Cobi Jones - Sky Blue Archive

Full Name

Cobi N'Gai Jones

Position

Midfielder

Nationality

Place Of Birth

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Date Of Birth

16 June 1970

Age

Games Played

Per Game

Games Started

0.7

Per Game

Minutes

1741

69.6

Per Game

Goals

0.1

Per Game

Assists

Per Game

Following the 1994 World Cup Bryan Richardson was desperate to sign an American player for his team and having failed to sign defender Alexei Lalas turned his attention to diminutive winger Cobi Jones. A fee of £300,000 was paid to the US Soccer Federation and after weeks of work permit problems Cobi arrived in Coventry to a fanfare. The dread-locked winger made an impressive debut by winning the penalty that secured the first win of the season against Leeds. Only three of his first 12 games were lost and things looked good. The heavier grounds took their toll on the lightweight American however and he lost his place. His final start was in Phil Neal’s last game in charge, a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace, when he scored his second goal for the club.

After the arrival of Ron Atkinson Cobi was restricted to two substitute appearances and returned to the USA in May 1995. In 1996 he joined Los Angeles Galaxy and spent 11 years there, making over 300 appearances. He was a regular for the US national team and appeared in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup finals before retiring in 2004 with a record 164 caps. In November 2007 he was appointed assistant to new coach Ruud Gullit at LA Galaxy.