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Preki, Dooley named to 2010 Hall of Fame class

Thomas Dooley (ISIphotos.com)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By AVI CREDITOR

This summer's induction ceremony for the National Soccer Hall of Fame doesn't have a home yet, but wherever it is, the ceremony should have a bit of a European feel to it.

The U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame opened its doors to two more members Thursday night, as current Toronto F.C. coach Preki and Thomas Dooley received the necessary votes to be enshrined in the Upstate New York soccer sanctuary as the Class of 2010.

The Yugoslavian-born Preki, Major League Soccer's only two-time MVP; and the German-born Dooley, captain of the U.S. World Cup squad in 1998, were the only two to break the 66.7 percent mark among the voters.

Both Preki and Dooley were the top two vote-getters among those who didn't reach the necessary total last year.

This year's group of almost-inductees include Earnie Stewart (58.12 percent), Shannon MacMillan (54.7) and Joe-Max Moore (52.14).

Preki provided one of the more memorable moments in U.S. soccer history with the goal he scored against then-No. 1 Brazil in the semifinals of the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup, leading the U.S. to its only victory over the Selecao, a 1-0 result.

He won the MLS Cup with Kansas City (2000), started the league's first eight all-star games and finished his MLS playing career with 79 goals and 112 assists.

Dooley was U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year in 1993 and started every game for the national team in the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.

After a successful career in Germany, Dooley came to MLS in 1997 and was named to two All-Star teams and earned two Best XI selections with the Columbus Crew.

Happy for Preki and Dooley? Think Stewart got snubbed? Remember where you were when Preki scored against Brazil?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Because the Hall doesn’t decide who should or shouldn’t be inducted. It simply counts the votes, and if there aren’t enough, there aren’t enough. This year, thankfully, there were enough.

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  2. Stewart should be in too, but Dooley’s been waiting a while. I saw his first game for the national team vs. Ireland at RFK and he transformed the team (along with some other guys) because he could do things that no one else could do. The US won 3-1 by the way!

    He played for an important role on many Bundesliga teams including a championship team, played in European competitions and in MLS. For field players that played for the US National Team he is at the top of the list for having a long sucessful high level club career too in Europe. Reyna’s a guy you could put in that boat. The other field players who have done well in Eurpose have not had the same level of success.

    Earnie Stewart of course had an amazing career in Holland, but Dooley tended to play for bigger teams in a bigger league. Stewart should have gotten in this year too.

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  3. I don’t remember where I was, but I watched that Brazil game and that’s what really drew me to the American game and build a passion for this sport. I figure we were going to do well in 1998 since we beat Brazil. Boy was I naive!!

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  4. Stewart should have been a first ballot kind of guy. He was a big game player. No disrespect to Dooley or Preki, they both deserve the honor, but Stewart should be in before either of those guys.

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  5. Dooley was a very big part in making the US a legitimate threat to the big boys for the first time. Too bad you have such a narrow mind.

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  6. I’m a big fan of Stewart, but I’m not surprised that Dooley got in before him. After all, Dooley retired in 2000 and Stewart didn’t retire until 2005. I’m sure Stewart’s time will come.

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  7. Tom Dooley should be in Juergen Klinsmann’s hall of fame. Who could forget the icing on the cake of a disastrous world cup when Klinsmann made Dooley turn around in a complete circle before deciding to score. Dooley (and the rest of the US squad) looked completely foolish. Everyone on that world cup squad should have been taken out and beaten with a stick -with the possible exception of Frankie Hejduk who seemed to be the only player not crapping his pants. Unfortunately, that’s what I think of now when I think of Thomas Dooley.

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  8. I do remember where I was when Preki’s magic put the ball in the net against Brazil . . . I was on the 40 yard line in the LA Colesium in shock that I was witnessing such a beautiful historical goal and the amazing work of goalkeeping god Kasey Keller to maintain the victory.

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