Cobi Jones

The most-capped USA soccer player of all time, midfielder Cobi Jones represented his country at three World Cups and also enjoyed a long association both on and off the field with Los Angeles Galaxy before pursuing a second career as a TV analyst. Born in Detroit, NY, Jones grew up in Southern California where he began playing with the American Youth Soccer Organization aged just five. Jones spent three years playing for the UCLA Bruins in which he helped guide them to a national championship in 1990 and competed for the under-23 U.S. team that won gold at the 1991 Pan American Games. In 1992 Jones made the step up to the senior international squad, scoring his first goal for USA against the Ivory Coast shortly after, and soon became a regular, making 30 appearances for the team in 1993 alone. Jones' impressive form, not to mention his trademark bleached blonde dreadlocks, at the 1994 World Cup in which host nation USA made it to the second round attracted the attention of Coventry City, then one of the longest-serving sides in the English top flight. Jones lasted just a year on the other side of the Atlantic, and after a brief stint at Brazilian team Vasco da Gama, returned to his homeland to sign for Los Angeles Galaxy in the inaugural 1996-97 season of the MLS. Jones went onto guide the team to six Western Conference titles, two US Cups, two MLS Cups, a Supporters' Shield and a CONCACAF Champions Cup during his eleven-year playing career with the club, scoring 70 goals in 306 appearances and winning the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 1998. By the time Jones retired in 2007, Jones had also racked up 15 goals in 164 appearances, won the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup and appeared in the World Cups in France and South Korea with the national side to become America's most-capped player ever. Jones subsequently spent two years as an assistant coach at Los Angeles Galaxy, including a brief spell as interim coach following Ruud Gullit's dismissal, before joining the New York Cosmos as associate director of soccer in 2011. After being inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Jones moved into broadcasting, serving as commentator for Fox Sports, beIN Sports and the Pac-12 Network, and analyst for Time Warner Cable SportsNet's coverage of Los Angeles Galaxy.