Cobi Jones

Cobi Jones (born June 16, 1970 in Detroit, Michigan) is one of the most recognizable and successful American soccer players.

Jones is currently the all-time leader of the United States national team in appearances, with 164 caps as of end of 2004 (scoring 15 goals), and played for the team in the 1994, 1998, and 2002 FIFA World Cups. He also represented his country at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Jones currently plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer, with whom he has been since their inaugural season in 1996. He was one of a significant group of American national team stars who returned from overseas to aid the new American soccer league, coming home after playing half a season at Brazilian club Vasco da Gama. Before joining them, Jones played one season with of the English Premier League, and had trained with FC Köln of the Bundesliga. Jones emerged as a talented player in college, making the prestigious UCLA soccer team as a non-scholarship player, but becoming one of its most successful soccer-playing graduates.

Jones' best year with the Galaxy came in 1998, when he was second in the league in points (51 on 19 goals and 13 assists), was named to the MLS Best XI, and was also named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year. In 2005, he became the last player in MLS to remain with his original team since 1996. In nine years in the league, Jones totaled 62 goals and 82 assists in the regular season, plus six goals and eleven assists in the playoffs. As of the end of the 2005 season, he is the Galaxy's all-time leader in games (254), goals and points.

Cobi Jones has scored two goals in the 2006 campaign for the Galaxy (as of 11 July), including a crucial game-tying goal late in the game against MLS leader D.C. United.

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