
I really felt that last year as the season moved along that he got stronger and stronger. And that’s not something you see that often with young players in the MLS, especially with ones who are asked to cover that much ground and be a factor in the centre of the field, where things are really hard.”