Cobi Jones inducted into soccer Hall of Fame - Los Angeles Times (original) (raw)

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Former UCLA, L.A. Galaxy and U.S. national team star Cobi Jones was among five men inducted Saturday into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Also enshrined were former national team defender Eddie Pope and midfielder Earnie Stewart in the player category, Bruce Murray as a veteran and Bob Gansler as a builder.

The five were introduced on the field before Saturday’s friendly between the U.S. and World Cup champion Spain at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Jones is the all-time leading cap winner for the U.S. national team with 164 appearances, which he joined 1992. He played in three World Cups.

Pope, an anchor of the U.S. defense, is tied for the most World Cup qualifying appearances in U.S. history. He also played in three World Cups and spent the majority of his professional career with D.C. United, where he won three MLS Cups.

The Dutch-born Stewart was a regular midfielder for the U.S. national team during his 14-year career. He appeared in 101 games and is a three-time World Cup veteran. Stewart played most of his professional career in Holland but also played in the 2003 and 2004 seasons in the MLS with D.C. United, where he won an MLS championship.

Joining the players in this year’s class is veteran Murray, a midfielder and forward who was one of the leading stars of the U.S. national teaem in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Gansler, coach of the U.S. men’s national team from 1989 to 1991, including the 1990 World Cup.

-- Kevin Baxter

Kevin Baxter writes about soccer and hockey for the Los Angeles Times. He has covered seven World Cups, four Olympic Games, six World Series and a Super Bowl and has contributed to three Pulitzer Prize-winning series at The Times and Miami Herald. An essay he wrote in fifth grade was voted best in the class. He has a cool dog.