By Brian Jennings

You all know him, he’s been the guy with varying lengths of dreadlocks for the Los Angeles Galaxy since MLS formed back in 1996.  Since the late 80’s National team players and fans from CONCACAF (especially you Mexico), Argentina, South Korea, Portugal, Brazil, and countless other nations know him.  Everyone who has ever played in MLS knows him. Heck, even a generation of MTV viewers know him. 

However, only one man, Alexi Lalas, President and General Manager of the Galaxy, has had the opportunity to know Cobi Jones, the only MLS player to spend his entire career with one club, as a teammate (both internationally and domestically), an opponent, and as a boss.

Lalas recently sat down with Soccer365.com’s Brian Jennings to give fans a little insight on what it’s been like to have Jones flying around the field in their team’s colors, seeing Jones opposing him at full speed, and the examples Cobi continues to show to up-and-coming players in this country both on and off the pitch.

Soccer365.com--As a teammate what was Cobi like?

Alexi Lalas--Cobi was never a rah-rah type of player.  It was all about his actions and he led by example on the field.  From the moment I started playing with Cobi, we were 18 or whatever way back in the late-80’s, it became readily apparent that this was a guy who could beat people one-on-one.  So much so that there was a point where we would almost clear out for him like basketball.  Don’t overlap, don’t even go near the area because we realized 7 out of 10 times he was going to beat the guy and get a cross in.  You’re a forward and you’re licking your chops!

The other part was, it’s all fine and well to kind of come out with a splash and we have plenty of guys who do that.  But, do they then mature and get better and better?   Cobi got better and better and went through that arc of a career, both internationally and domestically, when he’s playing well.  He’s a guy people wanted to pay money to come and see-he’s a classic.  As far as I’m concerned he’s worth the price of admission. 

365—How was it playing against him as an opponent?

AL--I just like to kick him (he laughs). I gotta kick him early or he’s gone.  There were plenty of times where he was gone but a couple of times where I got some good kicks on him.  It was no fun.  He could kill you a bunch of different ways. 

As he developed it wasn’t just all about going wide and one-on-one stuff, he started moving into the middle a little bit, scoring goals over the top, finding ways to beat you, getting on crosses himself, so he evolved.  There’re so many players nowadays that become stagnant-this is all you’re going to get.  Cobi wasn’t the best soccer player in the world, but he knew what he was good at and he continued to learn and evolve.  Not enough players do that.  They just kind of get there, they’ve got some skill, got some speed and they think that’s it.  It’s going to suffice for the next 15 years.

365—Now that you’re in the front office, what does Cobi mean to this organization?

AL--We recognize that the perfect use of Cobi is for the 20-30 minutes coming off the bench and providing that spark.  We saw the first glimpse of it in the 2002 World Cup where he came on and did such a great job of killing the game off and causing problems for teams coming on late.  He just continued to again evolve finding ways to have effect whatever the situation is.

He’s the player that’s played with (LA) every year, number one, which says a tremendous amount about how much he means to the club.  It’s something we want to celebrate.  I don’t want him going anywhere else.  I want him to continue to be part of the Galaxy organization and part of the Galaxy family for what he’s meant. 

365—Have you two talked about his future plans?

AL--We’ll sit down at the end of the year and find out (what his plans are).  The most important thing, having gone through it, is that there’s a decompression time when you finish especially a storied career like he has.  We want to give him an opportunity to breathe a little bit unless he wants to get right into it and continue to be involved off the field.  We hope and pray that he will.

To this day he’s deservedly so a legend in our game.

Next Up—Cobi Jones talks about his past, present, and future.