SIDEKICKS
There were numerous signs that two of the best soccer players in U.S. history were playing on the same high school team.
There was the 69-shot performance against Camarillo, an average number of shots for a basketball game, an unheard of amount for soccer.
There were the scores--5-0, 6-0, 7-1--that kept piling up, a nightmare for opponents but the beginning of a dream for Cobi Jones and Eric Wynalda, teammates at Westlake High.
Jones, a junior midfielder on the 1986-87 Westlake team that went 22-2-2, was well on his way to becoming a brilliant playmaker, already showing his trademark speed and uncanny ability to beat players one-on-one.
The only thing he didn’t have were the trademark dreadlocks, which he added later.
Wynalda, a year ahead of Jones, was the most feared striker in the Southern Section, scoring at will, posting three-goal performances one after another.
Surprisingly, the Warriors did not win the Southern Section 4-A Division title, losing in the semifinals, but the blueprint for success had been established.
Wynalda had no idea how important soccer would become. Back then, it was simply crosses, kicks and slide tackles.
“As I got older, I fell in love with it,” Wynalda said. “It became not just a sport, but a way of life for me.
“What turned me on was that the same thing never happens twice. There’s no way to hide out there. When you get the ball, you have an opportunity to do something with it.”
Wynalda, 30, has parlayed his days at Westlake into national recognition.
He scored one of the most memorable goals in U.S. history, drilling a 28-yard free kick to forge a 1-1 tie with Switzerland in the first round of the 1994 World Cup. He scored despite an allergic reaction that left him feeling ill for most of the game.
The first American to play in three World Cups, Wynalda, nicknamed “Waldo,” is the U.S. national team’s all-time leading scorer with 33 international goals.
Jones, 29, had to prove himself more than Wynalda, who played on scholarship at San Diego State.
Jones went to UCLA as a non-scholarship player, eventually becoming an All-American and helping the Bruins win an NCAA championship before joining the 1992 U.S. Olympic team.
“It’s just kind of something that happened,” Jones said. “It kept going and going.
“Sigi 1/8Schmid, UCLA’s coach 3/8 came and talked to me and kind of recruited me, but I had no plans for playing soccer in college, no plans for playing soccer after college, no plans for the Olympics or the World Cup or playing overseas or playing here 1/8for the L.A. Galaxy 3/8.”
The 1998 World Cup in France was considered a debacle for the U.S., although Jones did his part, playing in every minute of every game for the U.S.
Wynalda is playing with the Miami Fusion after being traded by the San Jose Clash, with whom he scored the first goal in Major League Soccer history.
Jones is one of five players still with the Galaxy since its inception in 1996. Off the field, he has appeared on “Beverly Hills 90210” and hosted his own MTV show.
Jones and Wynalda were among 34 players invited to the national team training camp, which begins Jan. 5 in Claremont.
The U.S. team makes its debut this season on Jan. 16 against Iran at the Rose Bowl, a rematch of a 2-1 U.S. loss in the 1998 World Cup.
The nation will be watching.
