NET GAINS

From May 31 to June 30, U.S. midfielder Cobi Jones will play in his third World Cup tournament, the quadrennial soccer extravaganza poised to be hotly contested in Japan and Korea. The 31-year-old, who has played before electrifying crowds of 100,000 around the globe, says nothing compares to the sights, sounds, and competition of the World Cup. Having represented his country more than 150 times (a U.S. record), Jones tells us why the 2002 FIFA World Cup is an event not to be missed.

AW: You grew up watching the Super Bowl and World Series. How big of a spectacle is the World Cup in comparison?
CJ: For people who really don’t know soccer, they’d be amazed. Put all those American sporting championships together and they’d merely match up to how big a deal the World Cup is around the world.
     
AW: What would most surprise American sports fans?
CJ: The atmosphere and crowds, because the volume level, the nonstop cheering, the singing back and forth between the rival fans, is just mind-blowing.     
     
AW: How about the gamesmanship of international fans before a game?
CJ: There’ve been World Cup qualifiers [where] there always seemed to be fire alarms going off in our hotel at 3 in the morning. Another time, rival fans were cheering up a ruckus till all hours outside our hotel.
     
AW: The U.S. team is not a Cup favorite, so what are some realistic goals?
CJ: Our approach is to go as far as we possibly can in the tournament. We’re a very good team and I think we’re going to open up the eyes of a lot of people. They’re going to be surprised by the speed, skill, and ability of our players, and how well we’ve come together as a team.